Salem must be resilient and ready to recover from earthquakes, flooding, and other natural disasters.

About Resilience

The simplest definition of a resilience is the capacity to adapt to and bounce back from unexpected circumstances that upset the normal routine. To be prepared, cities must:

• Identify and prioritize risks to community
• Develop private and public partnerships
• Implement planning and design strategies to increase resilience

What Salem Is Doing

The City of Salem has been looking at ways to mitigate hazards since the millennium change in 2000. Resilience thinking is incorporated into all the City’s plans and projects.

Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) defines mitigation as “the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters . . . through risk analysis, which results in information that provides a foundation for mitigation activities that reduce risk.”

In 2000, Salem was one of the first communities to have an approved Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (NHMP).

In 2022-2023, residents provided input regarding their preparedness for natural hazards as part of updating the NHMP in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) and City of Salem Emergency Management. 

The latest update and adoption of the City of Salem Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan (NHMP) was adopted and signed in November of 2023

With re-adoption of the plan, Salem will maintain its eligibility to apply for federal funding toward natural hazard mitigation projects.

Salem Emergency Management Plan

Salem’s Salem Emergency Management Plan (SEMP) is an all-hazard plan that describes how the City of Salem will organize and respond to emergencies and disasters in the Community. The SEMP consists of a Basic Plan, Functional Annexes and Incident Annexes that provide a framework for coordinated response and recovery activities during a large-scale emergency.

Flood Mitigation

Salem’s primary hazard is flooding. Due to diligent improvement activities in Public Works, Salem’s Community Rating System (CRS) has significantly improved over the years. As a result, Salem’s residents are eligible for flood insurance discounts based on one of the highest CRS ratings in the State of Oregon.

Earthquake Preparedness

Earthquake preparedness has received increased focus over the decades. Significant resources were expended to seismically retrofit critical public safety infrastructure, including fire stations. Resilience of our community is improved through planning, training and testing the preparedness elements in a live exercise environment.

Community Emergency Response Team

Neighborhood resiliency is being enhanced through education and training in the Fire Department’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. Salem residents have been organizing and training since the fall of 2002 to assist with the “bounce back” in their local neighborhoods. There are over 1,800 trained volunteer residents in this program.

Energy Planning

Improving energy efficiency is a key component to withstanding future energy-related challenges. Salem’s Community Energy Strategy serves as a road map for energy saving efforts community‐wide.