IBERIA PARISH — Iberia Parish leaders and agency representatives gathered Thursday to begin updating the parish's hazard mitigation plan, a process that takes place every five years.
The meeting brought together stakeholders from across the parish to discuss what mitigation is and why it is beneficial to the parish, the community, and residents.
Chris Rippetoe, hazard mitigation program manager at the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute, said mitigation planning is about reducing risk before disaster strikes.
"Mitigation planning at its heart is reducing the impacts to property, to people within an area. We know that South Louisiana has really had more than its fair share of impacts from natural hazards," Rippetoe explained. "So if we can identify ways to reduce those impacts over time— whether it's short term, medium, or long term— ultimately it's going to increase the resilience of your community," Rippetoe stated.
There are four phases of emergency management: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.
Rippetoe said mitigation often does not receive the same attention as the other phases.
"Recovery and response get a lot of the attention and rightly so, but mitigation oftentimes is thought of as sort of an afterthought. Through this planning process, it highlights that aspect of mitigation, really brings it to the forefront, and brings people into the same room to figure out those strategies to increase the resilience of their communities," Rippetoe said.
Part of the planning process includes public outreach. Through the parish's partnership with LSU's Stephenson Disaster Management Institute, a public opinion survey allows residents to share input on what natural hazards concern them most. That community feedback directly informs the development of mitigation strategies.
M. Larry Richard, president of Iberia Parish Government, said the goal of mitigation is to protect lives and property.
"When they hear us talk about mitigation, we're trying to protect them. We're trying to protect the lives of the people here. We're trying to protect the property that people have here, and all of that takes planning. This is something that is not easily done. It takes a lot of time for it to work, but we have to start somewhere," Richard said.
Thursday's gathering was the first of four planned meetings. Three more meetings are scheduled before the current plan expires on Dec. 20.
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