RALEIGH - While Hurricane Katrina was unfolding its unfathomable destruction along the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, state emergency operations centers in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were broadcasting resource requests to states through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). 

Around the clock, in the basement of the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center, a rotating team of two people were accessing the three stricken states' requests and offering available assistance.

N.C. Emergency Management's EMAC coordinator, Caroline Freitag, determined whether North Carolina had the needed resources, calculated the cost to send the equipment or personnel and sent a contract to the disaster-stricken state to review.  If accepted, North Carolina had the goods or personnel on the road within 24 hours. 

"We treated requests as if it was our own disaster," Freitag said. 

In the first few hours following the storm, Louisiana and Mississippi asked for experienced emergency management officials who could help with the overall operations at their emergency operations centers.  Eleven NCEM employees and 21 law enforcement officers were on the road within 48 hours after the hurricane.  The next day, Sept. 2, 300 N.C. National Guardsmen, 60 members of a medical team and a donations coordinator from the governor's office were deployed.   Dispatchers, firefighters and other emergency management teams were deployed in the days following and resources continue to be dispatched.

"This Emergency Management Assistance Compact provides a coordinated relief effort and a means for states to deliver aid to disaster affected states," said Doug Hoell.  "If someone is entertaining the idea of sending a mission, they should go through the Division of Emergency Management.  This kind of coordination is a tremendous help to the emergency managers in the stricken states."

The EMAC system was developed by state governors following Hurricane Andrew in Florida when critical resources were needed by the state of Florida, Hoell said.  "Now, because of this interstate mutual aid agreement, Louisiana and Mississippi are getting the specific resources they really need and have requested."

Five people have been working the EMAC desk in North Carolina.  "Any reasonable request that we know we can commit to, is distributed to the State Emergency Response Team leaders who know their agencies and what resources they have," Freitag said.  "If the agency can fulfill the request, we put together the team and the estimated cost of sending them down."

The contract details the personnel's destination, how long they will be needed and estimates of housing, feeding and transportation costs.  The contract is signed by NCEM's authorized representative, then sent to the stricken state whose representative then reviews similar contracts from other compact member states and decides which offer to accept.  If the North Carolina offer is accepted, the disaster state signs the agreement and returns it to North Carolina.  No resources or manpower are sent until the agreement is signed.

While some requests are fulfilled in a matter of hours, others take longer.

"Sometimes it seemed like it took forever for us to hear back from the states in need, but Mississippi and Louisiana were handling so much," Freitag said.  "It's a common problem the first day or two when they are working on hundreds of contracts at the same time."

Some requests from Mississippi included an incident management team to set up and run a camp to house, feed and shower 200 to 1,500 personnel; management tracking and accountants for fire departments; logistic chiefs; public information officers; 15 tractors with 500-gallon trailer fuelers; water purification equipment with operators; National Guardsmen; and operations support.

Louisiana requested 500 flat-bottom boats, licensed pharmacists, military high water vehicles, feeding kitchens, fire fighters, portable highway message signs, decontamination shower units, dispatchers and law enforcement personnel support.

"Our people have done a tremendous job tracking the needs and finding resources to help our member states with disaster recovery," Hoell said.  "We know what it's like to be on the receiving end, and are happy to help the Gulf Coast states now."

Forty-nine states are a member of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.

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