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2025 Hazard Mitigation Plan <br />Kittitas County, Washington <br />1 Protect life, property, and the environment <br />2 Continuously build and support local capacity to enable the public to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, <br />and recover from the impact of hazards and disasters. <br />3 Establish a hazard and disaster resilient economy <br />4 Promote public awareness, engage public participation, and enhance partnerships through education <br />and outreach. <br />5 Encourage the development and implementation of longterm, cost-effective mitigation projects. <br />Goals <br />There are a number of hazards that pose a threat to human life, health, and well-being, and this Plan is <br />not meant to compile an exhaustive list. Kittitas County identified 10 natural hazards and one (1) human- <br />caused/technological hazard for this Plan. Although FEMA only requires and reviews natural hazards in <br />hazard mitigation plans, Kittitas County decided to rank and mitigate against a comprehensive list of <br />hazard events that could impact the County. Due to the nature of non-natural hazards and the <br />discretionary status regarding their inclusion, the following hazards of interest have been briefly and <br />qualitatively assessed for the sake of public education and informing their inclusion within the hazard <br />ranking and mitigation process. Hazards that have been identified as significant in Kittitas County and <br />that will be considered in this Plan are listed below. <br />Risk assessment is the process of measuring the potential loss of life, personal injury, economic injury, <br />and property damage resulting from natural hazards. lt allows emergency management personnel and <br />first responders to establish early response priorities by identifying potential hazards and vulnerable <br />assets. The process focuses on the following elements: <br />. Hazard ldentification: Use all available information to determine what types of disasters may <br />affect a jurisdiction, how often they can occur, and their potential severity. <br />. Vulnerability ldentification: Determine the impact of natural hazard events on the population, <br />environment, economy, and lands of the region. <br />2 <br />Avalanche <br />Dam and Levee Failure <br />Drought <br />Earthquake <br />Flood <br />Landslide <br />Severe Weather (Thunderstorms, Hail, Tornado, Strong Winds/Damaging Winds, Heat Wave/Extreme Heat, and Cold <br />Wave/Extreme Cold) <br />Winter Weather (lce Storm, Heavy Snow/Blizzard) <br />Volcanic Activity <br />Wildfire (Wildfire Smoke) <br />Communicable Diseases/Pandemic <br />Natural Hazards <br />H uman-Caused/Technological Hazards <br />Executive Summary