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Emergency Management

We coordinate emergency management, emergency preparedness, and homeland security planning for the City of Boston.

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Our mission is to enhance the City's capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from major emergencies.

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Get prepared

Cold weather safety
Tips for dealing with a flood
How to make an emergency kit
Getting ready for a hurricane
2021 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan
Join the Boston Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Sign up for emergency alerts

Ready Boston

ReadyBoston is a City-wide community emergency preparedness initiative.

Get yourself ready

Emergency Maps

Maps
Neighborhood emergency shelter map

See a map of the emergency shelters in the City of Boston.
Hurricane evacuation zones

View a map of the different levels of hurricane evacuation zones in the Boston area.

About our department

Working in close partnership with Boston's public safety and public health agencies, our department:

  • plans and prepares for emergencies
  • educates the public about emergency preparedness
  • conducts training exercises and drills, and
  • performs other services to support the City’s preparedness.

We follow an all-hazards approach, preparing for various types of emergencies — whether they are natural or man-made.

We also manage the Boston Emergency Operations Center, which facilitates planning and aid in the aftermath of a disaster. The center is made up of a staff of professionals and liaisons from City public safety agencies. Learn more about our work.

Emap Logo

The City of Boston is an EMAP ( Emergency Management Accredited Program) accredited program. We achieved our most recent consecutive accreditation in 2023, with previous accreditations in 2017 and 2012.

EMAP is a voluntary national accreditation process for state, territorial, and local government programs. It includes a peer-review on-site assessment by a team of EMAP trained assessors. The accreditation process evaluates emergency management programs on compliance with requirements in sixteen areas, including:

  • coordination
  • administration and finance
  • laws and authorities
  • hazard identification
  • risk assessment and consequence analysis
  • hazard mitigation
  • prevention
  • operational planning and procedures
  • incident management
  • resource management
  • mutual aid and logistics
  • communications and warning
  • facilities
  • training and exercises
  • evaluations and corrective actions, and
  • emergency public information and education.

Emergency resources

Resources

Meet the chief

Meet the chief
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