Emergency Management

Increases in severe weather, greater urbanization, ageing infrastructure and emerging international threats have increased the degree to which Canadians are affected by emergencies -natural or human-induced. Over the last decade, millions of Canadians have been affected in one way or another by a disaster. Protecting our quality of life through Emergency Management means ensuring that Canadians are better prepared personally as well as at community, provincial/ territorial and national levels. Historical information about natural disasters, such as earthquakes, ice storms, floods and hurricanes is now available using OCIPEP web site linkages.

Providing Canadians with a civil emergency response capability, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief is a key commitment for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces (DND/CF). The Department of National Defence is involved across the entire spectrum of Emergency Management, which includes policy, mitigation (prevention), preparedness, response and recovery.

Within DND, the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) has a national mandate that includes the co-ordination of Government of Canada (GOC) emergency management activities and the provision of national leadership in the implementation of a comprehensive approach to enhancing Canada's emergency management framework. The Canadian Forces (CF) plays a crucial and active role in the response and recovery efforts of major disaster situations both nationally and internationally. Response and recovery operations are carried out through deployment of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) a unique organization designed to deploy to crisis situations anywhere in the world.

The National Search and Rescue Secretariat (NSS), reporting directly to the Minister of National Defence, is the focal point for developing, co-ordinating and reviewing national search and rescue policies and plans with the federal agencies involved in Search and Rescue (SAR) services. The NSS is responsible for liasing with the provincial and territorial agencies, and volunteer groups that provide SAR services in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

Emergency management of a major incident usually involves the resources of many organizations both public and private. Operational, communications and technical services must all come together to deliver a seamless response capability -all of which could be achieved more efficiently using Internet technology solutions.

On-line access to Emergency Management and Response information and sharing of operational information will increase Canadians' sense of security and provide faster, more accurate 24/7 reporting of events from assigned response units. Some of the benefits to clients derived from on-line service delivery and improved operational capability include:

• Safeguarding Canadian lives and reducing damage to properties by ensuring an appropriate level of civil emergency preparedness throughout Canada.
• The provision of assistance in the event of civil disasters (floods, forest fires, hurricanes, snow and ice storms) and humanitarian assistance (searches for missing persons, diver assistance, Search and Rescue) all benefit the persons directly affected and Canadians generally by increasing their sense of security.
• The provision of vital humanitarian assistance at home and abroad by the CF Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) and other CF units.

OCIPEP operates a 24-hour, 7-day/week emergency operations centre to monitor emergency situations both in Canada and abroad, and to co-ordinate GOC emergency response and recovery activities. The operations centre collects, verifies and distributes information amongst GOC departments and agencies, provincial and territorial governments, emergency response organizations, private sector, media and the general public. This information pertains to real and imminent threats to the overall health, safety and security of Canadians as a result of natural or human-induced hazards; and includes steps to enhance emergency preparedness in Canada.

Internet communication capabilities and government on-line solutions will significantly increase the sharing and availability of operational and practical emergency preparedness information. About 90 percent of Canada's infrastructure is owned or operated by public sector or by other governments so the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) must develop a means of effectively gathering and sharing information from and among these diverse stakeholder groups. To facilitate this, the Office is implementing web-enabled solutions that will foster and facilitate information sharing among the key infrastructure sectors. On-line services will consist of information sharing technology and on-line consultation through secure web sites with those industries and government organizations tasked with preparing critical infrastructure protection measures.

The DND/CF must continue to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Modern emergency response operations are more complex, demanding and dangerous than ever before and it remains in Canada's strategic best interest to maintain combat-capable sea, land and air forces capable of contributing to emergency response and recovery operations.

More information about the OCIPEP is available at http://www.ocipep-bpiepc.gc.ca.

For more information contact the National Defence On-Line Program Manager