Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan: 01. Introduction

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Chapter 1:Introduction • Significant Historical Events; • Probability of Occurrence; • Risk Assessment Methods; • Mitigation Strategies; Scope of this Multi-Hazard Plan This plan focuses on natural hazards, with a priority on disaster-potential hazards. Other plans focus on human-caused hazards such as terrorism and hazardous wastes. Rather than create separate plans for each type of natural hazard, this plan is a multi-hazard plan. A multi-hazard plan has several advantages: 1) certain hazards cause cascading hazard effects (e.g., earthquakes may cause landsliding, local tsunamis, or dam break flooding; hurricanes cause wind damage and flooding); 2) priorities can be established to allocate limited resources to areas susceptible to the most severe or frequent hazards; 3) areas identified as susceptible to multiple types of risks may require special attention; 4) common responses often apply to different hazards; 5) resources or mitigation measures can be leveraged where they could benefit multiple hazards; for example proposed changes to building design standards could consider both wind-loading(hurricane)and ground-shaking(earthquake). 1-5 Hawaii County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan