On 7 February 2012, more than one million people across nine states will participate in the 2012 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut! Learn more and/or sign up today to participate.
This two-day course is targeted for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Department Chairs of such EM-related disciplines as sociology, geography, public administration, and/or psychology. The primary goal of the workshop is to assist HSIs by providing helpful information about EM and the benefits and resources available for integrating EM course offerings into their curricula.
News travels fast these days! Usually, in fact, much faster than the nation's news media can cover it - because it takes much longer to get news crews to a location to report about an incident than it does for a private citizen to send a quick (i.e., instantaneous) on-the-scene message, or visual image, to friends, relatives, or total strangers around the globe. That is exactly what happened up and down the "totally unprepared" U.S. East Coast when the Mineral earthquake of 23 August 2011 shattered public complacency (but not much else).
The National Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) includes two new courses - CERT Train-the-Trainer and CERT Program Manager - that are now available to States and local jurisdictions throughout the country.
The new all-hazards safety rule for young children, senior citizens, and everyone else in between: Don't leave home without your smartphone. Be careful what you say, though - several billion people may be listening in ... or looking in. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. Ask anyone who has ever been lost in a storm drain in Australia.
So-called official channels used to be plagued by what was politely described as "a paucity of information." Thanks to the combination of improved communications systems and the birth of social media, what was once a desert is now a flood. Fortunately, the Responder Knowledge Base provides an easy way to turn the spigot on and off.
Protection of the U.S. homeland requires superior and continuing performance by both thinkers and doers. The latter work is more dangerous and deservedly receives more publicity. The thinking part is more tedious, though, and continues with no end in sight. Thinkers now face another mountain to climb with the implementation of PPD-8 and redrafting of HSPD-5.
Instead of fighting the inevitable, a growing number of forward-looking emergency managers and political leaders are using social media as a low-cost, immediately accessible, and surprisingly efficient way to keep the public at large informed - on a continuing basis - about impending disasters and the response, recovery, and mitigation operations that follow.
The profession of emergency management has come a long, long way from the streets of London to the gates of the White House, but the policing principles enunciated by Sir Robert Peel provide a strong foundation for President Barack Obama's Presidential Policy Directive 8 on National Preparedness and its goal to "bring the nation together as a whole" to prepare for any and all disasters "that threaten U.S. security and resiliency."
Critical incidents such as school shootings, workplace violence incidents, domestic violence attacks, and terrorist threats are occurring with alarming frequency. This four-hour planning and response course led by the Kernersville Fire Department will help public safety agencies and crisis planners adapt to these changes in society so that the appropriate delivery of emergency services is ensured in a time of crisis.
