In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

To kick off the launch of the “National Dialogue On The Quadrennial Homeland Security Review,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held a “Blogger Roundtable” yesterday at the agency’s headquarters featuring Assistant Secretary For Policy David Heyman.
DHS is conducting the first-ever “Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR),” a Congressionally-mandated strategic review which aims to help guide the Department [...]

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I wanted to bring your attention a very interesting and useful study on the role of social media in crises. The newly-released report, “Expert Round Table on Social Media and Risk Communication During Times of Crises: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities,” comes out of a day-long workshop in March at the American Public Health Association (APHA) [...]

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Via the U.S. Citizen Corps comes an intriguing invitation for those interested in the future of national emergency preparedness and response as well as homeland security in general:
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano invites you to participate in the National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR). This groundbreaking, web-based interactive dialogue is designed [...]

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The National Commission on Children and Disasters recently approved an initial set of recommendations in its interim report to President Obama and Congress. The final report, due in October, will reflect an assessment of persistent gaps in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery for children and include policy suggestions to fill the gaps. The panel’s preliminary recommendations [...]

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An Institute of Medicine panel has released a report saying that while a home-made nuclear bomb detonated in U.S. city would likely kill hundreds of thousands of people, there are actually things that can be done to increase the survivability for many others. That is, the committee argues, if the public is informed of those [...]

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A new study released by the group Save The Children contends that only seven states are meeting crucial minimum standards to ensure that schools and child-care facilities are prepared to respond to the needs of children during a disaster.
The report, “The Disaster Decade: Lessons Unlearned for the United States.” reviewed four standards in all 50 states and [...]

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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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I want to bring to your attention a terrific new report, Public Role and Engagement In Counterterrorism Efforts: Implications of Israeli Practices for the U.S., prepared for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Science and Technology by the Homeland Security Institute (a federally-funded research and development center which serves as the Department’s think tank). The study was [...]

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According to a new survey from the Harvard School of Public Health, a majority (55%) of Americans say they have made preparations to stay at home if they or a family member is sick from the H1N1 flu. About one in four report that they or a household member have avoided air travel (27%) or [...]

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The Aspen Institute has released a very interesting new study “New York City’s Preparedness For Terrorism (And Catastrophic Natural Disasters)”. The report offers a unique view of the preparedness efforts of major institutions in the New York City-area. It is the result of a three-day workshop which featured presentations from leaders in the governmental, business, non-profit and [...]

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