Mayor Michael A. Nutter and the Philadelphia Managing Director’s Office of Emergency Management (MDO-OEM) officially unveiled the City’s newly renovated Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This new state-of-the-art center provides greater situational awareness allowing staff to monitor incidents and mitigate problems during times of disaster.
“Although today is the official unveiling,” Nutter said, “we already witnessed the tremendous capabilities of this newly renovated EOC during its baptism by fire throughout Superstorm Sandy. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of the people who were involved in getting the EOC ready. Employees from several city agencies, including the Office of Innovation and Technology, Public Property, and the Fire Department worked side-by-side to get this center up and running in time for the storm."
The majority of the renovations were pushed up six weeks to be completed in preparation for the storm. The center is designed to be staffed around the clock during emergencies with 24-hour chairs and improved lighting. Representatives from various City, State, Federal and non-profit agencies will staff V-shaped workstations allowing them to collaborate face-to-face. An expanded video wall provides for greater situational awareness and a wire management system in the flooring allows enhanced capabilities to be easily added in the future.
“During the Sandy activation,” Samantha Phillips, Deputy Managing Director for Emergency Management, said, “the new layout encouraged agencies to work together, which added a positive energy to the room.”
Creative ways were found to reuse existing material from the previous center, such as recycling plywood from the old workstations to make new shelving. The old tables and chairs were repurposed for use with Urban Search and Rescue, Pennsylvania Task Force 1. The existing phones and computers were reinstalled.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s State Homeland Security Program funded the $786,000 renovation. This program supports the implementation of Homeland Security Strategies to address planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise needs to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism and other catastrophic events.
To learn more about how to prepare for emergencies, visit the Office of Emergency Management’s web site at www.phila.gov/ready or call 3-1-1. You can also follow PhilaOEM on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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