Virginia Tech, First higher education to receive emergency management accreditation

Dec. 3, 2014 - PRLog -- Blacksburg, Va. – Virginia Tech is the first college or university to earn accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program. This is a true milestone in the history of EMAP as well as for Virginia Tech proving the sustainability of their emergency management program. Today, Virginia Tech alongside representation of the EMAP Commission, Wendy Smith-Reeve, Director of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management, celebrates this major accomplishment.

“We applaud Virginia Tech’s leadership and congratulate you on your commitment to achieve accreditation. More importantly, we recognize the dedication to the safety and security of the residents that it represents,” Director Smith-Reeve.

In a time where our Nation’s emergency management is strengthening in professional preparedness from the local level to a national scale, accreditation represents a significant achievement. “Virginia Tech demonstrates leadership, vision, and commitment to their communities and to the profession of emergency management by achieving a professional third party review and recognition of meeting objectives standards of excellence,” Barb Graff, Director of Seattle Office of Emergency Management and Chair of the EMAP Commission.

To achieve accreditation, emergency management programs document compliance with a set of industry recognized standards, Emergency Management Standard, used in the accreditation process and undergo a peer-review assessment by EMAP trained assessors. The emergency management program uses the accreditation to prove the capabilities of their disaster preparedness and response systems.

“Accreditation is the result of ongoing hard work from many through out the university. The effort of many individuals and departments across the university is key, along with strong support and commitment from our leadership,” said Michael J. Mulhare, Director of Emergency Management.

Accreditation is valid for five years and the program must maintain compliance with EMAP standards and is reassessed to maintain accredited status.

EMAP revolutionizes emergency management programs that coordinate preparedness and response activities for disasters based on industry standards. EMAP provides the ability to measure an emergency management program’s capability in preparation for and in response to an emergency. The Emergency Management Standard is flexible in design so that programs of differing sizes, populations, risks and resources can use it as a blueprint for improvement and can attain compliance with the standard. The EMAP process evaluates emergency management programs on compliance with requirements in sixteen areas, including: planning; resource management; training; exercises, evaluations, and corrective actions; and communications and warning. This forms the foundation of the nation’s emergency preparedness system. EMAP is the only accreditation process for emergency management programs.