About the Hazard Mitigation Web Portal
Message from the Director
Dear Californian:
Welcome to the OES Hazard Mitigation Web Portal!
As Californians, we live with a variety of natural, technological and human-caused hazards that can pose a serious threat to our lives, property and the environment with little or no warning.
Unfortunately, we cannot prevent every type of hazard we face from occurring, but history has shown that we can reduce their potential impacts.
For nearly a century, since the great San Francisco earthquake on April 18, 1906, California has been at the forefront both nationally and internationally of efforts to reduce deaths, injuries and property losses through proactive preventive measures taken by government agencies, businesses, communities and individuals.
After the Long Beach earthquake in 1933, stricter standards for the construction of public school buildings and dams were enacted. Significant damage to hospitals and freeway overpasses in the San Fernando earthquake in 1971 prompted efforts to strengthen those elements of our state's critical infrastructure, and comparable initiatives, including the enactment of laws requiring houses to be bolted to their foundations and water heaters to be braced, have followed each subsequent major California earthquake in an effort to avoid similar problems in the future.
California's effort to reduce deaths, injuries and property losses isn't limited to earthquakes. Our state has also been proactive in reducing the threat of fires and floods. Examples include the enactment by city and county officials of laws requiring property owners to create defensible space around their homes, the creation of that defensible space, the planting of fire-resistant plants and shrubs and the installation of sprinkler systems by homeowners, the widening of culverts and channels, as well as the use of federal hazard mitigation funds by cities to elevate homes located in areas subject to flooding.
Despite the tremendous work that we have done, there's more we can - and must - do, as individuals, homeowners, business owners, and as Californians to make our state even safer.
This website provides valuable information about the types of hazards we face in California, where those hazards are located and - most important of all - strategies, guidance, examples and programs that will empower you to do your part in helping save lives, protect property and the environment.
I hope you find the information provided helpful and, on behalf of Governor Schwarzenegger, I thank you for doing your part to make California safer.
Sincerely,
HENRY R. RENTERIA
Director
Governor's Office of Emergency Services
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What is the Hazard Mitigation Web Portal?
- Who is the website for?
- What sort of information is on the site?
- How was the development of the Web Portal funded?
- Who did the development work for the Web Portal?
- Is the website complete?
- What else is being developed for the Hazard Mitigation Web Portal?
- Is the Hazard Mitigation Web Portal for OES only?
- Who maintains the information? Is there a webmaster?
- Is there a charge for downloading resources from the web portal?