Emergency management
United States

In the United States, all disasters are initially local, with local authorities, with usually a police, fire, or EMS agency, taking charge. Many local municipalities may also have a separate dedicated office of emergency management (OEM), along with personnel and equipment. If the event becomes overwhelming to the local government, state emergency management (the primary government structure of the United States) becomes the coordinating emergency management agency. Lower levels of government generally maintain a leadership role in the response to and recovery from disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is the lead federal agency for emergency management. The United States and its territories are broken down into ten regions for FEMA's emergency management purposes. FEMA supports, but does not override state authority.

The Citizen Corps is an organization of volunteer service programs, administered locally and coordinated nationally by DHS, which seek to mitigate disasters and prepare the population for emergency response through public education, training, and outreach. Most disaster response is carried out by volunteer organizations. In the US, the Red Cross is chartered by Congress to coordinate disaster response services. It is typically the lead agency handling shelter and feeding of evacuees. Religious organizations, with their ability to provide volunteers quickly, are usually integral during the response process. The largest being the Salvation Army, with a primary focus on chaplaincy and rebuilding, and Southern Baptists who focus on food preparation and distribution, as well as cleaning up after floods and fires, chaplaincy, mobile shower units, chainsaw crews and more. With over 65,000 trained volunteers, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is one of the largest disaster relief organizations in the US. Similar services are also provided by Methodist Relief Services, the Lutherans, and Samaritan's Purse. Unaffiliated volunteers show up at most large disasters. To prevent abuse by criminals, and for the safety of the volunteers, procedures have been implemented within most response agencies to manage and effectively use these 'SUVs' (Spontaneous Unaffiliated Volunteers).

The US Congress established the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (COE) as the principal agency to promote disaster preparedness in the Asia-Pacific region.

The National Tribal Emergency Management Council (NEMC) is a non-profit educational organization developed for tribal organizations to share information and best practices, as well as to discuss issues regarding public health and safety, emergency management, and homeland security, affecting those under First Nations sovereignty. NTMC is organized into regions, based on the FEMA 10-region system. NTMC was founded by the Northwest Tribal Emergency Management Council (NWTEMC), a consortium of 29 tribal nations and villages in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska.

The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) professional association that offers trainings, conferences, tools, and publications in the preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery spaces.

If a disaster or emergency is declared to be terror-related or an "Incident of National Significance", the Secretary of Homeland Security will initiate the National Response Framework (NRF). The NRF allows the integration of federal resources with local, county, state, or tribal entities, with the management of those resources to be handled at the lowest possible level, utilizing the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer information for specific types of emergencies, such as disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and severe weather, chemical and radiation accidents, etc. The Emergency Preparedness and Response Program of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health develops resources to address responder safety and health during responder and recovery operations.
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