Are you worried about earthquakes? Coastal flooding? Fires?
Now is the time to speak up.
The Seal Beach Police Department wants to know what you’re concerned about when it comes to natural disasters striking in Seal Beach. The reason? Emergency preparedness and public safety officials are writing the city’s first Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP). The goal of the LHMP is to identify and mitigate threats now in order to prevent damage, injury and loss of life when an earthquake, tsunami or other catastrophe does hit.
Public meetings are being held to get input from residents about which hazards and natural disasters should be addressed in the plan. Two meetings have already been held. The next meeting, which was recently added, is scheduled for August 22 at Fire Station 48 Community Room from 6-8 p.m. Another meeting will be held September 5 at Marina Community Center from 6-8 p.m.
Focus is on Preparation
The City of Seal Beach received a roughly $72,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop the LHMP, according to Seal Beach Police Department Sgt. Mike Henderson. In addition to identifying threats and ways to address them, the LHMP will also allow Seal Beach to apply for additional FEMA grants to fund hazard mitigation projects, such as retrofitting a building.
It’s all part of FEMA’s push to spend resources on preparing for disasters rather than solely on aid during the aftermath of a catastrophe, according to Aaron Pfannenstiel of Placeworks, the contractor hired by Seal Beach to help develop the city’s LHMP.
“For every dollar in mitigation that we spend now, we save four dollars in response and recovery costs,” Pfannenstiel said when describing the cost savings ratio often referred to by FEMA.
Leisure World Residents Speak Out
Pfannenstiel made the comments during his presentation at the city’s most recent LHMP community outreach meeting held June 27 at Leisure World. More than forty people packed into Leisure World Clubhouse #4 that night to learn about the LHMP and voice concerns about hazards in their community. At one point, attendees put stickers on a poster board to identify hazards of most concern.
Attendees also asked questions and spoke about emergency response planning for Leisure World, a gated senior retirement community with more than 9,000 residents, which is more than one-third of the population of Seal Beach.
One Leisure World resident expressed fears about what would happen if disaster struck. “We don’t have any plan. We don’t have any system. We don’t have anybody to tell us how we can help each other,” she said.
“Keep in mind that Leisure World is within the City of Seal Beach,” Sgt. Mike Henderson said in response. “You’re under that umbrella and the City of Seal Beach has an Emergency Operations Plan that describes systems that we would implement in the event of a disaster and Leisure World, I assure you, is not left out of that.”
Another woman at the meeting brought up concerns about what could happen if a bridge in her Leisure World neighborhood collapsed during an earthquake.
Jan Kuhl of Leisure World said she is concerned about the safety of the main water line that runs into her community. She said Leisure World residents “consider ourselves on an island.”
Leisure World resident Kevin Powell said he’s worried about earthquakes and potential explosions at the nearby Naval Weapons Station. “This is to figure out what to do,” Powell said after the meeting. “We need someone to make up a plan.”
To make up the plan, the city has assembled a Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee which includes public safety officials, elected leaders, representatives from the Naval Weapons Station and other stakeholders. But hearing from the public is key to the process, according to Sgt. Henderson. He said the attendees at the June 27 meeting gave “a lot of good input.”
How You Can Get Involved
If you want to give your input, attending one of the last two public meetings is one way. But if you can’t make a meeting, you can fill out a survey online. You can find the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B7YGJ6J
You can also email hazardmitigation@sealbeachca.gov or call the City of Seal Beach Emergency Services Coordinator at (562) 799- 4100 ext. 1145.
Find out more information by visiting the City of Seal Beach website and clicking on the “Local Hazard Mitigation Plan” tab at the top of the city’s home page.
