In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

One of the interesting and fun things about Twitter is that you can sometimes get to know about someone pretty quickly — their daily activities, hobbies, personality, etc. — from their feed. For example, I have been ‘following’ FEMA Administrator-Designate Craig Fugate on Twitter, and I have enjoyed learning about him.
On Sunday, Fugate, currently Director of [...]

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Between sessions of a conference on special needs citizens and disasters, I filmed a “What Should We Tell The Public?” video with Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Regional Administrator Stephen Kempf. In the segment, Kempf tells viewers to determine the emergency risks in their own area and then be able to take care of themselves for 72 hours. [...]

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President Obama has announced his intention to nominate Craig Fugate as the next Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). It is excellent pick. Fugate has distinguished himself as Director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
Fugate understands the importance of the public in disaster preparedness and response and has made citizen outreach a focus [...]

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Speaking of preparedness education in the schools, two good examples — focusing on widely different ages — were brought to my attention recently: 1) the Student Tools for Emergency Planning (STEP) program at the Thompson Brook School in Avon, Connecticut for fifth graders, and 2) an earthquake readiness program at the University of California, Berkeley for [...]

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More precisely, Administrator R. David Paulison held a 45-minute q & a with the public yesterday using the microblogging tool, Twitter. 
Paulison took questions and offered answers (within Twitter’s limit of 140 characters or less) to all comers on the agency’s Twitter account, femainfocus.  A “tweet log” as well as an audio file and full transcript of the event [...]

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One of the suggestions I’ve made to emergency preparedness communicators is that they talk more about their own personal efforts to ready themselves and their families. I think it makes what can be an imposing and off-putting process seem more accessible and relatable for average citizens. So, I was happy to see a video that FEMA [...]

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With yet another major hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison says in this segment of “What Should We Tell The Public?” that his agency is ready. Yet, he underscores how FEMA, as well as state and local responders, rely on citizens to prepare and help respond to disasters like [...]

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Using particularly demonstrative language, FEMA is warning people on the Gulf Coast to ready themselves for Hurricane Ike. In a press release today, titled “Hurricane Ike Nearing Landfall: Act Now!”, the agency is asking residents:
Do you know what your local community’s evacuation plan is? If not, do you know where to locate it? [...]

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Like most Americans, I have been closely following Hurricane Gustav on television, radion and web media news outlets. In addition, I wanted to bring your attention a number of online resources that I have been monitoring as well:
The American Red Cross offers two web-based information sources that I find very helpful:
Red Cross’ Online Newsroom which can [...]

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In an interview last week on the eve of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison told me that the agency has been “rebuilt” and is “ready” for the next major hurricane or other disaster. Unfortunately, he may have a chance to test his assessment in the next several days as [...]

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