Charleston wants feedback on plan to reduce hazards

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston is working on creating its own hazard mitigation plan, a strategy to reduce the threats from both natural and manmade disasters.

City of Charleston Emergency Management Director Benjamin Almquist says the plan is meant to be “all hazards compatible” looking at every potential event that could happen. The plan, he says, would help the city build out its response and identify the resources it would need to limits the effects of a disaster.

Almquist said this could mean additional personnel, improving building codes, installation of security cameras in key areas, and working with area local partners on improving awareness of potential hazards. He said this plan helps identify specific needs based on specific past incidents to improve their resilience.

He also said FEMA guidelines require them to include the general public’s input in their development plan.

Giving the community the chance to take a survey gives city leaders insight on what type of disasters they are concerned about.

“But these questions in the survey are designed to get feedback from the local populace on what they are most concerned about when it comes to potential disasters that can impact them,” Almquist said. “So, we want to make sure we’ve got that information so that we understand what the public perception is because we don’t want to get lost in the weeds of our technical understanding overriding what the technical concerns are.”

CLICK HERE to take the survey.

City leaders want to secure approval of its Hazard Mitigation Plan by late summer or early fall.

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