According to the “Ready Alabama” website:

The Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and the Alabama Department of Homeland Security are encouraging religious leaders of all faiths on Sunday, September 26th, 2010, or your nearest day of worship, to inform their congregations on how to Be Informed. Be Involved. Be Ready…

We are encouraging religious leaders to include disaster readiness information in their Sunday bulletins, website or speak on the importance of disaster readiness bringing the congregations attention to the importance of disaster preparedness.

Exploring the Effectiveness of Transit Security Awareness Campaigns in the San Francisco Bay Area finds: ”none of the five agencies analyzed for this study measures the effectiveness of their campaigns. Whereas they all have a similar goal—to increase passenger awareness about security issues—little evidence therefore exists confirming whether they are achieving this goal.”

But also according to the report: “A positive finding of this research is the consistency with which Bay Area transit organizations address the need for passenger awareness as part of their overall security program.”

It is an issue that I have brought up on the blog previously. While the awareness of these “See Something, Say Something” campaigns are up, I have yet to see real data that indicates how well they are actually working — and could be improved. This study reinforces my inclination and the need for study and specific instructions.

The report offers some suggestions on authorities can better establish metrics for determining success for the awareness campaigns, including surveying customers. Thanks to Homeland Security Digital Library where I saw this study originally.

The Obama Administration has said that public readiness is a priority and has taken steps to strengthen the involvement of Americans in their own homeland security. However, officials acknowledge that there is still a ways to go. I present these proposals to help move forward citizen preparedness on a local, state and national level. I hope these suggestions can be a useful addition to the policy discussion and have submitted it to the Federal Preparedness Task Force. As always, I welcome your feedback:

1) CREATE CITIZEN PREPAREDNESS TASK FORCE — The lack of progress to date on public readiness and engagement underscores the need to develop new ways of approaching the issue. DHS Secretary Napolitano should create a Citizen Preparedness Outreach Task Force to assess the current state of public readiness and work on developing new approaches. At present, there is no clear social education analog to civilian emergency preparedness that can be easily pulled off the shelf so it will take some work to develop an effective program. In fact, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism in its final report recommended the Administration make citizen engagement a priority. But Chairman Bob Graham told me that the ‘WMD Commission’ did not did not find anything suitable it could recommend, and that something new has to be developed.

2) BETTER DEFINE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE “PREPARED” “READY” AND/OR “RESILIENT” — An American Red Cross survey indicated that 93% of Americans are not prepared for disasters. The truth is that no one can be fully prepared, but there is a need to offer the public a clearer definition — including a minimum level — of preparedness. That might include creating a family communications plan and storing tangible supplies but also knowing more about potential threats that every American should know. That doesn’t mean overwhelming people with too much information, but making sure they are at least familiar with some basics. (For example, the first time citizens hear about a ‘dirty bomb’ from government officials should not be in the moments after one has been exploded.) In addition to the content questions, there is also a word meaning issue to deal with as well. The Obama Administration has been emphasizing the concept of societal resilience. Should emergency management officials be talking about citizen resilience in their communities rather than preparedness or readiness?

3) SUPPORT & REPORT ON STATE/LOCAL PREPAREDNESS EFFORTS — Provide adequate seed money for state and local government to bolster civilian preparedness programs and link the grants to performance. Encourage authorities to report publicly on their level of citizen preparedness and create metrics for better measuring civilian readiness. Find interested governors to take on leadership roles and create pilot models in their states. There is a need to employ both “bottom/up” and “top/down” approaches to disaster preparedness combining state, local and community leadership and citizen involvement with federal commitment and focus. Ensure that government authorities can competently respond to disasters but also more strongly emphasize the need for the public and local communities to be prepared and self-reliant, particularly in the first 72 hours after a disaster.

4) HIGHLIGHT & SPREAD MODELS FROM AROUND U.S. & OTHER COUNTRIES — There is a need to help promote and implement best practices from communities around the U.S. and draw, where applicable, particularly from British and Israeli experiences. One model may be the United Kingdom’s National Risk Register, which sets out publicly the government’s assessment of the likelihood and potential impact of a range of different public health, natural and terrorist risks. It is designed to increase awareness of the kinds of risks the UK faces, and encourage individuals and organizations to think about their own preparedness. The Register also includes details of what the Government and first responders are doing to prepare for those emergencies and the role of citizens in those plans

5) USE ‘CARROTS’ TO CHANGE PUBLIC BEHAVIOR – Provide a tax write-off for citizens to buy preparedness-related products as a way to promote participation and to signal governmental commitment. Encourage states to create tax-free periods as is being done in Virginia and Louisiana (and has been introduced in the New York legislature). Also, consider targeting assistance to citizens who cannot afford to prepare. The fact is that when we really want to change social behavior as a nation we do it through the carrot or the stick. The carrot is the preferable tool for this issue, but it needs to be used. And, thus far, incentives (and vegetables) have largely been missing from the preparedness effort, which helps explain the lack of progress. Similarly, preparedness disincentives in the law should be removed (ie. in some places, homeowners who retrofit their homes face higher tax assessments.)

6) BRING IN BUSINESS TO DEVELOP INTEGRATED ‘WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN’ PUBLIC PREPAREDNESS MARKETING CAMPAIGNS– Design and roll out a full service preparedness marketing campaign with help from the private and non-profit sectors. Galvanize business to take on disaster preparedness in the same way they have with disaster response, most notably in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (ie. big box stores, packaged goods manufacturers, bottled water companies, wireless industry). Work with companies in preparedness-related businesses to offer major discounts tied to citizens taking actual readiness steps recommended by Ready.Gov and local emergency management offices.

For example, individuals and families come into ‘big box’ stores with emergency communications plans (or fill them out in the store) and in return they would receive a significant discount on supplies or free products (ie. if you purchase a case of bottled water, you would get your emergency supply thrown in for free). And if a customer signed up to volunteer for CERT or the Red Cross Disaster Services, they would get a bigger discount. Mobile phone retail stores would be excellent settings for preparedness events/trainings to help people register for government emergency text/e-mail alerts. I’d also like to see an event/photo-op with kids teaching their parents about texting and its role in an emergency. Here again, the companies would offer customers extra free text/phone minutes for completing the preparedness step.

7) DON’T BE AFRAID TO TELL THE CHILDREN — Put more emphasis on educating young people on preparedness by piggybacking on other related school-based social education efforts, most prominently fire safety. The challenge is the both the decentralization of the nation’s education system and the already high curricula demands on teachers. Yet, an effective fire education program was implemented in the schools beginning in the 1970’s, and there would seem to be a perfect fit to integrate a preparedness module into that existing program. The federal government should work with state and local officials as well as fire and education officials to determine how best to accomplish that objective.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate recently suggested expanding the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program for young people. I believe that a decision to expand CERT-type training in the schools would be welcomed on a bipartisan basis.There should be more public briefings on how personal tech would be helpful in an emergency, before the emergency (including how Twitter, Facebook and one’s smart phone can be invaluable). Further, every governmental preparedness web site should add a cell phone and an extra battery (or other power source) to the basic components of their recommended disaster supply kit.  Many private companies are working on applications for citizen emergency communications. Those business efforts need to be integrated with official alerts (ie. the new iteration of the Emergency Alert System) and unofficial citizen-based social media (as well as the news media). Both the content and distribution channels of emergency communications are changing and new models need to be developed.

8 EMBRACE AND ACCELERATE PREPAREDNESS 2.0 – There is a need to better inform the public on the potential of 21st century personal technology to prepare for and respond to 21st century emergencies. We must make Americans more aware of the capabilities of the technology at their fingertips (ie. wireless devices, social media sites) in advance and integrate it into disaster planning and response. The public’s new ability to access and distribute information offers both an opportunity and a challenge to government authorities.

There should be more public briefings on how personal tech would be helpful in a crisis, before the crisis (including how Twitter, Facebook and one’s smart phone can be invaluable). Further, every governmental preparedness web site should add a cell phone and an extra battery (or other power source) to the basic components of their recommended disaster supply kit. Many private companies are working on content and distribution applications for citizen emergency communications. Those business efforts can complement official efforts (ie. the new iteration of the Emergency Alert System) and unofficial citizen-based social media (and well as the news media). One hugely promising initiative is CrisisCommons which over the past year has created groups of volunteers throughout the world to bring technology to bear on disaster response issues.

9) FIND POLITICAL, CELEBRITY PREPAREDNESS SPOKESPEOPLE – 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 the foreseeable future; citizen preparedness is pretty much an unassailable, bipartisan, patriotic and community-building topic; and even the smallest interest in Washington has at least one political champion (but not public preparedness). And, with much to do, there is a great opportunity to have a positive policy and political impact. To some in the readiness community, the absence of star power on the issue has been one reason for the lack of public attention. Though celebrities have been eager to participate in fundraising efforts after catastrophes like the Haiti effort), there is no big star who is singularly identified as a spokesperson for emergency preparedness.

10) GIVE THE PUBLIC MORE INFO SO THEY CAN BETTER PREPARE & PARTICIPATE – There is a need to better inform the public when it comes to disaster preparedness so they can not only ready themselves and their families but also be part of the policy debate. Let me mention two areas briefly:

a) Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): In its report, the WMD Commission argues that the incoming Administration should make an effort to inform and engage the public on the subject of WMD’s. I agree. And, I suggest officials consider starting that process by defining (or redefining) what a WMD actually is. At present, it is most common to define a WMD for the public as a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (or “CBRN”) weapon.

The Commission report, however, focuses primarily on the dangers of biological and nuclear terrorism, both of which could be absolutely catastrophic. By contrast, a chemical or radiological (better known as a ‘dirty bomb’) weapon could be very serious but would likely not cause as much lasting damage. In fact, both a chemical and radiological attack would likely be a one-shot event seriously impacting those directly near the event, closer in result to a ‘traditional’ terrorist bombing. A nuclear bomb or biological incident, however, could have wide and long-lasting ‘mass destruction’ impact to humans, property and the society itself. We don’t want the public — and the nation as a whole — to overreact to some threats and underreact to others.

b) Risk: I think it may be one of the most important homeland security subjects for both the government and the public, because it highlights some of the tradeoffs involved in determining how to allocate the nation’s security resources and the role of risk management in making those decisions. This is a debate which should include the public. Right now, Americans aren’t engaged in the discussion over the security, financial, logistical and time tradeoffs involved in our own homeland security.

We need to introduce risk management into homeland security which would lead us to ask and answer important questions: What improves our security and resiliency? And what can be done at a reasonable social and financial cost? Those answers should come not only from policymakers but with the guidance of the public itself.

The public should be asked: How much risk do you want to pay for? How much inconvenience do you want to deal with? These are dilemmas we deal with everyday in our lives; we need to bring that same approach to homeland security and disaster preparedness. FEMA’s Fugate has since his days in Florida made the point that natural hazards turn into natural disasters because of man-made decisions on development, including ubiquitous golf courses: “You can tee off in Tallahassee and play through to Pensacola,” he likes to say.  ”Unless the public understands we need to change where we develop and live, it won’t matter.” It is up to elected officials to present those choices, including building codes, levies and insurance incentives.

11) ‘SEE AND SAY’ SOMETHING MORE – Build upon the initial success of ‘See Something, Say Something’ -type citizen information campaigns by providing the public with more specific guidance on how to assist law enforcement and, without giving away sources and methods, offering more feedback on the information they have provided. Law enforcement officials are concerned about societal complacency nine years since 9/11, but have not determined how to communicate to the public a more candid – yet calm and balanced – picture of the threat and how they can best help. The Department of Homeland Security is expanding “See Something, Say Something” nationally, which is a positive development. However, there is still a need to better explain to citizens their role, particularly at a local level. One important question is how much of what new information and training given to law enforcement about terrorism prevention should also be provided to the public.

12) MEDIA SHOULD COVER PREPAREDNESS AS WELL AS DISASTERS – While the press does wall-to-wall coverage on natural disasters and has covered practically every aspect of terrorism story closely, it has largely overlooked advance public preparedness. By contrast, during the Cold War, magazines ranging from Life to Modern Farmer dedicated entire issues to civilian readiness. Obviously, the press’ role is not to serve as a publicity arm of the government, but it is a topic that deserves more attention. And without more media coverage, it will be difficult to break through to the public. One great example of the press as a unique asset is the list of preparedness tips and lessons learned from the disaster survivors that was collected by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

13) GOVERNMENT PREPAREDNESS OUTREACH NEEDS TO BE FAR MORE INTERACTIVE — Right now, if a member of the public has a question about the preparedness process, there is nowhere to go. And, as someone who does a lot of public outreach on street fairs, radio or in community meetings I hear a lot of questions from average citizens about emergency readiness — ie. Shouldn’t buildings have mandatory emergency drills? Shouldn’t everyone have a solar charger in your ‘go-bag’ to be able recharge a cellphone or radio? Shouldn’t you have an evacuation family meeting spot outside of the City in case there is major disaster? In case of an emergency, where should we go for information? The emergency management community on a national, state and local level must overhaul its public information operations to be able to address those questions directly and lead the public through what can be a challenging process to undertake.

14) ‘DO ASK, DO TELL’: MAKE “PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY” MORE CENTRAL TO PREPAREDNESS MESSAGING — Instead of telling people to prepare because it is a responsibility (you need to do this), government has used a softer ask when it comes to trying to get the public to prepare. To me, the it is time to try to do more “telling” and less “asking”. I don’t believe the government should be afraid to explicitly tell the public that each of us can either hinder or help relief efforts by what they decide to do before and during a disaster. And, that it’s up to each of us to choose.

If indeed preparing for disasters is a responsibility of citizenship (which I think it should be), then it should been positioned that way. PSA’s saying that people are imperiling the lives of first responders and their fellow citizens, particularly the vulnerable (ie. the elderly, disabled) not to mention your own family might be treated with a little more urgency. Another potentially useful messaging approach was suggested to me by former Miss Utah Jill Shepherd who used citizen preparedness as her pageant platform. It can (and should) be included in the preparedness pitch that readying yourself and your family for disaster at home is a way civilians can contribute to the nation’s resilience and complement the work and sacrifice of those serving in the military. Preparedness may be the most important contribution most citizens can make to their nation’s security. Not only will civilians likely be the first on the scene of a major emergency, but the nation’s response will only be as strong as the readiness of the weakest link. We have entered the ‘pro-am’ preparedness era where the government needs to hand off some responsibility and the public needs to take it.

15) INTEGRATE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS INTO OTHER COMMUNITY ISSUES — Emergency preparedness is an important issue, particularly during crises. However, it has a better chance of becoming ingrained into American society if it is viewed as part of other preparedness topics that are a more central part of Americans daily life, including public health (immunization), security (Neighborhood Watch), infrastructure and climate change, part and parcel of just being ready for any situation.

For example, the global warming campaign can and should be a model for civilian emergency preparedness in a variety of ways. The two efforts are complementary and should be linked closer together in the public’s mind — and actions. In both, society is being asked to mobilize in order to avert or mitigate potential disasters, and both are part of strengthening the nation’s general national resilience. Yes, global warming has some skeptics, but so does emergency preparedness — ironically they are often not the same people which may conveniently add to its complementary synergy.

16) EXPAND EMERGENCY DRILLING OPPORTUNITIES TO PUBLIC –Increase chances for citizens to participate in disaster drills, which would help people focus on the issue and work through the key questions everyone should ask before a disaster (ie. How will you get information and communicate with your family? Do you know the emergency plan of your children’s school?). Most every top homeland security/emergency management official I have interviewed has told me that broader public disaster exercises would be helpful in a number of ways, but there has not been a concerted effort to expand drilling opportunities to the public.

17) DETERMINE BEST USE OF CIVILIAN DISASTER VOLUNTEERS – Craig Fugate said recently that FEMA would be reevaluating the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). I think that as part of that review government and non profit officials should be looking at how best to recruit and deploy disaster volunteers. Post-9/11 and Katrina — as well as with international incidents such as Haiti — there has been great interest among the public to be involved in crisis response. A key question is how that asset should be managed. Should it be the government? The Red Cross? Other non-profits and faith-based institutions? Business? Or a combination of the four? One hugely promising initiative is CrisisCommons which over the past year has created groups of volunteers throughout the world to bring technology to bear on disaster response issues.

Fugate said that FEMA is considering major changes in the CERT program, including creating a shorter training course which could be offered to more Americans and significantly expanding training for schools and other youth groups in order to better imbed preparedness into society for the long-term. I’ve always felt that CERT training is less about the skills you learn and more about awareness about the community and the various emergency authorities (and identifying citizen crisis organizers in advance). To me, CERT is just basic citizenship training for the 21st Century, which I think every American should get a chance to receive. I might suggest that the smaller reduced curriculum be called something along the lines of “Citizen Resilience Training”.

18) ESTABLISH AN OFFICIAL PREPAREDNESS DAY — Create a National Preparedness Day to focus public attention before disasters, including briefing citizens, conducting drills, and filling emergency kits. A helpful model is Japan’s Disaster Prevention Day held on September 1st, the anniversary of the catastrophic 1923 Tokyo earthquake. Earlier this month, 670,000 Japanese participated in emergency drills around the country. China, since its 8.0-magnitude 2008 Sichuan Province earthquake, has also held two national disaster prevention days with nationwide drills.

If we as a nation feel it is really important for the public to develop emergency plans, it would be far more effective if everyone was doing that at the same time — rather than asking individuals to do it on their own. This ‘preparedness day’ would also be the time that we all asked the questions about planning then practiced and updated those plans. It would be useful for both responders and the public. I might suggest September 11th be made the U.S.’s official Day. It would seem to be appropriate to honor the memories of those who died by action, particularly something aimed at making sure America is never as unprepared again.

19) CREATE CITIZEN PREPAREDNESS OFFICE – Establishing a national citizen preparedness/resilience office to highlight and help coordinate efforts around the U.S. and ensure citizen preparedness remains a priority. Right now, there is not an identifiable place in the federal government that has responsibility for coordinating the public’s role in preparedness. Work with American Red Cross to create an effective advocate for the general public on emergency preparedness in the same way disabled and pet groups have done for the disaster needs of their communities over the past several years.

20) BUNDLE CITIZEN PREPAREDNESS PROPOSALS TOGETHER INTO “CITIZEN PREPAREDNESS INITIATIVE” – For too long, well meaning public preparedness efforts have gotten lost or have been ignored by the public. That’s in large part because they have not been packaged and presented as being specifically directed to citizens. But if the government would assemble these small disparate proposals listed above into an overall citizen preparedness package it would have a better chance of getting attention and gaining some traction. Ultimately, making inroads on citizen preparedness is less a matter of money than it is of focus and attention.

The South Carolina Homeland Security “See Something, Say Something” binoculars.

Be Ready SC staffers distributed hundreds of the binoculars at yesterday’s University of South Carolina-Georgia football game. Chris Perez, the Homeland Security Office’s Citizen Preparedness Coordinator, told me that the response “was really positive…even from Georgia fans.”

Perez that the idea for the binoculars came as the office was trying to figure out something that would be interesting enough for people to want to keep. “At first we thought about promotional sunglasses…I found those cardboard binoculars and they were perfect because they work surprisingly well for an affordable item AND they fold flat, which encourages people to put them in their pockets and use them again.”

The Be Ready SC booth at the game.

The state is also producing a series of “See Something, Say Something” instructional videos. And, Be Ready SC recruited South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier — whose Gamecocks beat the Georgia Bulldogs 17-6 yesterday — to do an audio preparedness PSA (below):

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier’s audio emergency preparedness PSA.

The catch is that the Oklahoma Tax Commission needs 100 prepaid applications will make the plate available. And, as of this week, only 30 people have applied. The deadline is October 1st. If you’re interested, the application is here.

Thanks to the Twitter feeds of @ounwcm and @altusem who brought this story to my attention.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has just begun rolling out a national “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign, and I saw its new advertising posters in many of the cars. I had been at DHS headquarters earlier in the day hearing more about the new launch from officials managing the program. They weren’t sure how extensive distribution has gotten thus far, and my e-mail tip confirmed that the ads were at least up all over my train. Below are a couple of the new posters hot off the presses:

A new “If You See Something, Say Something” poster just going up on Amtrak trains aimed at the public.

The national expansion of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign is part of DHS’s new effort to support state and local law enforcement, community groups and the public in identifying and mitigating terror threats whose theme is “Homeland security begins with hometown security”.

The new measures are based on recommendations made by the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s (HSAC) “Countering Violent Extremism” Working Group—comprised of chiefs of police, sheriffs, community leaders and homeland security experts—on ways DHS can better support community-based efforts to combat violent extremism in the United States.

Expanding the community and citizen role in homeland security has been encouraged by the blog, and I think it is a terrific development. Most of the new initiatives are directed towards bolstering the work of state and local law enforcement organizations — including a series of regional summits beginning this fall on successful community-oriented policing and other crime reduction programs. But Napolitano also announced some proposals focused directly on the public, most prominently the expansion of “See Something, Say Something”.

In the coming months, DHS will continue to rollout the campaign nationally the U.S. with public education materials, the poster ads and other outreach tools to engage travelers, businesses, community organizations and public and private sector employees to remain vigilant and play an active role in keeping the country safe. The focus on the state, local and public reflects an increased threat coming out of communities from around the U.S., which might not fully hit the national intelligence radar.

Poster for general aviation locations

The campaign posters will begin to become ubiquitous in the transportation sector, including on trains, general aviation sites and soon on buses and subways. It has been developed to be customizable by location. For example, in cities one of the taglines is: ”did you see something suspicious commuting to work or grabbing some lunch” along with a local contact phone number. Officials from many sports facilities and college campuses have also expressed interest in taking advantage of the campaign for their locations.

The new blue “if you SEE something logo SAY something” logo — which is a little softer and less visibly urgent than the original New York executions with yellow background and block black lettering (but now also blue) — was created by a designer at the Transportation Security Administration. If you’ve ’seen’ the new ads yourself, what do you ’say’ about them?

Last week, nearly 40 middle school students took part in the day long class in first aid, CPR, family and pet preparedness, weather spotting and team building — as well as terrorism awareness. An expanded four-day training will be offered July 20-23 to interested high school students at the Denver Police Academy. The training is free, though enrollment is limited. According to the article:

“These are lifelong skills that we’re empowering them with,” said Cathy Prudhomme, Community Preparedness Program Manager for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security. “The first aid and the safety training is stuff they can use on a day-to-day basis.”

“I think middle schoolers are wonderfully impressionable,” said Deborah Collburn, director of the Animal Emergency Management Program for the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation. Collburn was there to teach the youngsters how to prepare their pets in case their families were forced to evacuate from their home. “They bring things home with them and share them with their parents. Reaching out to kids is a great way to change behaviors. Kids will nag you to death,” she said.

Disaster READY Training participants in team building activity

Some readers might be surprised that terrorism awareness is part of a middle school curriculum. But as the article explains:

It’s not like terrorists don’t hang out in Aurora, Colorado State Patrol Sgt. Matt Packard reminded the young disaster-readiness trainees sprawled before him on mats on the gym floor at Aurora Quest K-8, a charter school.

After all, Najibullah Zazi was arrested last September at his Aurora apartment, not a dozen miles from the school. Zazi later acknowledged being an al-Qaeda operative conspiring to blow up the New York City subway system.

“It was what he was doing right here in Aurora that tipped us off,” said Packard, who is supervisor in the Colorado Information Analysis Center, a state agency that’s a sort of early warning system for suspected terrorist attacks, natural disasters and large-scale criminal activity.

“He bought chemicals you can mix together to make a bomb. He was acquiring stuff that’s perfectly legal to have, but he was combining them to make a bomb,” Packard told his young audience. “Say you see someone with 50 boxes of cold medicine. Does that seem normal?”

The students agreed that it did not. Ditto for someone taking photos or drawing diagrams of buildings or infrastructure, or for uniformed workmen showing up without an appointment and asking for access to equipment, or for someone needlessly calling 911 then clocking how long it takes police to arrive.

“I learned terrorists could be anywhere,” 11-year-old Alex Richmond later said. “They could even be my best friend.”

“I saw a man wearing a winter coat once, when it wasn’t winter,” noted 12-year-old Jose Puente. He said if he ever spotted anything suspicious like that again, he’d know who to call.

As FEMA and DHS work on expanding the “See Something, Say Something” campaign, they should get some lessons from this program on communicating with Americans of all ages on terrorism.

Schwarzenegger colorfully tweeted out the news on Friday: “Check out our Disaster Corps…Because we believe in the 7 P’s. Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance.”

Gov. Schwarznegger’s tweet announcement (photo credit: David Konig)

Amanda Ripley, who covered the creation of the CaliforniaVolunteers cabinet position, has a nice writeup, “The Navy Seals Of Disaster Volunteers,” on the Disaster Corps announcement in her Unthinkable blog:

Secretary Karen Baker, the woman who got that job on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s cabinet, is introducing the nation’s first Disaster Corps–a squad of 1,000 elite, well-trained volunteers who can can be deployed to disaster sites as soon as they are needed (without waiting for the soul-killing bureaucratic sign-offs that so often delay volunteer efforts after big calamities.)

“We needed to develop the Navy Seals of volunteers,” Baker says. OK, first of all, it takes some chutzpah to put the words “Navy Seal” and “volunteer” in the same sentence. Baker can pull it off only because she has actual power–the kind almost none of her peers across the country can claim. When I greeted her as “Secretary Baker” on the phone the other day, she laughed and said, “Call me Karen, or I’ll kill you.” But she (and by association all volunteers in the state) have experienced a surge in credibility since she got the cabinet post. “All of a sudden all phone calls are returned,” she says. “Instantly.” (Seven months after Schwarzenegger created the cabinet post, Gov. David Paterson did the same thing in New York.)

For two years, Baker has worked on creating the Disaster Corps. “We needed to up the game,” she says. Why? Because California is crowded with volunteers (one quarter of the population volunteers in some way.) But too few of them have the training, the experience, or, crucially, the trust of the authorities. “Everyone will say, ‘Yeah, we love volunteers.’ But the truth is, they don’t often use them because they don’t know what they’re getting.”

The new Disaster Corps will be made up of citizens who have received Department of Justice/FBI background checks and First Aid/CPR training, at a minimum. Many will have special skills (like language fluency or law enforcement experience) that make them particularly valuable for certain kinds of crises. They will be drawn from existing volunteer outfits like Citizen Corps, which means they will have worker’s compensation coverage already–an important pre-requisite for higher-risk disaster sites. The Corps will be supported by five local coordinators, full-time staffers in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and San Francisco counties.

The idea is to make it easier for the people in charge to find, trust and deploy volunteer assets when they need them. As part of the project, Baker’s office is also creating a large new database that everyone can access with critical information about which volunteers (from all organizations across the state, not just Disaster Corps) are available to do what. “Often in government, they know what the problems are but not what resources are available to them privately.” And Baker has set up mutual aid agreements so that volunteers can work across different counties. Not very sexy, but very important. All of this has been done with private and federal dollars, which is a good thing given that Baker’s state has no dollars.

Thanks to Jimmy Jazz for giving me the heads up on Amanda’s post.

Though the @GOHSEP feed has been up for only a month and a half, it has already become a useful model of Twitter’s use by government in emergency management crisis communications. Last month, I wrote about GOHSEP’s extra effort to thank users who were ‘retweeting’ the agency’s announcements on the oil spill — it’s the kind of small (and cost-free) reward/positive reinforcement for the public not normally done by government entities.

Since then, I’ve noticed another smart (and unusual) thing GOHSEP is doing: aggressively adding the Twitter feeds of citizens to its “following” list. It is something that a lot of government agencies in the emergency area (and actually government agencies in any field) have been hesitant to do. As of this writing, @GOHSEP has 2132 “followers” and is “following” 1892 feeds; by contrast, many governmental feeds have thousands of “followers” but only are “following” a small fraction of that number.

In an interview, GOHSEP press secretary Christina Stephens told me that the agency has found that “following” citizen feeds has become a useful information source on what is happening ‘on the ground’. She says that many of those who reach out to the agency through Twitter are involved (and informed) citizens, activists or bloggers. Not only are those people information resources for GOHSEP as it tries to deal with the quickly changing spill situation, but those same people are the ones likely to be contacting reporters with their concerns — and therefore are influencing mainstream media coverage. So, seeing what these citizens are saying on Twitter helps GOHSEP anticipate what topics reporters will be asking them about. To Stephens, not “following” individual feeds limits Twitter’s potential value to a government agency.

“Twitter is a snapshot of what people are thinking and talking about,” she explains. “People are either talking about you or talking with you. We’d prefer to talk with you.” Stephens says emergency agencies should embrace Twitter to its fullest extent as it offers government a new way of engaging the public. She says she has found that the public appreciates the responsiveness Twitter allows GOHSEP.

Yet, it has been my experience that a lot of government agencies in the emergency area are somewhat gun shy about using Twitter and other social media applications in the interactive way they are designed for and instead they use it as just another one-way, top-down method of distributing the same institutional information (ie. press releases). The hesitancy comes from a lack of expertise, commitment, manpower or confidence.

Stephens recommends that other agencies jump in and use Twitter more extensively. But she does say GOHSEP has had to develop some guidelines on the fly — for example, it will not ‘retweet’ unconfirmed information, and it avoids any kind of political content in its communications with followers.

Another government agency that has taken advantage of Twitter and has been aggressive in adding “followers” is the city of Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management (@PhilaOEM). An official told me that they view the public as a resource during an emergency and see Twitter as a way to begin setting up those two-way relationships with individuals in advance. GOHSEP also has a Facebook page. Stephens said in the event of a disaster evacuation GOHSEP would use Twitter but that  – with its greater penetration numbers — would probably be even more useful.

According to the agency’s press release:

…Through July 19, Georgians who visit ready.ga.gov and sign up to use Ready Georgia’s interactive planning tool not only get a customized checklist of emergency supplies and a tailored emergency communications plan, but they are also entered to win one of 200 state-of the-art, digital alert Midland radios – a critical life-saving tool – from WSB-TV.

In addition to being able to win a radio from WSB-TV, Kroger stores statewide are also giving Georgians the opportunity to purchase NOAA Weather Radios at a discount. Throughout hurricane season, Kroger will offer weather radios for just $29.99 (regularly $49.99). A list of Georgia locations can be found at Kroger.com.

GEMA/Homeland Security director Charley English says that NOAA Weather Radios are as crucial to family safety as smoke detectors or alarm systems. In Georgia, 29 transmitters broadcast throughout the state, and approximately 98 percent of Georgia’s population lives within range of a NOAA Weather Radio transmitter.

I like this government-business linkage, because the public is being offered significant incentives — a free or 40%-off a weather radio — to prepare (though of course I would like to see a more extensive partnership.)

200 NOAA weather radios like this are being given away by Ready Georgia.

“By completing the pre-application online, residents are taking a proactive step to prepare themselves and their families for a disaster.”

Disaster Food Stamps provide food assistance for eligible low- to moderate-income households not receiving regular food stamps who need help buying groceries due to lost income or damages following a disaster. Pre-applying for Disaster Food Stamps does not guarantee benefits.

Nichols said that the pre-application process is designed to save time, prevent long waits and to make it easier for applicants to collect the required income information before a disaster strikes…

To apply, residents can visit www.dss.louisiana.gov or www.getagameplan.org.

During the Virginia holiday, sales tax is eliminated for preparedness-related products that cost up to $60 or on generators $1,000 or less from May 25-31.

Suit calls the week a “‘man-made’ opportunity to promote preparedness” in a manner that solely an awareness-oriented readiness week cannot. She says it gives preparedness advocates “something to talk about with the public” —  a tangible benefit — rather than just pleading with them to prepare every hurricane season.

Normally, when government wants to influence social behavior, it goes beyond words and employs carrots and/or sticks: incentives (retirement savings, recycling) or disincentives (it’s ‘click or ticket‘). The former, incentives, is far more appropriate for preparedness. But to date, with the exception of these tax free holidays tried by a couple of states, government has not used any incentives on preparedness. So, it’s not surprising the public has by and large not acted, and the nation has not made enough progress on citizen readiness. In Virginia, using a ‘carrot’ — one of the public sector’s levers (the tax code) — sent a message to Commonwealth residents as well as its media and private sector that government is serious about this policy objective.

Suit says that the “retail community has taken the week and run with it”. A number of major retailers have integrated preparedness products into their overall marketing promotion this week: Walmart will use ReadyVirginia flyers as bag stuffers, Target will run newspaper advertising and place point of purchase info on exempt items, Kroger will run newspaper advertising and make in-store displays. Lowe’s will take out newspaper advertising and make in-store displays of tax exempt items.

Lowe’s will also be giving customers an additional 10 to 15 percent discount on these hurricane-related products when they shop during the holiday (see ad below). The holiday is also sponsored by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and state Retail Merchants Association. Profit incentive for private sector makes it more likely they will work hard to promote and distribute products to the public. rather than just putting up signs encouraging people to buy supplies.

Though Suit clearly believes that the holiday is a success, it is difficult to evaluate with a reliable metric either how much the public’s preparedness has increased or the tax holiday’s revenue impact as the state cannot measure sales tax it does not receive. I (and the retailers) would argue that bringing more people into the stores — particularly during difficult economic times — results in incremental sales and taxes on non-emergency items.

Louisiana, the only other state with a tax free preparedness period (May 29-30), did a study that estimated that the weekend cost $2 million in lost tax revenue on emergency products. But I think a better indicator is the enthusiasm of retailers for the holiday, which they believe brings in new (and taxed) revenue in other parts of their stores. And to Virginia’s Suit, who is responsible for preparing a state which has been hit hard by hurricanes, says, “we can’t afford not to do it.” What also needs to be counted in any fiscal evaluation is the amount of paid corporate advertising and increased media coverage, particularly in comparison to the infrequent and inconvenient rotation that the unpaid preparedness PSA’s usually receive.

A Lowe’s newspaper advertisement in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch promoting Virginia’s Hurricane Preparedness Holiday,

As Virginia’s experience has shown, there much more that could and should be done to create preparedness partnerships with private sector on the local and national level. This week, during FEMA’s webinar kicking off National Preparedness Month, a participant on the call asked officials from the Ready Campaign if the government would be working with businesses to make emergency supplies available for activities during the Month. It’s a great question. But at present, the answer is no, which is missing a great opportunity.

As has been frequently discussed on this blog, government should be reaching out to manufacturing and retail companies in the preparedness field (ie. food, wireless devices, bottled water, big box stores) to work out marketing/promotion tie-ins that would offer free or deeply discounted products — in addition to the sales tax break — as part of preparedness information activities. (As the government has limitations working directly with companies, it would want to include the American Red Cross to work with the sponsors).

For example, why not partner with wireless communications retailers to provide a discount on cell batteries or phones (or free minutes) if people brought in a completed family communications plan into the stores? Or big box store could offer an extra free emergency supply six pack of bottled water with the purchase of a case. Or discounts to fill ‘go-bags’? Here again is a perfect opportunity for a win-win-win for the public, business and government emergency management departments. Businesses want to do more around preparedness because it gives them the opportunity to do good and do well (as this press release from Target indicates). As with most obstacles to citizen preparedness, it takes focus and coordination more than money to move forward.

President Obama just issued a proclamation declaring the 23rd-29th National Hurricane Preparedness Week. But while well meaning the document, to be frank, is just perfunctory words: “I urge individuals, families, communities, and businesses to take time to plan for the storm season before it begins.” By contrast Virginia Governor’s McDonnell’s Preparedness Week announcement has the same exhortations of the President, but it comes along with some tangible initiatives to make it easier for the public to actually follow the recommendations. And all that is necessary is to pass the law and then some organizing by the Commonwealth’s Department of Emergency Management.

In his proclamation, Obama says:

“The National Hurricane Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, recommend taking several important steps to ensure safety. These precautions include: developing a family disaster plan; maintaining an emergency supply kit; securing homes, businesses, and belongings; and learning evacuation routes.”

But a survey released by the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s Citizen Corps last year indicates that most Americans are ignoring both FEMA and NOAA and, for that matter, the President himself who made the same request of Americans to prepare last year. The ask would be far more effective if the Administration had already worked with the private sector to provide supplies for the public, had passed legislation allowing citizens to write off emergency supplies, or had established a day when Americans would rehearse their plans.

Now, that might sound to some people as a lot, particularly relative to what the government does now on preparedness. But if officials are serious about citizen readiness — and I think they are — then government has to followup those words with actions. If not, then let’s not expect citizens to be prepared in advance and make our disaster response plans reflect that. (I also don’t think most Americans would object to targeted, inexpensive and useful initiatives on disaster preparedness.)

Suit, a former state legislator said the tax holiday enjoys bipartisan support in the legislature. It was originally signed by a Democratic governor and is being continued by his Republican successor. Virginia is one of two states (along with Louisiana) that have a tax holiday for preparedness products. The idea is not a panacea, but Suit says any state that wants to being more attention citizen preparedness should try it.

Here in New York, I recommended it to my local State Assemblyman Jonathan L. Bing. He introduced a bill which would create which would create a ‘tax holiday’ for preparedness supplies and “Go-Bags,” in the New York State House. Under the legislation, New Yorkers would be able to buy emergency supplies without paying state sales tax between September 1st-11th (the period between the anniversaries of 9/11 and Katrina) and purchase pre-made “Go-Bags” tax free throughout the month.

In 2007, I met with Assemblyman Bing staff to discuss emergency preparedness in his Manhattan district (where I live) as well as the State as a whole. He thought the idea of a tax free period could have a significant catalytic impact on citizen readiness and decided to introduce legislation. The tax-free period for supplies would run from September 1-September 11 commemorating the time between the anniversaries between Katrina and 9/11. “Go-Bags” would be exempt all month but only if they met certain minimum requirements and were sold for $75 or less. Some of the individual emergency items would have similar price restrictions.

An important part of personal preparedness is having requisite supplies as well as a “Go Bag” — a collection of items packed in an easy-to-carry, accessible knapsack – that can be ready in a matter of seconds. Storing supplies are just one step in becoming prepared, but getting people to take that initial step is crucial. In addition, a special tax holiday makes it more likely a) private businesses will add their marketing expertise and capacity to the preparedness effort and b) the media will provide coverage of the issue. Officials in Virginia and Florida, both of which recently implemented this idea, say the results have been positive.

The bill has been introduced in the Assembly with twenty other sponsors and has been referred to committee for consideration. New Yorkers should contact your local legislators to encourage them to support the bill. Those in other states should ask their elected officials to consider the idea.

Also, here in New York City, a long-time elected official Mark Green now running for Public Advocate has included the idea in his platform, “100 Ideas for a Better City,” as #35 — Encourage emergency preparedness by creating a tax holiday on emergency supplies during the month of September:

“The New York City Office of Emergency Management recommends that residents prepare for emergencies by buying and storing certain basic emergency supplies as well as creating “Go Bags.” Unfortunately, few have the requisite emergency supplies. Fewer still have heard of a “Go Bag,” which is a collection of items you may need in the event of an emergency packed in an easy to carry container that is accessible in case you need to leave your home in a hurry. By providing an initial New York City sales tax holiday from September 1 through September 11 for individual emergency supplies, with a sales tax holiday for pre-made “Go Bags” for the month of September, we can encourage New Yorkers to begin to be prepared for whatever emergency they may face. New York State Assembly Member Jonathan Bing has introduced legislation on this issue and Florida enacted a similar tax free period aimed at hurricane preparedness in 2006.

I hope the increased profile of the idea will soon result in some action here and across the nation.

FULL-PAGE LOWE’S NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT PROMOTING VIRGINIA’S TAX-FREE HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS WEEK (ABOVE).

Due to dangerous wildfire conditions, please do not travel to the areas affected by the fires without explicit instructions from a qualified emergency response organization. In the days and months to come, longer-term recovery efforts may be under way and in need of support. These services are best provided through coordinated efforts, and it is critical that potential volunteers do not self-deploy. Please see the Web site links below for the most up-to-date information regarding the wildfires, potential volunteer opportunities, and donation opportunities.

It then offers links to the most updated information, places to provide financial/in-kind assistance, and possible volunteer opportunities through LAWorks. The site also shows how Californians can sign up to train for future disasters through CERT, the Red Cross or the Salvation Army.

(photo: Associated Press)

When students return to school this fall, school nurses will once again chase after them with hand sanitizer. Familiar posters about sneezing into elbows will plaster the hallways. But when it comes to managing a potential swine flu outbreak in high schools, county health officials are going beyond cartoon admonitions.

“We’re going to start the ‘Don’t Let the Flu Get You’ page on Facebook,” said Joy Alexiou, head of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department’s flu prevention campaign. “Students know best how to talk to each other. We just want to give them the tools and information so they’re communicating the correct information.” The county will use the Facebook page, as well as posts to MySpace and Twitter, to get health updates out as quickly as possible. It will also equip students with T-shirts and details about a swine flu prevention video contest, counting on the wisdom that knowledge sinks deeper into students’ heads if it comes from their peers.

The teen-centered strategy responds to one of swine flu’s quirks: Unlike the seasonal flu, which mostly affects the elderly, this strain primarily befalls the young. To date, the county has 120 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, with 75 percent of those cases occurring in people under 24 years old. At least 32 of those cases resulted in hospitalizations; one 44-year-old Santa Clara County woman with a history of medical problems died from swine flu complications three weeks.

Thanks to Twitterers JGarrow and Nedra for bringing this article to my attention.

Another good H1N1 article was in today’s New York Times, “Lessons Learned, New York City Braces For Swine Flu’s Resurgence.” Key citizen preparedness angle focused on in the intake of the sick and the “worried well”:

As New York City braces for a second wave of swine flu this fall, health officials are making plans to carve space out of hospitals, clinics and other buildings to screen people before they can overwhelm emergency rooms.

Hospital and city officials said in interviews that the biggest surprise from the swine flu that swept the city last spring was the surge of visits to emergency rooms by people, especially children, sick with the flu and by a far larger number of people fearing they had it.

A major focus of planning for the fall, officials say, is to avoid being swamped by a similar, possibly bigger, demand for emergency room services. Some hospital officials are advocating putting out daily swine flu bulletins – modeled after announcements on alternate-side parking or lottery numbers – about issues like when to seek treatment.

After the U.S. government declared a public health emergency in April, 46 of 50 state health departments posted some information about the H1N1 outbreak within 24 hours of the federal announcement, according to Rand Corp. researchers. However, only a third of the 153 local health departments included in the study posted information on their Web sites within 24 hours of the federal announcement.

The researchers also found wide differences in performance among local health departments in the five states with confirmed swine flu cases at the start of the outbreak — California, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Texas. About 73 percent of counties in California quickly provided some information on their Web sites, compared with 18 percent of counties in Texas and eight percent of counties in Kansas.

The study also found that content posted by most state health departments was of high quality. Forty-three of 47 state health departments provided information about how people could protect themselves or their family, 36 of 47 offered information about when to seek treatment and 27 of 47 explained who should take antiviral drugs.

Among the other findings:

* 30 states provided information for health-care providers, with 14 posting their own information and 16 linking to information posted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
* Just over half of state health departments posted a news release, and nine provided information in languages other than English.
* Of the 34 percent of local health departments that posted information on their Web site within 24 hours of the federal announcement of a public health emergency, 54 percent did this by linking to the CDC or their state health department Web site.

“We found that the capability to conduct basic crisis and emergency risk communication is quite good at the state level, but there remains significant variation at the local level,” the study’s lead author, Jeanne Ringel, a senior economist at Rand, said in a news release. “We concluded there is room for improvement at all levels, particularly in the area of providing information in languages other than English.” The study appears online in the journal Health Affairs.

Thanks to HHS’ FluGov Twitter feed for the link. (The Los Angeles Times‘ Booster Shots blog also had a story on the report.)

During those periods, sales tax will be lifted on purchases of preparedness-related supplies and equipment including batteries and flashlights; bottled water and coolers; tarps, plastic sheeting and duct tape; smoke detectors and fire extinguishers; portable radios; cell phone chargers; first aid kits and more. Portable generators and inverters also are included. A complete list for Virginia can be found at: www.tax.virginia.gov/web_pdfs/Exempt_Products.pdf. In these recessionary times, Virginia is promoting the week for both its preparedness and cost value. As the Ready Virginia web site suggests:

“It’s smart to get ready for hurricane and flash flooding season, which arrives June 1st. And it’s smart to save money. You can do both by shopping for such products as batteries, food storage containers, generators, first aid kits, bottled water, radios and more between May 25 and 31. When you do, you won’t pay sales tax on many useful products that cost up to $60 or on generators costing $1,000 or less. That’s a savings of 5 percent.”

Ready Virginia is kicking the tax free week off with events at stores and a Radio Disney partnership. According to the Virginia Emergency Management official Laura Southard: 

“We are partnering with Radio Disney for hurricane season to target families with young children in the Hampton Roads and Richmond regions. (This is one demographic group that is likely to take steps to prepare.) Our effort, called Get Ready Virginia, includes a series of fun, family-oriented gameshow events. We start Monday with an event at a Wal-Mart in Richmond and another at a hardware store in Virginia Beach to kick off the sales tax holiday. Other events will be held throughout the summer and fall. Parents will be given goody bags that include Ready Virginia materials, including a blank family emergency plan that they can discuss and fill out. The campaign also includes public service announcements and 30-minute public affairs programs on the two Radio Disney stations in Virginia.”

I am a great supporter of these tax-free periods because they provide an incentive for the public to prepare and result in greater attention (particularly from retailers and the media) to the often overlooked subject of citizen preparedness. Last year, I suggested to my local assemblyman Jonathan Bing that the idea should be considered here in New York. And Bing recently introduced legislation in the state house to establish a tax-free period between the anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11.

inform and engage moms about the importance of disaster-preparedness via compelling key speakers discussing the importance of disaster-preparedness in the home while sharing their own experiences. The events also featured an interactive “walkthrough” where a disaster-preparedness specialist from the local fire department took the moms around the house while demonstrating “tips and tricks” to prepare their homes.

One of the in-home briefings has been posted to YouTube and can be watched below:

A video of a WE Prepare disaster preparedness briefing for “mommy bloggers”.

Bloggers in attendance at the Los Angeles briefing, held  at the home of Erin Kotecki Vest from The Queen of Spain blog, included socalmom.net, LosAngelista.com, AdriennesHouse.blogspot.com, RookieMoms.com, SafetyatHome.com, wendolonia.com/blog, thequinntessentials.blogspot.com and eastbay.savvysource.com. ”We had to evacuate from the fires a couple of years ago,” says Vest, “so I realize we can’t wait for the next disaster to hit before we take steps to be more prepared.”

The WE Prepare initiative includes disaster-preparedness tools such as:

A risk assessment survey to help determine a family’s current level of preparedness; a fill-in-the-blank family plan that tells families where to meet if they have to evacuate; who they’ve identified as an out-of-state “family contact;” how to get emergency information in their community; and how to take care of their family’s unique needs such as infants, seniors and pets; and a customizable children’s book designed to teach children how to be disaster-prepared in a fun, non-threatening way.

Spokesperson Laura Southard says this year the Department is making a bigger effort to sell both the economic and social benefits of the holiday to the private sector — not only for retailers who sell the emergency products but also to newspapers who could use it as an advertising opportunity. “I have solicited the sales managers at all the major dailies in the state so they can pitch this great advertising opportunity to their clients. It’s win-win for the newspapers, the retail advertisers and the customers. I am not paying the papers anything; I just prompted them to use the tax holiday as an advertising incentive.  Of course, I’ve asked them to use the Ready Virginia logo and Web site, if possible, on any ads that their clients may run.”

Appealing to profit motive — particularly in this economic environment — is smart. The more you can show businesses it’s in their self interest to get involved in preparedness the more attention they will give it  and in turn the more likely that their readers and customers will hear about the special week. In fact, preparedness offers the private sector way to both ‘do good and do well’. Says Southard: “Newspapers need advertising … Retailers need customers … Consumers need to save money … and it goes without saying that everyone needs to prepare for emergencies.”

So far, the state is partnering on the week with the Retail Merchants Association, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, The Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond and Kroger supermarkets. I believe this type of holiday should be implemented nationwide. (Though at present there is only one other state currently doing so, Louisiana, which is holding their second tax-free weekend at the end of the May.) Here in New York, legislation has recently been reintroduced in the State Assembly to establish a tax-free period between the anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11.

The campaign includes displays in McDonald’s restaurants throughout the state with information focusing on floods, tornadoes, lightning, emergency preparedness and NOAA weather radios. There are also severe-weather themed tray liners and drive-thru bag stuffers. In addition, many emergency managers hold events locally throughout April.

What I like (or to borrow McDonald’s current ad slogan, what I’m lovin’) most about this campaign is that the business sector, in this case a high-profile consumer retailer like McDonald’s, is centrally involved and identified with the effort in communities around the state. On this blog, I have frequently called on the private sector to get into preparedness in the same way it has done with disaster response, such as after Hurricane Katrina. I also like that the campaign is holding a contest for the safe room and the radios, which is a creative way to gain attention for the issue and provides a good incentive for people to register for readiness information. 

To be eligible to win the safe room — a concrete and steel reinforced room that can provide greater protection for residents in the path of severe storms and tornadoes — you must be the owner of the single family home in Oklahoma where it will be installed. The radios are being given away every week in April.

Ronald McDonald along with local emergency preparedness officials kickoff the McReady campaign in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

One example that was recently brought to my attention (thanks to Jerry Koenig, the Emergency Manager for Seattle City Light) is the State of Washington Emergency Management Division’s “Prepare In A Year” calendar, which suggests households take on one task for one hour for 12 months. Ideally, every American would prepare immediately and completely, however it makes sense for authorities to be pragmatic and flexible in their approaches.

The bill by Assemblyman Mike Feuer was passed by a 74-0 vote. No lawmaker spoke in opposition. The Los Angeles Democrat introduced the bill after the California Supreme Court in December ruled that the state’s Good Samaritan law only protects people from liability if they are administering emergency medical care.

“We live in state where there are fires, there are floods and there are earthquakes, and our first responders can’t always get to the scene on time,” Feuer said during the floor debate. “We need to encourage Good Samaritans.”

December’s ruling stemmed out of a lawsuit brought by a Southern California woman whose friend pulled her from a wrecked car. Alexandra Van Horn was left paralyzed from the 2004 accident and she sued Lisa Torti for pulling her out of the car “like a rag doll.” Van Horn blamed her friend for her paralysis.

Torti had said she feared the car was going to explode and moved Van Horn to save her. The court’s ruling sparked widespread concern that would-be Good Samaritans would pass by accidents for fear of being sued if something went wrong. Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, said the measure would encourage Californians “to help one another in times of need and distress.” At the same time, the bill allows victims to sue in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Another piece of new citizen preparedness news in the Empire State is New York’s first-ever Preparedness Expo being held in Albany on Tuesday, September 9th. Sponsored by the State’s Disaster Preparedness Commission, the Expo can be found on the State Concourse located at the Empire State Plaza from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

Nearly two dozen agencies will be on hand at the Expo to share preparedness-related information with the public and other members of the State workforce. In addition to providing preparedness materials, agencies will be able to explain their preparedness programs and engage individuals through presentations and demonstrations. In an effort to highlight the activity on the Concourse, some agencies will have response vehicles and other emergency equipment on display on the Plaza level. The Red Cross will also be conducting a blood drive on the Concourse in conjunction with the Expo.

It is a great opportunity for citizens in the area to learn more about emergency preparedness and their role in it. There will be representatives of organizations as like the Citizen Corps and Medical Reserve Corps who can also explain how individuals can get more involved in readying your own community for emergencies.

If you would like more information about the Preparedness Expo, you can contact Dennis J. Michalski
Assistant Director of Community Affairs for the New York State Emergency Management Office
at (518)-292-2310 or Dennis.Michalski@semo.state.ny.us.

Though they have no sales figures yet to report, officials from both states say they considered their tax free initiatives successful citing an increased amount of attention to preparedness from both the public and the media. The officials said they are optimistic that the event will only get bigger as it becomes more established in the years to come.

These positive reports should help efforts here in New York and around the nation to implement similar tax-free periods as a way to encourage citizen preparedness. As I wrote about in May, I worked with my local State Assemblyman Jonathan Bing on legislation he introduced in the New York state legislature in May. Under the Bing bill, New Yorkers would be able to buy emergency supplies without paying state sales tax between September 1st-11th (commemorating the period after Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attacks) and purchase pre-made emergency “Go-Bags” tax free throughout the month. 

In Louisiana, where they created their first ever tax free preparedness weekend at the end of May just before hurricane season began, Veronica Mosgrove, Communications Director for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the weekend turned out to be a “good idea”. She said “amazingly there is still a lot of apathy even in Louisiana” about preparedness. So the state was looking for different approaches to communicate and encourage people to prepare as part of the Louisiana’s new “Get A Game Plan” civilian education campaign.

“Anything that inspires people to get prepared is a success,” says Mosgrove, making the point that there is not one silver bullet for preparedness, you’ve got to try a lot of different things to break through.”

In Virginia, where the last week of May, “Hurricane and Flooding Preparedness Week”, was tax-free for the first time this year Department of Emergency Management Public Outreach Coordinator Laura Southard, told me that she was encouraged by their initial foray, though she sees opportunities to improve it next year: ”This was our first year, and we learned we’ve got to do more to get the word out. Some retailers told us they wanted to see more activity, and obviously, we do, too, because it means people are getting their families ready for the season.” But she says that the public responded to the idea as another aspect of their Ready Virginia campaign. ”Saving money usually prompts people to take action.” She says that a similar state tax-free school supplies weekend took a couple years to build awareness among the public so she expects the same dynamic with preparedness.

These positive reports from Louisiana and Virginia would appear to bolster the efforts here in New York and in other areas of the country to implement these tax-free opportunities for their citizens to increase their preparedness.

According to the article, Fugate wants to instill a new sense of public personal responsibility among the public when it comes to preparing and responding to disasters. Fugate is taking aim at what he has dubbed ”the culture of the victim, the conviction among residents that the first fallback after a disaster is government aid.” The article continues:

“It has led Fugate to drop the word “victim” and replace it with “survivors” as he urges those left in a disaster’s aftermath to take care of their families and their neighbors while government helps the most needy.

There’s an expectation I think we’ve created that if a disaster strikes a community,” people think, ” ‘I’m supposed to play the role of victim. I’m supposed to wait until somebody comes in to take care of me,’ ” he said. “You’re a survivor. You’re actually part of the solution.”