State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Why New York City spent a year converting its 500-page hazard plan into a website

StateScoop: Like nearly all cities, New York maintains a detailed hazard mitigation plan to help the city prepare for and react to dangerous situations, but until recently, its potentially life-saving information was tucked away in a 500-page physical document that officials say was tedious to access. But on Monday, the city’s emergency management department announced it had finished updating and converting that document into an online format that anyone can explore.

The new website provides emergency management officials and the public with maps showing where various resources are located, official procedures, and recommendations for handling a wide variety of hazards such as fires, flooding, extreme heat, disease epidemics and cyberthreats.

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