Escambia, Century Want To Know About Your Disaster Plans

September 23, 2008

What would you do if you were faced with disaster? Have you an effective disaster plan in place to protect your home and belongings or property? Escambia County wants to know.

evacroute.jpgIn 1998, Escambia County, the City of Pensacola, the Town of Century, and the Santa Rosa Island Authority were provided a federal grant through the Florida Department of Community Affairs to develop a Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS). This was a State of Florida initiative that was implemented to help reduce the spiraling costs of disasters. The LMS identifies specific hazards, man-made, natural, and technological, that could negatively impact our community, and as such, have created a strategy to try and mitigate our community against those disasters.

Escambia County’s Local Mitigation Strategy Group (LMS) has posted a ten question survey on the county’s website. This brief survey takes a few minutes to complete and includes questions such as: “Do you have flood insurance? What steps have you taken to prepare for a natural disaster? Would you spend more money on a new home that was disaster resilient? Are you aware that by mitigating your home against disaster, you may be eligible discounts on your insurance?”

Mitigation is the effort to reduce or eliminate the risks of injury and damage, to both people and property, against potential disaster events. This mitigation can be through mitigation construction type projects or through an educational outreach program to our community and its residents.

Your responses will help us greatly in planning for potential future disasters in the local area. The results will be used to guide the LMS in revising outreach and training goals.

To participate in the survey, visit www.myescambia.com. The survey will be available until Friday, October 3.

Mitigation can include items like:

  • Hurricane shutters for a home, business, or government building.
  • Hurricane roof clips or re-enforcement.
  • Installation of tornado safe rooms
  • Elevation of a flood vulnerable building or home.
  • Flood proofing a home or business.
  • Small drainage improvement projects that reduce or eliminate local flooding.
  •  Educational programs to educate our community on things they can do to protect and mitigate their families, their employees, and their property against potential disaster.

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