All communities are vulnerable to a variety of hazards. Emergency management provides a structure for anticipating and dealing with emergency incidents. Emergency management involves participants at all governmental levels and in the private sector. Activities are geared according to phases before, during, and after emergency events. The effectiveness of emergency management rests on a network of relationships among partners in the system. This course is one in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Professional Development Series. The goal of this course is to introduce you to the fundamentals of emergency management as an integrated system, surveying how the resources and capabilities of all functions at all levels can be networked together in all phases for all hazards.