In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

Emergency Radios That Still Don’t Communicate With Each Other 9 Years Later & The Danger To Government Credibility With The Public

September 20th, 2010 · 3 Comments

For government authorities one of — if not the most — important part of homeland security/disaster preparedness and response is its credibility with the public. There will always be skepticism about government communication, but the ability of the authorities to be able to be trusted during and after a crisis is vital. It’s in large [...]

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Tags: City Preparedness · Preparedness Ideas

Was BP Explosion (& Other Recent Accidents) The Result Of “Alarm Fatigue”?

August 1st, 2010 · 3 Comments

In today’s New York Times, there’s an interesting article by Matthew Wald that raises the question whether “alarm fatigue” has led to major accidents, such as the BP Deepwater Horizon incident.
According to the piece, “For No Signs of Trouble, Kill the Alarm,”:
When an oil worker told investigators on July 23 that an alarm to warn [...]

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Tags: Emergency Alerts

How Saving Face Could Imperil The Nation: The Botox-Terror Connection

June 11th, 2010 · No Comments

The New York Times’ Idea of the Day blog summarizes a new study (which sounds like it could have come from The Onion) in a new post, “The Botox-Terror Connection”:
And you thought people with cosmetically frozen facial expressions were scary. Writing in the latest Scientific American, two bio-terror experts, Ken Coleman and Raymond A. Zilinskas, [...]

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Tags: Biological 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

Was Katrina A “Natural” Or “Man-Made” Disaster? New York Times Ombudsman Says Maybe Just Call It A “Disaster”

May 16th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Also today in the New York Times ombudsman Clark Hoyt raised a wording question that has both journalistic and policy implications when it comes to disasters. As part of the column, “Semantic Minefields,” Hoyt wrote about a petition organized by Sandy Rosenthal of New Orleans asking the Times “to issue a style memo requiring that news articles [...]

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Tags: Media

Obama Administration/State & Local Governments Should Use White House Official Sunstein’s Ideas To “Nudge” Citizen Preparedness

May 16th, 2010 · 2 Comments

In today’s New York Times Sunday Magazine, there’s an article, “Cass Sunstein Wants To Nudge Us,” profiling Cass Sunstein, the director of White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
OIRA, according to the piece, has “the power to review every significant new rule that emerged from…[federal] agencies and to decide whether the benefits (in [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Ideas · Preparedness Incentives

To Strengthen ‘See Something, Say Something’, Public Should Know Something More

May 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment

All three cable news channels offered blanket coverage Friday afternoon of the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) investigation of a “suspicious” package in Times Square. It was only one of several phone tips that the NYPD’s Bomb Squad had checked out that day. Each turned out to be a false alarm but clearly more people [...]

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Tags: See Something/Terrorism Tips

Citizen ‘Seeing Something & Saying Something’ To New York City Police Leads To Discovery Of Times Square Bomb

May 2nd, 2010 · 4 Comments

A crude bomb was found in the back of a Nissan Pathfinder in the middle of Times Square Saturday night after a T-shirt vendor on the street reported the car to a police officer. According to a New York Times story:
a T-shirt vendor on the sidewalk saw smoke coming out of vents near the back [...]

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Tags: See Something/Terrorism Tips

Are Earthquakes Becoming More Frequent? No, But Our Exposure To Them Is Increasing

April 14th, 2010 · 1 Comment

With today’s 7.1 earthquake in western China on the heels of the quakes in Haiti and China as well as those last week in Baja California and Indonesia, seismologist Roger Musson has a timely op-ed in the New York Times addressing the question: “Are earthquakes becoming more frequent?” His answer: “no.”
It’s true that more earthquakes [...]

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Tags: Earthquake Preparedness

As Concerns Rise About Sick Workers Spreading H1N1 Flu, Officials May Want To Use Bully Pulpit To Encourage ‘Flexible Leave’ Policies In Workplaces

November 3rd, 2009 · No Comments

As has been discussed on the blog a couple of times this summer, the H1N1 pandemic contingency plans for workplaces, particularly small businesses, continue to be a significant issue. Unlike schools, there is no central managerial authority to make and implement policies; guidelines have to be created and implemented on a firm by firm basis. It will [...]

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Tags: Business Preparedness · Pandemic Flu · President Obama