State Emergency Management officials are awaiting the call from Gulf states hit by the latest hurricane. That call comes courtesy of an agreement Missouri has with most other states. Jim Wakeman is the operations officer for the State Emergency Management Agency. He says Missouri is bound to almost every other state to provide assistance under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Wakeman say the most likely people to go would be emergency responders who can give the those emergency personnel in the local area a chance to catch their breath and then get back into doing their jobs. He says the diverse nature of natural disasters in Missouri – from wildfires to floods to even earthquakes – gives our people a wealth of experience going into any situation. Wakeman says while Missouri usually doesn’t have the kind of disasters that require other states to step in to help, it’s nice to know that help would come.
