In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

In a new report released on the eve of Hurricane Katrina’s 5th anniversary, the Red Cross details some lessons and improvements that the agency has made in Louisiana and nationally on disaster response since 2005.
The study, “Bringing Help, Bringing Hope,” says the Red Cross has improved response capacity in large part by developing more extensive [...]

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The American Red Cross is holding a very exciting event in Washington on Thursday and is encouraging interested members of the public from around the U.S. and the world to follow it and participate through the web.
It is the organization’s first “Emergency Crisis Data Summit: Answering The Cry For Help” which will bring together government agencies, emergency [...]

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I watched an incredible video this morning, “Military Reunion,” which is a compilation of homecomings with soldiers and with their loved ones. All Americans should see this as it underscores the sacrifice of military families. The scenes with kids seeing their parent after months away are amazing. I urge you to watch the 10-minute piece [...]

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The University of Maryland’s Center for Health & Homeland Security’s blog has an interesting post on shortcomings in emergency alert systems for the deaf and hard of hearing.
In the post, Nuclear Alert Sirens Fall Short For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing,” Greg Sunshine points out that in the event of a radiological emergency, people [...]

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On this blog, we’re always looking for ways of making public preparedness more fun and engaging for the public, particularly young people. That’s why I wanted to highlight the work READYColorado’s Disaster Ready Training for middle and high school students. As has been written about here, Colorado has been a leader in youth preparedness initiatives.
One [...]

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With Pakistan suffering its worst flooding in 80 years, I wanted to bring to your attention a web-based, civilian-created effort to raise money and be an information conduit both inside and outside the country on the disaster.
The Pakistan Crisis Wiki was created in 2005 by Pakistani native Sabahat Ashraf, a technical writer living in Silicon Valley, in [...]

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A very interesting American Red Cross survey released this morning indicates that many web users would turn to social media to seek help for themselves or others during emergencies—and they expect first responders to be listening.
In fact, 74 percent of those polled expected help to come less than an hour after their tweet or Facebook post.
The [...]

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Mike Coston at Avian Flu Diary reminded me that August is National Immunization Month (NIAM whose goal is:
to increase awareness about immunizations across the life span, from infants to the elderly.
August is the perfect time to remind family, friends, co-workers, and those in the community to catch up on their vaccinations. Parents are enrolling their [...]

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I’m posting another story from today’s Boston Globe, because it is a good example of Twitter as a useful public safety tool, and it illustrates how a good number of government entities are late to the social media party.
The article explains how a Twitter tweet led to the arrest of a man accused of exposing [...]

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A Kansas animal response team held a fun and creative way to promote preparedness — a “Dog Wash” that doubled as a pet readiness event/fundraiser. According to an article in The Wichita Eagle:
Members of the Sedgwick County Animal Response Team (SCART), a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about how to handle pets during [...]

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