EMAC
The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), in association with the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), is a Governor's state mutual aid mechanism. It is a national interstate mutual aid compact that facilitates the sharing of resources, personnel and equipment across state lines during times of emergencies or disasters. EMAC is formalized into law by its member states.
While EMAC does not replace federal support, it does maximize all available resources by expediting and streamlining the assistance available between the member states. EMAC also coordinates the deployment of these resources in support of the National Response Plan
NEMAC
Today states and provinces are capable of managing most emergencies; however there are times when disasters exceed the state or provincial resources and therefore require outside assistance. Even when federal assistance is merited, cross border mutual aid assistance may be more readily available, less expensive, and/or operationally expedient method of managing an incident.
To address this need, the Central and Prairie regions of the United States and Canada intended to enter into a memorandum of agreement to facilitate cross border emergency management assistance through mutual aid. Through the leadership of Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) the State and Province Emergency Management Assistance Memorandum of Agreement was ratified by Congressional Joint Resolution (S.J. RES. 44) in early 2013.
The legislation allowed jurisdictions, to include any or all of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, to participate in cross-border mutual assistance for preparedness and response with any or all of the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The compact allows additional states and provinces to join upon execution or adoption.