On January 8, the 2nd FEMA Resiliency meeting in Washington State took place in Pacific County, WA. This meeting had the same structure as the previous FEMA meeting for Grays Harbor County in October, consisting of two presentations followed by a break out session (to see the detailed summary of the Grays Harbor FEMA Resiliency meeting, click here). The first presentation was given to elected officials that included a brief presentation of the Risk Report followed by a discussion. In the afternoon, a second presentation was given for local-government representatives including planners, emergency mangers and public work officials. This provided the audience with more specific information pertaining to risks, data and recommendations. Following the presentations, community representatives were then given the opportunity to discuss their jurisdiction’s hazards and challenges in smaller groups organized by community.

The Pacific County Resiliency meeting had a smaller turnout than Grays Harbor, consisting of a smaller group of representatives from Pacific County and the Shoalwater Tribe.

FEMA is planning to complete Risk MAP processes for other communities around the state. The CHRN will continue to work with both Pacific and Grays Harbor County to ensure action and implementation follows these discussions. The information received from the community discussions will provide the CHRN with a framework to move forward. The network will follow up with some of the communities to attain greater detail of identified priorities or issues before selecting the appropriate members to be involved.