Army Emergency Management Program - Federation of American ...

and building code requirements for rebuilding in high-hazard areas; floodplain buyouts; and analyses of hazard-related
data to determine where it is safe to build in normal times, to open shelters in emergencies, or to locate temporary
housing during the recovery phase. Mitigation activities also include educating businesses and the public on simple
measures they can take to reduce loss and injury, like fastening bookshelves, water heaters, and file cabinets to walls to
keep them from falling during earthquakes. Cost-effective mitigation measures are the key to sustaining operations in
the short term and reducing losses in the long term. In hazard prone areas, mitigation can break the cycle of having to
rebuild and rebuild again with every recurrence of floods, hurricanes, or earthquakes. Where there is a willingness to
mitigate, opportunities can be found. Ongoing efforts might include: educating the private sector about what it can do
to mitigate at home and at work; reaching out to planning, zoning, and development agencies to ensure that hazard
conditions are considered in comprehensive plans, construction permits, building codes, and design approvals; and
creating inventories of existing structures and their vulnerabilities to identified hazards to aid in mitigation planning.
There is also a need for planning to take advantage of mitigation opportunities during the recovery phase, when hazard
awareness is high, funds may become available (with associated requirements for mitigation), and disruption of the
status quo makes it possible to rethink design and location of some facilities and infrastructure. Attention to mitigation
opportunities can make safer, more resilient communities for the Army. Within the Army, mitigation activities are
often led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Directorate of Public Works (DPW), and Network
Enterprise Center (NEC).
d. Prevention (see chap 17). Prevention includes those activities, tasks, programs, and systems intended to avoid or
intervene in order to stop an incident from occurring. Prevention can apply both to human-caused incidents (such as
terrorism, vandalism, sabotage, or human error) as well as to naturally occurring incidents. Prevention of human-caused
incidents can include applying intelligence and other information to a range of activities that includes such countermeasures
as deterrence operations, heightened inspections, improved surveillance and security operations, public health
and agricultural surveillance, immunizations, isolation, quarantine, investigations to determine the nature and source of
the threat, and law enforcement operations directed at deterrence, preemption, interdiction, or disruption. Within the
Army, prevention activities are led by the Directorate of Emergency Services (DES); Directorate of Plans, Training,
Mobilization, and Security (DPTMS); the Antiterrorism (AT) Program; and for force health protection (FHP) issues,
the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM).
e. Response (see chap 18). Response includes those immediate and ongoing activities, tasks, programs, and systems
to manage the effects of an incident that threatens life, property, operations, or the environment. The onset of an
emergency creates a need for time-sensitive actions to save lives and property as well as for action to begin stabilizing
the situation so that the installation can quickly recover mission capability. Such response operations include notifying
continuity and responder personnel of the emergency, warning the protected populace, conducting Shelter-in-Place
(SIP) operations, managing the evacuation and mass care of the displaced population, keeping the protected populace
informed, rescuing individuals and providing emergency medical treatment, maintaining the rule of law, assessing
damage, and coordinating with external partners for limited response resources.
f. Recovery (see chap 19). Recovery includes those activities and programs designed to return conditions to a level
that is acceptable to the jurisdiction. These activities include efforts to restore essential operations and services and
restore normalcy for the protected populace. Recovery operations focus on the social, economic, and infrastructure
restoration necessary to return the community to normal operations and includes long-term mitigation activities for all
hazards. For the short term, recovery may mean bringing necessary lifeline systems (for example, power, communication,
water and sewage, and transportation) up to an acceptable standard while providing for basic human needs (for
example, food, clothing, and shelter) and ensuring that the societal needs of individuals and the community are met (for
example, maintain the rule of law, provide crisis counseling, demonstrate that people do care, and that help is
becoming available). Once stability is achieved, the installation can begin recovery efforts for the long term by
restoring all operations and services and rebuilding facilities and housing with attention to long-term mitigation needs.
1–13. Operational environment
a. Geographic environment. Army installations support operational forces in domestic and foreign environments.
The particular location of the installation is critical in determining the laws or regulations that must be applied, as well
as the level of military authority the installation commander may have during response and recovery operations, to
include the level of personal protection for the responders.
(1) Domestic locations. Per DODI 2000.21, the following geographical areas are considered domestic locations: the
continental United States; Alaska; Hawaii; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; the U.S. Virgin Islands; the U.S.
territories of Guam, American Samoa, Jarvis Island, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Freely
Associated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands; and the U.S.
possessions of Wake Island, Midway Island, Johnson Island, Baker Island, Howland Island, Palmyra Atoll, and
Kingman Reef.
(2) Foreign locations. Per DODI 2000.21, any geographic area not reflected in the definition of domestic locations
(see above) is defined as a foreign location. For the purposes of this publication, the term overseas refers solely to
foreign locations.
(3) Geographically remote locations. Installations may be further defined by their location relative to local civil
4 DA PAM 525–27 20 September 2012