Mission Statement:
The Emergency Services Division conducts programs and activities designed to provide our students, faculty and staff, with the ability to prepare for, cope with, and recover from the effects of "all hazards". This is achieved through information and resource exchange, working with the public and private sectors, and all levels of government through the utilization of modern technology.
What is Emergency Management:
Emergency Management is the process of coordinating available resources to combat emergencies effectively, thereby saving lives, avoiding injury, and minimizing economic loss. Today's Emergency Management Program evolved from the old Civil Defense and Civil Preparedness programs of the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resulted from the consolidation of five federal agencies that were dealing with different types of emergencies. Since then, many states and local jurisdictions have accepted this approach and changed the names of their organizations to include the words "emergency management."
Comprehensive Emergency Management:
The concept currently used for handling disasters and their consequences is called Comprehensive Emergency Management. This approach was institutionalized in 1979 with creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Three interrelated components:
All Types Of Hazards:
There are similarities in how we react to all the potential hazards, whether they are natural, technological (manmade), or an attack on the nation, which indicates that many of the same management strategies can be applied to all such emergencies.
Emergency Management Partnership:
The burden of disaster management and the resources for it requires close working relationships among all levels of government (federal, regional, state, county, and local) and the private sector including business and industry, voluntary and service organizations, and the general public.
Emergency Life Cycle:
Disasters do not just appear one day and disappear the next. They exist throughout time and have a distinguishable life cycle. This disaster life-cycle must be matched by a series of management phases that include strategies to mitigate the hazards, prepare for and respond to emergencies, and recover from their effects.
Four Phases of Emergency Management:
The four phases of emergency management (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery) are the management phases that match the Emergency Life Cycle. Although each phase has tasks assigned to it, the process is dynamic and interconnected. For example, tasks taken to recover from a disaster may have effects on mitigation, preparedness, and response to future occurrences.
Mitigation:
Actions taken to eliminate a hazard, or to reduce the probability and the effect, should the disaster occur. Such actions include building codes, special identification and routing requirements for the movement of hazardous material, and land use and zoning requirements.
Preparedness:
Actions taken to facilitate disaster response and recovery. This includes planning and training and equipping local government and citizens to respond to emergencies arising from hazards which cannot be eliminated through mitigation. Examples include the development of emergency operations plans and guidelines, training of personnel, and exercises to test plans.
Response:
Actions taken to save lives and property during an emergency. This may include search and rescue, fire suppression, evacuation, emergency sheltering, etc. It may also include behind-the-scenes activities such as activating emergency plans and activation of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Recovery:
Actions taken to return a community to normal or near normal conditions. This could include reconstruction of roads and public facilities, securing financial aid for disaster victims, and review and critique of response activities.
Everyone in all levels of government and throughout the private sector, have responsibilities in all four phases of emergency management.
