The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a physical location where the Office of Emergency Management operates during an emergency to coordinate response and recovery actions, and resources.
The EOC is also known as the central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level in an emergency situation, thus ensuring the continuity of operation.
These centers may alternatively be called command centers, situation rooms, war rooms, crisis management centers, or other similar terms. Regardless of the term, this is where the coordination of information and resources takes place.
The EOC is not an incident command post; rather, it is the operations center where coordination and management decisions take place during emergencies.
An EOC is responsible for the strategic overview, or "big picture". The EOC does not normally, directly, control field assets. Instead it makes operational decisions, and leaves tactical decisions to lower commands.
The common functions of all EOC's is to collect, gather and analyze data, make decisions that protect life and property, maintain continuity of the organization, within the scope of applicable laws, and disseminate those decisions to all concerned agencies and individuals.
A critical component of an EOC is its communications system. This can be from simple word of mouth, to sophisticated encrypted communications networks, but it must provide for a redundant path to ensure that both situational awareness information and strategic orders can pass into and out of the facility without interruption.
A number of EOC facilities are incorporating radio over IP technology to provide a coherent assembly of various radios, interoperability with various radio technologies, integration with telephone systems, and adherence to the National Communications Framework.
Who Operates in the Emergency Operations Center?
The foremost critical component of an EOC are the team members. They must be properly trained, credentialed, have proper authorization to carry out actions necessary to respond to a disaster, and must be capable of thinking outside the box, and creating "what if" scenarios.
The EOC operates under the National Incident Management System, using the Incident Command System, to determine what functions are necessary for various emergency situations. (i. e. Command, Section, Division, and Branch Staff)
Chain of Command is as follows: The Command Staff, the Sections Staff (Commonly broken down into operations, finance, logistics, and planning), the Divisions Staff and then the Branch Staff
The Emergency Manager, in charge, works in coordination with appointed Tribal Officials and the Safety Operations Director. If a Disaster Declaration is required, the Emergency Manager will obtain the Declaration with information provided to the appointed officials.