Yesterday, I spoke to FEMA Deputy Administrator Tim Manning who is coordinating the National Dialogue on Preparedness and the Local, State, Tribal, and Federal Preparedness Task Force for the agency.
Manning wanted to remind preparedness stakeholders, including the public, that there are two days left to contribute a new idea — or offer a comment and vote [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Preparedness Ideas'
Last Two Days To Contribute To FEMA’s Online National Dialogue On Preparedness; Local, State, Tribal, Federal Preparedness Task Force Report Will Be Released Next Month
September 9th, 2010 · 2 Comments
Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Preparedness Ideas · Preparedness Reports
Red Cross Program Providing Emergency Kits For Military Families (While Very Nice) Also Underscores $, Logistical Obstacles For Rest Of The Public To Prepare
September 8th, 2010 · No Comments
File this blog post under ‘no good turn goes unpunished’.
The Red Cross has organized a series of preparedness events for personnel and families on military bases, including one at Fort Belvoir earlier this summer and another at Fort Polk last month. The families were able to build an emergency preparedness kit and learn about emergency preparedness, [...]
Tags: Preparedness Events · Preparedness Ideas · Red Cross
As Power Blackouts Increase, Public Should Make Sure They Have Backup Power For Their Mobile, Smart Phones
September 5th, 2010 · 1 Comment
A recent article on CNN.com “U.S. electricity blackouts skyrocketing,” reported on the national increase in non-disaster-related power outages:
During the past two decades, such blackouts have increased 124 percent — up from 41 blackouts between 1991 and 1995, to 92 between 2001 and 2005, according to research at the University of Minnesota. In the most recently analyzed [...]
Tags: Power Failures · Preparedness Ideas
Oregon Red Cross Wants You To Do (& Tweet) #Just1thing To Prepare Yourself For Emergencies — & Possibly Win A Valuable Prize
September 3rd, 2010 · 1 Comment
The always creative folks at the Oregon Trail Red Cross are again running their successful National Preparedness Month contest, #just1thing.
To enter, tweet just one thing that you’re doing to get prepared for emergencies to @RedCrossPDX and use the hashtag #just1thing.
It’s a terrific contest — fun, spurs action and creates a good preparedness list. Anyone can share [...]
Tags: Preparedness Ideas · Red Cross
670,000 Japanese Citizens Participated In Their Nation’s Annual Disaster Preparedness Drills Yesterday — Why Isn’t There A Day When Americans Do The Same?
September 1st, 2010 · 1 Comment
Though yesterday’s launch of National Preparedness Month was filled with a lot of great activities taking place throughout the U.S., it also a day that underscores the shortcomings in the nation’s public readiness efforts — because also yesterday Japan held its annual Disaster Prevention Day during which 670,000 citizens participated in emergency drills in Tokyo and 34 [...]
Tags: International · Preparedness Events · Preparedness Ideas · Volunteer Opportunities
Play “30 Days, 30 Ways” — An Informative, Fun Contest From Clark County (Washington) — Throughout National Preparedness Month
September 1st, 2010 · 3 Comments
During National Preparedness Month, the blog will be highlighting interesting, innovative and fun readiness events and ideas that are going on around the nation. One of those is the “30 Days, 30 Ways” Contest created by Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency (CRESA) in Vancouver, Washington. According to its website:
Each day in September, CRESA is going to [...]
Tags: City Preparedness · Preparedness Ideas
Emergency Managers Say Twitter & Facebook Being Used Differently — Twit: More “Informational,” Speed, Official Audience; FB: More “Emotional,” Community-Building, Public Discussion/Feedback. Though In Crises, Both Will Be Utilized To Distribute/Gather Info For Public
August 30th, 2010 · 9 Comments
As government emergency management offices and non-profit disaster relief groups increasingly utilize Twitter and Facebook as part of their operations, I thought I would check with some leading practioners in the field to see how the two social media platforms are being employed in their work with the public.
It turns out that in most cases [...]
Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Ideas
A Job Opening That’s ‘Ready’ To Be Filled Immediately: Elected Official Needed To Take Lead On Citizen Preparedness
August 24th, 2010 · 2 Comments
During the time that I have covered the topic of citizen emergency preparedness, one of the most surprising things I’ve found is that there is no major elected official who has taken the lead on the issue.
It’s surprising for a number of reasons: natural disasters and terrorism dominate the headlines and will continue to for [...]
Tags: Congress · Preparedness Ideas · Volunteer Opportunities
‘Do Ask & Do Tell’ — Govt Should Be Putting More Emphasis On “Personal Responsibility” In Its Citizen Preparedness Messaging
August 23rd, 2010 · 2 Comments
In a speech to the Red Cross’s Emergency Crisis Data Summit last week, FEMA head Craig Fugate focused his remarks on the role of technology in disaster preparedness and response. However, he touched on another important theme which I wanted to highlight — that Americans have a personal and societal responsibility to be prepared for [...]
Tags: Preparedness Ideas · President Obama
Who Should Be The Celebrity Spokesperson For Citizen Preparedness: Brad, Angelina, Jack Bauer?
August 23rd, 2010 · 5 Comments
In a post this week on the social network website GovLoop, Andrew Krzmarzick asks a good question: “So which celebrity could bring awareness about a project or program being run by your agency, city or state?”
It’s a very relevant query for this blog as citizen preparedness has not had an ongoing high-profile celebrity spokesperson. To some in [...]
Tags: Media · Preparedness Ideas