Emergency Preparedness Pro​gram

Educate. Facilitate. Coordinate. 

The Emergency Preparedness (EP)  program of the Center for Environmental Health supports environmental public health by:

• ​Educating/teaching the California Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (Cal EHTER)

• ​Facilitating partnerships between environmental ​public health and emergency management professionals on national, state, and local levels
• Coordinating environmental public health with emergency management through mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery activities prior to and during disasters and emergencies.  ​ ​

​​​​​​​​The Environmental Health Support ​​Section’s Emergency Preparedness program is supported by two vital funding sources: the CDC’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) grant and the Future of Public Health (FoPH) program. These investments play a critical role in advancing our emergency preparedness initiatives and strengthening California’s environmental public health workforce.

CDPH is responsible for Essential Support Function 8 (ESF 8)​ (PDF)​ ​or public health and medical services in disaster response per the California State Emergency Plan​. ESF8 includes environmental public health impacts, which are the focus of the EHSS EP program’s activities.​​​