Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. In the United States, an Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is an agency at the local, state or national level that holds responsibility of comprehensively planning for and responding to all manner of disasters, whether man-made or natural. An OEM may also be requested to provide consequence management for large special events such as major gatherings, visiting dignitaries et al. Emergency management organizations often hold different names, such as "office of emergency preparedness" or "emergency management", but perform the same function. In the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the agency responsible for emergency management on the national level. Examples of state and local agencies are listed below. Large federal and state agencies, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as private companies often maintain OEMs as discrete departments responsible for handling organizational emergency preparations and response plans.