Hazard Mitigation Plan

The City of Bellevue started work earlier this summer on our first ever comprehensive Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). This plan will help us identify areas in Bellevue that are vulnerable to natural hazards, assess risks and formulate actions to reduce or eliminate the impacts of these hazards. Natural hazards include droughts, earthquakes, severe weather and floods. Having a completed HMP helps reduce the cost of disaster response and recovery, allows the city to apply for federal and state grants which can help fund mitigation measures, and keeps people who live, work, play and study in Bellevue safe.

This online open house is the next step in preparing our HMP. The information you share will help us learn more about the community's concerns so we can tailor the plan to address the specific needs of Bellevue. It will also help us identify actions we can take to make our community safer. There are three ways for you to share feedback with us, available in the tabs below.

• A short survey including questions on your past experience with natural hazards and how prepared you feel for a natural hazard
• A mapping exercise where you can place a pin on areas you’re concerned about
• A space to ask questions.

This online open house will be available until November 6, 2024. After this, we'll review all the information you've provided us and include an engagement report on our website, BellevueWA.gov/hmp.

What is hazard mitigation?

Hazard mitigation is a crucial part of emergency management. Mitigation is the act of reducing or avoiding the impacts of disasters, including risk to life and property. Mitigation can keep natural hazards from having catastrophic impacts, which helps communities recover more quickly after a disaster occurs. Some examples of mitigation strategies include seismic retrofit of buildings and bridges, redundancy of water systems and fuel systems, and tree planting to reduce heat in urban areas.

A hazard mitigation plan forms the foundation of a community’s long-term strategy to reduce losses caused by disasters and break the cycle of damage and reconstruction. Through the process of creating this plan, the city will identify hazards, assess risks and develop mitigation strategies.