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Local Towns Signing Up for Twitter and Facebook for Emergency Comm.

Sat, 2011-12-10 10:51 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - December 7, 2011

Following the lead of several other cities and federal agencies, the town of Wilton, Connecticut recently launched a Facebook page and Twitter account to help communicate with residents and share information during a disaster

Following the lead of several other cities and federal agencies, the town of Wilton, Connecticut recently launched a Facebook page and Twitter account to help communicate with residents and share information during a disaster.

Two major storms, including Hurricane Irene, left many Wilton residents without water or electricity for up to a week and sent a strong signal to emergency officials that they needed to improve disaster communications.

To that end, the town created an official Emergency Facebook Page as well as a Twitter account.

Speaking before the Wilton Board of Selectman, Fire Chief Paul Milositz, who is also the town’s emergency response director, said, “We have to get better at [communication with residents].”

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EPA Says Fracking May Be Polluting Groundwater

Fri, 2011-12-09 00:37 — Kathy Gilbeaux

(AP)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday for the first time that fracking — a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells — may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution.

The draft finding could have significant implications while states try to determine how to regulate the process. Environmentalists characterized the report as a significant development though it met immediate criticism from the oil and gas industry and a U.S. senator.

The practice is called hydraulic fracturing and involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to open fissures and improve the flow of oil or gas to the surface.

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Level 3 Crises Addressed as Level 1 Crises

Sun, 2011-12-04 23:33 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations-The Mann Gulch Fire

submitted by "Anonymous"

This is a useful thread. Several of you might be interested in the link to the famous article "The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations:The Mann Gulch Disaster," by Karl E. Weick (http://www.cs.unibo.it/~ruffino/Letture%20TDPC/K.%20Weick%20-%20The%20collapse%20of%20sensemaking.pdf) about the 1949 Mann Gulf fire in Montana where 13 firefghters died in a wildfire. The section beginning on p. 11 "From Vulnerability to Resilience" and from pp 17-23 on "Structures for Resilience" may be particularly applicable.

Some of the comments in the thread also are worthwhile, like input on "Community Involvement."

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Detroit in a Hostile Takeover Bid?

Sun, 2011-12-04 18:57 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CBS News - December 4, 2011

The Detroit skyline is seen in this 2008 file photo. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

(AP)

DETROIT - The idea is extreme, even in a city accustomed to fighting for survival: Should the state of Michigan step in to run Detroit?

The governor has taken steps in that direction, proposing an unprecedented move that could give an appointed manager virtually unchecked power to gut union contracts, cut employee health insurance and slash services. But city leaders bristle at the notion. Said the mayor: "This is our city. Detroit needs to be run by Detroiters."

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Taking the Tiny House Movement Tinier

Sat, 2011-12-03 21:09 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Kirk Johnson - The New York Times - December 3, 2011

Glenn Grassi used his skills as a set designer in the construction of his portable 84-square-foot microhome, trying to maximize the space available. Matthew Staver for The New York Times

LOUISVILLE, Colo. - For many Americans who bought more home than they could really afford in the giddy days before the crash, the big-house dream has become a nightmare in the ashes of foreclosure and regret.

So after all that, how does 84 square feet sound?

Glenn Grassi, in building his prototype one-room microhome - 7 by 12 feet stem-to-stern, including a wood-burning stove, an antique parlor chair that also serves as a seat for the compost toilet beneath it, and a shower under the bed - is hoping it sounds, well, like shelter in the old-fashioned practical sense.

Or like a work of art. He is not exactly sure.

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Mind-Alliance Joins UN Disaster Risk Reduction Private Sector Partnership

Tue, 2011-11-29 15:04 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - November 28, 2011

Mind-Alliance joins forces with the UN Disaster Risk Reduction partnership // Source: indiatimes.com

More than 200 million people are affected by disasters each year and in 2010 at least 300,000 people died in major disaster events; annual reported disaster losses now regularly exceed $100 billion; Mind-Alliance, a developer of Information Sharing Management software for homeland security, emergency preparedness, and business continuity professionals, has joined the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Private Sector Partnership

Roseland, New Jersey-based Mind-Alliance, a developer of Information Sharing Management software for homeland security, emergency preparedness, and business continuity professionals, announced that it has joined the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Private Sector Partnership to support work aimed at enhancing national and local resilience to disaster.

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Occupy L.A.: Crowd Swells as Deadline Nears

Tue, 2011-11-29 14:24 — admin

Los Angeles Times - November 27, 2011

As a midnight deadline loomed, more than 1,000 Occupy L.A. protesters and supporters crammed onto the City Hall lawn for what might be their last general assembly -- the nightly meeting of protesters.

A few climbed into trees while others stood or sat on the ground. For more than three hours, protesters stood up to make statements, lead chants and, in at least one case, sing a gospel song.

Some of the business related to the impending eviction: Speakers gave out the phone number for the National Lawyers Guild, which is providing legal support for any protesters arrested in the action, and directed the protesters to reassemble at Our Lady Queen of Angels church on North Main Street if police cleared the encampment at City Hall.

PHOTOS: Occupy L.A. eviction

Other issues ranged farther afield. Speakers urged the audience to go vegan, and the assembly passed a resolution supporting the repeal of "corporate personhood."

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Rare 'Survivor' Dolphin Gives Hope for Finding Cause of Deaths Since BP Spill

Sun, 2011-11-27 22:53 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Kaija Wilkinson - gulflive.com - November 27, 2011

Institute Director Moby Solangi watches a sickly dolphin make circles in its pool at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. (The Mississippi Press/Kaija Wilkinson)

GULFPORT, Mississippi -- A sickly, stranded dolphin that was found in Alabama and transported to Gulfport to convalesce and be studied could provide clues to a spike in dolphin deaths that has occurred over the past year.

The 2-year-old male is the first to be found alive since the BP oil spill last spring, according to Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, where the dolphin is being held.

The spike coincided with the spill, but to date no definitive link has been made between the spill and the deaths, which in south Mississippi and Alabama are three to four times what they are in a normal year.

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CDC Confirms Cases of New Swine Flu Virus

Sat, 2011-11-26 19:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Liz Szabo - USA Today - November 24, 2011

H1N1 strain of the swine flu virus Photograph: Photographer: C. S. Goldsmith an/AP

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed three cases of a new flu virus, which originated in pigs but apparently spread from person to person, in three Iowa children.

However, there's no reason to fear the beginning of a new pandemic, says Arnold Monto, a flu expert and professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

"I don't think this is anything to worry about for the moment," Monto says. "We have known that swine viruses get into humans occasionally, transmit for a generation or two and then stop. The issue is whether there will be sustained transmission (from person to person)- and that nearly never happens."

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