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San Francisco revises emergency plans, updates tsunami playbook and mayoral response guidance
Summary
City emergency managers presented wide-ranging revisions to the Emergency Operations Plan and related annexes, including ESF 5 and ESF 8 updates, a newly elevated Family Assistance Center plan and a revised tsunami playbook informed by updated inundation maps and recent advisories.
San Francisco's Department of Emergency Management on Tuesday outlined a package of substantial revisions to the city's emergency planning framework that officials said reflect lessons learned during COVID and recent near-source tsunami advisories.
Assistant Deputy Director for Emergency Services Kim Bowman told the Disaster Council the updated Emergency Operations Plan and associated annexes (Emergency Support Function or ESF plans) now include a consolidated emergency management framework for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), department operations centers and the Joint Information Center. "These plans are drafted and contributed to by subject matter experts across many departments in San Francisco," Bowman said.
Bowman detailed several specific updates: ESF 5 now codifies the city's framework for incident and policy-group coordination; ESF 8 (public health and medical services) was revised under leadership from the Department of Public Health to clarify roles and discipline-specific resource ordering; and the Family Assistance Center (FAC) plan was elevated from an appendix to a standalone plan that defines oversight, victim and family services and procedures for identifying remains.
On tsunami response, Bowman cited updated inundation maps from the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Geological Survey and lessons from a December 4 tsunami advisory that prompted revisions to the tsunami playbook. "We updated the plan to kind of reflect what we're gonna do in that circumstance," Bowman said, and later added that the updated playbook was exercised in July 2025 and "the plan tested well." The revisions include checklists and critical action guides tied to inundation and arrival-time scenarios.
Bowman also said the senior leadership playbook and the Office of the Mayor's emergency response plan were extensively revised to reflect a new policy-group framework and current mayoral office structure; the mayoral plan was described as updated from an earlier version dating to the Ed Lee administration.
Mary Ellen and other council members thanked staff and emphasized regional coordination with Bay Area partners during large events and emergencies. No formal votes or policy actions were taken; items were informational and will inform further operationalization and training.
The council will hear more detailed, topic-specific briefings in future meetings as revisions are integrated into training and exercises.
