Fla. Gov. Opens State Response Center for Disaster Preparedness

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist proclaimed July 26 “Get a Plan Day” by announcing the grand opening of Florida’s State Response Center in Orlando.

Crist stressed the importance of disaster preparedness by joining a family as they purchased disaster supplies at a local Lowe’s in Jacksonville.

“‘Get a Plan Day’ is a great opportunity for the people of Florida and for our State Emergency Response Team to evaluate their levels of preparedness,” said Crist. “The people of Florida are preparing themselves and their families by creating and updating their family disaster plans while the State Emergency Response Team is even more ready to respond to future disasters with the opening of this state-of-the-art facility.”

The State Response Center includes a 200,000-square feet, 12-acre facility that warehouses essential water and emergency supplies. It provides a home base and safe staging area for state and federal responders who are deployed in advance of pending storm events. Regional staff from the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Department of Health, and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will also operate at the site.

Florida partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pre-position supplies at the State Response Center.

“The opening of the State Response Center highlights FEMA’s focus on partnering with state and local governments,” said FEMA Administrator David Paulison. “FEMA will continue to work with the Division of Emergency Management to store supplies, which will cut down on response times from the federal government and increase the speed in assisting disaster victims.”

Source: Office of the Governor of Florida