In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

On NYC’s #NPM10 Kickoff Day For CERT: Handing Out Preparedness ‘Goody Bags’, Pushing Hurricane Readiness With Earl Heading Up The Coast & Auditioning For An Emergency PSA

September 3rd, 2010 · 1 Comment

Yesterday, I participated in several Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) activities as part of New York City’s kickoff of National Preparedness Month activities.
First, I handed out preparedness ‘goody bags’ to passersby in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle after stuffing the packages with other members in an impromptu assembly line. In each bag was a READY New [...]

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Tags: CERT · Preparedness Events

Emergency Managers Say Twitter & Facebook Being Used Differently — Twit: More “Informational,” Speed, Official Audience; FB: More “Emotional,” Community-Building, Public Discussion/Feedback. Though In Crises, Both Will Be Utilized To Distribute/Gather Info For Public

August 30th, 2010 · 9 Comments

As government emergency management offices and non-profit disaster relief groups increasingly utilize Twitter and Facebook as part of their operations, I thought I would check with some leading practioners in the field to see how the two social media platforms are being employed in their work with the public.
It turns out that in most cases [...]

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Tags: Federal Emergency Management Administration · Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Ideas

Who Should Be The Celebrity Spokesperson For Citizen Preparedness: Brad, Angelina, Jack Bauer?

August 23rd, 2010 · 5 Comments

In a post this week on the social network website GovLoop, Andrew Krzmarzick asks a good question: “So which celebrity could bring awareness about a project or program being run by your agency, city or state?”
It’s a very relevant query for this blog as citizen preparedness has not had an ongoing high-profile celebrity spokesperson. To some in [...]

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Tags: Media · Preparedness Ideas

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 [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Language

Fugate White House Briefing On Tenn. Flood Highlights Value Of Mobiles/PDA’s In Response & Need For Govt. To Add Them To Basic Kit, Educate Public On Their Uses During Disasters

May 12th, 2010 · No Comments

At a White House press briefing yesterday, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate reported that many Tennessee flood survivors who had been displaced from their homes were accessing the agency’s new mobile version of its website, M.FEMA.gov, with their mobile phones and PDA’s to get information and register for recovery relief.
It underscores the fact that the mobile device may [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

On Earthquake Preparedness Month, Some Red Cross ‘Prepare-aphernalia’ Ideas & A Contest

April 21st, 2010 · 1 Comment

With April being Earthquake Preparedness Month, the always creative Robin Parker from the Red Cross Oregon Trail Chapter has a guest post on the American Red Cross blog with some ideas for “interesting items you could add to your earthquake preparedness kit. Or, as they to call them,”prepare-aphernalia”. The post with links can [...]

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Tags: Earthquake Preparedness · Preparedness Ideas · Red Cross

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

New RAND Study Says Post-Disaster “Human Recovery Is Not Well-Defined At The Federal, State Or Local Level”; Urges More Support For Non-Profit Groups In Response Efforts

September 26th, 2009 · No Comments

A new Rand Corporation study, The Role of Nongovernmental Organizations in Long-Term Human Recovery after Disaster: Reflections from Louisiana Four Years After Hurricane Katrina, recommends more attention for “human recovery” after disasters and provide more support for non-profit group response efforts. According to the Rand press release:
Focusing on the region damaged by Hurricane Katrina four [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Reports

For Fire Response, CaliforniaVolunteers Website Offers Guidance To Public Interested In Contributing $, In-Kind, Or Time

September 2nd, 2009 · No Comments

CaliforniaVolunteers is providing a useful web page with a list of ways the public can help in the state’s response to the wildfires. The site, www.californiavolunteers.org/index.php/Disaster_Volunteering/detail2/, offers this short overview:
Due to dangerous wildfire conditions, please do not travel to the areas affected by the fires without explicit instructions from a qualified emergency response organization. In [...]

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Tags: Fire Safety · State Preparedness · Volunteer Opportunities · Volunteering

Value of Small Rewards In Recruiting & Maintaining Disaster Volunteers

April 3rd, 2009 · 4 Comments

The dictionary defines “volunteer” as “a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.” Yet, there is a great value in finding small rewards that can help bring in and retain disaster volunteers. I know that from my own experience with CERT, but I also heard a similar message at a Business Roundtable-Partnership For Disaster Response [...]

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Tags: CERT · Preparedness Ideas