The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is the
agency
Agency may refer to:
Organizations
* Institution, governmental or others
** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients
** Employment agency, a business that ...
of the
that coordinates federal, state, local, and private resources throughout the Commonwealth during times of disasters and emergencies.
It is headquartered in
Framingham
Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popul ...
on
Route 9MEMA Web Page
/ref> in between the cities of Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
. There are also three other regional offices, in Bridgewater, Tewksbury, and Agawam.
MEMA’s Mission
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is the state agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government
The machinery of government (sometimes abbreviated as MoG) is the interconnected structures and proc ...
responsible for coordinating federal, state, local, voluntary, and private resources during emergencies and disasters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. MEMA provides leadership to: develop plans for effective response to all hazards, disasters or threats; train emergency personnel to protect the public; provide information to the citizenry; and assist individuals, families, businesses, and communities to mitigate, prepare for, and respond to and recover from emergencies, both natural and man made.
Operations Department
The Operations Division of MEMA maintains and operates the state Emergency Operations Center (EOC), monitoring emergencies statewide through the Communications Division 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The state EOC serves as the command and control center for the Commonwealth during an emergency.
The Operations Division manages and coordinates emergency response efforts for the Commonwealth. Through MEMA regional offices, it coordinates the response to requests for aid from local authorities upon depletion of their local resources.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Team (MEMT) is prepared and trained by the Operations Division. MEMT's members are the many state, federal, local, volunteer, public, and private agencies and organizations which are represented at the State EOC during activation for an emergency for better coordination of the Commonwealth's assets. Operations Division is also responsible for updating and publishing the Governor's Emergency Notification Roster, preparing and maintaining MEMA's master calendar, and assuring that MEMA maintains a high degree of preparedness and readiness.
Planning Department
The Planning Department works with municipal, state, federal, and volunteer organizations on a variety of emergency management planning issues. The Planning Department assists communities in the development and maintenance of their Comprehensive Emergency Plans (CEMP), addressing mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery from natural and technological emergencies.
The Planning Department also maintains the State Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The State CEMP is utilized by MEMA to manage multi-agency state response to large-scale emergencies. The State CEMP provides linkage to the Federal Response Plan for requesting federal disaster assistance.
Management of the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) activities; planning, training, grant management, and SERC sub-committees is the responsibility of the MEMA Hazardous Materials Coordinator within the Planning Department.
Finally, the Planning Department supports planning for hazard-specific events such as major aircraft accidents, debris management, terrorism, donations management, and other topics.
See also
* Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
(FEMA)
* 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 actuall ...
References
External links
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency
{{authority control
Emergency Management Agency
Emergency management in the United States