NOAA has significant and diverse responsibilities before, during, and after disasters. Those responsibilities and capabilities differ among NOAA’s Line Offices (LOs), and there is a lack of understanding among LOs of what each can (or must) provide in terms of assets and expertise. 

SECART has been working with NOAA LOs and partners in the Southeast and Caribbean region to improve the level of understanding and coordination across offices to better position NOAA to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. It is important that NOAA offices can assist each other, and our partners, to maintain critical mission readiness. 

SECART held workshops in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, and 2024, which allowed NOAA offices to better understand each others’ capabilities and identify opportunities for improvement in internal communications and coordination. These workshops offered “tabletop” exercise-based exploration of roles and responsibilities using a simulated disaster scenario. The results of these workshops are captured in reports linked below.

Southeast & Caribbean Disaster Guide

Across workshops, participants agreed that a “guide” to NOAA’s roles, responsibilities, and resources related to disasters would be a valuable asset for the region. The purpose of the guide is to serve as a resource for improving communication and coordination among NOAA offices and partners in the Southeast and Caribbean region as it relates to disaster management. The guide provides roles and responsibilities of, and contact information for, offices related to disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation/adaptation. The Guide is not designed to challenge existing mandates or supersede existing policies.

NOAA’s Southeast and Caribbean Regional Collaboration Team (SECART) is pleased to make available the “Guide to Integrated NOAA Disaster Resilience in the Southeast and Caribbean Version 2, last updated September 2025”:

Available here in English and here in Spanish (en español).

Questions or feedback about the guide? Reach us at Region.SECarib@noaa.gov.

Disaster Workshops:

2024 Workshop
May 20-22, 2024 at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 

The purpose of this year's workshop was:

• To introduce/reintroduce the NOAA line offices to core partners and share information on our abilities to assist during disasters;
• To allow partners who have real-world examples of working with NOAA before, during and after disasters to showcase collaboration efforts and offer suggestions for future incidents; and
• To exercise a Category 4 Hurricane from the perspective of what support and collaboration with NOAA looks like during and after such a disaster.

View the workshop materials here

View the after action report here

2023 Workshop

On April 26-27, 2023, stakeholders from across the Charleston area gathered for a workshop followed by a tabletop exercise focusing on the threat of a major earthquake impacting the area. Overall, this plan will prepare the City of Charleston for responding to and recovering from an earthquake. SECART partnered with NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration’s (OR&R) Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) to hold this two-day all-hazards workshop. 

View the after action report here

2019 Workshop
Following successful workshops (and active hurricane seasons) in 2017 and 2018, SECART and NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration’s (OR&R) Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) convened a workshop May 14-16, 2019 in Charleston, SC to identify opportunities to improve NOAA’s disaster resilience in the region.

This year’s workshop focused on the “recovery” of NOAA offices, partners, and constituents following a disaster. During this workshop, we 1) explored NOAA’s roles and responsibilities throughout the recovery phase of a disaster cycle; 2) determined the best ways we can work together to ensure that NOAA offices and partners have the capacity to recover in the wake of a disaster, and 3) refined the “Guide to NOAA Disaster Resilience in the Southeast and Caribbean” with the intent of completing that resource this year.

2019 Workshop Agenda
2019 Workshop Report

2018 Workshop
On June 5-6, 2018, NOAA staff and partners met at the Duval County Emergency Operations Center, Jacksonville, FL, to conduct an “After Action Review” of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, including:

• Compare 2017 exercise notes against actions taken during these hurricanes.
• Identify NOAA best practices during these major hurricanes.
• Identify NOAA lessons learned during these major hurricanes.
• Recommend new NOAA major hurricane response and/or recovery tasks based on Hurricanes Irma and Maria experiences.
• Incorporate best practices and lessons learned into the resource directory.  

2018 Workshop Report

2017 Workshop
Intended to enhance awareness and understanding of roles, responsibilities, and capabilities of NOAA offices in the region that are, or could be, applied to a disaster situation, SECART hosted the NOAA Emergency Response Posture Workshop in Charleston, SC from June 13-15, 2017. Twenty-six participants, representing all NOAA Line Offices, took part in the three-day workshop. Led by NOAA’s Disaster Response Center, the workshop included three training sessions (Environmental Response Management Application, Web Emergency Operations Center, and NOAA Response Asset Directory), overviews of office capabilities (related to planning, response, and recovery), and discussions related to a tabletop exercise of a simulated hurricane striking the Southeast. Participants valued the enhanced awareness and new relationships, agreed to meet again in FY18, and agreed to develop a resource directory for the region.

2017 Workshop Agenda
2017 Workshop Report