Georgia Emergency Operations Plan - GEMA/Homeland Security

elating to disaster preparedness with local emergency management
agencies. The state of Georgia launched the “Ready Georgia”
Campaign in January of 2008. Ready Georgia is a statewide campaign
supported by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland
Security aimed at motivating Georgians to take action to prepare for a
disaster. This campaign provides a local dimension to a broader national
campaign, titled Ready America, and focuses on educating citizens so
that they are better prepared for disasters. The Georgia campaign is
supported by the Georgia Department of Public Health, The Ad Council,
The Home Depot and volunteer organizations and seeks to coordinate a
cohesive statewide program and a call to action regarding emergency
preparedness. Local Emergency Managers and residents are
encouraged to use the resources available on the “Ready Georgia”
website to prepare all Georgia households for disasters,
www.GEMA.ga.gov or contact GEMA/HS Public Affairs Division at 1-800-
TRY-GEMA or 404-635-7200.
C. Private Sector Partners Responsibility in Emergency Management
Government agencies are responsible for protecting the lives and
property of their citizens. However, the government does not and should
not work alone. In many facets of an incident, the government works
with private sector groups as partners in emergency management.
Private sector organizations play a key role before, during, and after an
incident. First, they must provide for the welfare and protection of their
employees in the workplace. Emergency managers must work seamlessly
with businesses that provide water, power, communication networks,
transportation, medical care, security, and numerous other services upon
which both response and recovery are particularly dependent.
Participation of the private sector varies based on the nature of the
organization and the nature of the incident. Many private-sector
organizations are responsible for operating and maintaining portions of
the Nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources. Critical
infrastructures include those assets, systems, networks, and functions –
physical or virtual – so vital to the United States that their incapacitation
or destruction would have a debilitating impact on security, national
economic security, public health or safety, or any combination of those
matters. Key resources are publicly or privately controlled resources
essential to minimal operation of the economy and the government.
D. Non-government & Faith Based Organizations in Emergency
Management
NGOs and Faith Based Organizations (FBO) play enormously important
roles before, during, and after an incident. For example, NGOs and FBOs
Georgia Emergency Operations Plan 2013 27 of 71