The South Dakota Office of Emergency Management has updated its hazard mitigation plan, and is making the draft available for public comment.
Nicole Prince is the State Hazard Mitigation Officer.
"The hazard mitigation plan is a plan that’s put together of all the stakeholders in the state to talk about or express the vulnerabilities- hazards- and potential mitigations activities in the state," says Prince. "This plan makes the state eligible for mitigation and for disaster declarations for public assistance to be brought into the state after a presidential disaster declaration."
Prince says the plan is updated every 3 years. She says a major change in this draft includes the implementation of more mitigation projects throughout the state.
Prince says once the public review period is finished, the comments are evaluated and incorporated into a final plan that will go to FEMA in the next few months. This plan must be approved by April of 2014.
The public can comment on the draft until October 18th by visiting the Office of Emergency Management's website.