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There Are No Victims Here: Creating an Empowered Survivor Culture

Tue, 2014-07-15 21:18 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

      

Emergency managers need to train, encourage and empower public partners to become their own heroes. 
Flickr/Joe Loong

emergencymgmt.com - by Charisma Williams - July 15, 2014

“Be your own hero.” The words hit me like a bolt of lightning (I’ll explain why later). . .

. . . Too often the public has to be “humbled” by a tragic or devastating event before many people start to see the validity in the safety and preparedness measures that those of us in the emergency management/preparedness community work so hard to promote both in our professional and personal lives. However, once they do, it is our job to use these events to help foster the safety culture we strive for daily.

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2014-2018 FEMA Strategic Plan

Tue, 2014-07-15 20:34 — Kathy Gilbeaux

fema.gov

The 2014 - 2018 FEMA Strategic Plan reflects objectives the Agency will accomplish to provide the best possible support to the American people before, during, and after disasters. It sets forth the strategies FEMA will employ to accomplish the objectives and also establishes measurable outcomes to achieve. This Strategic Plan was developed through the involvement of hundreds of FEMA employees and many external stakeholders who contributed to generating our objectives, strategies, and outcomes, and who are now working to execute this Plan. 

The Strategic Plan provides a strategic lense to focus FEMA's efforts and guide the allocation of resources over the next four years. The FEMA Strategic Plan supports the Department of Homeland Security's 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Mission 5 (Strengthen national preparedness and resilience) and is built on five strategic priorities and two strategic imperatives outlined in the Fiscal Year 2015-2019 Administrator's Intent:

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Disaster Response
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Situation Report

House Passes Homeland Security Legislation on Chemical Facility Security, Border Security and Emergency Communications

Wed, 2014-07-09 21:22 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez        

              

homeland.house.gov - July 8, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 4007, H.R. 4263, H.R. 4289 and H.R. 3488 - bipartisan legislation to enhance the security of chemical facilities and ports of entry and improve emergency communications.

Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX): “The ability of our first responders to communicate with each other and with the public during a terrorist attack or natural disaster is imperative. I am pleased the House passed H.R. 4263 and H.R. 4289 to ensure that our first responders are able to communicate with each other via interoperable communications systems and with the public via social media during times of crisis.

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Communication
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Governor of New York Launches Massive Training Program for Citizen Preparedness

Wed, 2014-01-29 16:25 — debbiefook

Governor of New York Launches Massive Training Program for Citizen Preparedness

On Feb. 1 New York’s Governor Cuomo will launch the Citizen Preparedness Corps Training Program.

According to an article from longisland.com, the program is designed to give 100,000 New Yorkers the training they need to be better prepared for emergencies and disasters. Not only will this training enable them to help themselves in a crisis, it will also teach them how to help their families and neighbors.

“Severe weather events are becoming more frequent and extreme and to make sure that our communities are safe, we need more New Yorkers than ever to be prepared and trained to respond,” said Cuomo in the article.

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Training
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Canarsie
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Cutting Short-Lived ClimatePollutants Slows Rising Seas

Mon, 2013-10-14 00:58 — Gina Angiola

Climate Central,  April 14, 2013

Cutting CO2 emissions is critical in the long term, but readily achievable reductionsof non-CO2 pollutants would do far more to slow sea level rise this centurythan actions to reduce CO2 emissions alone, protecting millions of people and billions of dollars of real estate from rising seas.

The article, "Mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants slows sea level rise", by Hu et al., is a collaboration between scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Climate Central, and examines how much the rate and amount of global sea level rise can be reduced by cutting emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and four short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) — methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons, and black carbon — by mid-century (2050) and in the long term (2100). These results are compared to a "Business As Usual" scenario and to mitigating CO2 only.

FULL ARTICLE AND INTERACTIVE MAP HERE

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Let It Burn: Changing Firefighting Techniques for a Warming World

Mon, 2013-10-07 23:43 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

The devastating Rim Fire threatened Yosemite in August.  Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

This year has been a bloody one for firefighters on the front lines against wildfires. With climate change intensifying fires, it may be time to change the way we fight them.

time.com - by Bryan Walsh - October 4, 2013

We usually measure wildfires in acres burnt or the number of homes destroyed. But there’s a human toll to fires as well. So far this year 32 people have lost their lives fighting fires, the highest number in nearly 20 years—and the fire season isn’t done yet. More than half of those deaths occurred in a single incident, when all but one of a 20-man firefighting crew were killed during the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona in June.

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The Infrastructure Security Partnership

Wed, 2013-10-02 02:00 — Maeryn Obley

tisp.org

In a rapid response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, federal and state agencies, corporations and professional societies met to discuss how they could collaborate and coordinate to improve the security of the built environment of the United States.

In a unanimous conclusion to their meeting, The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP) was established as a non-profit partnership to facilitate a forum for advancing practice and policy for the protection of our nation’s critical infrastructure.

On Nov. 20, 2001, Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, Commanding General and Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, signed the Organizational Charter drafted by the partnership’s steering committee consisting of representatives from the American Institute of Architects, the Society of American Military Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Council of Engineering Companies, the Associated General Contractors of America, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Facilities Council, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

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United States
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Disaster Response
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Great Shakeout Earthquake Drills

Thu, 2013-09-26 17:50 — Kathy Gilbeaux

       

submitted by Katie Cook

shakeout.org

Many areas of the globe are prone to earthquakes. You could be anywhere when an earthquake strikes: at home, at work, at school or even on vacation. Are you prepared to survive and to recover quickly?

Great ShakeOut earthquake drills are an opportunity to practice how to be safer during earthquakes: "Drop, Cover and Hold On." ShakeOut also has been organized to encourage you, your community, your school, or your organization to update emergency plans and supplies, and to secure your space in order to prevent damage and injuries.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

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United States
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Disaster Risk Reduction
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Making Communities More Resilient to Climate-Induced Weather Disasters

Tue, 2013-02-26 23:08 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - February 18, 2013

Mounting scientific evidence indicates climate change will lead to more frequent and intense extreme weather that affects larger areas and lasts longer. We can reduce the risk of weather-related disasters, however, with a variety of measures. Experts say that a good strategy should include a variety of actions such as communicating risk and transferring it through vehicles such as insurance, taking a multi-hazard management approach, linking local and global management, and taking an iterative approach as opposed to starting with a master plan.

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Global
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Global Food Supply - We Need to Plan for System Failure

Wed, 2012-10-10 18:34 — Kathy Gilbeaux

ethicalcorp.com - by Mallen Baker - October 4, 2012

Mallen Baker argues that it’s irresponsible not to make contingency plans, especially when the potential failures concern the fundamentals – such as food

Imagine your critical business systems depend on one computer server. This server is huge – it has immense capacity – but you have grown into that space and now every single day you are pushing it to its limit. . .

. . . Now let’s substitute the global food system for the server. Here we have a system that is operating at full capacity. Any hiccups in normal production can lead to serious problems. This year we have seen such hiccups.

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Agriculture
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