Emergency management protects communities by coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to build, sustain and improve the capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism or other man-made disasters.
FEMA, Principles of Emergency Management, 2007
Decision-making and the execution of emergency management activities are the right and responsibility of the local government before, during and after disasters. State and federal government agencies support local government—not vice versa. By “local government” we are referring to the public administration of counties, municipalities or cities, townships, villages and more.
Emergency Management Positions
One of the most fundamental ways that local governments address disaster issues in blue-sky time is through a position called the emergency manager. This position is most commonly seen at the county level and may exist in addition to or instead of other services within municipalities, cities, townships or villages. Often the emergency manager is located within public safety, fire or law enforcement departments, but sometimes exists in a stand-alone department. This is important to be aware of as where emergency management is housed within local government will influence how the jurisdiction understands what emergency management is, what it is allowed to do and who is qualified to hold emergency management positions.
Voluntary Agency Liaison
Another position that one might find within emergency management, particularly at the state and federal level, is a voluntary agency liaison (VAL). Their role is to span the boundary between government and voluntary organizations. In blue-sky times, they build and maintain relationships between government agencies and voluntary organizations across the state; help nonprofits understand state and federal laws, regulations, programs, plans and policies; foster public-private connections, and nurture the engagement of voluntary organizations in government preparedness activities.
The ordinance also specifically stipulates that the duties of the emergency manager are as follows:
- Preparing an emergency plan for the county
- Offering training related to emergency operations
- Coordinating public information
- Issuing warning and alerts
- Facilitating exercises
- Expending funds out of the general revenue funds for those purposes
- Representing the county in regional and state conferences
- Developing mutual aid agreements for support during disasters, among a few other duties
Notice that the duties laid out in the ordinance DO NOT include getting the county ready for long-term recovery through planning or other similar activities. The duties listed also DO NOT include guiding the county to consider how to reduce or eliminate risk through mitigation.
The most fundamental structure that exists at the county level for organizing for response before disasters happen are Local Emergency Planning Committees or LEPCs. By law, every county has to have one. These committees are comprised of representatives of local level organizations that are important in disaster response, like hospitals, school districts, public health, law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services, among others. At minimum, these committees support the development and updating of a county’s emergency-management response plan; however, they also tend to support the county’s other preparedness activities too.
Outside of these local emergency-planning committees, there is no particular standing day-to-day organizing structure for emergency management. Emergency managers are always engaging in collaborative activity day-to-day though. They meet with emergency services and emergency-management personnel in their jurisdiction and in surrounding jurisdictions. They offer presentations about preparedness to community groups and schools. They also coordinate with state and federal emergency-management personnel before and after disasters.
All states in the US have emergency management offices, though the titles of those offices may vary from state-to-state. Similar to local government emergency management offices, state offices are often housed within, or under, other state entities. For example, emergency management in New Jersey is buried under the Department of Law and Public Safety, then within the New Jersey State Police Division and finally in the Homeland Security branch. Emergency management in Utah exists in a similar arrangement. Meanwhile, in North Dakota, emergency management falls under the ND National Guard and in Tennessee, the Department of the Military.
While each state’s emergency management office has a slightly different “flavor,”these offices do have similar daily roles. The role of state emergency management is to:
- Enforce state and national laws, codes and regulations related to emergency management within their state.
- Manage federal and state grants, and the pass-through of federal dollars to local governments.
- Function as a liaison between local emergency management and federal agencies.
- Support local level government through training and technical assistance.
- Develop and test mitigation, response and recovery plans
In the development and testing of these various plans, state emergency-management personnel might work with FEMA, the National Guard and other state agencies like energy, health and human services, transportation, environment, public works or labor, among others. They might also work with large businesses in the state, like utility providers, and with nonprofits too.
Though it can vary, state emergency management offices have considerably more staff and resources than local emergency management offices do. Just as with the local level, individuals in these offices tend to have first-responder or military backgrounds although, it is important to note that the variation in the educational and professional backgrounds which people bring to these offices is greater in recent years.
At the federal level, day-to-day emergency management is most associated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA is located within the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA employs more than 20,000 people. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the personnel there administer national-level programs and grants; however, FEMA also has 10 regional offices that work directly with states, territories and tribes.
In blue-sky time, FEMA works to:
- Implement national disaster-related laws through developing regulations, policy and guidance for the agency and lower levels of government.
- Administer a number of grants and programs intended to help local and state governments mitigate hazards and/or prepare for hazard events.
- Offer technical assistance to state and local governments.
- Build public awareness on disaster issues.
- Maintain warehouses and staging areas with disaster-relevant resources throughout the US so they might be leveraged quickly when disasters occur.
However, it can be helpful to think of FEMA as a coach for emergency management. A coach knows the rules of the game; knows the types of knowledge, skills and abilities that would be reflected in a winning team; has a sense of the range of plays, and recognizes the resources one needs to make those plays. And while a coach can share all the guidance and knowledge they have, it’s up to the actual players to make the critical decisions and do the work that ultimately lead the team to a win or loss.
Nothing Can Substitute for Local Readiness
In most respects, this metaphor works at the state level as well. Think about how many local governments there are in your home state. Even though planning, resource management and exercises by the state are important—those actions mostly build readiness at the state rather than local level. The reality is local communities must be prepared. We need to see day-to-day efforts to develop plans, identify and manage resources, conduct exercises, train, etc. at the local level, since it is there that response and recovery decisions are made and activities carried out. State and federal resources can only supplement the local level.