Quick links for LOCAL EMC’s
(Emergency Management Coordinators)
 Local EMC Certification Checklist |
 Local EMC Duties | Responsibilities |
About Local EMA
Local EMA is the first step in creating and maintaining a safe community for the resident and their assets. They are also the first step in the response and recovery during and after a disaster. Have an Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC) at a local level is a very important part of Public Safety. A local EMC is not only appointed and supported by the local municipality, they are familiar with the local community and the people who live there. They also have the the County Emergency Management Agency’s help and resources at their disposal if the crisis calls for the deployment of the equipment. The local EMC can more easily respond to and assess the effects of a disaster and forward that information to the correct departments.
Local EMA and EMC’s have four main areas that require their attention.
Mitigation
Mitigation is an effort to reduce the loss of life and property and to lessening the effect of a disaster. It is taking a proactive approach to fix, move, improve the current state NOW rather than being reactive to any given situation. Having an effective Mitigation plan means that everyone has to be aware of the risks that they are susceptible too, and to be willing to take the appropriate action (even if not the popular action) to make a long term committed effort to protect the safety, financial integrity, and property of a community.
Preparedness
Being prepared goes hand in hand with Mitigation. Once the risks have been identified and the plan to mitigate them is in place then it is everybody job to prepared. Being prepared for an emergency situation is critical to handling a disaster in the most effective, and efficient way possible. There are many thing to consider when you are preparing for and emergency situation as you will read on some of our other pages.
Response
The response to any given emergency is directly tied to how prepared you are. If you are appropriately prepared for the emergency then the response can greatly be impacted in a positive way. For example, if you know the river or stream near your house may flood and you evacuate ahead of time, you have now freed up a crew from potentially having to rescue you so they can respond to other emergencies in your community. The response teams become very taxed during these times and rely on the help and cooperation of the public to be able to handle these situations in an expedited manner.
Recovery
Disaster recovery is the first step in putting your community back together after an emergency. Many times after a disaster there will be a declaration from local, to County, to the State, or even to a Federal level that will allow your community access specific funds that are available to help recovery efforts. This usually requires input form the local residents to report the damage that they have to help the effected area produce a dollar figure to present as an initial estimate to help secure these funds. Remember that with recovery, there are many other areas going trough the same procedures that you are. Recovery is not always an fast process. There are guidelines that have to be followed to ensure that everyone is taken care of.