UK Hazard Mitigation Plan Approved

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 1, 2016) ― With the recent approval of the University of Kentucky Hazard Mitigation Plan, UK is now better prepared for disasters. The plan is a long-term strategy to reduce the campus’s vulnerability to natural disasters.

The university formally adopted its Hazard Mitigation Plan on March 10, 2016. The plan identifies hazards and potential hazards throughout the campus community and creates a framework to help campus officials make decisions in order to achieve these goals:

1. Protect lives

2. Protect university property

3. Enhance existing or develop new university policies

4. Build and strengthen partnerships

5. Increase campus community understanding

6. Integrate risk reduction strategies

The plan also outlines a strategy for implementing mitigation projects on campus properties over the next five years. A $12 million water retention system to alleviate flooding near the intersection of Alumni Drive and Nicholasville Road, where flooding had been a significant problem, was funded in part by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Program. Another FEMA-funded hazard mitigation project included eight new blue emergency notification towers installed throughout campus as part of a larger campus security upgrade, that contain an emergency phone, video cameras and wide-area notification speakers, which augment the UK Alert system. These projects, identified in the 2010 UK Hazard Mitigation Plan, are examples of how UK is taking steps to lessen the impact of future disasters with mitigation grant programs that would not have been possible without an approved Hazard Mitigation Plan.

History shows that the physical, financial and emotional losses caused by disasters can be reduced significantly through hazard mitigation planning. The planning process encourages communities to integrate mitigation with day-to-day decision making regarding land-use planning, floodplain management, site design and other activities.

UK’s Hazard Mitigation Plan was a collaborative effort on the part of UK Police - Division of Crisis Management and Preparedness, the UK Hazard Mitigation Steering Committee, state and local agencies, the University of Louisville’s Center for Hazards Research and Policy Development and UK community stakeholders. A series of steering committee meetings throughout 2014 and 2015 were held on UK’s campus to accomplish the following:

1. Update UK’s hazard vulnerability assessment

2. Measure progress and update UK’s five-year mitigation action plan

3. Commit to plan maintenance measures for the next five-year cycle

The University of Kentucky Hazard Mitigation Plan is in compliance with the federal hazard mitigation requirements as part of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 as contained in 44 CFR 201.6. FEMA reviews and approves state, tribal and local hazard mitigation plans, which are required as a condition for states and communities to receive certain types of disaster assistance, including funding for mitigation projects. The University of Kentucky Hazard Mitigation plan is approved for a period of five years to March 9, 2021.

The University of Kentucky Police Department - Division of Crisis Management and Preparedness would like to extend its gratitude to the steering committee and all of the campus and community partners who participated in the plan update process. To view the plan in its entirety, please visit: www.uky.edu/EM/hazardmitigationplan.html. 

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue

MEDIA CONTACT:  Kathy Johnson, 859-257-3155; kathy.johnson@uky.edu