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An emergency operations center (EOC) is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of
CDC Emergency Operations Center
Emergency services Disaster preparedness Continuity of government
An emergency operations center (EOC) is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...
and emergency management
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actual ...
, or disaster management
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actual ...
functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization.
An EOC is responsible for strategic direction and operational decisions and does not normally directly control field assets, instead leaving tactical decisions to lower commands. The common functions of EOCs is to collect, gather and analyze data; make decisions that protect life and property, maintain continuity of the organization, within the scope of applicable laws; and disseminate those decisions to all concerned agencies and individuals.
Location
EOCs, originally created as part ofUnited States civil defense
United States civil defense refers to the use of civil defense in the history of the United States, which is the organized non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack and similarly disastrous events. Late in the 20th century, th ...
, can be found in many nations, at all government levels, as well as in larger corporations that deal with large equipment or numbers of employees. In corporations and smaller jurisdictions, the EOC may be co-located in the same room as an emergency communications center
In the United Kingdom, an emergency control centre or emergency communications centre (ECC) is a building or room where control room operators receive incoming telephone calls from members of the public in need of assistance. Callers make initial c ...
.
Organization
The first most critical component of an EOC is the individuals who staff it. They must be properly trained, and have the proper authority to carry out actions that are necessary to respond to the disaster. They also must be capable ofthinking outside the box
Thinking outside the box (also thinking out of the box or thinking beyond the box and, especially in Australia, thinking outside the square) is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. The phrase al ...
, and creating a lot of "what if" scenarios. The local EOC's function during an emergency is to support the incident commander.
The second most critical component of an EOC is its communications system. This can be from simple word of mouth, to sophisticated encrypted communications networks, but it must provide for a redundant path to ensure that both situational awareness information and strategic orders can pass into and out of the facility without interruption. For continuity of operations considerations, backbone components of the communications system are not normally located at the EOC. A number of EOC facilities are incorporating radio over IP
Radio over Internet Protocol, or RoIP, is similar to Voice over IP (VoIP), but augments two-way radio communications rather than telephone calls. From the system point of view, it is essentially VoIP with PTT (Push To Talk). To the user it can be i ...
technology to provide a coherent assembly of various radios, interoperability with various radio technologies, and integration with telephone systems.
See also
*Emergency management
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actual ...
References
{{reflistExternal links
CDC Emergency Operations Center
Emergency services Disaster preparedness Continuity of government