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		<field id="1100" index="0" type="text">Scott Muir</field>

		<field id="1102" index="0" type="text">50 Main Street</field>

		<field id="1103" index="0" type="text">P.O. Box 417</field>

		<field id="1104" index="0" type="text">Stockbridge</field>

		<field id="1105" index="0" type="text">MA</field>

		<field id="1106" index="0" type="text">01262</field>

		<field id="1107" index="0" type="text">413-298-4170   EXT 260</field>

		<field id="1108" index="0" type="text">413-298-4344</field>

		<field id="1200" index="0" type="text">SBREPC Basic Emergency Planning for Families</field>

		<field id="1201" index="0" type="text">./sbrepc.pdf</field>

		<field id="1202" index="0" type="text">Emergency Levels Explained</field>

		<field id="1203" index="0" type="text">Emergency Levels Explained</field>

		<field id="1204" index="0" type="text">Preparedness</field>

		<field id="1205" index="0" type="text">Preparedness</field>

		<field id="1206" index="0" type="text">Are you Ready?</field>

		<field id="1207" index="0" type="text">http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/</field>

		<field id="1208" index="0" type="text">Related Links</field>

		<field id="1209" index="0" type="text">Related Links</field>

		<field id="1112" index="0" type="text">Chris Marsden</field>

		<subject index="0" >Emergency Management</subject>

		<field id="8010" index="0" type="text">ems</field>

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	The Town of Stockbridge has recently and actively been updating our local emergency management plan to provide the best safety for the people of our town. We have put some information together to try and help our community in the case of any local disaster. Below are links for information on a range of disasters and agencies that can better assist you with additional informaiton.

	The United States Government has created an agency specifically for Emergency Management called FEMA, Federal Emergency Managment Association. FEMA is an independent federal agency with more than 2,600 full time employees. They work at FEMA headquarters in Washington D.C., at regional and area offices across the country, at the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, and at the FEMA training center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. FEMA also has nearly 4,000 standby disaster assistance employees who are available to help out after disasters. Often FEMA works in partnership with other organizations that are part of the nation's emergency management system. These partners include state and local emergency management agencies, 27 federal agencies and American Red Cross.

	The purpose of FEMA is to advise on building codes and flood plain management... teach people how to get through a disaster... help equip local and state emergency preparedness... coordinate the federal response to a disaster... make disaster assistance available to states, communities, businesses and individuals... train emergency managers... support the nation's fire service... and administer the national flood and crime insurance programs. The range of FEMA's activities is broad indeed. 

	One way to look at what FEMA does is to think about the life cycle of disasters. Some of the functions involved are shown below.
	
	The disaster life cycle describes the process through which emergency managers prepare for emergencies and disasters, respond to them when they occur, help people and institutions recover from them, mitigate their effects, reduce the risk of loss, and prevent disasters such as fires from occurring.	
	And at every stage of this cycle you see FEMA -- the federal agency charged with building and supporting the nation's emergency management system. 

	Emergency Management is the organized community-wide planning, decision making, assignment and coordination of available resources to the preparedness for, response to, recovery from, and mitigation of disasters or emergencies of any kind. 

Emergency Management responsibilities include: 

MITIGATION activities which eliminate or reduce the vulnerability of the community to damage to property or the environment, injury, and loss of life and property resulting from a natural, or technological (man made) disaster.

PREPARATION to provide rapid, efficient and coordinated response and recovery actions to protect life, property and the environment.

RESPONSE to emergencies or disasters using all systems, plans and resources available in the community. These activities help reduce casualties and damage, and speed recovery.

RECOVERY from emergencies or disasters by providing rapid and coordinated restoration and rehabilitation services. 

	Recovery is both a short-term and long-term process. In the short-term, recovery operations seek to restore vital services to the community and provide for the basic needs of the public. Long-term recovery focuses on restoring the community to its normal, or improved, state of affairs. 

	The recovery period is also an opportunity to institute mitigation measures to lessen the vulnerability of future disasters. The phases are cyclical - all activities and experiences lead back to the mitigation phase. We learn to prevent or lessen the impact of future emergencies by what we learn from past occurrences.

The Emergency Management Team

	When disaster strikes, the various resource providers in the Emergency Management Team share the responsibility for utilizing resources to effectively respond to and recovery from its effects. This team includes federal, state and local government agencies, disaster relief organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army, and private sector organizations such as hospitals and utilities. While state and federal governments have emergency response capabilities and resources, initial response in an emergency or disaster is the responsibility of local government.