Response to disaster has always been focused on local emergency management levels. When local resources are committed to response, the State has the responsibility to assist the locals to overcome shortfalls. When State resources are fully committed or appear to be completely exhausted, requests are made to the Federal government alleviate the State's shortfall, as well as that of the local government units. One method to increase the likelihood of rapid response and recovery is to anticipate suspected shortfalls and plan to obtain these resources from other States or the Federal government. \f2Communication is essential in coordinating rapid response between the various levels of government.
The State of Missouri needs to work closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency at regional and national levels to coordinate policies and plans that will allow rapid deployment of Federal and other States' resources. Planning efforts at the FEMA regional level should be encouraged with predesignated deployments of essential personnel to work with the State in the earliest stages of the disaster. Additional planning efforts on the essential emergency support functions (ESFs) of the Federal Response Plan (FRP) between Federal and State representatives should be continued under the FEMA Region VII Regional Interagency Steering Committee program. This will allow the FEMA representatives to meet with their state counterparts and familiarize the Federal representatives with the operational procedures within the State. In turn, this will provide for FEMA sponsored resources to supplement (not supplant) existing State resources and allocations.
Other important facets of emergency management are interstate compacts that are currently being passed between various states under the aegis of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). EMAC will allow recipient states to interchange and accept resources from states outside the affected areas of the earthquake. Resources will be requested from donor states as required by the states in need. The States not affected by the disaster should be familiar with the concept of operations used by the requesting states in order to streamline the request process to avoid confusion and duplication of requests. These discussions can be carried out through the Regional Interagency Steering Committee (RISC) program as well as through coordination with CUSEC and its constituent members.
Furthermore, local government units need to have input into this process through local emergency operations and recovery plans. The local government units are the ones facing the brunt of emergency operations. They need to examine their shortfalls for response (and recovery), prioritize requests for assistance, and avoid making duplicate requests. Input from the local government units may be gathered in several ways: through an Area Coordinator system, from the annual SEMA/MEPA Conference and through the State's emergency exercise program.