The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) has received a $1.7 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop disaster mitigation plans for each of 14 PASSHE universities and the Dixon University Center. PASSHE and its member universities will contribute an additional $564,000 in funding and in-kind services toward the project.

The plans will be designed to address potential responses to both natural and human-caused disasters, which can result in deaths, injuries, property damage and interruption of services. The time, money and efforts to recover from these disasters can exhaust an institution’s resources, diverting attention from important academic and other student programs.

Each of the universities has formed a Disaster-Resistant University Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee to help develop its plan. A separate committee will design a disaster mitigation plan for the Dixon University Center, which houses PASSHE’s administrative offices, as well as a number of classroom buildings.

In order to qualify for the federal grant, which was obtained through a joint effort with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), PASSHE must comply with the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and its implementing regulations. Each of the plans being developed will have to meet FEMA requirements in order to be eligible for the federal funding and to receive technical assistance from state and federal hazard mitigation programs.

Hazard mitigation is a phrase that describes actions taken to prevent or reduce the long-term risks to life and property from hazards. Pre-disaster mitigation actions are taken in advance of a hazard event and are essential to breaking the typical disaster cycle of damage, reconstruction and repeated damage. With careful selection, mitigation actions can be long-term, cost-effective means of reducing the risk of loss.

The hazard mitigation planning process consists of:

• Public involvement through a series of meetings;
• Identification of hazards that could affect the location;
• Assessment of the site’s vulnerability to these hazards in terms of the number of structures and people affected;
• Identification of mitigation actions that can reduce the risk from these hazards; and
• Development of an implementation strategy identifying roles and responsibilities.

For more information about the project, please contact Alan Margraf at (717) 720-4115 or amargraf@passhe.edu.

With more than 109,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 405,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.