29 Years of Service: Strengthening Communities Through Mutual Aid

EMAC is the first national disaster–relief compact since the Civil Defense and Disaster Compact of 1950 to be ratified by the U.S. Congress. Since ratification and signing into law in 1996 (Public Law 104-321), 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands have enacted legislation to become EMAC members.

EMAC offers assistance during governor-declared states of emergency or disaster through a responsive, straightforward system that allows states to send personnel, equipment, and commodities to assist with response and recovery efforts in other states. Through EMAC states can also transfer services (such as shipping newborn blood from a disaster-impacted lab to a lab in another state) and conduct virtual missions (such as GIS mapping).

The strength of EMAC and the quality that distinguishes it from other plans and compacts lie in its governance structure; its relationship with federal agencies, national organizations, states, counties, territories, and regions; the willingness of state and response and recovery personnel to deploy; and the ability to move any resource one state wishes to utilize to assist another state. 

EMAC establishes a firm legal foundation for sharing resources between states. Once the conditions for providing assistance to a requesting state have been set, the terms constitute a legally binding agreement. The EMAC legislation solves the problems of liability and responsibilities of cost and allows for credentials, licenses, and certifications to be honored across state lines. Learn more about EMAC's protections from the links on the right-hand side of this page. 

EMAC is implemented within the State Emergency Management Agency on behalf of the Governor of the State. This provides a consistent and coordinated response across the nation.  

Deploying resources through EMAC leverages federal grant dollars (such as the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) & the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG)) invested in state and local emergency management resource capabilities.

The National Guard deploy through EMAC in both State Active Duty and Title 32 to assist Member States.  

Through EMAC, states are able to join forces and help one another when they need it the most: whenever disaster strikes!

• Fast Scalable Assistance
• All Hazards - All Disciplines
• Resources deploy through the state emergency management agencies of their respective states allowing for a coordinated deployment
• Deployments are coordinated with the federal response to avoid duplication and overlap

View all of the EMAC Articles of Law and learn more about EMAC's legal protections by selecting one of the options, below.