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2025 Hazard Mitigation Plan Kittitas County, Washington other factors. ln this case, people in widely different locations can be the most harmed by repeating disaster cycles, so mitigation strategies should also work to break cycles of loss caused by social and economic disparities. Hazard mitigation strategies can reduce existing risk by, for example, relocating a building out of an area that frequently floods. ln each case, an attempt has been made to lessen the harm of a future flood before the event happens. Strategies may also seek to make future development less vulnerable to hazards at the time it is built. Examples would be requiring new structures to be elevated above predicted flood levels or building structures to better withstand future hazards. Hazard mitigation plans are designed to involve the input of stakeholders from different perspectives to ensure plans use the best available data, are aligned with the needs of the entire community, and are in alignment with other plans (e.9., general plans, capital improvement plans, and climate action plans). The Kittitas County Hazard Mitigation Plan recognizes that all members of the community are not impacted in the same way by natural, human-caused, and technological disasters. Some community members are at more risk, for a number of possible reasons. A mitigation strategy that uses a one size fits allapproach and does not recognize different levels of risk will not adequately or efficiently support historically underserved populations and can actually make inequalities worse after a disaster. This Plan highlights equity as a key component of the Plan's overall vision and seeks to continue to develop a shared understanding among participants of how hazard mitigation can be made more inclusive and be proactive in creating strategies that reduce existing disparities in risk and hazard recovery. Addressing the whole community requires an understanding that while a single solution for all seems fair, it does not address historical inequalities and current differences in age, financial resources, housing stability, neighborhood investment, health or ability, and access to government services. ln mitigation planning, this means that successfully reducing risk in the most meaningful and efficient way requires understanding how the distribution of resources will actually reduce risk and for whom. Equitable mitigation success should be measured by assessing who was most impacted in loss of life or financial harm by past and future disasters, quantifiable reductions of vulnerability to those most at risk, and increasing engagement with historically underserved populations and community organizations to better understand how plans and processes and natural hazard events are affecting different communities. The following highlights how this Plan addresses this priority. Ghapter 3 (Gommunity Profile): This section describes different demographic and economic factors in Kittitas County. Additionally, the section includes data from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) Social Vulnerability lndex (SVl). Ghapter 4 (Hazard ldentification and Risk Assessment): This section includes FEMA's National Risk lndex scores for the County for social vulnerability and community resilience. Social vulnerability is defined as the susceptibility of social groups to the adverse impacts of natural hazards, including disproportionate death, injury, loss, or disruption of livelihood..l Community resilience is defined as the ability of a community to prepare for anticipated natural hazards, adapt to changing conditions, and withstand and recover rapidly from disruptions..2 Additionally, it includes a hazard ranking methodology that specifically assessed the impact of the hazard on underserved populations. Furthermore, each hazard profile includes a narrative of the vulnerability and impacts for the underserved and at risk population, FEMA's Expected Annual Loss analysis, and the National Risk lndex score for the County. 1 Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2023). Social Vulnerability. Retrieved from https://hazards.fema.qovinri/social-vulnerabilitv. 2 Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2023). Community Resilience. Retrieved from https://hazards.fema.qov/n rilcommu n ity-resilience. Chapter 2: Planning Process 14