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North Carolina is subject to numerous
natural hazards, posing risk to life and property. To mitigate the
effects of such hazards, the State has established the North Carolina
Integrated Hazard Risk Management (IHRM) program, a new initiative that aims to
provide valuable risk information supporting prevention, response, and
mitigation activities.
Risk is defined as the probability of
harmful consequences (e.g., death, injury, property damage)
resulting from interactions between a given natural hazard and the vulnerable
conditions1 (e.g. people and their environment). The overall goals of IHRM are to:
- Reduce risk from natural hazards;
- Improve resilience of the public and
private sectors following hazards;
- Reduce the time for recovery through
preparation; and
- Coordinate decision making by the
public and private sectors through common operating data.
In order to improve an individual’s, a
community’s, and the State’s ability to manage risk, the IHRM
program aims to:
- Identify and communicate key natural
hazards impacting North Carolina;
- Identify and communicate key
vulnerable systems (structures, population, critical infrastructure) within the
State;
- Identify and model the interdependency
between the 18 critical infrastructure and key resource sectors (CI/KRs) and
the consequence from upon failure;
- Develop methodology and metrics for
assessing risk and risk reduction;
- Develop methodology and metrics for
prioritizing risk reduction actions; and
- Design tools that effectively analyze
and communicate risk and risk reduction.
The State of North Carolina, through
the Division of Emergency Management – Office of Geospatial and Technology
Management (GTM), has received federal funding through the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) to develop and demonstrate a strategy to reduce risk
through a more Integrated Hazard Risk Management (IHRM) approach. This
demonstration project will focus on integrating and enhancing processes, data,
methodologies and communication tools associated with natural hazard
identification, risk assessment, risk communication, and mitigation. It is
envisioned that this demonstration will help define FEMA’s National “Risk MAP”
Program and better bridge hazard risk information with hazard mitigation
planning.
1 United
Nations, 2002
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Department of Crime Control and Public Safety
Division of Emergency Management
Integrated Hazard Risk Management
The IHRM demonstration project is being lead by
North Carolina’s Office of Geospatial and Technology Management, within the
Department of Crime Control and Public Safety’s Division of Emergency
Management
What is natural hazard risk
management?
Whereas risk assessment tries to
determine (1) what natural hazards threaten a given location, (2) how likely is
it that the hazard will impact and to what degree, and (3) what are the
consequences when it does; risk management goes further to answer the
following:
- What options are available to minimize the likelihood of the hazard
and/or the consequences;
- What are the associated costs and
benefits of these mitigation options; and
- How do current decisions affect future
options?
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