In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

Though I am too old for summer camp, I did get to go away this weekend to CrisisCamp in Washington, D.C.. CrisisCamp was a gathering of about a hundred campers from all over the country and the world with an expertise or interest in crisis management/disaster preparation and response, especially in how new technology and communications [...]

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Today, Sunday June 14th, is my parents 50th anniversary. And they said it wouldn’t last…Congratulations and thank you mom & dad. It is also World Blood Donor Day.  And as someone who over the past seven months has benefited from a lot of blood, I hope you will consider donating wherever you are reading this in the [...]

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A new policy brief, “Before Disaster Strikes: Rate and Raise Public Preparedness Now,” recommends the new National Security Council Resilience Directorate “task the Department of Homeland Security to work with federal and non-federal stakeholders and independent experts to develop agreed measures of public preparedness, and develop and execute cost-effective, innovative approaches for ensuring timely progress in [...]

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In a report released yesterday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says ”too many Americans don’t know how to get critical information or where to go in the event of a disaster,” the report, “Personal Preparedness in America: Findings from the Citizen Corps National Survey” concludes. “60% of respondents were unfamiliar about their local evacuation routes. 54% of [...]

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Over the past few years working on the issue of public preparedness and engagement, I have found myself noting songs and lyrics I’ve heard that I think touch on related themes. Last year, I posted videos from YouTube (along with some selected lyrics) of four songs that I find particularly resonant and representative of the ideas [...]

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In the June issue of Homeland Security Today magazine, there are a couple of interesting articles with relevance to public preparedness:
1) “From Florida To FEMA” by Michael Peltier is an interesting profile of new FEMA head Craig Fugate. The piece notes Fugate’s focus on changing the public’s expectations, mindset and responsibilities on preparedness. In Florida, he tried [...]

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Just weeks after the release of a Department of Homeland Security report indicating that the U.S. could learn from Israel about citizen preparedness,  the Mideast nation last week undertook its largest civil defense drill ever,  a five-day exercise called “Turning Point 3″. 
As has been mentioned regularly on the blog, Israel offers a helpful model for the U.S. [...]

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In a new post today on the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s Leadership Blog, Secretary Janet Napolitano asks the public “to live in a constant state of readiness, not a constant state of fear.” The post titled, “The Department’s Five Responsibilities,” summarizes a longer speech Napolitano delivered last week at the Aspen Institute. The first “Responsibility”, according [...]

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I received a birthday e-card this morning from my friend, David Stephenson, which said: “I’m sure today will be one the happiest birthdays of your life. Enjoy it to your fullest.” He’s right. Finishing six months of chemotherapy just weeks ago has made today, my 46th birthday, happy indeed. And I tried to enjoy it to [...]

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Patty Brooks, a very knowledgeable CERT member/trainer from San Jose, California, and author of the website, www.GoBag.org, has created a special forum on preparedness at http://www.gobag.org/forum/index.php. Patty describes it “as a brand new forum for folks who want to talk about, share, ask questions and learn more about preparedness.” She says that “the purpose of the website [...]

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