The Berkeley-Dorchester Hazard Mitigation Plan (BDHMP) was developed under a Flood Mitigation Assistance planning grant awarded to the BCDCOG by the South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) in 2003. The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 amends the Stafford Act and requires that local jurisdictions and states must have a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved hazard mitigation plan to receive funding from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, implemented under section 404 of the Stafford Act.

Additionally, the mitigation planning regulation at 44 CFR §201.6(d)(3) states: “A local jurisdiction must review and revise its plan to reflect changes in priorities, and resubmit it for approval within five (5) years in order to continue to be eligible for mitigation project grant funding” For this reason, the BCDCOG is currently working with local jurisdictions of Berkeley and Dorchester counties to update the previous BDHMP adopted in 2005.

The aim of the BDHMP is to identify the hazards threatening all local jurisdictions of Berkeley and Dorchester counties, and to estimate the relative risks posed to the community by those hazards. The BDHMP is used as a planning tool to mitigate the loss of life and property by identifying those activities that will reduce the vulnerability of communities making them more resistant to the impacts of future disaster.

This plan (BDHMP) provides a method that sustains the mitigation planning, enhances public awareness, promotes compliance with State and Federal programs and inter-jurisdictional coordination. Currently, BCDCOG staff is coordinating the update of the hazard mitigation plan in collaboration with local jurisdictions of Berkeley and Dorchester counties, and other agencies to successfully submit the 2010 version of the BDHMP.