Hazard Mitigation Planning

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The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) resides in a region of Texas that is prone to a range of natural disasters, chief among them being hurricanes and storm surge, flooding, extreme wind events, extreme heat, disease outbreaks, severe weather (e.g., lightning, fog), fire, drought, and severe winter weather. 

As defined by FEMA, hazard mitigation planning: "reduces loss of life and property by minimizing the impact of disasters. It begins with state, tribal and local governments identifying natural disaster risks and vulnerabilities that are common in their area. After identifying these risks, they develop long-term strategies for protecting people and property from similar events. Mitigation plans are key to breaking the cycle of disaster damage and reconstruction."

UTMB's current, five-year Hazard Mitigation Plan (2026) can be found at that hyperlink. It provides:

  • A planned risk mitigation strategy
  • Direct eligibility for FEMA Hazard Mitigation grants, and FEMA Public Assistance if UTMB were to suffer damage 

Hazard Mitigation Plans (HMP) follow a 5-year cycle, in addition to regular monitoring and maintenance of the plan within that five-year period. UTMB's previous HMP was approved and adopted in December 2020. The process for the 2025 HMP Update was begun in September of 2024. Details of the HMP process/activities are listed below.

Meeting #1 (Kickoff): This in-person meeting occurred on October 29, 2024, at 10:00am in the UTMB Administration Building. The main goals of this meeting were to introduce advisory committee members, provide background on the HMP process as well as hazards in our region, and conduct a risk assessment & prioritization exercise.

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    Meeting #2: This virtual meeting was held on January 8, 2025, via Microsoft Teams at 2:00pm. The focus of this meeting was discussing the priority risks from the previous meeting as well as conducting an assessment to identify gaps in our capabilities. 

      Meeting #3: This meeting was held on February 19, 2025. It was offered both in-person and online. The meeting focused on identification of gaps in our mitigation action plan based on our prioritized risks and capabilities.

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        Meeting #4: This meeting took place on June 4th and focused on monitoring/maintenance, recent feedback, recap of past meetings, and preparing the final plan for submission.

          Public / Community Input: The UTMB community and wider public were involved at several points throughout this Plan update process, including both drafting and finalization phases. Anyone who requested to be on the Advisory Committee (70 members) was invited to participate. Almost half of Advisory Committee members came from outside of UTMB. Other ongoing and one-off opportunities for public involvement are bulleted below: 

          • Public Survey
          • Public Comment Periods
          • UTMB Community Comment Periods
          • Galveston Hurricane Preparedness Fair (Booth)
          • Galveston County Health District (Meeting)
          • Webster City OEM (Meeting)
          • Health System Community Advisory Committee (Presentation)
          • St. Vincent's House (Meeting)