In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A reader and contributor to this blog, Bruce Curley, sent me a link to his blog, PoetsLife, with some photos of a disaster exercise in which he played a victim (see bandaged man below) held earlier this month in Carroll County, Maryland. The scenario tested in the drill was a tornado touching down on a [...]

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I spent much of last night on the streets of New York pushing preparedness. Specifically, I was in Columbus Circle near the southwest entrance of Central Park with my CERT team along with representatives of the New York police and fire departments as part of the annual “National Night Out”. It was the 25th anniversary [...]

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One of the important goals of the American Red Cross’ Social Media Unit I just visited in Washington is drawing from (and spreading) creative preparedness 2.0 work being done in their chapters around the country.
This week, they invited Robin Parker, one of the founders of the Oregon chapter’s Cross Blog, to headquarters in Washington to help out with their social media efforts in response to the Midwest floods.   
 

 
 
 
Cross Blog’s Robin [...]

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I know you all already get too much email (including, for some of you, the weekly summary of this blog). And the idea of getting any more, particularly from the Department of Homeland Security, may not sound on first blush very enticing
However, if you are interested in citizen preparedness — or for that matter any aspect of homeland security – I suggest you go to [...]

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My CERT team was mobilized by the City’s Office of Emergency Management for the last two days to help tenants move back into the Upper East Side Manhattan building which was struck by a falling crane last Friday morning. Our team, the East Side Neighborhood Association (ESNA)-CERT, was joined by the Upper East Side CERT. We were activated because we are [...]

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Soon after the tragic crane collapse on the Upper East Side, my CERT team was deployed by the City’s Office of Emergency Management to help in the response.

A photo I took yesterday of local residents looking at the aftermath of a crane collapse that had killed two people earlier in the day.
We helped the Red Cross set up and staff [...]

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A bill that would bolster the public’s involvement and engagement in their own homeland security advanced in Congress this month. This is particularly important to this blog as it is legislation specifically focused on citizen preparedness – in fact, ‘citizen preparedness’ is even in the name.
“H.R. 5890, the Citizen and Community Preparedness Act of 2008″ passed the Homeland Security Committee’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Subcommittee, chaired by [...]

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I just received some terrific news from Pat Salins, the leader of the CERT team in Manhattan’s Community Board 6. She told me that a neighborhood resident heard me discussing about my CERT experiences on the WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show last month and decided to join up.
 
This would be the second person I know who has joined CERT as a result of the WNYC series, which [...]

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Last night, I attended a CERT Training for Manhattan team members at Lehman College which featured presentations from officials from the New York City Office of Emergency Management, Fire Department and Police Department officials. 
NYFD Captain Joe Brosi, a CERT Liaison and team trainer, (pictured above) reviewed the Incident Command structure under which we work during an emergency. Because CERT [...]

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As part of our CERT responsibilities, we are occasionally asked to participate in City emergency drills. On Saturday, I had the opportunity along with 30 other CERT members to play the role of ‘civilians’ in a major New York Fire Department (FDNY) exercise, “Operation Civil Support”. 
 (Firemen arrive to rescue us ‘civilians’ after mock chemical attack on mock subway at the Fire Academy)
 (Outside [...]

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