(Smyrna) – The State of Delaware continues to support hurricane-hit states through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). Last week, in addition to providing Delaware National Guard assistance to Texas, DEMA sent a small team to the State Emergency Operations Center in South Carolina in advance of forecasted impacts from Hurricane Irma, and is in the process of deploying a team from the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) to assist the crews in Florida with their recovery efforts.
EMAC is a mutual-aid assistance agreement between the 50 states, District of Columbia, and territories. Under EMAC, affected states can request the deployment of personnel or equipment for specific functions. States that provide assistance are reimbursed by the requesting jurisdiction at amounts agreed upon before personnel or equipment is deployed.
States that participate in EMAC must have passed legislation, signed into law, that adopts the standard language of the Compact. Benefits of the EMAC program are a streamlining of the process by which aid can be supplied by one state to another during emergencies, and a process for allowing professional credentials issued by one state to be recognized by another for the duration of a deployment. Delaware is a member of the National Emergency Management Association, which administers EMAC.