According to an article in the Miami Herald, officials in Key West are considering the prohibition of alcohol sales during hurricanes under a little known law that allows local officials to ban booze during a declared state of emergency:
Last year, as officials of the Southernmost City reviewed their emergency plans, they again considered the possibility [...]
Too Drunk To Evacuate Or Helpful Stress Reliever? Key West Officials Consider Closing Bars During Hurricanes
July 31st, 2010 · No Comments
Tags: Hurricane Preparedness
It’s Time To Better Define What “Ready” Means For Public — To Help Do So, FEMA/State/Local Officials Should Hold Series Of Forums To Solicit Citizen Input, Answer Questions On Preparedness
July 26th, 2010 · 7 Comments
On its Facebook page, the very active Medical Reserve Corps of Greater Kansas City posted some photos of a day-long class it held Saturday using FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute’s Independent Study curriculum, “IS-22: Are You Ready? An In-Depth Guide To Citizen Preparedness”.
The Facebook post piqued my curiosity about the FEMA course whose introductory Overview explains:
“has been [...]
Tags: City Preparedness · Education · Federal Emergency Management Administration · Preparedness Events · Preparedness Resources
On ADA’s 20th Anniversary Today, Fugate Asks (& Answers) “Are Disabled Still At Risk In Disasters?”
July 26th, 2010 · No Comments
To mark today’s 20th Anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), FEMA Administrator shot a short video and wrote an article for CNN.com “Are Disabled Still At Risk In Disasters,” focusing on disabled preparedness which has been a priority of his tenure.
The video urges emergency managers to continue to better integrate the disabled into [...]
Tags: Disabled Preparedness
Do You ‘Like’ Bilingual Facebook Preparedness Info? FEMA Sends Its ‘Fans’ Spanish Version For Bonnie & Stirs Online Debate
July 23rd, 2010 · 2 Comments
As social media becomes an increasingly important way for emergency managers to distribute disaster preparedness information to the public, officials are facing communications issues they have not dealt with before. One such issue — should FEMA be sending information in Spanish as well as English to the feed it sends its ‘fans’ on Facebook? –Â has [...]
Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Preparedness 2.0
FEMA Top Geek Fugate Shows & Tells, Via YouTube, How Disaster Survivors Can Now Apply For Aid On Their Smart Phones
July 19th, 2010 · No Comments
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate released a short video today promoting — and demonstrating – how disaster survivors for the first time can apply for government assistance with their smart phones through the agency’s mobile site, m.FEMA.gov.
Throughout his tenure, Fugate has been a major advocate of personal technology (particularly smart phones) as a disaster preparedness and response tool [...]
Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Preparedness 2.0
As Hurricane Season Gets Going, Census Bureau Report Highlights Skyrocketing Population Growth Of Coastal Counties, Particularly Gulf Coast
July 1st, 2010 · No Comments
As the arrival of Alex signals the start of the hurricane season, I wanted to highlight a recent U.S. Census Bureau study that found in the last 50 years the population in coastline counties has almost doubled, with growth along the Gulf of Mexico soaring by 150 percent.
“Coastline counties along the Atlantic and Gulf, as [...]
Tags: Hurricane Preparedness
“Painfully Unprepared For Space Weather”?
June 19th, 2010 · 5 Comments
I don’t know if I should thank my friend Rich Cooper for informing us of yet another threat to be concerned about — space weather. But alas, more information the better is a watchword of this blog. In a post, “Painfully Unprepared For Space Weather” on the Security Debrief blog, Rich writes about attending the Space [...]
Tags: Hurricane Preparedness · Preparedness Ideas
WWW.DisasterAssistance.Gov: One Stop Location For Citizens To Apply For Aid Whether It Be For Oil Spill, Weather Or Other Calamities
June 12th, 2010 · No Comments
CraigAtFEMA (a.k.a. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate) tweeted a reminder this week: “www.DisasterAssistance.gov info how you might be able to get help from the US Gov’t before, during & after a disaster.” Though it mostly handles natural disaster aid, citizens can go there to file a claim with BP due to the oil spill.
The aim of the [...]
Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Government Web Sites
We Need To Better Define What “Prepared” (&/Or “Resilient”) Means For The Public
June 8th, 2010 · 2 Comments
In the May/June issue of Emergency Management magazine, there’s an interesting “Point of View” column by Elaine Pittman, “Simplifying The Message” (p. 12 on this pdf). She begins the piece:
There are 27 items on Ready.gov’s list of supplies to incorporate into an emergency kit, divided by recommended supplies (12) and additional items to consider (15). At [...]
Tags: Preparedness Language
White House Reporter’s Question To Fugate On Nashville Flood Illustrates Communications Challenge Repositioning FEMA’s Role
May 17th, 2010 · No Comments
During his tenure, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has been trying to somewhat reposition the agency’s role in the nation’s emergency preparedness for and response to disasters. And that effort was on display last week when he appeared in the White House media briefing room with press secretary Robert Gibbs to discuss FEMA’s activities during the [...]