Introduction
The primary function of ESF-5 is to gather, and scrutinize tactical and planning information on the scope and potential impacts of a major incident or disaster. ESF-5 use this tactical intelligence information to provide support to the operations team to help them in impact assessment and response missions. ESF-5 also anticipates future resource requirements and includes this analysis in future incident action plans. ESF-5 Emergency Management is in charge of assisting general actions and doings of the Government for local incident management. ESF-5 Emergency Management delivers the central administrative and management functions in the provision of RRCC, NRCC, and JFO. ESF-5 also helps Federal agencies and departments during a disaster or threat and provides them with all the necessary assistance to help the recovery process. ESF-5 will also find required resources for alerting and deployment of law enforcement agencies for quick and effective emergency response.
Discussion
Activities of ESF-5 include those tasks that are vital to facilitate and support multiagency coordination and planning (Couig, Martinelli, & Lavin, 2005). These tasks include timely alerts, deployment of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) response teams. The response teams could also include teams from other Federal departments and agencies. Each ESF-5 agency is in control of establishing administrative controls, in order to give justification for federal reimbursement, according to the guidelines, and to manage the expenditure of assets. ESF-5 is also in control of managing financial matters particular to ESF-5 activity and related to required resources used during an event and forwarding those statistics to the Finance Section. ESF-5 and Every local government department should also record and track its specific expenditures in order to ensure accuracy for potential reimbursement.
ESF -5 is also responsible for ensuring that there are experienced, well-trained and skilled staff to fill suitable positions in the JFO, IOF, RRCC, and NRCC when required. ESF-5 performs a vital role of an informational link between Federal agencies, operations centers, and NRCC (Kapucu, Naim, 2012). ESF-5 also supports the deployment and activation of emergency response teams in case of any accident or threat. ESF-5 is systematized, according to National Incident Management System. Operations of ESF -5 move from RRCC to the JFO but when the JFO halts operations, ESF #5 operations move back to the RRCC, as required.
ESF-5 synchronizes preparation between government departments and agencies. The ESF-5 is responsible for organizing and planning efforts with its partners. ESF-5 also helps preserve general awareness of the incident or particular threat. It represents and coordinates the Federal interest and ensures that all individual applicants receive comprehensive and timely assistance, according to rules and regulations, irrespective of their cast, gender, and race. As the operation continues to progress through recovery, the Planning Section provides an action plan for the current incident and also helps future planning related to incidents in coordination with the other ESFs. The state has a huge obligation for the recovery operation, and ESF-5 is responsible for the demobilization of Federal assistance. Each unit of the Joint Field Office operations continues to execute its duties and responsibilities, till the operation is concluded and the presence of Federal agencies is not further required by the State.
Conclusion
After an emergency threat, incident, and disaster, the representatives of the primary agency will help an analysis of the activities during the emergency event with the ESF-5 agencies, recognizing the possible areas that can be further enhanced and strengthened for improved efficiency in a continuous quality improvement process. The efficiency of a response operation will be exclusively centered around the capability and skills of ESF-5 during and after an event to generate timely, accurate, and usable disaster intelligence.
References
Couig, M. P., Martinelli, A., & Lavin, R. P. (2005). The National Response Plan: Health and Human Services the Lead for Emergency Support Function #8. Disaster Management & Response, 3(2), 34–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dmr.2005.02.008
Kapucu, Naim. (2012). Disaster and emergency management systems in urban areas. Cities, 29, S41-S49. doi:10.1016/j.cities.2011.11.009
Emergency Support Functions (ESF) (5) | FEMA.gov. (2018). Fema.gov. Retrieved 21 March 2018, from https://www.fema.gov/media-library/collections/533
