Executive Summary
The City of Philadelphia 2022 All-Hazard Mitigation Plan is an aspirational plan to mitigate, or reduce risk to, natural and human-caused hazards with the goal of improving the safety and resiliency of our City. Hazard mitigation is a sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate impacts of natural or human-made hazards including preventing loss of life and damage to property.
The 2022 plan update was led by the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management (OEM) with the strong support of a Hazard Mitigation Steering Committee. The Steering Committee includes leaders from departments across the City with roles in hazard mitigation and specialties related to implementing the plan:
- City Planning Commission
- Commerce Department
- Department of Public Property
- Fire Department
- Licenses & Inspections
- Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities
- Mayor’s Office of Policy
- Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Grants
- Office of Emergency Management
- Office of Sustainability
- Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability
There were additional opportunities for stakeholder engagement through working groups, stakeholder workshops and other plan-related meetings and updates. Overall, more than 190 representatives from more than 80 agencies, departments, and organizations participated in this plan update. Philadelphia OEM spread the word about this plan update and gathered public feedback through surveys, flyers, radio updates, and through several social media platforms. Robust engagement led to the priorities identified in the plan, hazard selection, and an updated mitigation strategy.
Three priorities were identified for the plan update. These themes were woven throughout the plan:
Equity · Diversified methods of outreach to reach new people and stakeholders · An analysis to identify populations placed at greater risk to these hazards using social vulnerability indexes and qualitative local knowledge. · Added equity as a criterion for prioritizing mitigation actions.
Climate Change · Examined flood risk beyond identification of the floodplain by including maps and Hazus loss estimates for a 1% annual chance flood, 0.2% annual chance flood, storm surge, and sea level rise. · Included additional information on how climate change will impact the intensity and frequency of future disasters.
Integration · Updated future temperature and precipitation projections based off of the Growing Stronger: Toward a Climate-Ready Philadelphia report which informed the Flood, Flash Flood, and Ice Jam and the Extreme Temperature profiles. · Expanded outreach to new stakeholders and added new partners, plans, and actions to the capability assessment and mitigation strategy.
One key aspect of the 2022 All-Hazard Mitigation Plan update was updating the plan format and the hazards to match the Pennsylvania Hazard Mitigation Plan Standard Operating Guide. This guide aligns hazard mitigation plans across the Commonwealth allowing counties to share information and compare information about risk. Based on public and stakeholder input, the 2022 All-Hazard Mitigation Plan profiles the following hazards for Philadelphia:
Existing Natural Hazards
- Drought
- Earthquake
- Extreme Temperature
- Floods
- Hurricanes
- Tornado/Wind
- Winter Storm
Existing Human-made Hazard
- Building Collapse
- Dam Failure
- Hazardous Materials
- Terrorism
- Urban Fire/Explosion
New Hazards
- Civil Disturbance
- Cyber-Terrorism
- Opioid Crisis
- Pandemic/Infectious Disease
- Subsidence
- War/Criminal Activity
Outreach and engagement, conducting a risk assessment, and defining City capabilities are all important steps in the planning process used to inform the development of the mitigation strategy. The mitigation strategy looks forward at what project, plans, and policies Philadelphia wants to complete to reduce risk to hazards. The Steering Committee and stakeholders informed an updated set of goals for the plan. These goals integrate priorities such as improving equity in implementation, planning ahead for increased risk from climate change, and integrating hazard mitigation into programs and plans across departments. The 2022 goals follow:
· Goal 1: Protect all life and reduce risks that exacerbate inequities in health safety.
· Goal 2: Build the resilience of community assets, including property, infrastructure, and cultural resources.
· Goal 3: Foster an economy that promotes mitigation and reduces impacts from hazards.
· Goal 4: Restore and enhance the natural ecology.
· Goal 5: Create awareness and demand for mitigation and adaptation as a standard of practice.
The 2022 All-Hazard Mitigation Plan will feature an online, executive summary which can be viewed on Philadelphia OEM’s website.