The floods, earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters of the last 5 years have been a sobering reminder of work to be done to significantly reduce the vulnerability of Texas and their communities to natural hazard events, and to minimize the economic and societal disruption that they cause.

As our society becomes ever more complex, the economic and societal costs of disasters are increasing every year. Projections of demographic trends for the next 15 years suggest that even more Texans will live and work in regions with significant natural hazard risk. The need to encourage timely, cost-effective means to save lives, reduce property damage, and limit disaster costs has never been more apparent. This requires a mitigation program with local and national leadership. The goal of natural hazard loss reduction is a national priority. Hazard mitigation is defined as sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from hazards and their effects. 

For more information on Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness, please visit the following links:

FEMA, Preparedness for Emergency Management     (en Espanol)

Listo.gov (ready.gov)

Turn Around Don't DrownTM

Emergency Preparedness

Citizens' Preparedness Guide- [PDF]

City of San Antonio Emergency Safety Plan

FEMA Community and Family Preparedness Publications

Terrorism—Preparing for the Unexpected

American Red Cross Disaster Services - Foreign Language Materials

Emergency Management Basic Plan

Critical Incident Stress Management Document