‘After-action report’ for 2005 hurricane season response published

The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) has released its after-action report (AAR) for the 2005 Hurricane season response. According to the report, despite demands put on the system by the catastrophic natural disasters of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, the compact and its leadership worked effectively – delivering unprecedented levels of personnel and resources to the affected areas.

The report is the culmination of nearly 10 months of intensive review and focuses on activities related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It identifies the compact’s major accomplishments as well as areas needed for improvement. Cited as EMAC’s primary achievement was its ability to deliver resources, people and equipment to Louisiana and Mississippi in the face of one of the country’s worst natural disasters. In fact, the 2005 civilian EMAC response was 23 times larger than the 2004 deployment of resources under EMAC; from 800 in 2004 to nearly 20,000 in 2005. The additional deployment of more than 46,500 National Guard personnel in 2005 ‘makes a clear statement that EMAC is both effective and scalable’.

The report also identifies areas where EMAC can improve. These include
1) development of a major educational and public awareness campaign to ensure that all relevant parties understand EMAC’s purpose, restrictions and operational parameters;
2) improved accountability of personnel deployed under EMAC; and
3) increased funding to maintain and grow EMAC.

Acting on the first goal, an EMAC Advisory Group has already been established. It is comprised of individuals from national associations representing state and local emergency management, law enforcement, fire, public health, public works, EMS, the National Guard and elected officials. In addition, the National Guard Bureau, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the US Department of Homeland Security have been invited to name liaisons. The group will serve as a vetting body for EMAC processes and procedures, share information and provide input to NEMA, assist with EMAC education and training for their respective disciplines and support EMAC during major activations.

Findings from the AAR were based on surveys, facilitated focus groups and interviews with stakeholders and emergency responders who were deployed during the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita responses. These representatives came from a wide variety of disciplines, including search and rescue; law enforcement; medical resources; human resources; public works; and many others.

The report focuses on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which accounted for 97.3 percent of the 2005 missions and 99.6 percent of the personnel deployed during 2005. However, EMAC was activated 10 times that year; responding to one wildfire, one flood, one tropical storm, two winter storms, and five hurricanes.

These events generated a total of 2,241 mission requests, resulting in the deployment of 66,207 personnel and countless pieces of equipment.

The AAR can be downloaded from the EMAC website: http://www.emacweb.org

•Date: 11th October 2006• Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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