Community Emergency Management planning is a process which aims to reduce risks within a community. This can be done by identifying the risks that a community faces, assessing the vulnerability of the community to those risks and providing options to reduce or eliminate the risks.
Emergencies of some kind or another occur every day within a municipality. The aim of addressing Risk Management in the community is to promote public safety and reduce vulnerability.

Contemporary emergency management consists of Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery (PPRR). This holistic approach is supported in National and State policies and plans. See further members-only information on Community Preparedness.

Effective emergency management relies on thorough integration of emergency plans at all levels of government and non-government involvement. Activities at each level (individual, group, community) affect the other levels. It is common to place the responsibility for governmental emergency management with the Emergency Services. However, emergency management actually starts at the lowest level and only increases to the next higher organizational level after the current level's resources have been exhausted.