(1) Each emergency management organization or joint emergency management organization shall create, promulgate, and maintain a current plan which shall be based on a hazard analysis or equivalent and, at a minimum, include a basic document with the following elements:

(a) Mission or purpose - Provides a description of why the plan is established, citation of the authorizing or enabling federal, state, and local statute(s) or ordinance(s), and an explanation of the situations and assumptions on which the plan is based.

(b) Organization and responsibilities - Provides a definition of the emergency responsibilities of each primary agency and local officials with emergency management authority involved in the plan, and a brief explanation of the chain of command and organizational relationship among such agencies.

(c) Concept of operations - Provides a general explanation of how the plan is to be implemented and how the plan's general functions are to be performed.

(d) Administration, finance, and logistics - Provides an outline of the utilization of resources in response and recovery actions, including records retention and documentation, and defines how such actions will be financed.

(e) Direction and control - Provides a description of the location (physical or virtual) of emergency operations and/or coordination centers, and the mechanisms for maintaining continuity of civil government within the political subdivision.

(2) The plan should also include, either in the plan itself or in an annex or appendix, a functional description of how each of the following operational components will be addressed:

(a) Direction, control, and coordination;

(b) Continuity of government;

(c) Emergency resource management (requests, procurement, and tracking);

(d) Alerts and warnings;

(e) External affairs and/or public information;

(f) Response and recovery operations;

(g) Evacuation and shelter-in-place;

(h) Sheltering and temporary housing;

(i) Human resources;

(j) Mass care and emergency assistance;

(k) Public health, medical, and mortuary services;

(l) Communications;

(m) Agricultural resources;

(n) Transportation;

(o) Oil and hazardous materials response (including radiological);

(p) Public safety, law enforcement, and security;

(q) Firefighting;

(r) Public works and engineering;

(s) Search and rescue;

(t) Nongovernmental organizations, including faith-based and nonprofit agencies;

(u) Development and maintenance;

(v) Emergency fiscal procedures;

(w) Training and exercise;

(x) Energy and utilities;

(y) Debris management.

(3) The plan shall reference or include the following items:

(a) A list of local ordinances or resolutions granting authority to establish: The emergency management organization, mutual aid agreements, memoranda of understanding, and other documents important to the adoption or implementation of the plan. These may be referenced in the plan or included in the plan's appendices.

(b) The month and year of the most recent revision shall be identified on each page of the plan and its associated procedures and checklists.

(c) Each page of the plan shall be numbered.

(4) The plan shall be promulgated by letter signed by the current executive head and included in or attached to the plan.

(5) The plan shall be updated at least once every five calendar years, and reviewed and amended as needed following exercises and activations.

(6) No less than once every five calendar years, the operational capabilities of the emergency management organization and plan shall be tested by an emergency operations exercise or by an actual emergency operations and/or coordination center activation.