The State of California emergency response planning is a series of related documents, each of which serve a specific purpose. (See figures 1 and 2.) The basic plan of a jurisdiction (item (1) in figures 1 and 2) is the foundation of this planning process. It is an essential administrative (rather than operational) document, and as such it: » Provides the basis (including legal authority) for and the objectives of emergency planning and operations » Outlines contingencies (emergency situations) to be planned and prepared for and establishes the general principles and policies (concepts of operations) to be applied to each » Describes the emergency organization in terms of who is responsible for what actions » Defines interjurisdictional and interservice relationships and the direction and control structure to make assignments and resolve conflicts » Contains or refers to information of common interest about supporting facilities, such as the Emergency Operations Center and warning and communications systems » Provides the planning basis for other supporting documents which are more operationally oriented The basic plan is supported by a Direction and Control annex and by functional annexes (see (2) and (3) respectively in figures 1 and 2). The Direction and Control annex details how overall responses to an emergency will be managed and coordinated. Functional annexes (for both staff and services) are designed to address the extraordinary requirements created by emergencies. They identify the specific needs, the organizational resources available to meet those needs, and the scheme or "concept of operations" for their application. It should be noted that, because of unique requirements, annexes often do not reflect normal departmental structure. An annex becomes a departmental plan only when an agency represents the sole resource for meeting the stated need and when satisfying that need is the only task assigned to that agency by the basic plan.