Welcome to Beyond the Basics – a new website designed to help guide you through the process of developing or updating a local hazard mitigation plan that will meet the requirements for approval by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The website offers practical approaches and examples for how communities can engage in effective planning to reduce long-term risk from natural disasters. These examples of best practices were culled from some of the best local hazard mitigation plans in the U.S.
The website is based on the FEMA Handbook "Local Mitigation Planning Handbook". Like the FEMA Handbook, the website is intended to be used by emergency managers, planners, consultants and others who are updating an existing hazard mitigation plan or preparing a new one. The website can be used to prepare a plan for a single jurisdiction or for multiple jurisdictions. Please see the links below (or at the top of the page) to find out more about the research behind the website and the two organizations that conducted the research and developed the website.
We welcome your comments about the website. We also invite you to submit examples from your own plan that could serve as a model for other communities.
