Statutes of Preparedness
This code outlines Emergency Management in the State of Texas.
What is Texas Government Code 418
Signed in 2003, this directive called for the creation of a single, comprehensive incident management system - leading to the National Incident Management System.
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5).
These are the three major components of the National Incident Management System.
What are Resource Management, Command and Coordination, and Communications and Information Management?
This is the location where the Incident Commander manages on-scene operations and sets incident objectives.
What is the Incident Command Post?
This Texas blues legend wailed, "Well it's floodin' down in Texas, all the telephone lines are down" in his iconic 1983 song, Texas Flood.
Who is Stevie Ray Vaughan
This 1988 federal law, named after a U.S. Senator, authorizes the President to declare a "major disaster" or "emergency" and provides the framework for federal assistance to state and local governments.
What is the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (or the Stafford Act)?
First issued in 2004 and revised in 2008, 2017, and 2023, this system provides a consistent nationwide template for incident management at all levels of government and across the whole community.
What is the National Incident Management System (NIMS)?
Planning
This temporary location is where personnel and equipment wait to be assigned; once deployed, they no longer stay here.
What is a Staging Area?
This band wasn't all the way correct when they sang "thunder only happens when it's raining" in their 1977 hit, Dreams.
Who is Fleetwood Mac?
Enacted in 1990, this landmark civil rights law requires equal access for individuals with disabilities - including before, during, and after disasters - covering everything from shelters to communications.
What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
First released in 2004 and most recently updated in 2019, this guiding document explains how the Nation responds to all types of disasters and emergencies, using Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) to organize resources.
What is the National Response Framework?
These are the NIMS Command and Coordination Structures.
Incident Command System (ICS)
Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs)
Multiagency Coordination (MAC) Groups
Joint Information System (JIS)
This location is the primary service and support hub for an incident, where logistics, administration, and coordination are centralized.
What is the Incident Base?
This band, which shares the name of Austin Emergency Management's planning partners, sang "The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).
R.E.M.
This 2000 law amended the Stafford Act to require state and local hazard mitigation plans as a condition certain disaster assistant, emphasizing the importance of planning before disaster strikes.
What is the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.
Issued in 2011, this directive established the National Preparedness Goal and National Preparedness System, built around five mission areas: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery.
What is Presidential Policy Directive 8 (PPD-8)?
These positions make up the Command and General staff.
Command: Liaison, Safety, PIO
General: Planning, Operations, Logistics, Finance.
Established when incidents are large or long-lasting, these provide sleeping, food, sanitation, and support for responders.
What is a Camp?
This artist suggested he would "...probably visit where Katrina hit, And [dang] sure do a lot more than FEMA did" if only he were a billionaire.
Who is Travie McCoy?
Passed in 2006, this law overhauled FEMA after its criticized response to Hurricane Katrina, strengthening preparedness, integrating disability and children's needs, and clarifying FEMA's role with DHS.
What is the Post-Katrina Reform Act?
Defined in the National Preparedness Goal, these 32 distinct elements outline what the whole community must achieve across all mission areas - Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery.
What are the Core Capabilities?
These are the way in which an Emergency Operations Center can be organized.
ICS structure, Emergency Support Functions, or by departments and agencies.
Unlike the on-scene command post, this facility (physical or virtual) provides strategic coordination, resource support, and policy guidance at the city, county, or state level.
What is an EOC?
While one would automatically think the song "Louisiana 1927" is about Hurricane Katrina, it was actually written about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 by this artist.
Who is Randy Newman.