Hazard mitigation planning is a crucial step to reduce the risk of recovering from a disaster. Though emergency disasters pose a threat to the affected communities, it also creates an opportunity to improve upon risk management practices and policies for future events. Mitigation can reduce risk greatly or even eliminate it if plans focus on disaster-prone areas and consider all potential scenarios. One major way to enforce mitigation is through community resilience, which can strengthen response and recovery efforts. Michelle refers to the literature to discuss measures to strengthen local communities, which are frequently the first-line responders during an event, such as the Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction and the Community-Based Disaster Management programs. Resilient communities that are supported by such programs can improve their preparedness practices by addressing issues of health and health systems, resources, and adaptation.
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