In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

Timothy Noah has written an interesting article, “Why No More 9/11’s,” in the online publication, Slate. Noah examines some of the leading theories why the U.S. has not been attacked by terrorists again, ranging from Al-Qaida’s patience to the nation’s anti-terror efforts. As he writes in the introduction to his piece:
Islamist terrorists struck Bali, Madrid, London, Mumbai, and many [...]

[Read more →]

Monica Schoch-Spana of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Biosecurity, one of the (if not ‘the’) leading authorities on citizen preparedness and engagement, did an interesting interview on the radio show, Homeland Security Inside & Out. In it, she makes some recommendations to the new Administration on bolstering public preparedness and engagement. This week’s show [...]

[Read more →]

Lately, I’ve seen a couple news reports about the resurgence of ‘Victory Gardens’. A recent Los Angeles Times article was headlined: “Victory gardens sprout up again: People are borrowing an old wartime concept to lessen the need for mass-produced food, reduce pollution and build a sense of community.”
The rebirth of the Victory Garden movement is particularly interesting to [...]

[Read more →]

Amanda Ripley has an interesting article in the current issue of Governing, “Run for Your Lives, Please”. Amanda examines the issue of how best to alert people in advance of a disasters. She points out that before Hurricane Ike made landfall the National Weather Service put out a rare “certain death” warning which got the attention [...]

[Read more →]

It’s Daylight Savings today. So, when you change the time on your clocks, VCR’s, etc., (and check the batteries on your smoke alarms) why don’t you also take a moment to review the supplies in your emergency kit and go-bag (or put some aside if you have not already done so). I know we have one less [...]

[Read more →]

I wanted to bring to your attention a terrific article in The Huffington Post, “Applying The ‘Obama Model’ For Homeland Security,” by Arnold Bogis from Harvard University’s Belfer Center.
Bogis argues that the bottom-up, community-driven organizational approach of the President during the recent campaign (and in some of his previous work in Chicago) can — and should be — [...]

[Read more →]

As someone who has gone through the preparedness process from an average citizen’s point of view, I realize that it is not easy to do. There are many questions, small and large, that come up when you try to prepare yourself and your family for emergencies. As a result, I’ve always felt it was unrealistic [...]

[Read more →]

One of the biggest challenges of citizen preparedness is getting the citizenry to actually focus on preparing. As I have mentioned on the blog, I favor establishing a specific day (possibly September 11th) as a National Preparedness Day.
Another idea was suggested to me a couple years ago by George Foresman, a former top U.S. preparedness [...]

[Read more →]

I am excited to report that a bill which would create a ‘tax holiday’ for preparedness supplies and “Go-Bags” was just re-introduced in the New York State Assembly by Assemblyman Jonathan L. Bing as Bill A00783.  
Under the legislation, New Yorkers would be able to buy emergency supplies without paying state sales tax between September 1st-11th and purchase pre-made “Go-Bags” tax free throughout the month. The bill would [...]

[Read more →]

Stanford University Business School Professor Lawrence M. Wein has an interesting Op-Ed article, “Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Anthrax…,” in today’s New York Times in which he supports the use of Postal Service mail carriers to deliver prophylactic antibiotics to the public in the event of an anthrax attack. In the piece (registration may be required), Wein lays out the [...]

[Read more →]