Emergency Management Australia

Emergency Management Australia (EMA) is an Australian Federal Government Agency tasked with coordinating governmental responses to emergency incidents. EMA currently sits within the Federal Attorney General's Department.

Australian state and territory authorities have a constitutional responsibility, within their boundaries, for coordinating and planning for the response to disasters and civil emergencies. When the total resources (government, community and commercial) of an affected state or territory cannot reasonably cope with the needs of the situation, the state or territory government can seek assistance from the Australian Government.

On request, the Australian Government will provide and coordinate physical assistance to the States in the event of a major natural, technological or civil defence emergency. Such physical assistance will be provided when State and Territory resources are inappropriate, exhausted or unavailable. The Australian Government accepts responsibility and prepares plans for providing Commonwealth physical resources in response to such requests. Emergency Management Australia (EMA) is nominated as the agency responsible for planning and coordinating Commonwealth physical assistance to the states and territories under the Commonwealth Government Disaster Response Plan (COMDISPLAN).

The Commonwealth Government Disaster Response Plan (COMDISPLAN) provides the framework for addressing state and territory requests for Commonwealth physical assistance arising from any type of emergency. COMDISPLAN is normally activated when Commonwealth assistance for emergency response or short-term recovery is requested or likely to be requested.

EMA runs the Australian Emergency Management Institute at Mt. Macedon in Victoria. The Institute conducts extensive emergency management education and training courses from the Public Safety Training Package, including Emergency Coordination Center Management, Exercise Management, Undertake Emergency Planning, Risk-based Land Use Planning, Business Continutity Management, Emergency Management for Local Government and four programs in Recovery Management. Members of the State Fire, Police, Ambulance, State Emergency Service (SES) and other Emergency Services attend these accredited courses, along with representatives from all levels of Government (From local through to federal), NGOs such as the Red Cross and representatives of the private sector deemed "critical infrastructure" (i.e. water/power/transport). Facing a shortage of skilled faciltators experieced in the concepts and principles of emergency management, the institute has now begun contracting practitioners from the private sector and other agencies from around the country to deliver their range of courses.

EMA programs focus very much on "Emergency Management" versus "Managing Emergencies" in an "all hazards" context. Emergency Management is a range of measures to manage risks to communities and the environment.

Emergency Management involves the plans, structures and arrangements which are established to bring together the normal endeavours of government, voluntary and private agencies in a comprehensive and coordinated way to deal with the whole spectrum of emergency needs including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.

ee also

*FEMA, FEMA is not directly EMA's equivalent in the United States of America, however the agencies share some common responsibilities.

External links

* [http://www.ema.gov.au/ Official website]