John Solomon, author of “In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog” has written an interesting and compelling editorial arguing that governments at all levels need to work harder to engage the business community in disaster preparedness. He says: Government citizen preparedness campaigns over the past few years have raised awareness but not significantly enough to change […]
Tag Archives | emergency services
Are You Using Social Media for Emergency Management? Your Citizens Are!
Posted on August 10, 2010
The Red Cross has released the results of a survey of just over 1,000 respondents on how people use and expect to use social media during a disaster. The results are pretty striking. A couple of highlights: Nearly 3-in-4 respondents use at least one online community or social network. Facebook was by far the most […]
Funding for "Climate Change Mitigation" Available
Posted on July 26, 2010
New funding opportunity. From their press release: EDA Offers Grants through Climate Change Mitigation Fund The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) advances economic growth by assisting communities experiencing chronic high unemployment and low per capita income to create an environment that fosters innovation, promotes entrepreneurship, and attracts increased private capital investment. EDA […]
Free Online Hurricane Response Training
Posted on July 6, 2010
Thankfully, hurricanes in Massachusetts are pretty rare, but when they hit, they’re devastating. Want training on how to help safely guide your community through a hurricane, but lack the resources and time to head off to a specialized class somewhere? Have a look at the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET) hurricane […]
Gulf Spill Oil Coming to Atlantic?
Posted on June 3, 2010
What’s the real worst case scenario for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill? What it the oil keeps gushing all summer? The New York Times is reporting that a team of scientists has run the models, and that the results aren’t pretty. Nearly all of the simulations show oil heading into the Atlantic, and, perhaps, even […]
The 2010 Hurricane Season Begins with New Oil Spill Map
Posted on June 1, 2010
Today, of course, marks the start of the 2010 Hurricane Season. The good news: there don’t appear to be any storms yet. The bad news: the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continues to spread without an end in site. Have a look at this interactive map that shows the extent of the oil each […]
County Promotes More Precise Storm Surge Maps
Posted on May 24, 2010
A Florida county has released new storm surge maps, and they’re giving locals a more precise idea of their risks of being hit by the storm surge associated with a hurricane. Tampa Bay Online has the whole story. As the article reports, Hillsborough County has based the maps on revised models from the National Hurricane […]
Municipal Emergency Management Messaging Systems
Posted on May 12, 2010
Emergency Management has published an interesting story on using so-called “Messaging Systems” as a means of quickly reaching residents during emergency events. These messaging systems can contact people through various means including phone or email depending on how they’re set up. While these are generally proprietary systems and aren’t free, the community profiled in this […]
FEMA Releases New Mobile Website
Posted on May 6, 2010
Want FEMA assistance from your iPhone, Blackberry, or other smart phone? FEMA head Craig Fugate announced the launch of FEMA’s new mobile website, m.fema.gov. FEMA says that the “mobile website makes it easier to access critical information regarding emergency preparedness and what to do before and after a disaster right on a smartphone.” So far, […]
High Tech (and generally free) Tools for Disaster Preparation
Posted on April 15, 2010
Mashable has written a short article outlining some of the many ways that people can take advantage of the technology they already own (computers, smart-phones, etc) to help prepare themselves for natural disasters. Some of the ideas: Using Google My Maps to create evacuation maps (see video below for an intro on how to do […]