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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

FREE FOG > National Interoperability Field Operations Guide

New content:

• VTAC Repeater Channels
• U.S. Department of Justice 25 Cities Project
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Regions - States and Territories
• U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Centers
• Cellular Telephone Emergency Response
• Text Messaging
• Line-of-sight Formulas

Updated content:

• VHF low-band interoperability repeaters and channel names
• All channel tables list frequencies in the same order as ICS-205 and ICS-217 forms
• An improved map showing where channel VTAC17 may be used, with county names
• 700 MHz Interoperability Channels – frequencies have been added to the table
• UHF MED channels – 12.5 and 6.25 channels added
• RJ-45 wiring – crossover wiring added
• VHF Marine Channel and Frequency tables
• Revised answer to the question "Don't I need a license for these channels before programming them into radios?"
• Revised "Ground to Air working channel" in the table "Federal/Non-Federal VHF SAR Operations Interoperability Plan"

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

Turkey plans two earthquake resistant cities to move residents from vulnerable Istanbul

These Istanbul buildings are especially vulnerable
Source: purdue.edu

Infrastructure protection

To encourage residents to move away from seismically unsafe neighborhoods, Turkey's government recently announced that it will begin building two earthquake-resistant developments near Istanbul; the city of more than twelve million people currently sits near a major fault-line that could potentially kill thousands in the event of a major earthquake; engineers and seismic experts warn that Istanbul's poor construction, shoddy city planning, and overcrowding would result in many fatalities in the event of an earthquake; officials plan for the new urban centers to be home to roughly 1 million residents each; any move to the new settlements would be entirely voluntary  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...

Free Courses > CDC Public Health

Several free Public Health courses

E-learning encompasses interactive instruction delivered through a computer by way of the Internet, intranet, compact disc, or other digital media designed to support specific learning objectives.

The following e-learning products are featured. They have been reviewed by CDC staff and met the following specific selection criteria:

• Instructional design and usability best practices manifested through sound learning objectives, use of media, interactivity, and technical operation
• Accurate content, aligned with CDC recommendations and policy
• Compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Available at no cost

Featured E-learning Products by Title

• BioterroRisk
• Chronic Disease Series — Nutrition and Health
• Chronic Disease Series — Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health
• Chronic Disease Series — Obesity Prevention in Children
• Dating Matters: Understanding Teen Dating Violence Prevention
• Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals
• Hemochromatosis: What Every Clinician And Health Care Professional Needs To Know
• IS-100.b: Introduction to the Incident Command System
• IS-200.B: ICS for Single Resource and Initial Action Incidents
• IS-700.A: National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
• IS-800.B: National Response Framework, An Introduction
• Preparedness and Community Response to Pandemics
• Ready, Set, Surge! Fundamentals of Responding to a Public Health Emergency at U.S. Ports of Entry
• Smoking Cessation Clinical Intervention Tutorial
• Social Marketing for Nutrition and Physical Activity
• STD Self Study Modules: Chlamydia
• STD Self Study Modules: Gonorrhea
• STD Self Study Modules: Herpes
• STD Self Study Modules: HPV
• STD Self Study Modules: Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
• STD Self Study Modules: Syphilis
• STD Self Study Modules: Vaginitis