Emergency management is a comprehensive system to respond to emergencies or disasters impacting our community.  The mission of the City of San Antonio Office of Emergency Management (SAOEM) is to coordinate activities of the City departments responsible for continued operations during disasters, coordinate agreements for the use of resources, communicate with State and Federal agencies, and provide education and training to citizens and municipal employees.

Emergency Management Encompasses:

Prevention:  Actions taken to avoid an incident or to intervene to stop an incident from occurring in the effort to protect lives and property.

Preparedness:  Activities such as planning, training, public education and outreach to create awareness of potential dangers and increase readiness in our community.

Response:  Use of available resources to meet the needs of the community when disaster strikes. Depending on the severity of the disaster, this can include local, county, State and Federal resources, to include fire and EMS services, public works and law enforcement.

Recovery:  The long range support of restoring the community to pre-disaster conditions.  This phase includes damage assessments to public and private property, as well as social services to assist citizens.  The length of the recovery phase depends on the magnitude of the disaster.

Emergency Management Disciplines

• Emergency management
• Emergency medical service
• Fire service
• Government administrative, (includes elected officials who might be making emergency management related decisions in an emergency response, agency administrators, and select department heads with multi-agency coordination system responsibilities.)
• Hazardous materials
• Health care
• Law enforcement
• Public communications
• Public health
• Public works
  
  
  
  
• Volunteer Organizations Active iin Disaster (VOAD)
• Private Sector
  
  

The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has four (4) levels of emergency response activation. The level of activation is determined by the Emergency Management Coordinator and is based on the severity and scope of the emergency event.

Upon activation, the EOC is responsible for the coordination of the 10 primary disciplines of emergency management. These disciplines, which include first responders, are responsible for the implementation of the emergency activation plan, as directed by the incident commander.