SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY
To Prepare Hazard Mitigation Plan

Across the United States, natural and human-caused disasters have led to increasing levels of death, injuries, property damage, and interruption of business and government services.  The time, money, and efforts to recover from these disasters exhaust resources, diverting attention from important public programs and private agendas.  With several statewide or county-specific gubernatorial and presidential disaster declarations in recent history, Slippery Rock University recognized the impact of disasters on their community and concluded that proactive efforts needed to be taken to reduce the impact of natural and human-caused hazards.

Accordingly, the Slippery Rock University Disaster-Resistant University Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee (DRU/HMPC) is preparing a Hazard Mitigation Plan.  This project will not only guide the University towards greater disaster resistance, but is part of on-going efforts to create a more sustainable University community.

Hazard mitigation is a phrase that describes actions taken to prevent or reduce the long-term risks to life and property from hazards.  Pre-disaster mitigation actions are taken in advance of a hazard event and are essential to breaking the typical disaster cycle of damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage.  With careful selection, mitigation actions can be long-term, cost effective means of reducing the risk of loss.  The hazard mitigation planning process consists of:

• Public involvement through a series of meetings;
• Identification of hazards that could affect the University;
• Assessment of the University’s vulnerability to these hazards in terms of the number of structures and people affected;
• Identification of mitigation actions that can reduce the risk from these hazards; and
• Development of an implementation strategy identifying roles and responsibilities/li>

Anyone that wishes to participate in the survey of hazard vulnerability please go to http://www.sru.edu/druplan.  For additional information please contact: