Emergency management international: improving national and international disaster preparedness and response

Since 1998, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has been responsible for managing activities of the Civil Military Emergency Preparedness (CMEP) programme, in Europe and Central Asia. CMEP supports international partner nations' national and regional strategies related to disaster preparedness and consequence management for all hazards including the development and exercise of national and regional plans. The use of available technologies including the internet, remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and reliable civil-military planning processes, are key programme components. More than 55 seminars, workshops and Table Top Exercises (TTXs) have occurred since the programme's inception. In 2005, USACE developed Emergency Management International (EMI), a programme designed to provide CMEP - and a broader range of USACE expertise - globally. This paper explains these programmes and provides a review of their evolution and the services offered. We examine the necessary conditions for effective disaster planning, preparedness and response for large disasters requiring national and international coordination and cooperation and examples of techniques used and outcomes of CMEP activities. The paper concludes with a discussion of a proposed approach to addressing all hazards responses for oil-related disasters in Africa.