In hazard mitigation planning, risk is the potential for damage or loss when natural hazards interact with people or assets. These assets may be buildings, infrastructure or natural and cultural resources. The way natural hazards interact with a community’s people, property and assets can result in a disaster. A risk assessment is a robust, data-driven analysis. It explains what might happen. It also finds where the local jurisdiction is vulnerable to hazards. FEMA encourages localities to include overviews and summaries from their data analysis. The conclusions they draw from these data are more useful than the raw data. You can include raw data in appendices or annexes to support your conclusions. When the planning team finds data gaps or limitations, they should note the issues and add a mitigation action to fix them.
Your risk assessment identifies the hazards that can affect each participant in the planning area. For each hazard, consider:
- Where it might happen in the planning area (location).
- How minor or severe it may be (extent).
- How often and where it has happened in the past (previous occurrences).
- How likely it is to occur and how it may change (frequency, intensity, etc.) in the future (probability).
- Which assets are at risk from it (vulnerability).
- The effects it will have on assets (impacts).