Guam Hazard Mitigation Plan - Western States Seismic Policy Council

SECTIONSIXMitigation Strategy• Disaster Recovery Initiative. This program provides grants to states and territories to fundgaps in available recovery assistance after disasters. Mitigation activities are eligible as partof the Disaster Recovery Initiative. Guam currently uses this program to fund hazardmitigation activities. This funding is provided on a flexible basis, subject to need and theavailability of supplemental appropriations.Home Investment Partnerships Program. Like the CDBG Program, the Home InvestmentPartnerships Program provides formula grants to states, territories, and localities to fund a widerange of activities for communities. Home Investment Partnerships Program grants are oftenprovided in partnership with local nonprofit groups. They fund activities relating to building,purchasing, and/or rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or ownership, including hazardmitigation projects. Guam currently uses this funding source.Emergency Shelter Grants (ESGs). This program provides funding to grantees such as stategovernments on a formula basis. Funding is available for activities such as conversion, majorrehabilitation, or renovation of buildings as emergency shelters and shelter operating expenses.Grantees receive ESG funds and distribute these funds to eligible recipients, which can be eitherlocal government agencies or private nonprofit organizations. Grantees, except for stategovernments, must match ESG funds dollar for dollar with their own locally generated amountsGuam currently receives funding from this program.Office of Capital Improvements Capital Fund Emergency/Natural Disaster Funding. Thisprogram provides grants to public housing agencies for rehabilitation needs resulting fromnatural disasters or emergency situations. Activities funded under this program include elevation,flood proofing, and seismic retrofits.Department of the Interior, Office of Insular AffairsCompact Impact Aid. Compact Impact funding is a special appropriation, allocated byCongress on an annual basis, to provide compensation for and to offset the economic effects ofimmigration from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, andPalau. The Government of Guam receives $16.8 million annually in Compact Impact Aid.Disaster Assistance Grants. The Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of Interiormay request up to $2 million annually of Covenant grant funds in the annual budget process fordisaster mitigation purposes. The Office of Insular Affairs does not have to identify specificprojects or the recipients of this grant funding in the budget process.Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological SurveyNational Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. The primary objective of NationalEarthquake Hazards Reduction Program project grants is to mitigate earthquake losses byproviding earth science data and assessments essential for warning of imminent damagingearthquakes, land use planning, engineering design, and emergency preparedness decisions.Grants are provided through cooperative agreements and may be provided to colleges anduniversities, profit-making and nonprofit organizations, and state, territory, or local governments.Grants range in size from $6,000 to $1.1 million, with an average grant size of $56,000.Examples of grants include projects for earthquake loss reduction, earthquake monitoring andforecasting experiments, fault zone studies, and seismic zonation and engineering studies.6-15