The duties of emergency managers depend, in part, on how local ordinances define those responsibilities. In some jurisdictions, the emergency manager is an adviser to the jurisdiction’s executive – the mayor, county manager or the state governor. In others, the emergency manager is an executive with the authority to act, up to a point, in an emergency. In a major disaster, the jurisdiction’s executive has final authority on requests for emergency assistance.
Protect and Preserve
The primary obligation of the emergency manager, regardless of authority, is to “protect and preserve the safety” of the jurisdiction’s citizenry. The emergency manager must develop relationships with emergency response agencies to facilitate inter-agency operations in emergencies. Inter-agency competition must dissolve into a seamless emergency response when needed, but the emergency manager must also be aware of the limits of each department. It’s frequently the duty of the emergency manager to create and use joint training exercises, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control “Zombie Apocalypse” scenario, to highlight and correct weaknesses in emergency response.
The emergency manager’s next duty is to coordinate emergency response efforts. As FEMA notes in its emergency manager training, it’s not the emergency manager’s job to direct police or firefighting activities, but to ensure that the plans for both are implemented as required. An emergency response, such as that required by a major hurricane, will include relief efforts, assistance to victims on site and evacuees, and reconstruction in addition to a police, medical and fire department response.
Raise Community Awareness
The emergency manager is responsible for raising community awareness of emergency preparedness and response. By bringing volunteers from the community into the emergency response system, either in an administrative function or as trained, volunteer community responders, the emergency manager can effectively augment the emergency response force and relieve some of the burden from professional responders. Effective training programs for volunteers are available from FEMA and from organizations such as the Red Cross.
Media and Communications
The emergency manager must develop and maintain good relationships with the members of the media. Because part of the emergency manager’s job is disseminating emergency information by the most expeditious means possible, the media – from bloggers to newspapers and television – are invaluable conduits for spreading not only “the word,” but the official word, including information to minimize the impact of an impending disaster. One prime example is the emergency broadcast response system, designed to give the best available information to the citizens via their television and radio.
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