The Logan Municipal Council voted to have the city participate in a five-year tri-county pre-disaster mitigation plan, presented by the Bear River Association of Governments, on Tuesday night.
The pre-disaster mitigation plan provides strategies for jurisdictions on what the city can do to mitigate effects of natural hazards. Upon adopting the plan, cities can apply for funding to bring area-specific projects into their communities.
Regional Planner Zac Covington, who worked with Assistant Fire Chief Will Lusk to complete the Logan city section of the plan, said the goal is to minimize the damage a natural disaster could do to a community.
“We’re expecting most likely on the Wasatch Front, closer to Brigham City, an earthquake in the future; geologists say it’s coming soon,” Covington told the Municipal Council. “If it does come we’ll feel it over here.”
Covington, who worked with 39 municipalities to update their plans, said the purpose of reviewing them every five years is to “analyze existing data, to inform communities where their greatest risks are for natural hazards.”
In an interview with The Herald Journal, he added, “It determines potential risks, potential losses for residents, structures, infrastructures, helps them gauge their need for natural hazard planning for various hazards.”
Hazards in Cache Valley include wildfires, severe weather or land floods, or geologic-induced hazards, he said.
A unanimous vote by the council allowed the city to adopt the pre-disaster mitigation plan, which will make them eligible to apply for federal funding to reduce risks.
“This is really a very detailed and informative document,” Councilman Karl Ward said. “It’s good for everybody to ... become familiar with where some of the high-risk areas are and how we as citizens ourselves can mitigate those kinds of things we’re at risk at.”
The council last adopted a plan in 2009.
source: hjnews.com