The nation’s state disaster-response system was at risk of becoming nonoperational Friday, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency temporarily failed to fund the group that operates it.
The Emergency Management Assistance Compact is a mutual aid disaster-response system for all 50 states that ensures resources can be quickly sent to areas in the aftermath of anything from a hurricane to an act of terrorism.
Funding for the group that manages EMAC, a nonprofit organization of state emergency-management officials called the National Emergency Management Association, expired Sept. 4. The grant costs just over $2 million for a year.