In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

Fugate Says FEMA Is Reevaluating Future Of CERT: Significant Changes Possible, Including Offering Mini-Course To More Americans, Significantly Expanding Youth Training

August 18th, 2010 · 11 Comments

In response to a question from the audience at the Red Cross Emergency Social Data Summit last week, Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate mentioned that the agency is doing some serious rethinking about the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program as it approaches its 25th Anniversary.
The questioner urged Fugate to move CERT from [...]

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Tags: CERT · Federal Emergency Management Administration · Youth Preparedness

In Red Cross Video, Jamie Lee Curtis Personalizes Her Emergency Kit — Top EM Folks Should Also Be Talking More About Their Own Family Preparedness Planning To Help Guide, Engage Public

August 2nd, 2010 · 3 Comments

I recently watched an American Red Cross video that actress Jamie Lee Curtis made last year called “What’s In My Kit”. (see below). In the two-minute spot, Curtis shows how she has personalized her emergency kit to “make it more user friendly”. It’s a pretty straight forward video, but I wanted to highlight it, because [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Ideas · Red Cross

As Emergency Managers Increasingly Integrate Climate Change Into Their Disaster Planning, Don’t Forget To Apply Lessons Of Global Warming Campaign’s Success To Citizen Preparedness Effort

July 21st, 2010 · No Comments

In the recent issue of Emergency Management magazine, Elaine Pittman has an interesting article, “Emergency Managers Warm To The Idea Of Climate Change”. It focuses on how state and local government officials are increasingly taking climate change and its impact on potential disasters into account in their disaster planning.
I wanted to post the article, because it [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Language

Officials Shouldn’t Be Afraid Of “Fear” In Effort To (Responsibly & Constructively) Inform, Engage & Prepare Public On Terror Threats; It’s Used For Hurricanes & Global Warming, Why Not Terrorism?

June 1st, 2010 · 2 Comments

The word ‘fear’ has gotten a bit of bad rap this decade. And, I would argue that’s hurt the country’s public preparedness. Let me explain.
I think the fear of being accused of fearmongering has put a significant crimp in the ability of our leaders to communicate with and prepare Americans for terrorism. That’s a problem [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Ideas · Risk Communications

Michael Chertoff/Fmr. DHS Secretary: We All Should Think Through Our Response To An Emergency In Advance (’What Should We Tell The Public?’ Video Series)

November 15th, 2009 · No Comments

Michael Chertoff makes a second appearance in the “What Should We Tell The Public?” video series. The first was last year when Chertoff was U.S. Homeland Security Secretary; now he heads the Chertoff Group. In this video, Chertoff urges that all Americans think through their plans in the event of a personal or community emergency [...]

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Tags: "What Should We Tell The Public?"

In Wake Of Terror Arrests, Identifying And Addressing Public ‘Complacency’ And ‘Vigilance’

September 29th, 2009 · 4 Comments

With news of several alleged terror plots across the U.S. just weeks after the nation marked the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there have been renewed calls from current and former top officials warning Americans to avoid “complacency” and to continue to be “vigilant” about the potential terrorist threat. From the public’s perspective, that raises [...]

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Tags: See Something/Terrorism Tips

Govt. Still Determining How Best To Communicate Terror Threat And Engage Public To Help Out Eight Years After 9/11

September 14th, 2009 · 4 Comments

As the nation marks the anniversary of 9/11, one of the significant homeland security challenges the government still faces eight years later is figuring out how best to communicate the terrorist threat to the public and then engage the citizenry to help in its anti-terror efforts.
Both parts of that challenge involve a difficult balance. On [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Ideas · See Something/Terrorism Tips

In New Book, Ridge Points Out Public’s “Homeland Helplessness”; Outlines Citizen Communications Goals He Hoped To Achieve — Which May Well Be Taken Up By Napolitano; Shares “Complacency” Concerns Expressed By Chertoff In His New Book

September 7th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge’s new book has garnered headlines over questions whether some in the Bush Administration wanted him to raise the terror color alert for political reasons.
But a bigger theme (and, I would argue, a bigger deal) throughout the book is his frustration with the inability to have a frank and [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Reports · Preparedness Resources

In Interview, Ex-Sec. Chertoff Recommends Condensing Color Alerts (“Because We’re Not Going To Get Below Yellow”); Suggests School Preparedness Course (Incl. First Aid, CPR, Mechanics, Firearms Training); Acknowledges He “Would Have Liked To Have Done More” On Citizen Preparedness; Says Successor Napolitano Is Doing “A Very Good Job” — New Book Out Tuesday

August 31st, 2009 · Comments Off

In an interview just before the release of his new book, former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urges that the terror color codes should be condensed to three levels, calls for the development of a new preparedness course (including first aid, CPR, basic mechanics, and firearms training) for schools across the U.S., acknowledges “he would [...]

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Tags: Education · Preparedness Interviews

This Blog Gets ‘Exclusive Interview’ With Former DHS Secretary Whose New Book Is Coming Out September 1st — Chertoff (Yes, Chertoff) Says He Was Not Pressured On Terror Alerts

August 21st, 2009 · 4 Comments

There is another former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary with a book coming out on September 1st.
Just as news was hitting the web (and my Blackberry) about Tom Ridge’s blockbuster charges on political pressure to raise the color terror alert in his new book “The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege … And [...]

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Tags: Department of Homeland Security · Humor