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Seoul Officials Tour U.S. Emergency Management Agencies

Twenty emergency management and transportation officials from South Korea's Seoul Municipal Government (SMG) visited municipal, state, and federal emergency management agencies in Georgia and California during a 10-day experiential learning tour facilitated by the Vinson Institute's International Center.

While in Georgia, the delegation attended briefings and demonstrations on disaster management strategies and technologies from officials at the Henry County Emergency Management Agency, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The delegation then traveled to California to meet with officials from the California Emergency Management Agency, the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, and the Oakland Emergency Operations Center. Delegation officials and staff from the University of California, Berkeley, discussed emerging efforts in earthquake prediction and management and toured Cal's seismic retrofits. The group also viewed search and rescue demonstrations by the Oakland Fire Department and Urban Search and Rescue Task Force and the El Camino Fire Academy.

This and other training programs with SMG are the result of a memorandum of understanding signed in October 2011 designating the Institute's International Center as the manager of all SMG's short-term training programs in the United States. The International Center also partners with the Governor's Association of Korea, an organization of local elected leaders from across South Korea, to bring groups of Korean officials to the Institute for one-month periods to learn more about the Institute's professional development and training programs and to build networks with Georgia government and business leaders.

The Institute's International Center works worldwide to facilitate relationships that help position Georgia to benefit from an increasingly global economy. Governments throughout the globe seek out the International Center for technical assistance and for comprehensive training programs in the areas of leadership development, human resource management, financial management, and more.