conflicts
and inconsistencies of roles and task assignments.

Further, by being a part of the planning decision-making process and
having identified the needs and areas of consideration, individuals,
organizations, and officials responsible for emergency operations are
better able to relate to the expected impact and the operational
environment. The written plans also serve valuable purposes for
training and familiarization of new organizations, individuals, and
public officials. Experience has shown repeatedly that when emergency
operations are conducted in accordance with existing plans, reaction
time is reduced and coordination improved, with fewer casualties, less
property damage, and a higher surviving socioeconomic capability to
undertake recovery. Other benefits that accrue from planning include
the enhancement of hazard awareness.

B. CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY PLANNING RESPONSE

The State of California emergency response planning is a series of
related documents, each of which serve a specific purpose. (See
figures 1 and 2.)

The basic plan of a jurisdiction (item (1) in figures 1 and 2) is the
foundation of this planning process. It is an essential administrative
(rather than operational) document, and as such it:

" Provides the basis (including legal authority) for and
the objectives of emergency planning and operations

" Outlines contingencies (emergency situations) to be
planned and prepared for and establishes the general
principles and policies (concepts of operations) to be
applied to each

" Describes the emergency organization in terms of who is
responsible for what actions

" Defines interjurisdictional and interservice
relationships and the direction and control structure to
make assignments and resolve conflicts

" Contains or refers to information of common interest
about supporting facilities, such as the Emergency
Operations Center and warning and communications systems

" Provides the planning basis for other supporting
documents which are more operationally oriented

The basic plan is supported by a Direction and Control annex and by
functional annexes (see (2) and (3) respectively in figures 1 and 2).
The Direction and Control annex details how overall responses to an
emergency will be managed and coordinated. Functional annexes (for
b