About Emergency Management

"U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Emergency management must be authorized under state law and meet the following definition. Emergency management is the preparation for and carrying out of all emergency functions, other than military functions, to minimize injury and to repair damage resulting from disasters caused by fire, flood, storm, earthquake or other natural causes, or enemy attack, sabotage, or other hostile action, and to provide support for rescue operations for persons and property in distress. It encompasses all organizations with emergency/disaster functions in a jurisdiction, rather than only one agency or department. This system includes organizations involved in prevention of, mitigation of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters or emergencies."

"In the Borough of West Long Branch, both the Division of Police and Division of Emergency Management fall within the Department of Law Enforcement. As such, the Municipal Emergency Management Coordinator answers directly to the Director of Law Enforcement, who is the Chief of Police. The Office of Emergency Management is available on a 24/7 basis to the community of West Long Branch. In addition, the Borough of West Long Branch has reciprocal "mutual aid" agreements to assist other public and private sector entities during the course of given emergencies."

Eergency Management is the discipline and profession of applying science, technology, planning, and management to deal with extreme events that can kill or injure large numbers of people, do extensive damage and disrupt a community.  We encourage residents to check out our resources and helpful links in the left-hand navigation menu.

MITIGATION:

Mitigation refers to activities that eliminate or reduce the chance of occurrence or the effects of a disaster. Recent research has shown that much can be done to either prevent major emergencies or disasters from ever happening, or if nothing else, at least reduce the damaging impact if they cannot be prevented.

PREPAREDNESS:

The planning of how to respond in case an emergency or disaster occurs and working to increase resources available to respond effectively. Preparedness activities are designed to help save lives and minimize damage by preparing people to respond appropriately when an emergency is imminent. To respond properly, Washington Township must have a plan for response, trained personnel to respond and necessary resources with which to respond.

RESPONSE:

Response is the activities occurring during and immediately after a disaster. These activities are designed to provide emergency assistance to victims of the event and reduce the likely hood of secondary damage. Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management, Gloucester County Police, and Local Fire, Police and Emergency Medical Service providers are primary responders.

RECOVERY:

This is the final phase of the emergency management cycle. Recovery continues until all systems return to normal or near normal. Short term recovery returns vital life support systems to minimal operating standards. Long term recovery from a disaster may go on for years until the entire disaster area is completely redeveloped, either as it was in the past or for entirely new purposes that are less disaster prone.