FREE COURSE > NEW FEMA IS-111.a - Livestock in Disasters

IS-111.a - Livestock in Disasters  (access course)

Course Date

New as of  12 July, 2011

Course Description

This course combines the knowledge of livestock producers and emergency managers to present a unified approach to mitigate the impact of disasters on animal agriculture.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course are to learn understand issues that arise when disasters affect livestock, determine a farm's susceptibility to hazards, and identify actions to reduce economic losses and human and animal suffering in disasters.

Primary Audience

Emergency management officials and livestock owners.

CEUs

0.4

Course Length

3.5 hours

EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO TERRORISM > JOB AID

Description: Edition 2.0. Identifies strategic and tactical considerations that should be assessed within the first hour of a terrorist incident.

Year/pages: 2003: 74 p. and 7 index dividers.

Price: $13.50

[To order]

FREE .pdf VERSION:  http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/ert-ja.pdf

Tornado Sirens > Proved Beneficial in Rural Communities

[Sirens may not save property, but they sure as heck SAVE LIVES!]


On April 27, 2011, widespread damage was reported in Guntersville, AL, with trees down and some residents trapped in vehicles or homes. Trees and power lines blocked roadways as tornadoes ranging from EF-0 to EF-4 struck Marshall County. Five fatalities were recorded. According to Anita McBurnett, Marshall County’s Director of Emergency Management, the picture could have been grimmer in several rural communities had warning systems not been in place.  Read more

DISASTER OFFICIALS > Use Disaster Assistance Grants Wisely

WORDS OF ADVICE FROM DISASTER OFFICIALS: USE DISASTER ASSISTANCE GRANTS WISELY

courtesy runningtree.net

ATLANTA — Disaster survivors who receive state and federal assistance payments are advised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): Be cautious, use funds wisely and only for their intended purpose. Misuse could result in loss of funds.  Full article

Disasters > Swollen Mississippi River to be closed for traffic as of Monday

Swollen Mississippi River to be closed for traffic as of Monday

Landsat comparison images of Mississippi flooding:
Source: esri.com

Swollen by weeks of heavy rain and snowmelt, the Mississippi River has been breaking high-water records that have stood since the 1920s and 1930s; it is projected to crest at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 19 May and break the mark set there during the historic Great Flood of 1927; the crest is expected to reach New Orleans on 23 May; officials with the Port of New Orleans said the Coast Guard may close the river to ships as early as Monday, halting traffic on one of the world's busiest commercial waterways; barges headed south from the U.S. heartland to the Port of South Louisiana at Reserve, upriver from New Orleans, would be unable to reach grain elevators; massive ships that carry U.S. corn, soybeans, and other crops out of the country would be unable to move  Read more

Twitter, Facebook, and Ten Red Balloons: Social Network Problem Solving and Homeland Security

Results of a Social Media type contest, with national security implications, great read, 15 mins read.

image coutesy of:  www.psfk.com

On December 6, 2009, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) held a competition designed to, in their words, “explore the role the Internet and social networking plays in the timely communication, wide area team-building and urgent mobilization required to solve broad scope, time-critical problems.” ¹ The competition required participating teams/individuals to find “10 8-foot balloons moored at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States.” ² Just before the competition opened, the balloons were surreptitiously floated at random locations in nine states, including: California, Tennessee, Florida, Delaware, Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Oregon, and Georgia. 

Preparedness Exercises 2.0: Alternative Approaches to Exercise Design That Could Make Them More Useful for Evaluating — and Strengthening — Preparedness

Another great article written for NPS.  This document is 19 pages long and took about 40 mins to read.  Great charts/graphs and statistics.  If you are a planner of exercises...read this article.  It discusses what type of exercises produces what types of results...for inquiring minds..

As one component of a preparedness program, exercises of these varied types are seen as a versatile tool that can help contribute to achieving a variety of different goals. Though taxonomies of exercise objectives vary in the literature, most include the following:³

• Planning — Exercises provide a structure to advance planning for a particular incident scenario, identifying problems and explore their solutions in focused way.
• Interagency Coordination — Exercises can act as a venue for members of different agencies to meet and interact, to build relationships that are important to effective coordination in a real event, to identify issues potentially falling in gaps of authority, jurisdiction, etc., to test mechanisms and technologies for interagency information sharing that might seldom be used in routine events, and to identify if there are agencies “missing” from plans that would be needed at a large scale disaster, accident, or terrorist attack.
• Public Education — Exercises can act as an “event” that, by being covered by the media and discussed publically, makes it possible to teach the public about the capabilities of response systems, creates the opportunity to educate them about preparedness actions they could take, and informs them about preparedness efforts of their local, state, or the federal government.
• Training — Exercises can make it possible to expose response staff to rare incidents and their unique demands — rather than their encountering them for the first time at a real emergency. Such simulations make it possible to teach responders or volunteers specific tasks, practice equipment use, and to learn or refresh other knowledge specific to an unusual incident.
• Evaluation — Exercises have been used to evaluate emergency preparedness activities in a variety of ways. Such evaluations range from very broad, qualitative assessments (e.g., ensuring all significant issues were considered in planning) to very detailed, quantitative studies (e.g., directly measuring the patient throughput of a medical facility). More elab

Security for Artisans: A reflective practitioner’s view of today’s security professional and the protection business

Great article, 2 mins read.  KATE HALE (Hurricane Andrew:  “Where the hell is the cavalry on this one?”) wherever you are (Jamestown),  I think the writer must know you and wrote this with you in mind!

Security is receptive to scientific advance, but is no field for scientists to dominate. The exigencies of protection are too fluid and the stakes too high for submitting one's livelihood, assets, or life to rigid metrics and laboratory-grade theories that fall apart on first contact with mortal hazard. On the other hand, security is no long-term home for artists, either. Not that the protective world need be  inhospitable to creativity or innovation – particularly if these produce desired protection on time and within ambient resource constraints. However, the artist's highest aspiration to be and do something unique will find a better home elsewhere. In the protection business, it is not only useful but necessary to be able to replicate and commoditize one's highest achievement, to spread it widely and often without taking credit for it. In this context, die-hard artists will surely look to greener pastures more befitting their egos and temperaments. Where does that leave us, then, if security is neither art nor science and if security welcomes visitors from both camps but offers a home to neither?
Security professionals are as frustrated or stymied as anyone else. They learn to make peace with an imperfect world and navigate the uncertain waters that raise them high one day, only to submerge them the next day. Over time, security professionals learn to take vicissitudes in graceful stride. They learn to anticipate adverse consequences, and this knowledge carries over into organizational life. They see it coming. Ideally, they dodge the blow. When dodging is no option, at least they brace for the punch.  Read more...

Emergency Alert System Expanding > Targeted cell phone emergency alerts unveiled in New York City

Great article if you haven't already seen it on TV.  NYC and DC will be test platforms soon. 

The Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) is a free service offered voluntarily by wireless carriers that will allow customers with specially equipped mobile devices to receive geographically-targeted, text-like messages alerting them to imminent safety threats in their area. Cell phones have to be equipped to receive the messages that will come in three versions: Presidential Alerts, alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life; and Amber Alerts. Carriers can opt out of offering the last two, but must carry the presidential alerts, the spokeswoman said.

Tornadoes > Lessons from the wreckage: How Alabama could help tornado preparedness?

Meteorologists are combing through the damage from last week's historic tornado outbreak in Alabama, hoping to find clues about how to save more lives in the future. -csmonitor.com

A reconstruction of the storm tracks for all the tornadoes that touched down April 27 in the Southeastern United States during the largest one-day tornado outbreak in US history. Bright reds, oranges and yellows show tracks of where rotation was strongest, as detected by NWS Doppler radars.  USDA Farm Service Agency / National Weather Service / NOAA

Game-Changing Trends Beg Evolution of Emergency Management Planning

EXCELLENT article on future of emergency management planning - 5 mins read-SDF Blogger
"Changing demographics, an aging population, an aging infrastructure and other facters are driving changes in emergency management planning."- read more

photo courtesy of Emergency Management Magazine:
www.emergencymgmt.com

FREE Course > Crisis Emergency Risk Communication

CDC just put this out. I am a huge proponent of Risk Communication. CDC's Training website, is hard to navigate thru.  You have to register first.  So pick a user ID and Password, then proceed.  You have to muddle thru it unfortunately.  But it is worth it.  This is a great course.

CERC Online (Web-Based)
Course Number: WB1138

This course will cover the fundamentals of Crisis Emergency Risk Communication (CERC). It is the online version of the classroom course. It contains downloadable job aids and the manual used in the classroom. It includes the video clips used to enhance learning in the classroom and the opportunity to practice the concepts online.
Course Link

TARGET AUDIENCE: This course is open to everyone although it was designed for CDC staff and the public health community. It will be particularly valuable to those people charged with the crisis and emergency risk communication.

MATERIALS: For additional information, contact the CDC Office of Enterprise Communication at either email CERCinfocdc.gov or CERCrequestcdc.gov.

CE Expiration Date: 1/15/2013

Free Course> IS-22 Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness

[This is a basic course to help citizen's prepare for the unexpected.  Even if you think you know a lot about disaster's, there is always more to learn.  About 60-90 minutes long.  Good information to know, great information to share.  The booklet is a 'nice to have' document to include in your disaster kit, and includes many more websites and resources.  Website for course is at bottom of blog. Enjoy]

 

 

Course Overview

The (FEMA) "Are You Ready? An In-Depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness" has been designed to help the citizens of this nation learn how to protect themselves and their families against all types of hazards. It can be used as a reference source or as a step-by-step manual. The focus of the content is on how to develop, practice, and maintain emergency plans that reflect what must be done before, during, and after a disaster to protect people and their property. Also included is information on how to assemble a disaster supplies kit that contains the food, water, and other supplies in sufficient quantity for individuals and their families to survive.

There are real benefits to being prepared.

• Being prepared can reduce fear, anxiety, and losses that accompany disasters.
Communities, families, and individuals should know what to do in the event
of a fire and where to seek shelter during a tornado. They should be ready to
evacuate their homes and take refuge in public shelters and know how to care
for their basic medical needs.
• People also can reduce the impact of disasters (flood proofing, elevating a
home or moving a home out of harm’s way, and securing items that could
shake loose in an earthquake) and sometimes avoid the danger completely.

                                      http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is22.asp

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