Tag Archives | emergency services

An Argument for Not Returning to Normal [Editorial]

An interesting editorial by Global Ethics professor Tom Sorell on why our natural post-disaster instinct to return things to normal is so often exactly the wrong response, and why we instead ought to work to “usher in discontinuity.” The problem with returning to “normal” is obvious: we’re often returning to the same conditions that put […]

Facebook vs Twitter: Which to Use for What in Emergency Management

Another good post from John Solomon over at In Case of Emergency, Read Blog. Here, he’s looking at how emergency management professionals use the two most popular social networking tools, Facebook and Twitter. In his interviews, he discovers that the two are NOT interchangeable. It turns out that in most cases the two services are […]

Ideas on How to Engage Your Businesses in Emergency Preparedness

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 […]

Preliminary Flood Maps Released for Collier County, Naples and Others

From a FEMA press release: Collier County and the cities of Naples, Marco Island and Everglades City have received updated, preliminary Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMs) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Staff from the respective communities are now reviewing the maps for accuracy. A series of public informational meetings is scheduled for […]

Are You Using Social Media for Emergency Management? Your Citizens Are!

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 […]

NOAA Announces New Coastal Resilience Networks Grant Program

From our friends at NOAA: CRest Grant Program – Coastal Resilience Networks Pacific Islands – Gulf of Mexico – West Coast Coastal Resilience Networks (CRest) is a new and exciting grant opportunity for the Pacific Islands, Gulf of Mexico, and West Coast regions. The program funds projects that help communities become more resilient to the […]

Free Online Hurricane Response Training

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 course. It’s free, and you can do it from any computer connected to […]

Gulf Spill Oil Coming to Atlantic?

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

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

Hillsborough County 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 […]