In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

“Nuclear Alert Sirens Fall Short For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing”

August 10th, 2010 · No Comments

The University of Maryland’s Center for Health & Homeland Security’s blog has an interesting post on shortcomings in emergency alert systems for the deaf and hard of hearing.
In the post, Nuclear Alert Sirens Fall Short For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing,” Greg Sunshine points out that in the event of a radiological emergency, people [...]

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Tags: Disabled Preparedness · Diverse Communities Preparedness · Emergency Alerts · Nuclear Terrorism

On Animal Preparedness, Shelter Policy Should Be Clearer Regarding Housing Pets During A Disaster

June 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment

A recent post on the New York Times’ interesting “Well” blog focused on emergency preparedness for pets. In “Disaster Planning For Pets,” Tara Parker-Pope describes her own lack of readiness when a flood forced her — along with her dogs and cats — from their New Jersey home.
When my neighborhood was evacuated because of Delaware [...]

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Tags: Pets

At Hearing, House Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman Cuellar Asks FEMA For New Preliminary Plan To Increase U.S. Community, Citizen Preparedness

October 5th, 2009 · No Comments

I attended a very interesting hearing on Capitol Hill late last week, “Preparedness: State of Citizen and Community Preparedness,” held by the House Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response which is chaired by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX).
At the hearing, Bill Jenkins Jr. from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) presented a preliminary report, Emergency Management Preliminary Observations on FEMA’s Community Preparedness Programs Related to [...]

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Tags: Congress · Preparedness Events · Preparedness Reports · Public Opinion · Research Studies

DHS Historical Report Underscores “Frequent Policy And Organizational Change” In U.S. Citizen Preparedness Efforts

September 14th, 2009 · 3 Comments

I just read an interesting report “Civil Defense and Homeland Security: A Short History of National Preparedness Efforts” which was originally issued by the Department of Homeland Security in September, 2006. I had not seen the study which offers a good, compact 35-page summary of previous public preparedness initiatives. As the Obama Administration starts revamping [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Reports

On #Katrina Anniversary, Watchdog Warns U.S. Still Unprepared On Disaster Housing, Mass Care, Disabilities & Communications

August 29th, 2009 · 3 Comments

Four years after Hurricane Katrina, the United States is “dangerously unprepared” for another major disaster with many key functions of disaster preparedness, response, relief, and recovery continuing to lack capacity to deliver core services and programs before and after a major disaster, due to the ineffectiveness of FEMA to sufficiently coordinate over 20 agencies and [...]

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Tags: Hurricane Preparedness

Citizen Corps, FEMA & Serve.Gov Offering New Toolkit For Community Preparedness Volunteering

July 15th, 2009 · No Comments

As part of the Obama Administration’s new public service initiative, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the  Citizen Corps have partnered with the Corporation for National and Community Service to create a Community Preparedness Toolkit. It is one of a series of Toolkits that can be found on Serve.gov, the nation’s new online resource for finding volunteer [...]

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Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Volunteering

Visiting NYC, FEMA Head Fugate Meets With Mayor Bloomberg/Urges New Yorkers To Prepare

July 1st, 2009 · 3 Comments

FEMA Administrator met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler and Office of Emergency Management head Joseph Bruno to discuss New York’s emergency preparedness efforts and to bolster the relationship between the City and the federal agency.
I spoke with Fugate after the meeting on the steps of New York’s City Hall and [...]

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Tags: City Preparedness · Federal Emergency Management Administration

The U.S. Homeland Security Department’s New Social Media Menu

June 29th, 2009 · No Comments

I wanted to highlight a new list of social media offerings from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which are on its website here. They include the Department’s here. They include the Department’s two-week-old blog; Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter sites for various DHS agencies; and even the iTunes offerings from the Transportation Security Administration. And, [...]

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Tags: Department of Homeland Security · Preparedness 2.0

New FEMA/Citizen Corps Survey Says “Too Many Americans Don’t Know How To Get Critical Information Or Where To Go” In A Disaster, But Don’t Think It Will Happen In Their Own Community; Report Urges More Public Education On What To Do In Response To Threats, More Civilian Drilling Opportunities

June 12th, 2009 · 8 Comments

In a report released yesterday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says ”too many Americans don’t know how to get critical information or where to go in the event of a disaster,” the report, “Personal Preparedness in America: Findings from the Citizen Corps National Survey” concludes. “60% of respondents were unfamiliar about their local evacuation routes. 54% of [...]

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Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Public Opinion

Two Good New Public Preparedness Articles

June 9th, 2009 · No Comments

In the June issue of Homeland Security Today magazine, there are a couple of interesting articles with relevance to public preparedness:
1) “From Florida To FEMA” by Michael Peltier is an interesting profile of new FEMA head Craig Fugate. The piece notes Fugate’s focus on changing the public’s expectations, mindset and responsibilities on preparedness. In Florida, he tried [...]

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Tags: Media · Preparedness 2.0