The Emergency Management Assistance Compact

The Emergency Management Assistance Compact is a mutual aid agreement that is used between states when their own resources are overwhelmed from a manmade or natural disaster. The EMAC provides assistance when a governor declares a state of emergency to be able to provide resources across states borders without the delay of bureaucratic red tape. Under this compact states are allowed to send personnel, equipment, and commodities to other states within a moment’s notice. (FEMA p. 1)

The EMAC uses a 5 phase process to expedite efforts when dealing with a major disaster. The first phase is the pre-event preparation phase. The second phase is the activation phase. The third phase is request and offer phase. The fourth phase is the response phase and the fifth and final phase is reimbursement. (EMAC 2013)

An activation of use of an EMAC would be that of the following: A governor of the affected state or territory would declare a state of emergency. The affected state assesses its resource needs and identifies areas in which assistance will be requested, the message through NIMS is delivered to authorized representatives from the affected state to activate the EMAC. These authorized representatives as well as EMAC Advance Team members work together to then determine the state’s needs. The EMAC is then delivered to other states. (FEMA p.3)

From that point, only states with available resources communicate with the affected state over cost for resources supplied through the EMAC network. If a state cannot provided the resources requested they are not required to attempt to deliver services. Once assisting states have come to an agreement with the affected state they will then mobilize and deploy the agreed-upon resources. Once the operation is completed, the resources are demobilized and return to their home states and normal operation area. Personnel deployed during the operation will provide their records and receipts to their state of operation for reimbursement....