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National Response Plan
Emergency Preparedness
and Response
The National Response Plan (NRP) provides the structure and mechanisms for coordinating federal support to state and local governments affected by a catastrophic disaster or emergency. It is an "all-hazards plan," meaning that it can be used for the response to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides online access to the full text of the National Response Plan and related information. Because the NRP continues to evolve, FEMA also provides updates to the plan.
The NRP is based on the National Incident Management System, which provides a consistent, nationwide management approach for federal, state, local and tribal governments as well as private-sector and nongovernmental organizations during incidents and disasters of all kinds. (The NRP replaces the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (May 1, 1996).)
The NRP contains three major parts: Base Plan, Appendices, Annexes.
On this page:
Base Plan
The Base Plan describes the structure and processes that make up a national approach to domestic incident management. It is designed to integrate the efforts and resources of federal, state, local, tribal, private-sector, and nongovernmental organizations. The Base Plan includes the fundamental elements of the plan:
- planning assumptions
- roles and responsibilities
- concept of operations
- incident management actions
- plan maintenance instructions
- incident prevention protocols.
Appendices
Appendices provide additional general and supporting information, including terms, definitions, acronyms, authorities, and a compendium of national interagency plans.
Annexes
Annexes assign specific areas of responsibility during a response to different federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations. These are detailed in three types of annexes:
- Emergency Support Function Annexes
- Support Annexes
- Incident Annexes.
An organization's responsibility may be assigned by more than one annex. For example, Emergency Support Function Annex #10, Oil and Hazardous Materials Response and the Oil and Hazardous Materials Incident Annex assign EPA responsibility for managing the response to releases of hazardous materials (including radionuclides) and discharges of oil.
Emergency Support Function Annexes
The NRP uses Emergency Support Functions (ESF) to group the capabilities and functional expertise of federal departments and agencies and the American Red Cross. This helps these organizations provide the resources and emergency services needed during a major disaster. Each ESF assigns responsibilities to a primary agency and support agencies. There are 15 Emergency Support Functions Annexes:
- Transportation
- Communications
- Public Works and Engineering
- Firefighting
- Emergency Management
- Mass Care, Housing, and Human Services
- Resource Support
- Public Health and Medical Services
- Urban Search and Rescue
- Oil and Hazardous Materials Response
- Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Energy
- Public Safety and Security
- Long-Term Community Recovery and Mitigation
- External Affairs
Support Annexes
The Support Annexes describe and provide guidance for the overarching management functions and administrative requirements necessary for an efficient and effective response under the NRP:
- Financial Management
- International Coordination
- Logistics Management
- Private-Sector Coordination
- Public Affairs
- Science and Technology
- Tribal Relations
- Volunteer and Donations Management
- Worker Safety and Health.
Incident Annexes
Incident Annexes provide specific information on responding to different types of incidents:
- Biological Incident
- Catastrophic Incident
- Cyber Incident
- Food and Agriculture Incident (to be published in a subsequent version of the NRP)
- Nuclear/Radiological Incident
- Oil and Hazardous Materials Incident
- Terrorism Incident Law Enforcement and Investigation.
History
The development of the National Response Plan was mandated under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5. It supercedes the Federal Response Plan, the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan, and the U.S. Government Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operations Plan (CONPLAN). It was first issued as an Initial National Response Plan (INRP) , and updated on May 26, 2006.
How it Works
Under the NRP, all incidents are handled at the lowest possible organizational and jurisdictional level. Police, fire, public health, medical, emergency management, and other personnel are responsible for incident management at the local level. For those events that rise to the level of an Incident of National Significance, DHS coordinates resources and operations for federal support to response managers.
The Nuclear/Radiological Incident Annex of the NRP describes federal government response procedures for nuclear and radiological incidents.
