In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

One of my main objectives in starting this blog was to encourage and help other citizens to get more involved in emergency preparedness by describing my own experiences. So, I couldn’t have been more thrilled to receive an email last week from a reader named Valerie Berg in Boulder, Colorado.
Valerie wrote that she had wanted [...]

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In a survey released today, the American Red Cross and the Council For Excellence In Government found that public disaster preparedness has fallen a bit over the past year. The survey, conducted for National Preparedness Month, found that on a scale of 1 to 10, the nation’s collective level of preparedness, or Readiness Quotient (RQ), decreased [...]

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The Red Cross is asking media — both old and new — to participate in a “roadblock” today, Friday, helping to raise awareness of and money for the organization’s disaster efforts.
“In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog” is happy to be part of the blogosphere’s roadblock.

If you want to donate to the Red Cross, go to american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main
For [...]

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In the wake of Hurricane Ike, there will continue to be a need for volunteers to assist in the relief and recovery throughout the Texas and Louisiana coasts to assist the work of local groups as well as organizations like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
One idea to increase the pool of trained volunteers [...]

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As part of National Preparedness Month, my local State Assemblyman, Jonathan Bing, held a special emergency readiness forum Monday night along with the American Red Cross of Greater New York and New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM). The objective was to brief residents of Bing’s Manhattan district on preparing themselves for disasters and to publicize the [...]

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For the last week, I have been one of several Guest Bloggers for the American Red Cross’ “Red Cross Chat” blog. I thought I would bring to your attention two interesting posts from two of the other Guest Bloggers, David Stephenson and Robin Parker, two of the most innovative people I know when it comes to [...]

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The blog’s new video series “What Should We Tell The Public?” today features a segment with Joe Becker, the American Red Cross’ Senior Vice President for Preparedness & Response.
In this series, I am asking leading people in the homeland security/emergency management/public health preparedness community for their tips, recommendations, and ideas on what they think citizens should know and do in order to [...]

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I had a good weekend of cross blogging with Robin Parker and Lise Kerwin of Cross Blog, the terrific blog of the Red Cross’ Oregon chapter. I wanted to mention one more thing about Cross Blog that I think is worth noting: a typically playful, eye-catching post on Saturday titled “Can CPR Get You A Date” listed several Portland, Oregon Craig’s List postings of potential [...]

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My CERT team was mobilized by the City’s Office of Emergency Management for the last two days to help tenants move back into the Upper East Side Manhattan building which was struck by a falling crane last Friday morning. Our team, the East Side Neighborhood Association (ESNA)-CERT, was joined by the Upper East Side CERT. We were activated because we are [...]

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I am excited to report that a bill which would create a ‘tax free holiday’ for emergency supplies and “Go-Bags” was introduced in the New York State Assembly by Assemblyman Jonathan L. Bing as Assembly Bill A11206.
Under the legislation, New Yorkers would be able to buy emergency supplies without paying state sales tax between September 1st-11th and purchase pre-made “Go-Bags” tax free throughout the month. The [...]

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