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As a result of the Civil Contingencies Act
2004, Somerset County Council and five district councils in
Somerset formed a partnership in 2005 known as the Somerset Local
Authorities' Civil Contingencies Unit.
The partnership is jointly funded and will manage and
co-ordinate the responsibilities relating to civil contingency
planning, enabling a common approach across Somerset.
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Accidents, whether human or natural, occur from time to
time. They can occur on a small or large scale - a transport
disaster, chemical incident, coastal flooding or a terrorist
attack, and of course there is always the unexpected. The aim
of the our Emergency Planning team is to assess the
threats and risks to the district and plan for the response and
recovery should an incident occur.
The ultimate objective is to minimise impact of disaster on the
day-to-day lives of the community and the environment and to assist
the return to normality. Emergency planners, working with a
wide range of other agencies, prepare contingency plans, organise
major incident training and exercises to prepare for emergencies,
just in case. Whatever the incident, our role is always to
provide support to the community and to get things back to
normality as soon as possible.
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Our primary role is to provide assistance to the emergency
services in the initial stages of a major emergency, and the
provision of temporary shelter to people who may be made
temporarily homeless. Once the initial stage of a major
emergency has passed, we will play a leading role in the recovery
phase.
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