In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

Entries from May 2008

The Rapid Fox E-mail Jumps Over The Spell Check

May 16th, 2008 · No Comments

A little Friday afternoon humor  (with a citizen preparedness 2.0 angle)
About an hour ago, I received an “Arlington Alert” e-mail from Arlington, Virginia OEM as I signed up for with the subject line: “Rapid Fox”. I opened it with some curiosity and read:
A fox that bit a woman in south Arlington has tested positive for rabies, Arlington [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

Senate Nuclear Terrorism Hearings Highlight Need For Public Emergency Communications Overhaul

May 15th, 2008 · 2 Comments

The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has been holding a very interesting series of hearings on nuclear terrorism. Though the hearings have covered many aspects of the nuclear threat, one of the most important themes that has emerged is citizen preparedness.
In fact, though yesterday’s hearing was called “Nuclear Terrorism: Providing Medical Care and Meeting Basic Needs in the [...]

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Tags: Congress · Nuclear Terrorism

Text Messaging After Chinese Earthquake Is A Lesson For Us All

May 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment

NPR’s Melissa Block had an interesting story about how many Chinese throughout the country communicated with each other directly after the earthquake using text messaging:
The first word about the massive earthquake in China did not come from the news media. In China, some 600 million people have cell phones, and when the quake hit, many reached for them — but not [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

Preparedness & Response 2.0 After Chinese Earthquake, Burmese Cyclone

May 14th, 2008 · No Comments

The aftermath of both major Asian natural disasters – the earthquake in China and the Burmese cyclone — has displayed the web’s ability to be an source and aggregator of multi-media information in the wake of disaster situations.
This phenomenon is being well covered by Global Voices, a non-profit citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
This post combines post-earthquake video mashups [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

Listen To Or Download “Homeland Security Inside & Out”

May 13th, 2008 · 3 Comments

In recent posts, I have suggested a number of websites for readers interested in citizen preparedness. Today, I am happy to be able to recommend my first radio show, “Homeland Security Inside & Out“.
HLSI&O is produced out of KAMU-FM, the local NPR affiliate in College Station, Texas. It is hosted by Dave McIntyre, Director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at [...]

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Tags: Media

Chinese Earthquake Response Highlights Growing Role For Personal Emergency Preparedness 2.0

May 13th, 2008 · 2 Comments

The aftermath of the major earthquake that struck central China has underscored the importance and potential of personal technology in helping the public deal with major disasters. 
As this posting from Matthew Ingram’s 2.0 blog in Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper explains, Twitter broke the news of the earthquake and its ‘coverage’ has filled a news niche.
Like many others, I woke up this morning [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

Another Email List To Sign Up For — New York City’s Tip Of The Week

May 12th, 2008 · No Comments

In addition to Minnesota’s email list, there is also a weekly tip of the week offered by New York City’s Office of Emergency Management. They are helpful and often communicated with a some humor (which I think is very important in this field). For example, the most recent tip was titled “Smother Your Mother”.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and OEM [...]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Signing Up For A Helpful Email List — Minnesota’s CodeReady

May 12th, 2008 · No Comments

Every Monday morning like clockwork, I receive the “CodeReady Tip of the Week” email from the Minnesota Department of Health’s CodeReady website.
This morning’s tip was to: “Include copies of current medical records, prescriptions and dosages, allergies and information about chronic health conditions” in your emergency plan.  CodeReady is one of the best state public preparedness websites in the nation in [...]

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Tags: Government Web Sites

Dr. Roz Lasker And The “Redefining Readiness” Project

May 12th, 2008 · No Comments

In a recent Disaster Zone post, Eric Holderman notes the fact that while “shelter in place” is a key part of government emergency planning for the public, it is a term that is not very well understood by the public. It is an important point which needs to be addressed by government authorities in advance — like soon.
One [...]

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Tags: Education · Uncategorized

New Addition To The Blog Roll

May 12th, 2008 · 1 Comment

I am happy to add Eric Holderman’s Disaster Zone blog at www.disaster-zone.com to my Blog Roll. Eric is the former Emergency Preparedness Director of King County in Washington state. He was one of the nation’s most innovative and charismatic emergency management officials when it comes to citizen preparedness. Holderman is now with the consulting firm ICF International.  
He describes Disaster-Zone as:
dedicated to sharing information about the [...]

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Tags: Uncategorized