Prepare to maintain public health and safety during extreme weather and climate-change-related events, while also taking a preventive approach to reduce risk for community members.

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Prepare to maintain public health and safety during extreme weather and climate-change-related events, while also taking a preventive approach to reduce risk for community members.

Best Practice of this action
Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience
Rating Guideline
1 star

  • In consultation with the county, every two years review the county (or city if there is one) Hazard Mitigation Plan and identify who is responsible for city preparedness, emergency response, and recovery efforts for each hazard. Routinely participate in updating the County/City Plan to include equitable actions for climate adaptation and community resilience. 
  • (Category A & B cities must achieve a 1-star rating plus either a 2- or 3- star rating for Step 3 recognition). 
  • Report community engagement efforts under BPA 29.3. 
2 star
  • Address how all diverse populations in a jurisdiction are served by emergency communication, evacuation and sheltering, mitigation and prevention, planning and preparedness. Develop targeted emergency communications in appropriate languages (or get access to existing versions) for each population of non-English speakers in your community for each hazard.
3 star

  • In consultation with the county, designate appropriate and accessible facilities -- that are available to the public and trusted by the underserved communities who will need to use them -- as community safe shelter or resilience hub for each hazard as applicable. Arrange for adequate provisions (including food and potable water) and backup power sufficient to meet minimum daily run-time requirements as a shelter for one week or longer during utility grid failure.
  • Develop coordinated strategies with private sector emergency facilities and essential services that require backup power during widespread outages and disasters. Document agreed-upon procedures and backup power sources.
  • Report permanent resilience hubs under BPA 29.3. 
  • Report Local Energy Emergency Plans under 29.8.
Resources

Planning: 

  • Chapter 12 Public Safety and Emergency Management of the LMC Handbook for Minnesota Cities provides guidance about statutory requirements for cities. [Applicable to 1 Star implementation.]
  • Minnesota Department of Health Climate and Health webpages contain information on extreme heat, water quality and quantity, air quality, planning tools, and emergency management regional profiles (2018).  [Applicable to 1, 2 and 3 Star implementation.]
  • See guidance on hazard mitigation planning from MN's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division of the MN Department of Public Safety.

Communication:

  • Communicating vulnerabilities to climate change provides PDF brochures to communicate climate vulnerabilities for eight populations of concern: children, EJ communities, indigenous peoples, occupational groups, older adults, people with disabilities, people with existing health conditions, and pregnant women. [Applicable to 2 and 3 Star implementation.]
  • TPT ECHO provides multilingual PSAs, videos, and emergency response services. [Applicable to 2 Star implementation.]
  • The Social Vulnerability Index uses U.S. tract-level census data to estimate vulnerability due to socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity/language, household status, and housing/transportation. [Applicable to 2 and 3 Star implementation.]

Resilience Hubs: 

Order Number
1
Related Area
Public engagement
Public health
City/Tribal operations
Climate adaptation & resilience
Climate education & engagement
Climate actions - short-term
Equity
Businesses