Elected and Appointed Officials Guide

to
Emergency Management

National Preparedness Leadership Initiative

Harvard School of Public Health & Kennedy School of Government
June 2012

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .. 2
Quick Reference Guide . 5
Annexes
Annex 1. Roles and Responsibilities ... 7
Annex 2. Engagement with Emergency Management Operations ... 10
Annex 3. Communications .. 13
Annex 4. National Incident Management System (NIMS) .. 16
Annex 5. Emergency Declarations/Proclamations ...18
Annex 6. Acronyms and Glossary ... 19

Executive Summary
Protecting public safety and health, maintaining public confidence, and meaningful engagement
and unity of effort with constituents and stakeholders are guiding principles during a crisis. As
an elected or appointed official, you will play an essential role during this time. Because a
disaster will tax the resources of your governance and response or emergency management
structures, a coordinated response between all levels of government and non-government
activities is essential. It will allow for the efficient deployment of resources so they work
together as a set of consolidated capabilities. In turn, this will provide you with the best
opportunity to minimize to the loss of life, protect property, mitigate the effects of the disaster
and ultimately recover the governance, security, judicial and socio-economic structure of your
community.
The purpose of this guide is to provide you with an enhanced understanding of what you will
need to know and do in order for your community to carry out a successful large scale disaster
response. The guide is based on Presidential Policy Directive (PPD)-8, National Preparedness.
PPD-8 was developed in 2011 to strengthen our Nations security and resilience against a variety
of hazards, including terrorism, pandemics and catastrophic natural disasters. PPD-8 reflects the
belief that the entire emergency management team, which includes all levels of government, the
private and non-profit sectors and individual citizens, plays a key role in keeping communities
safe and secure, meeting the needs of survivors when disaster strikes and preventing the loss of
life and property. At a minimum, you should familiarize yourself with this Executive Summary
and the Quick Reference Guide that follows.
As an elected or appointed official, you will be held responsible for your communitys outcome
in a disaster. However, everyone from citizens to private sector, government and not-for-profit
institutions must work together to prepare for, mitigate, respond to and recover from disasters.
Government alone is no longer the answer. Therefore before an incident occurs, you should
form strong relationships with key personnel who will be involved in a disaster response,
including your emergency manager. You also should familiarize yourself with your local
Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and local procedures and look to your emergency
management office for assistance in executing your emergency management operations. General
familiarity with all phases of emergency management (i.e., prevention, protection, response,
recovery and mitigation) will also be helpful.
Important considerations to keep in mind include:
Your leadership and your support staff are important to the success of the response.
Utilize a single official on your staff to provide you with reports.
You should work to identify needed pre-event relationships and create connectivity by
building relationships with others and other organizations before a large response
incident.
Your awareness of the changing situation and flexibility in adjusting your priorities are a
key element of success.
Use social media to your advantage its power cannot be overstated.
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Communication of the evaluated impacts and trend assessments, plans and requests for
assistance to all levels of government is crucial to saving lives and protecting property.
Recognize that your community includes at risk populations (seniors, infants and young
children, individuals with access and functional needs) whose support structures may be
disproportionately compromised during an incident.
Fully exercise all missions of emergency management, namely, prevention, protection,
response, recovery and mitigation.
This guide assumes the following:
A National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incident Command Structure has been
implemented and that a functioning Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) exists.
Political interests exist at the local, state, tribal, territorial and federal levels. They are
diverse and challenge the governance structure in the area impacted by a disaster.
You have an understanding of the key infrastructure and associated capabilities and
liabilities in your community. Community capabilities have been reasonably resourced
and maintained.
Emergency management officials have established collaborative relationships with key
people in the community and across all levels of government and non-government
activities.
Accountable officials (e.g., your director of emergency management and leadership in
law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services) have been designated, trained and
regularly exercise their roles and responsibilities to meet proficiency and readiness levels
prescribed in the disaster plans.
An easy to use Quick Reference Guide and more detailed supporting annexes are included in this
guide. They are organized around the National Preparedness Goals emergency preparedness
missions and associated capabilities, namely:
Prevention preventing, avoiding, or stopping a threatened or actual event through
planning or in response to a report.
o Forensics and attribution
o Intelligence and information sharing
o Interdiction and disruption
o Screening, search and detection
Protection protecting residents, visitors, and assets (securing the homeland).
o Access control and verification
o Intelligence and information sharing
o Interdiction and disruption
o Physical protective measures
o Risk management for protection programs and activities
o Screening search and detection
o Supply chain integrity and security
Response saving lives, protecting property and the environment, and meeting basic
human needs after an incident has occurred.
o Critical transportation
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o Environmental response/health and safety

o Fatality management services
o Infrastructure systems
o Mass care services
o Mass search and rescue operations
o On-scene security and protection
o Operational communications
o Public and private services and resources
o Public health and medical services
o Situational awareness
Recovery assisting communities (including the environment) affected by an incident to
return to their normal states following a disaster.
o Economic recovery
o Health and social services
o Housing
o Infrastructure systems
o Natural and cultural resources
Mitigation reducing loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters or
potential disasters (decreasing the need for a response).
o Community resilience
o Long-term vulnerability reduction
o Risk and disaster resilience assessment
o Threats and hazard identification
Finally, in order to gain a better understanding of your roles and responsibilities for successful
emergency management and incident response, you are encouraged to take the following NIMS
training courses that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends for
senior elected and appointed officials:
G-402 Incident Command System (ICS) Overview for Executives/Senior Official
G-191 Incident Command System/Emergency Operations Center Interface
Additional training based on your jurisdictions risk and/or specific interest

Quick Reference Guide

Objective: To understand your jurisdictions emergency preparedness capabilities, associated
capacities and mutual assistance/support agreements before a disaster and their application
during and after a disaster.
The National Preparedness Goals emergency preparedness missions and associated capabilities
(see Executive Summary) provide a structure for all government and non-government emergency
preparedness plans. Understanding the functionality and state of readiness of each capability
within your jurisdiction will facilitate planning, sharing of information, saving lives and
protecting property. Key areas of information that should be considered for each capability are:
What are the fixed assets?
How are the assets functionally organized to deliver the stated capability?
Is each capability reasonably staffed and resourced for the stated capacity?
What is each capabilitys performance history, current readiness and assessment?
Are the resources associated with one or more capabilities part of a mutual assistance
agreement(s) with adjacent jurisdictions?
Prevention and Protection
[ ] Have a basic understanding of the National Response Framework (NRF) and the National
Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) to facilitate the integration of local, state, tribal,
territorial and federal preparedness efforts.
[ ] Acquaint yourself with key emergency management personnel and their responsibilities.
[ ] Visit key Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs).
[ ] Understand who your critical public and private stakeholders are and develop strategies for
how you will engage them in an actual event (i.e., build strong relationships).
[ ] Gain familiarity with your emergency response plans and procedures and your communitys
preparedness level.
[ ] Identify critical infrastructure and high liability locations. Build strong relationships with
those leaders.
[ ] Meet with local business leaders to understand their emergency plans and resources.
[ ] Review and gain an understanding of response capabilities across multiple levels of
government including mutual support agreements.
[ ] Participate in an exercise.
[ ] Assess budgetary support for emergency management.
Response
[ ] Assess event impacts to the continuity of government and key operations.
[ ] Establish lines of communications with government and response personnel to include
communications up, down and across government structures.
[ ] Communicate the full extent of event impacts to appropriate levels of government.
[ ] Communicate and engage with your emergency manager.
[ ] Seek opportunities to integrate into the EOC policy group or attend briefings with the EOC
director to stay abreast of the emergency response structure and emergency response personnel
priorities.
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[ ] Visit your EOC.

[ ] Work with your agencys EOC director and public information team to establish regular
media briefings and public information releases.
[ ] Ensure that your administration is communicating and engaging with constituents on
immediate, real-time safety issues (e.g., providing direction on evacuations, shelter-in-place, and
public and private shelter) in collaboration with your communication/public information officers,
director of emergency management, and leadership in law enforcement, fire and emergency
medical service agencies.
[ ] Clearly communicate event impact to the community.
[ ] Communicate and engage with constituents to provide information and reassurance.
[ ] Leverage social media.
[ ] Leverage your position to facilitate resource flows.
[ ] Initiate early discussions on recovery plans and be personally committed to eliminating
unnecessary red tape and challenges.
Recovery and Mitigation
[ ] Communicate and coordinate your recovery plan across all levels of government and the
private sector (particular attention is required to utilities and healthcare provisioning).
[ ] Participate in the lessons learned process.
[ ] Identify and take actions in areas requiring increased community resiliency.
[ ] Address capability gaps and/or other areas requiring mitigation (e.g., building code
regulations, private sector involvement).

Annex 1. Roles and Responsibilities

General Considerations
Emergency management is a critical government function which ranges from preparedness
efforts to long-term disaster recovery and mitigation. Familiarity with basic emergency
management concepts and terminology is vital to the successful integration of all elements in a
disaster response. For example, terms you should be familiar with include the National Incident
Management Structure, or NIMS (http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims). NIMS works handin-hand with the National Response Framework, or NRF, providing the template for the
management of incidents (see Annex 4). The NRF provides the structure and mechanisms for
national-level policy for incident management. The National Disaster Recovery Framework
(NDRF) provides guidance that enables effective recovery support to disaster-impacted local,
state, tribal or territorial jurisdictions (http://www.fema.gov/pdf/recoveryframework/ndrf.pdf). It
provides a flexible structure that will enable you to operate in a unified and collaborative
manner. It also focuses you on how best to restore, redevelop and revitalize the health, social,
economic, natural and environmental fabric of your community.
As a community leader and advocate, your understanding the roles and responsibilities of the
local, state, tribal, territorial and federal response or emergency management community is
essential. You are accountable for the safety and well-being of your community, including
visitors. Successfully dealing with catastrophic events requires a coordinated response across
multiple jurisdictions, political boundaries, and/or other organizational or societal boundaries.
There are three core principles of the Whole Community approach to emergency management
through which security and resiliency for your community can be achieved
(http://www.fema.gov/about/wholecommunity.shtm). They are:
Understanding and meeting the actual needs of the whole community.
Engaging and empowering all parts of the community.
Strengthening and leveraging what works well in the community on a daily basis (i.e., a
community-centric approach).
At the same time, it is important to align emergency management practices to support local needs
and work to strengthen the institutions, assets, and networks that work well in communities on a
daily basis. By focusing on core elements of a successful, connected, and committed
community, you can achieve better outcomes in times of crisis while enhancing the resilience of
your community.
The following suggest recommended activities to assist in understanding of your role and
responsibilities in emergency management operations.
Prevention Activities
Meet your emergency management officials to establish solid relationships and learn
their language.
Visit your Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and other critical facilities.
Familiarize yourself with your communitys emergency plans and procedures.
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Request periodic updates on local, state, tribal and/or territorial regional preparedness
efforts.
Provide community leadership in implementing the three core principles of Whole
Community, including foster a community-centric approach to disaster prevention.
Protection Activities
Ensure the following:
o NIMS is integrated into your communitys emergency operations,
o Your community has developed and keeps a comprehensive Emergency
Operations Plan (EOP) updated,
o Critical community services have Continuity of Operations Plans (COOPs), and
o Appropriate exercises are regularly conducted to establish effectiveness of plans,
identify gaps, and foster improvements in EOPs.
Foster coordinated responses with neighboring jurisdictions.
Response Activities
Coordinate with local, state, tribal, territorial and federal officials, as appropriate, to
provide aligned, clear, timely and simple direction and response to the public (i.e., tell the
public what you know, what you expect from them and what they can expect from you).
Be aware of the immediate, real-time life safety issues in the even of an evacuation.
Familiarize yourself with your jurisdictions capabilities for sheltering and the coinciding
protocols (e.g., short- and long-term survivor care including special needs populations,
pets and environmental concerns).
Recovery Activities
Implement your recovery plan.
Demonstrate a personal priority for initiating early recovery activities by meeting and
acting on recovery issues this action will pay enormous dividends in the long run.
Appoint a Local Disaster Recovery Manager (LDRM) if you are a local elected or
appointed official and/or activate your State Disaster Recovery Coordinator (SDRC), as
appropriate.
Contact key business, civic and faith community leaders to initiate the movement of
resources, reinforce the collaborative nature of the recovery and help provide better
alignment with your emergency management team.
Gain buy-in from community stakeholders by participating in Long Term Recovery
Groups and involving key formal and informal community leaders in the process and
placing them in leadership roles.
Encourage individuals and families to prepare for their recovery.
Mitigation Activities
Identify your emergency management mitigation point of contact and ensure they have
established coordination with local, state, tribal, territorial and/or federal counterparts and
other state agencies, as appropriate.
Utilize your emergency manager in advance of the incident to determine:

o If your immediate response needs are addressed through your local, state, tribal
and/or territorial mitigation plan priorities, as appropriate,
o The need for local, state, tribal, territorial and/or federal resources, as appropriate,
to support your priorities,
o If mitigation funding is limited to affected counties or if funding could be applied
statewide, and
o If there are extraordinary or special circumstances to justify resource support or
funding support.
Enact building requirements that facilitate rebuilding activities and promote safer,
stronger and smarter building.

Annex 2. Engagement with Emergency Management Operations

General Considerations
During the initial stages of a catastrophic disaster response, it may be confusing how best to
engage the ongoing response. However as a leader, you will find clarity and situational
awareness by engaging with your director of emergency management and leadership in law
enforcement, fire and emergency medical services in key response elements. This will
demonstrate control, knowledge, and confidence in coordinating actions necessary to ensure the
safety and well-being of your community. The best way to integrate into ongoing emergency
management operations is by utilizing a memory device, such as a checklist. A checklist will
ensure that tasks are assigned and/or completed so that you can successfully lead your
organizational base. A checklist also will prompt you to coordinate with relevant agencies,
branches of government and the private sector to promote connectivity among people or
organizations over which you have no direct control.
It is important to keep in mind that of the five mission areas of emergency management found in
Presidential Policy Directive (PPD)-8 (http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/presidential-policydirective-8-national-preparedness.pdf), recovery is often the hardest. You should expect it to
continue for an extended time, and your steadfast perseverance and leadership will be the key to
your communitys successful recovery after a crisis. The earlier recovery is established as a
priority, the sooner your community will return to normal.
The following are suggestions to consider in gaining an understanding on how to best engage
with your emergency management operations.
Prevention Activities
Understand the following:
o The Strategic National Risk Assessment (SNRA) which describes the threats,
hazards, and challenges facing the Nation
(http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/rma-strategic-national-risk-assessmentppd8.pdf),
o Federal Interagency Operational Plans, which describe how the federal
government will support local, tribal, territorial and state plans
(www.fema.gov/pdf/prepared/npg.pdf),
o The risk assessment analysis that was conducted in your community that balances
resources against threats and vulnerabilities,
o How information is gathered and shared locally between intelligence and your
law enforcement communities,
o Your local mutual aid agreements, and
o Your local Continuity of Government (COG) procedures which will allow your
government to continue essential operations (i.e., know your lines of succession).
Ensure the development of the following:
o Strategies to allocate resources effectively and leverage available assistance to
reduce risk,
o An actionable plan to provide public information and warning to your community,
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o A local Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA), which
identifies local capabilities and gaps and allows you to track your year-to-year
progress to address those gaps
(www.fema.gov/pdf/prepared/nps_description.pdf),
o Emergency response-related collaborations with the private sector, other
government and nongovernment entities, and international partners, as
appropriate,
o Actionable plans and protocols, in coordination with local, state, tribal, territorial
and/or federal and private sector entities, to prevent an imminent terrorist attack,
and
o Required skills, training and education are coordinated with the Federal
Emergency Management Agencys (FEMA) National Training and Education
Division (NTED) (http://www.fema.gov/prepared/train.shtm).
Participate annually in an effective and comprehensive exercise to validate your
communitys capabilities.
Be acquainted with the emergency management leaders in your area (i.e., officials from
your local, state, tribal, territorial and federal jurisdictions including FEMA).
Protection Activities
Ensure the development and implementation of the following:
o An integrated protection plan that engages the whole community to identify
critical objectives,
o A unified and coordinated operational structure integrating all critical
stakeholders, and
o Protocols to:
Ensure your continuity of operations (i.e., Continuity of Operations Plan
[COOP]),
Share relevant, timely, and actionable information and analysis with
relevant stakeholders (to include local, state, tribal, territorial, federal,
private sector and international partners, as appropriate),
Provide relevant stakeholders with or access to a mechanism to submit
suspicious activity reports to law enforcement, as appropriate,
Address a broad range of physical, technological, and cyber measures, and
Delay, divert, intercept, halt, apprehend, or secure threats and/or hazards.
Understand jurisdictional warning systems which communicate significant hazards to
involved operators, security officials, and the public.
Participate in annual exercises that test and refine your COOP.
Identify, assess, and prioritize risks to inform and sustain protection activities and
investments.
Response Activities
Be familiar with concepts outlined in the National Incident Management System, or
NIMS (http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims), and the National Response Framework,
or NRF (http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-core.pdf).
Ensure that your Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is equipped for immediate
activation.
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Be informed by your emergency managers of the extent of damage during the course of a
crisis and have regularly updated damage estimates provided to you.
Understand the:
o Types of Emergency Declarations/Proclamations (i.e., local, state and federal) and
what is involved with each (see Annex 5),
o Categories of work under Public Assistance, namely:
Debris removal,
Emergency protective measures,
Road systems and bridges,
Water control facilities,
Buildings, contents, and equipment,
Utilities,
Parks and recreation, and
Other.
Request Public Assistance from the appropriate category in your request for a
Presidential Disaster Declaration.
Recovery Activities
Do not lose sight of your goal of getting your community back on its feet as quickly as
possible.
Understand the various types of:
o Recovery activities (e.g., repairing damage, restoring utilities, cleaning up debris,
and obtaining financial assistance to help pay for these costs), and
o Federal assistance (e.g., Small Business Administration [SBA] Loans, individual
assistance, public assistance, hazard mitigation assistance, and other agency grant
programs).
Document community/jurisdiction costs to comply with eligibility requirements for
reimbursement from state, tribal, territorial, and federal governments.
Coordinate with government agencies at all levels to partner resources and programs to
assist your residents and business owners in returning your community back to normal.
Having a basic understanding of National Disaster Recovery Framework, or NDRF
(http://www.fema.gov/pdf/recoveryframework/ndrf.pdf).
Mitigation Activities
Ensure that Local Mitigation Plans, which identify likely hazards in your community and
the actions you need to take to reduce the damage from such events, are developed and
that you understand them (http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3336).
Use your Local Mitigation Plan (or similar plan) as the guide for taking necessary action
to protect critical community facilities, reduce exposure to liability, and minimize
community disruption.
Undertake specific mitigation activities as needed, such as strengthening building codes,
relocating homes from flood prone area, and identifying grant dollars to support facilities,
training, and equipment identified in the Local Hazard Mitigation plan.

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Annex 3. Communications
General Considerations
During any disaster response, open lines of good communication are vital and a key element to a
successful response. The following general activities should take place within your organization:
Make a commitment to communication and to the use of social media.
Provide the public specific, actionable information.
Reassure stakeholders that their concerns about safety and the communitys well-being
are being addressed in a transparent and organized process.
Coordinate the action of stakeholders to the maximum extent possible to ensure planning,
conflict resolution and execution of the five emergency management phases happen as
efficiently and effectively as possible.
Educate and train stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities before, during and postdisaster.
Prevention Activities
Communicate your:
o Prevention plan to your constituency, and
o Communitys prevention capabilities and capacities to your peers and others in
relevant agencies and the private sector (e.g., your ability to safely transport
injured personnel via ambulance and the number of vehicles you have available to
do so).
Receive and share information with relevant stakeholders:
o Intelligence and threat assessments, and
o Preplanned actions (i.e., intelligence trip settings) that automatically initiate a
preventive response action when certain conditions are met.
Coordinate with:
o Your stakeholders (e.g., law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services,
business owners, hospitals, utility owners, state/tribal/territorial and federal
officials, non-governmental organizations, volunteers and citizens) what your
expectations are regarding preemptive behavior to thwart suspected or actual
malicious activity, and
o Media outlets that in the event of suspected or malicious activity, they align to
support disseminating wide area message broadcasts.
Listen, assess and respond appropriately to reports of suspected or actual malicious
activity.
Protection Activities
Communicate to relevant stakeholders the key infrastructure and high liabilities
protection plan(s).

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Coordinate with key public and private infrastructure owners your expectations regarding
execution of their parts of the protection plan(s) including response metrics, with
capabilities and capacities.
Notify community law enforcement and fire protection leadership of your expectations
regarding their performance in protecting key infrastructure where assigned.
Be familiar (though your Department of Homeland Security Protective Security Advisor)
with
o Key infrastructure and high liability sites along with associated capabilities,
capacities and impacts, and
o Key protection capabilities and capacities.
Response Activities
Gain situational awareness to properly orient the level of effort required by your
community to deal with the disaster.
Establish lines of communications with what remains of government structures to assess
your:
o Ability to continue to operate and govern, and
o Needs in excess of the available capabilities and capacities that were indigenously
resourced.
Communicate upwardly and across with remaining government structures and private
sector partners to provide status, information, needs and offers of assistance to and/or
from adjacent municipalities, states or countries.
Establish a Joint Information Center and work with a variety of media outlets to
disseminate wide area message broadcasts containing your message(s) to include:
o Reminding your community to remain calm and follow preplanned instructions by
duly authorized personnel,
o Providing regular updates on progress, and
o Reassurance.
Provide direction to a potentially large, unorganized volunteer force with little if any
equipment.
Inform relevant stakeholders, including your community, of your Declaration of
Emergency, as appropriate.
Understand the role of the Public Information Officer and establish briefing expectations.
Recovery Activities
Communicate with local, state, tribal, territorial and federal officials, as appropriate, to
assess the level of damage and the level of effort and resources needed by your
community to recover.
Discuss with your business leaders their ability to resume and conduct business.

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Be in touch with your constituencies and provide them with damage assessment and the
recovery actions (with associated priorities) to provide temporary, then permanent
solutions to restore key community resources (e.g., shelters, hospitals, schools, churches,
transportation, businesses and utilities).
Ensure that updates are provided to your volunteer base to direct their activities to the
highest priority needs.
Mitigation Activities
Inform your community of your:
o Strategy to make it more resilient, and
o Campaign to make it better prepared through the purchase of emergency kits and
preparation and practice of family emergency plans.
Communicate your expectations to:
o Your emergency managers regarding citizen preparedness, and
o Municipal boards that set and/or enforce standards that govern construction
activities and the locating of high hazard facilities, key infrastructure components
and highly vulnerable facilities.
Communicate your expectations to utility owners and departments of transportation (e.g.,
highway, airport, bus) of standards of availability, that is, your expectations regarding
rapidity of restoring services.
Work upwardly and across government structures to establish/confirm preplanned
assistance memoranda.

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Annex 4. National Incident Management System (NIMS)

NIMS provides a consistent nationwide approach for local, state, tribal, territorial and federal
governments to work together to prevent and prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover
from and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size or complexity. NIMS is
based on the premise that utilization of a common incident management framework will give
emergency management/response personnel a flexible but standardized system for emergency
management and incident response activities. The system is flexible because its components can
be utilized to develop plans, processes, procedures, agreements, and roles for all types of
incidents, and it is applicable to any incident. Additionally, NIMS provides an organized set of
standardized operational structures, which is critical in allowing disparate organizations and
agencies to work together in a predictable, coordinated manner. The structures include the
Incident Command System (ICS), the Multi-Agency Coordination System, and Public
Information. NIMS does not provide a response structure to be used only during large scale
events or a communication tool that is applicable to certain emergency management personnel.
The figures below outline the NIMS levels of response and the NIMS ICS and Unified
Coordination Group (UCG) for complex incidents. It is important to maintain effective
interaction within and between the response levels in order to gain and maintain common
situational awareness, manage information (i.e., get the right information to the right place at the
right time), manage resources (i.e., have the right resources in the right place at the right time),
and manage consequences (i.e., identify and solve problems in the field with a focus on the
community).
Figure 1. NIMS Levels of Response.
Strategic
Elected or Appointed Officials (e.g., Secretary, Governor, Mayor)

Operational
Agency Representatives (i.e., Emergency Managers)

EOC

Tactical
Personnel (e.g., firefighter, police) and Equipment

FIELD

Levels of the Response

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Figure 2. NIMS Incident Command System (ICS) and the Unified Coordination Group (UCG)
for Complex Incidents.

Command occurs within the ICS construct in the form of an Incident Commander. This
individual is in charge of and directs resources, sets priorities and is responsible for the response.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses the term Unified Coordination
Group (UCG) as described in the National Response Framework (January 2008). In most FEMA
incidents, the UCG will function as a Unified Command shown above. The UCG is comprised
of senior leaders representing state and federal interests and in certain circumstances, local
jurisdictions, tribal and territorial governments, or the private sector. In a disaster in which the
Stafford Act is invoked thereby allowing a presidential disaster declaration of an emergency to
trigger financial and physical assistance through FEMA, the UCG typically consists of the
Federal Coordinating Officer and the State Coordinating Officer. On larger, more complex
incidents, the UCG may include senior officials from other entities and other federal agencies.
However, the Federal Coordinating Officer is the lead FEMA representative in the UCG
organization.

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Annex 5. Emergency Declarations/Proclamations

The table below shows the types of Emergency Declarations/Proclamations and the essential
elements of each.
Table 1. Types of Emergency Declarations/Proclamations.
Emergency
Proclamations
What
How
Purpose

When

Local

State*

Federal

Local Emergency
Proclamation
Issued by Governing Body
of City/County
Extraordinary Police
Powers and Immunity of
Emergency Actions
- Authorizes issuance of
orders and regulations
- Activates pre-established
emergency provisions
- Prerequisite for
requesting state and federal
assistance
Issuance within 10 days of
incident; ratification by
Governing Body with 7
days; renewal every 30
days by Governing Body

Governors
Proclamation
Issued by State
Governor
Provide financial
relief for emergency
actions and restore
public facilities and
infrastructure

Presidential Declaration
of Emergency
Issued by U.S. President

Presidential Declaration of a
Major Disaster

- Support federal, state,

and local response
activities
- Provide essential
assistance: debris
removal, temporary
housing, distribution of
medicine, food, and
other goods

- Support disaster relief

organizations and federal,
state, and local government
response and recovery
activities
- Implement federal recovery
programs: public assistance,
individual assistance, hazard
mitigation

Must receive request

from local
government within
10 days of incident

Governor must make

request (on behalf of
local government)
within 5 days after need
is apparent
- All supporting
information required
above
- Governors
Proclamation
- Certification that
effective response is
beyond capacity of the
state

Governor must request

federal declaration of a major
disaster within 30 days of
incident

Supporting
Documents

- Local emergency
proclamation; Initial
damage estimate
- Request from the
City Mayor,
Administrative
Officer, or County
Board of Supervisors

* Dependent on state statutes

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- Confirmation of executed
state emergency plan
- Information describing
state and local efforts
- Identification of specific
type and extent of federal
emergency assistance needed

Annex 6. Acronyms and Glossary

COG

Continuity of Government. The principle of establishing defined

procedures that allow a government to continue its essential
operations in case of a catastrophic event.

COOP

Continuity of Operations Plan. A federal initiative, required by

Presidential directive, that ensures agencies are able to continue
performance of essential functions under a broad range of
circumstances.

EOC

Emergency Operations Center

EOP

Emergency Operations Plan. A plan which describes who will do

what, when, with what resources, and by what authority before,
during, and immediately after a crisis.

FEMA

Federal Emergency Management Agency. A component agency of

the Department of Homeland Security.

ICS

Incident Command System. A standardized, on-scene, all-hazards

incident management approach that can be used for incidents of
any type, scope, and complexity.

LDRM

Local Disaster Recovery Manager

NDRF

National Disaster Recovery Framework. A guide that enables

effective recovery support to disaster-impacted local, state, tribal
and territorial jurisdictions by defining core recovery principles,
roles and responsibilities of recovery coordinators and other
stakeholders, a coordinating structure that facilitates
communication and collaboration among all stakeholders,
guidance for pre- and post-disaster recovery planning and the
overall process by which communities can capitalize on
opportunities to rebuild stronger, smarter and safer.

NIMS

National Incident Management System. A systematic, proactive

approach which guides departments and agencies at all levels of
government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector
to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover
from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause,
size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life and
property and harm to the environment.

NRF

National Response Framework. A guide on how the Nation

conducts all-hazards response.
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NTED

National Training and Education Division. A division within

FEMA that serves the nation's first responder community, offering
a variety of courses to help build critical skills that responders need
to function effectively in mass consequence events.

PPD

Presidential Policy Directive. A form of an executive order issued

by the President of the United States with the advice and consent
of the National Security Council. As a National Security
instrument, it articulates the executive's policy, and carries the full
force and effect of law throughout the terms of presidents.

SBA

Small Business Administration

SDRC

State Disaster Recovery Coordinator

SNRA

Strategic National Risk Assessment. A strategic national risk

assessment executed in support of PPD-8 which identifies the
types of incidents that pose the greatest threat to the Nations
homeland security.

THIRA

Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment. A

guidance document currently under development that will provide
a common and consistent approach of identifying and assessing
risks and associated impacts. It expands on existing local, state,
tribal and territorial hazard identification and risk assessments.

UCG

Unified Coordination Group. The group is comprised of specified

senior leaders representing state and federal interests, and in
certain circumstances local jurisdictions, tribal governments, the
private sector, or nongovernmental organizations. It usually
consists of the Principal Federal Official (if designated), Federal
Coordinating Officer, State Coordinating Officer, and senior
officials from other entities with primary statutory or jurisdictional
responsibility and significant operational responsibility for an
aspect of an incident (e.g., the Senior Health Official, Department
of Defense representative, or Senior Federal Law Enforcement
Official if assigned). Within the UCG, the Federal Coordinating
Officer is the primary federal official responsible for coordinating,
integrating, and synchronizing federal response activities.

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The following members of NPLI Cohort VIII 2011-12 prepared this report:
Christopher Rinn
New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services
Craig P. Dziedzic, Esq.
Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative
Gerald L. Talbot, Jr.
Office of Personnel Management
Jaime E. Forero, Jr.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
and
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Kelly R. McKinney, PE
New York City Office of Emergency Management
RDML Linda L. Fagan
United States Coast Guard
Steven C. Woodard
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Ulana R. Bodnar, MD
Department of Homeland Security

Barry C. Dorn, MD, FACS, MHCM

Faculty Advisor, Harvard University

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