In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita several agencies that desired to send telecommunicators to the stricken area on mutual aid assignments along with APCO and NENA recognized that there was no national system in place to provide operational support to communications centers and their personnel, in the event of a man-made or natural disaster. The Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT) has been developed to address this need.
The unique nature of communications centers/PSAPs requires that daily operations continue regardless of circumstance. It is therefore imperative that PSAPs plan for emergency circumstances that adversely affect their ability to adequately staff their center.
For this program to be successful it must be recognized and supported by federal, state, local and tribal EMA. Additionally, it is imperative that local participating agencies fully support TERT as a key element of public safety response as they do police, fire and EMS personnel.
