Emergency Management Assistance Compact
| Formation | 1996 |
|---|---|
| Type | Interstate compact |
| Headquarters | Administered by the National Emergency Management Association |
| Location | |
|
Membership
|
All U.S. states, District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam |
| Website | emacweb.org |
The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) is a mutual aid agreement between states and territories of the United States. It enables states to share resources during natural and man-made disasters, including terrorism.
EMAC complements the national disaster response system. EMAC is used alongside federal assistance or when federal assistance is not warranted. EMAC facilitates the maximum use of all available resources within member states' inventories.
Under EMAC, requests and deployment of resources are made at the discretion of the affected state. At all times, affected states retain the choice of seeking resource support from states, the federal government, or both as may be determined by the size of the disaster event. The main contact for agencies, organizations, and the private sector to learn more about EMAC is the state emergency management agencies.
EMAC works as follows: When a disaster occurs, the governor of the affected state or territory declares a state of emergency. The impacted state assesses its resource needs and identifies shortfalls for which assistance will be requested, and authorized representatives from the affected state then activate EMAC. These authorized representatives as well as EMAC Advance Team (A-Team) members then determine the state's needs for personnel and equipment and broadcasts an EMAC requisition to other states. States with available resources negotiate costs with the affected state through the EMAC network, executing EMAC Form Req-A. Assisting states that commit to an agreement then mobilize and deploy the agreed-upon resources (personnel or equipment) to the affected state. Once the mission is completed, the resources are demobilized and redeployed to their home states. Deployed personnel provide receipts and records to their home state to develop a reimbursement package, which is then sent to the affected state, which then reimburses the assisting state.
EMAC is administered by the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), which provides the day-to-day support and technical backbone for EMAC education and operations at its headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky.
EMAC was proposed by former Florida Governor Lawton Chiles after 1992's Hurricane Andrew. Following the passage of the compact by the 104th U.S. Congress in 1996 (PL-104-321), EMAC has grown to become a nationwide system for providing mutual aid. To be a member of EMAC, each state or territory legislature must have passed legislation which was signed into law, adopting the standard language of the Compact. Since at least 2003, all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam are members of EMAC.
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