Often regarded as the fourth phase of Emergency Management, mitigation is the act of preventing future emergencies or minimizing their effects. Mitigation activities take place BEFORE and AFTER emergencies.

As a result of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000), Federal law requires that each local jurisdiction prepare and adopt a jurisdiction-wide natural hazard mitigation plan as a condition of receiving project grant funds under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program. The DMA 2000 describes the local mitigation plan as: “the jurisdictions commitment to reduce risk from natural hazards, serving as a guide for decision makers as they commit resources to reducing the effects of natural hazards.”