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ATTACHMENT 2 18SHSP lnvestment and Regional Project lnvestmentJustification , Washington is comprised of 39 counties with geography including forests, mountains, islands, rainforests, rivers, lakes, and plains. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked W€shington 13 of 50 states for gross domestic product in 2017; several world-class organizations headquarter their operations within the state. Washington has marine, aviation, rail, and road transportation infrastructure to support its position as a bustling trade center. Approximately half of Washlngton's 7-5 million population lives in the Seattle metropolitan area located along the Puget Sound. This area is the center of transportation, business, and industry and is the fastest growing region in the state. Over three-fourths of the state's population lives in densely settled urbanized areas. Understanding Washington's population is critical in order to mitigate vulnerabilities, respond to incidents, and effectively concentrate recovery efforts. Washington is subject to ten natural hazards and seven human-caused hazards. The THIRA focuses on eight of those risks: earthquake, tsunami, flood, biological Icommunicable diseaseJ, wildfire, radiological, cyber incident, and terrorism. Planning, training, and exercise efforts are being restructured to encompass the entire spectrum of catastrophic incidents within this context. Washington saw few significant changes in the 2017 Capabilities Assessment. - Public lnformation and Warning, which had been consistently among the state's highest-rated capabilities since the beginning of core capability-based SPR reporting, no longer is present as a top-rated capability. - The lowest rated capabilities were Economic Recovery, Health and Social Services, Community Resilience, and Housing - all essential during a catastrophic incident. 'The strongest capabilities lie in Response and lowest rated capabilities lie in Recovery. The 2017 SPR results repeated the overarching theme of prior years: Stakeholders at every levet struggle to sustain emergency response capabilities with dwindling resources and are significantly challenged to prepare for catastrophic disasters. Since the early 2(X)0's, emergency management funding at the state and local tevels have reduced significantly causing an increased dependence on federal grants to meet necessary emergency management requirements. As a result, many areas are in a sustainment mode when it comes to emergency management capability and capacity. lnvestnrent f3 - Reglonal Homelqnfl Secufity ProJects The State is divided into I Homeland Security Regions, made up of 39 counties, which differ in many respects including geography (from marine to desert), major industry (from large business to agricultural), and population (from dense urban settings to rural areas). Each Region develops projects to address their specific risks and hazards which sustain previously built capabilities or close identified gaps. While the communities may differ, emergency management priorities are similar across the state and most initiatives can be tied back to building regionalcapability to respond and recover, and be in "a state of readiness" through planning, training, equipping, or exercising, should a natural or human-caused catastrophic incident occur. As communicated in the 2017 THIRA, Capabilities Estimation, & SPR, gaps have been identified in the following core capabilities. DHS-FEMA-HSGP-SHSP-FFY1 8 Page 34 of 38 Kittitas County Sheriffs Office, E21-187