Introduction to Emergency Management

Emergency management isn’t just something we do; its a process. Emergency managers don’t just “manage” emergencies; they use the concepts of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery to take whatever steps can be taken to prevent them from happening, prepare for the eventuality of them happening, the response to them, and recovery from them after they have occurred.

Emergency managers are responsible for coordinating the plans and operations of various components of the emergency management system - emergency medical services, fire, police, public works, utilities, volunteers, and others contributing to the management of emergencies. The emergency manager manages the resources used to respond during a disaster.

Emergency management agencies exist at all levels of government, and in the private sector emergency management is typically a department or office within an organization. Individuals who use the concepts of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, to take steps to prevent an emergency or disaster from damaging their property, and to save the lives of their families, respond when an emergency or disaster hits, and engage in recovery afterward, are practicing emergency management.

Emergency management is comprised of three interrelated components: 

1. The “All Hazards” approach. Since there are commonalities in all types of disasters that can occur, it makes sense to use the same management strategy in our efforts to prevent them, prepare for them, respond to them, and recover from them after they have happened.

2. Emergency management isn’t just something performed by government agencies, but rather it is a “partnership” amongst all those who may be affected by emergencies or disasters, or respond to them. Federal, regional, state, county, and local agencies, the private sector, and the general public are all participants, and therefore, partners in emergency management.

3. The emergency “life-cycle.” They exist throughout time and have a “life-cycle” of occurrence which has to be matched by the phases of emergency management - mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

The four phases of emergency management can be seen as a circle.

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Each phase is a result of the previous one and establishes the basis for the next one. There may be actions in one phase which may overlap with another phase. The phases also have no beginning and no ending. Emergency Management is a process.

Emergency Management Agencies exist at all levels of government, corporations and companies of all sizes

On the pages that follow, the topics of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery are discussed and links are provided to federal, state, county, and local emergency management agencies.

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