SC agencies rally for statewide disaster relief

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Megan Floyd | Ken Braddock, chief of preparedness for the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, works from his office at the National Guard Readiness Center in West Columbia, S.C., Oct. 12, 2015. The South Carolina Emergency Management Division, Joint Operations Center and more than four-dozen supporting agencies work around the clock coordinating disaster relief efforts and support for the state. The South Carolina National Guard has been activated to support state and county emergency management agencies and local first responders as historic flooding impacts counties statewide. There are 2,541 National Guard assets on the ground, which includes engineer support from neighboring North Carolina, and more than 40 State Guard members supporting state flood response efforts. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman Megan Floyd/RELEASED)  

WEST COLUMBIA, SC, UNITED STATES

10.11.2015

Story by Airman Megan Floyd 

South Carolina National Guard

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. – Members of the South Carolina Emergency Management Division and supporting agencies work around the clock at the National Guard Readiness Center in West Columbia, South Carolina, to provide support for disaster relief statewide.

State and county emergency management agencies and the South Carolina National Guard have been activated to support local and state first responders as historic flooding impacts multiple counties across the state.

“Our mission is to save lives and protect property,” said Derrec Becker, public information officer for the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. “We’re heavily reliant on our partners because we’re a very small agency normally, but we expand very quickly by bringing in our partnered agencies with the National Guard or any other state agency that would have a role in disaster response.”

When a disaster strikes, a lot of moving parts are necessary to enable the impacted area to respond accordingly. The Emergency Operations Center is the hub for all of the agencies involved. Here, they can send representatives to relay information out to their personnel, while also giving them the opportunity to be involved in the decision-making process.

There are more than four dozen agencies involved, said Becker. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and The Department of Transportation are represented, but some unconventional agencies are also present, such as the South Carolina Department of Administration. Normally, they keep state government operational, but here they are responsible for donations and volunteer management.

“The key words are coordination and communication,” said Jacqueline Chandler, deputy external affairs officer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s so important that we’re all doing it together, as far as the response and recovery, and we’re supporting one-another. When you bring everybody together with their assets and their resources, then the mission is that much stronger.”

The Joint Operations Center, housed in the same building, is where the National Guard does its coordination and decision-making during an activation.

When the Emergency Operations Center receives a request for military support, it gets submitted to the Joint Operations Center, where military personnel can receive details and communicate to the individual units that make the missions happen, said U.S. Army Maj. Jasper Varn, the deputy logistics operations officer, at the Joint Operations Center.

Earlier this year, agencies and the National Guard participated in Vigilant Guard ‘15 in Georgetown, South Carolina, a simulated disaster response exercise allowing first responders and agencies the opportunity to experience some of the practices that they’ve been using this week to communicate and execute missions with one-another.

“We train, we work with the county’s first responders, and those relationships are in place,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Cindi King, the public affairs officer for the state of South Carolina. “Something like this flood is unprecedented, but the fact that we had trained, especially during Vigilant Guard in March, it really provided an opportunity to showcase those partnerships.”

Members of the South Carolina Emergency Management Team have been activated for 11 days and are currently working twelve hour shifts.

“This flooding that we’re going through hit home for a lot of people,” said Becker. “They’re going through what we’re seeing a lot of survivors go through, but yet they’re still here, they’re still working, and they’re still serving the citizens of South Carolina.”

• Date Taken: 10.11.2015
• Date Posted: 10.12.2015 14:56
• Story ID: 178708
• Location: WEST COLUMBIA, SC, US