The RRPDC's emergency management planners guide the development of The Richmond-Crater Multi-Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan, which details a plan for the localities of both the Richmond and Petersburg regions to work collaboratively to attend to the needs of residents.

How would the Richmond Region’s localities respond in a cooperative manner to respond to a natural disaster? The Richmond-Crater Multi-Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan sets forward a plan for the localities of both the Richmond and Petersburg regions to work collaboratively to attend to the needs of residents.

Local adoption of a regional hazard mitigation plan is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to obtain federal disaster relief funds. The plan must be updated every five years.

The RRPDC has partnered with the neighboring Crater Region to combine the two regions’ hazard mitigation plans to better reflect the emergency management efforts of the Central Virginia Urban Area Security Initiative study area.

The plan examines natural hazards such as flooding, hurricanes, thunderstorms, earthquakes, and winter storms and identifies ways that localities can work to reduce the impact of these potential threats.

In 2011, the RRPDC worked with the local emergency managers of the Richmond and Crater Regions to update the portions of the combined plan that applied to their respective locality. Each of the Richmond Region’s jurisdictions adopted resolutions declaring their support for participating in this effort and assigned staff to work on this plan update.