Butler County’s Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan has been approved by FEMA, said EMA director Bob Luman.

The county is still waiting for the emergency operations plan to be approved by the state before it too will go on to FEMA for final approval.

“The NHMP is a list of hazards that face or county along with a estimate of the likelihood and effect of such an event,” Luman said.

Such a report is a requirement of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), which provides funding for those in emergency planning.

Luman also discussed the status of the county’s emergency operation plan.

“Right now it is in the final steps,” Luman said. “After it is proofread it will go on to state for approval and then to FEMA.”

The Emergency Operation Plan describes the plan and chain of command for the response to certain situations, Luman said.

The committee also discussed software that helps coordinate disaster response.

“Its an instant command system, for when you have enough people involved where you would have to know where everyone is and who reports to who,” Luman said.

Luman said the software is a necessity for larger systems, but could still prove usefull to Butler County.

“For a small area it might be a good thing to have in case we have a big incident that would combine multiple agencies and organizations,” Luman said.

Luman added, however, that he hopes to never need to coordinate such a large disaster response.