Georgia Emergency Management Agency

A part of the Office of the Governor, The Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) operates under the authority of the Emergency Management Act of 1981.

Virtually all GEMA employees are on 24-hour call to assist local authorities in responding to emergencies. In addition, they staff the State Operations Center (SOC) when a disaster or emergency threatens, as well as prior to and during large scale events.

When the SOC is activated, it is staffed not only by GEMA, but also by representatives of more than a dozen other organizations with responsibility for disaster response efforts including state and federal agencies, volunteer, and private sector organizations.

GEMA Divisions

The day-to-day responsibilities of emergency management are carried out by the agency's six functional divisions:

Finance – Grants, personnel, payroll and other support functions.

Hazard Mitigation – Hazard analysis and risk assessment, GIS and grants.

Operations – Statewide planning, operations support, communications, training and consequence management.

Public Affairs – Constituent services, public affairs support, legislative liaison, multi-media support and information technology.

Public Assistance – Mutual aid, coordination of financial assistance for state of emergencies and Presidential declarations.

Terrorism Emergency Response and Preparedness – Consequence management coordination and training, terrorism planning, federal Homeland Security grant coordination, critical infrastructure analysis, and agroterrorism.

The Year in Review

Fiscal Year 2003 (FY 03) was marked by a number of milestones in the homeland security and emergency management arenas. One of newly-elected Governor Sonny Perdue’s first actions was to create the Georgia Office of Homeland Security and to name Georgia’s first Homeland Security Director Bill Hitchens. GEMA was placed under the operational command of the Office of Homeland Security within the organizational structure of the Office of the Governor. In addition, Mike Sherberger was appointed GEMA director in March, 2003.

A number of significant milestones also occurred on the weather horizon during (FY 03). The state’s climate transitioned from severe drought conditions to one of the wettest years in recent times. In terms of severe weathers disasters, such as floods and tornadoes, fiscal year 2002-2003 was quite active, with the Governor declaring states of emergency on 10 occasions in order to assist affected citizens and communities, both financially and with other state resources. Many Georgians also experienced their first earthquake when an episode occurred on April 30 measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale.