EMAG summit stresses partnership
By Julia Regeski
M
embers of
Georgia’s
emergency
management
and public health programs
recently gathered at the
Savannah International Trade and
Convention Center to enhance
an element crucial to success in a
crisis – partnerships.
The Emergency Management
Association of Georgia Summit
and Training is an annual event,
and this year’s conference came
about as a result of a unique
partnership between EMAG,
the Georgia Department of
Public Health, and the Georgia
Emergency Management and
Homeland Security Agency.
During his opening remarks
for the summit, Homer Bryson,
Director of GEMA/HS, suggested
the summit came not a moment
GEMA/HS Director Homer Bryson stressed the importance of teamwork as he
addressed the audience at the EMAG summit in Savannah.
too soon. He summarized some
of the events that many attendees
addressed head-on in the previous
seven months: the Atlanta ice storm,
multiple tornadoes, wildfires, a
strain of low-path avian influenza
(Georgia was the only of three
states to address this without
requesting federal financial
assistance, Bryson noted) and the
collapse of the Interstate 85 bridge.
“This is where we belong because
we’re one team,” said Bryson.
“GEMA/HS has 116 employees.
When there are people in need,
there isn’t a convoy of GEMA/HS
trucks that we send out. We have
a lot of great partners at a lot of
different levels.”
Hurricane Matthew, the state’s
first coastal hurricane in almost
a decade, remained a topic of
reflection as well, especially
given the fact that much of the
conference’s location, Savannah,
was affected. Dennis Jones,
Chatham County EMA Director,
publicly recognized the large
number of attendees who acted
and supported the area during the
hurricane and its aftermath.
“A hurricane affects the entire
state,” said Jones. “It’s not a
coastal issue, it’s a state issue.”
In addition to a large number
of emergency management
personnel from across the state, the
summit also included about 120
representatives from across FEMA
Region 4. In sum, a large crowd of
more than 1,040 people attended,
breaking the event’s previous
record.
Taking the diversity of the
audience into account, organizers
created an expansive list of
sessions and speakers, ranging in