submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - March 9, 2012

While the lessons of the 11 March 2011 Fukushima disaster are being absorbed, the United States is moving forward with nuclear power; for the first time since 1978, the U.S. National Regulatory Commission has approved two new plants; the $14 billion facilities will be built just outside Augusta, Georgia

Last March, the world watched closely as Japan struggled to contain a series of equipment failures, hydrogen explosions, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The historic tsunami following the 9.0-magnitude earthquake destroyed the reactors’ connection to the power grid, causing them to overheat. Hundreds of people were exposed to increased levels of radiation. Thousands more were evacuated. Japanese officials have since declared the plant stable, but the cleanup will be expensive and is expected to take decades.

A social media campaign to shine a light on Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has attracted ire of its own after critics attacked its methods. Is using Facebook and Twitter to promote change pointless, or the natural extension of our social media habit?

by Kate Dailey - BBC News - March 9, 2012

On Monday, the California-based nonprofit Invisible Children released an online 30-minute documentary about Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). "We want to make him famous," they said. "Not to glorify him, but so that his crimes would not go unnoticed."

It worked.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

submitted by Samuel Bendett

I-COP stacks multiple flows of information into a single picture // Source: ac.jp

Homeland Security News Wire - March 7, 2012

A U.S. Marine stationed at the Quantico base in Virginia has developed sophisticated mapping software that can give users full situational awareness of their surroundings in real-time.

The Installation Common Operational Picture (I-COP), developed by Marine specialist Michael Lisovich, is essentially a “super map,” taking in a torrent of data streams from emergency dispatch reports to weather forecasts, traffic reports, and security system alerts.

Pete Streng, Quantico’s director of operations, said the tool, which is accessible online, essentially provides users with up to the minute information on everything around the base, allowing officials to make fast, informed decisions.

InsideNovareports that Streng contacted Lisovich several years ago requesting a system that would give officials a better grasp of the base’s critical infrastructure system.

A health worker leaves the Lusby home of an 81-year-old woman who died from respiratory illness on March 1.

by Tim Persinko - nbcwashington.com - March 7, 2012

Lab testing identified the same strain of influenza in two of the three victims who died with respiratory sickness last week in Calvert County.

The county's health department has been investigating a cluster of illnesses that led to three deaths in Lusby, MD, near the Calvert Cliffs nuclear facility.

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Health said on Wednesday afternoon that Influenza H3, a strain of Influenza A that has been circulating this season, was found in two of the cases.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Henryville High School in Henryville, Ind., is destroyed after powerful storms stretching from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes in the north wrecked two small towns and killed at least eight people Friday, March 2, 2012, as the system tore roofs off schools and homes and damaged a maximum security prison. It was the second deadly tornado outbreak this week. (AP Photo/The News and Tribune, C.E. Branham)

(GO TO THE PHOTO COLLECTION)

A list of resources for response and recovery as a result of the tornado outbreak of 2012:

(TO EXPAND THE LIST, CLICK ON THE HEADLINE OR CLICK ON "READ MORE" AT THE BOTTOM)

Humanity Road - List of Resources in 8 States

Alabama Emergency Management

Illinois Emergency Management Agency

Indiana Emergency Management Agencies

Indiana Dept. of Homeland Security - Updates on Resources - Facebook Page (click and scroll down)

Kansas Division of Emergency Management

Kentucky Emergency Management

Kentucky - Missing Person Information

Missouri Emergency Management

Ohio Emergency Management

Tennessee Emergency Management

Residents take in some of the damage after a severe storm hit in the early morning hours on February 29, 2012, in Harrisburg, Illinois. UPI/Paul Newton/The Southern

upi.com - March 2, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS, March 2 (UPI) -- Deadly tornadoes raked southern Indiana Friday, wiping out the town of Marysville, as a line of storms bore down on the Ohio and Tennessee valleys.

There were no firm casualty figures, but deaths were reported. Dozens of people were reported missing.

Numerous funnel clouds were reported.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

by Alex Sosnowski - accuweather.com - March 2, 2012

The setup and aftermath on Friday for the Ohio and Tennessee valleys could be similar to the weather pattern during and following the 1974 Super Outbreak.

Spanning April 3-4, 1974, a swarm of tornadoes tore through areas from Illinois and southern Michigan to northern Alabama and Georgia.

The outbreak produced 148 confirmed tornadoes, six of which were F-5 intensity. The most powerful of these storms slammed into Xenia, Ohio.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

submitted by Mike Kraft

Homeland Security News Wire - February 29, 2012

According to the latest survey by the Persuadable Research Corporation, half of the poll’s respondents believe they are unprepared for a disaster.

When asked in further detail why not, 38 percent said preparing for a disaster never crossed their mind, while 48 percent said they lacked the money to prepare and 15 percent said they did not have time. Furthermore 20 percent of those surveyed, said they intended to “just wing it” during a disaster.

On the opposite front, of the minority who are prepared, 82 percent said they had a previous brush with a disaster and are now ready to act in the event of another. In addition, 27 percent of those who were prepared for a disaster said they did it because they needed to care for other family members like children or elderly parents.

Meanwhile respondents were uncertain on whether the government would be able to provide assistance in the event of an emergency. Twenty-eight percent were uncertain about the government’s response, while 30 percent were convinced the government was incapable.

submitted by Janine Rees

Stream Gaging Station by Beige Alert, on Flickr

by John Farrell - energyselfreliantstates.org - February 27, 2012

In a New York Times SundayReview piece last week – Drawing the Line at Power Lines – Elisabeth Rosenthal suggested that our desire for clean energy will require significant tradeoffs . . .

I disagree.

The future of American electricity policy is not about tradeoffs, but rather a chance to trade-in an obsolete, centralized paradigm for a local, clean energy future.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Source: NPR - Credit: Adam Cole, Maggie Starbard

by Adam Cole - npr.org - February 24, 2012

. . . "Surveillance is one of the cornerstones of public health," says Philip Polgreen, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa. "It all depends on having not only accurate data, but timely data."

Public health officials have been trying to speed up their responses to disease outbreaks since, well, they started responding to outbreaks.

There's still plenty of room for improvement.

The current system requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compile reports about from physicians and labs all over the country — and that can take a while. There's typically a week-long delay between an outbreak and the release of an official report.

To get an early read on things, epidemiologists look for the first clues of illness — a rise in thermometer sales or increased chatter on hospital phone lines. Now, they're tapping into the Internet. . . .

tacmedia.wordpress.com - February 26, 2012

In the world of Twitter, Facebook , YouTube and everything else that demands instantaneous information sharing it is horrible to see an event occur and the only information that comes out is rumour, guesses and innuendo.

Today, I watched virtually as a passenger train derailment occurred in the region that I live in.  In fact, I was out with my family today and we weren’t to far from the location where the event occurred.

Like so many others, I learned about the event on Twitter and I stayed with the information all afternoon and into the evening.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has now posted the video from the conference "Crisis Management 3.0: Social Media and Governance in Times of Transition", which was held on February 16, 2012.

The video can be found through the link below.  (Also, the event photographs and Powerpoint presentations are available through links near the bottom of the page.)

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/crisis-management-30-social-media-and-governance-times-transition

(Some viewers might need to download the JW Player in order to view the video - see the link below)

http://www.longtailvideo.com/players/

Co-hosts: Global Health Initiative, Inc. and National Defense University

submitted by Jonathan King

By: Rich Miller - datacenterknowledge.com - February 20, 2012

Jesse Robbins is a trained fireman. He also has managed some of the world’s largest Internet infrastructures. Robbins says the lessons of fire readiness can be applied to building reliable systems.

“You cannot learn the lessons of failure without experiencing it,” said Robbins, the co-founder and Chief Community Office at Opscode. “That’s why we do fire drills.”

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)