Thirteen Programs in the Americas Earn Emergency Management Accreditation

By: UNDRR – The Americas

Source: Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP)

Lexington, USA; April 28, 2015 – The British Virgin Islands; the States of Arkansas, Arizona, Nebraska and Connecticut; the USACE Kansas City and Seattle Districts; the Commonwealths of Kentucky and Pennsylvania; the Dixie County, Fla., Montgomery County, Md. and Saint Charles Parish, La.; and the Idaho State University Programs have earned accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP).

In a time where the emergency management community is strengthening in professional preparedness and the EMAP recognition is broadening to an international scale; accreditation represents a significant achievement. Through the vast array of international, federal, state, local and institutions of higher education programs – EMAP Accreditation is the common link between vastly different professional emergency management programs.

Ms. Barb Graff, Director of the Seattle Office of Emergency Management and Chair of the EMAP Commission said: “By achieving accreditation these Programs demonstrate, through proving compliance to standards of excellence, the commitment to their communities' safety. The emergency management community is becoming redefined as more government entities and businesses see the necessity to ensure they are prepared for and may respond to any identified hazard that will affect them”.

For the States of Arkansas, Arizona, Nebraska, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, reaccreditation proves just as significant. By maintaining their accredited status throughout the years, these Programs prove that they adhere to the industry-recognized standards, Emergency Management Standard, and successfully maintain accreditation status to achieve reaccreditation this year.

“ Maintaining accreditation is equally as important as the first time achieving it. These Programs passed the test in continuing to prove their sustainability within their emergency management structure; reassuring that disaster preparedness and response is their number one priority,” Ms.Graff stated.

To achieve accreditation, emergency management programs document compliance with a set of industry recognized standards, Emergency Management Standard, used in the accreditation process and undergo a peer-review assessment by EMAP trained assessors.

The emergency management program uses the accreditation to prove the capabilities of their disaster preparedness and response systems. Accreditation is valid for five years and the program must maintain compliance with EMAP standards and is reassessed to maintain accredited status.

The Emergency Management Standard is flexible in design so that programs of differing sizes, populations, risks and resources can use it as a blueprint for improvement and can attain compliance with the standard.

EMAP recognizes the ability of emergency management programs to bring together personnel, resources and communications from a variety of agencies and organizations in preparation for and in response to an emergency, in addition to obtaining the ability to measure those capabilities.

The EMAP process evaluates emergency management programs on compliance with requirements in sixteen areas, including: planning; resource management; training; exercises, evaluations, and corrective actions; and communications and warning.

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Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP)