Response organisation

Very soon after the accident, the US administration and BP set up a solid command system. Response organisation was coordinated as follows.
 
In New Orleans, the Unified Area Command (UAC) coordinated 4 Incident Command Posts (ICPs): for Texas in Galveston, for Louisiana in Houma - in charge of operations at sea and on the shores of Louisiana -, for Alabama in Mobile - in charge of shoreline response in the States of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, and for Florida in Miami.
Members of the command included: twenty-odd federal agencies (USCG, NOAA, EPA, ...), the State Government, parish and tribal Governments, as well as NGOs, various consultants and BP (responsible parties).
A fifth centre, the Source Control Command (SCC), based in Houston, Texas, was specifically dedicated to response to the leaking well. The ICP in Houma was the largest, comprising 1,200 people and worked 24/7.
Under the orders of the ICPs, Forward Operative Bases (FOB) were in charge of implementing response operations (at sea, in coastal waters and on the shoreline).