President Biden has authorized, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide more than $3.46 billion to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change nationwide through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).

The total contribution authorized for the State of Hawaiʻi is $24, 740, 226.  The Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) Resilience Branch will be working with FEMA and the State Hazard Mitigation Officer on the funding process and the program requirements.

 “We are very pleased and grateful that FEMA has awarded the State of Hawaiʻi a Hazard Mitigation Grant in the amount of $24,740,226.00.  The FEMA HMGP funds will reduce economic vulnerability and will directly combat the economic loss of COVID-19 by contributing to local job creation and building greater resilience for Hawaiʻi’s counties by reducing ongoing hazards such as sea level rise, extreme weather, droughts and wildfires,” HI-EMA Resilience Brach Chief Lorinda Wong Lau said in a press release.