All hazards approach helps Richmond plan for any disaster
The city of Richmond, Va., faces many different disasters regularly, such as hurricanes, flooding and winter weather storms. However, the preparations for the city’s natural disasters have been ranked No. 1 in the country. These emergency management processes to handle the natural disasters can be found in the city’s emergency operations plan.
The city’s emergency operations plan outlines how these natural disasters are handled. According to Taylor Fuqua, Richmond’s office of emergency communications, preparedness and response public information officer, “The emergency operations plan outlines the framework and processes for coordinating support to affected communities, individuals and businesses in the event of a natural disaster, acts of terrorism or other man-made disasters. The plan is reviewed annually for updates and revised every four years.”
Recently the city was also recertified as a storm-ready community by the National Weather Service.
Each natural disaster emergency preparedness plan involves an incident action plan with five main phases. When developing these incident action plans, the city analyzes the situation and further developments over the next 24 hours, establishes incident objectives and strategy, develops a plan, prepares and distributes the plan and then executes and revises the plan as necessary.
“Our planning process focuses on the all-hazard approach,” Fuqua explained. “We participate in monthly meetings with city stakeholders, such as the public safety group to include the department of public utilities and works. Monthly training is offered for the city’s system of record and continuity of operations plan. The department of public utilities and department of public works also conduct annual training and inspections to ensure the Richmond flood wall is ready should it need to be implemented. Future plans include continuing mitigation efforts to reduce the impacts of flooding around the city.”
Focused on an all-hazards approach, the city’s emergency operations plan has cyclical plans to focus on the mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery from any incident. Mitigation efforts help to reduce the impact on the community by eliminating as many hazards as possible and reducing the consequences of unavoidable hazards. Preparedness involves finding the right personnel and equipment to best handle the disaster. Response includes the incident command system and the national incident management system. The city’s response functions include public information, emergency medical services, firefighting, law enforcement, intelligence development, shelter and mass care support, evacuation, search and rescue, and transportation. The recovery phase begins once the disaster has ended and involves getting Richmond back to normal operation in the shortest time possible.
The top priorities when an incident occurs, according to Richmond’s emergency operations plan, are saving lives and protecting health and safety of public and responders; ensuring the city is secure; protection and restoration of key resources and critical city infrastructure; protection and mitigation of impact and damage to individuals, communities and the environment; facilitating recovery for individuals, communities, businesses and the environment; and managing public expectation of the city’s response. The emergency operations center has four levels. Level 1 is normal conditions. Level 2 is an increased readiness when there is a threat of disaster. Level 3 is when response operations are deployed. Level 4 is recovery operations.
All critical departments in the city of Richmond have a continuity of operations plan to ensure its continuing availability to provide services to residents and partner agencies should a natural disaster or emergency take place. These critical departments include the department of public utilities, department of public works, police, fire, emergency communications, emergency management, social services, animal care and control, and other departments whose work deals with city businesses. The office of emergency management and chief administration office work together to create a continuity of government plan, which ensures city leadership remains in times of emergency. All responsibilities for these departments in the event of a disaster is outlined in the emergency operations plan. Richmond officials also team up with regional partners to develop a hazard mitigation plan. The hazard mitigation plan helps to develop long-term strategies for identifying vulnerabilities and risks in Richmond and the surrounding area. This plan is reviewed annually and updated every five years.
“Being named No. 1 in preparedness for natural disasters is not just a ranking; it is a responsibility,” Fuqua emphasized. “We will continue to work closely with our partners at the local, state and federal levels to maintain and enhance our readiness. Our goal is to ensure that our community remains safe, resilient and prepared in the face of any disaster.”
A storm rolls into Richmond, Va. The city has a well-established emergency operations plan to help it weather a variety of natural disasters. (Shutterstock.com) 
Pictured is a view of Richmond from across the James River. Richmond is currently in the process of upgrading its combined sewer system to reduce overflows from spilling into the James River. (Shutterstock.com) 
In 2023, 24/7 Wall St. named Richmond, Va., as the city best prepared to handle a natural disaster. The city scored an overall rating of 53.81. Pictured is a Gazebo at Maymont Park. (Shutterstock.com)
