In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

Andy Carvin, who spearheaded creation of the innovative Hurricane Information Center during Gustav and Ike last summer, has announced on his Twitter feed that the site is looking for online volunteers to help with preparations for what is now Tropical Storm Ida. The Center serves as a comprehensive clearinghouse and aggregator of information/content in addition [...]

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Andrew Ostrow of Mashable had an interesting post pointing out how the new Twitter Lists have already become excellent resources for the public during emergencies as was demonstrated last week during the Ft. Hood shootings.
The Lists allow Twitter users to organize the feeds they’re following into groups. And, Ostrow notes the work of several news [...]

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As I have mentioned on the blog my CPR-AED accreditation has expired, and I have to renew it — not only because I need the official paperwork, but I also feel like I could use the skills refresher. Though the fact I haven’t gotten around to it typifies the difficulty that a lot people have [...]

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In an interview this week, the winner of the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) H1N1 Flu Preparedness PSA Contest, Dr. Jon Clarke, says support on Twitter and other social media was crucial to him getting the highest number of votes. “H1N1 Rap By Dr Clarke.” was chosen from among the 10 finalists on YouTube [...]

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The City of Boston has just launched two new online tools to help residents prepare a family preparedness plan and find their local emergency shelter.

According to the ReadyBoston press release:
“The Family Preparedness Planner and the Shelter Finder provide interactive ways for residents to answer logistical questions that would arise in an emergency. The Planner is [...]

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On Wednesday, there is a free webinar on utilizing social media and other technologies for H1N1 and seasonal flu communications. It is being organized by the Center of Excellence for Risk and Crisis Communications at Booz Allen Hamilton.
The one-hour webinar is co-sponsored by the American Public Health Association, the International Association of Emergency Managers and the [...]

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An interesting and comprehensive piece on the changing paradigm of disaster communications, “Information Trickles Up,” by Jerry Brito and Daniel M. Rothschild was recently posted on the Local Knowledge project site of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The authors write:
The traditional view of disaster communications holds that in an emergency, information and instructions must [...]

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Pegged to National Preparedness Month, the U.S. Citizen Corps just announced it has added some new social media tools to its website, including widgets, web banners, and RSS feeds. They complement the Corps’ existing Twitter, E-mail lists and Facebook web presence. According to a news release:
“Widgets: Widgets are web tools that can be put on your webpage, [...]

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The National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), National Public Radio (NPR), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in collaboration with three public television stations, and the Integrated Media Association are developing the Station Action for Emergency Readiness (SAFER) project, a plan to help public broadcasters serve their communities when disaster strikes.
SAFER will develop customizable plans [...]

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FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate went to the offices of Google in Mountain View, California to discuss how the company and the industry can help the agency’s disaster preparedness and response efforts.
Fugate shot a short video there (below) about the goals of the meeting which he says was to help the government figure out how “we [...]

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