Natural Disasters

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Natural Disasters Truck Boat Pacifica’s geographic location makes it a beautiful city to live in and a great place to visit. But this same location makes it highly susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding, mudslides and tsunamis. Because of the location of the San Andreas fault, the city is also susceptible to being isolated in a major event.

Specific police personnel are assigned the responsibility to prepare and maintain an operational emergency management plan for all city departments for use in managing a major disaster. Disaster exercises are conducted within the city in conjunction with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services. Personnel assigned to emergency preparedness are trained in the Standard Emergency Management System used throughout the State of California.

No city will be able to assist every household during or immediately after a major disaster, so citizens should be prepared to take care of themselves and help their neighbors for at least 72 hours if not longer, depending on the type and intensity of the disaster.

Disaster preparedness training is one of the many responsibilities assigned to the City of Pacifica's Emergency Preparedness & Safety Commission. If you have a group that would like a presentation on what to do to prepare for a disaster, please contact the police department's main business line.

Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

The City of Pacifica, in conjunction with the County of San Mateo and other cities and special districts in the County, has completed the update to the existing Multi-jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. This plan, which was initially developed in 2005 and later updated in 2010 and 2016, identifies local policies and actions to reduce the risk to life and property from natural hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, tsunami, and wild land fires.

The plan also serves to meet key federal planning regulations which require local governments to develop a hazard mitigation plan as a condition for receiving certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance, including funding for hazard mitigation plans. The 2021 update of the San Mateo County Multi-jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan has been completed. This plan update was adopted by City Council at the regular meeting on November 22, 2021.

For more information, or to view Volume I and II of this plan, please visit the County of San Mateo Local Hazard Mitigation Plan website.

SMC Alert Network

Pacifica provides its residents with the ability to participate in the county alert system known as SMC Alert. The program allows participates to receive automatic notifications to their computers, cell phones or any device capable of receiving email on such things as utility outages, road closures and weather warnings.

For more information and to sign up, visit www.smcalert.info.

San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management

The Department of Emergency Management (DEM) coordinates countywide preparedness, response and protection services and activities for large-scale incidents and disasters.

For more information, visit the San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management website.

United States Department of Homeland Security

In addition, there are more resources available from www.ready.gov.

Disaster Preparedness Resources for Business

Disasters can take many forms and the financial cost of rebuilding after a disaster can be overwhelming. If you're prepared for emergencies, you'll be in a better position to recover and continue operations should a disaster strike.

Want to find out where hazards are in your area? View an interactive map.