by Eric Holdeman: Emergency management in the blogosphere
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Back when Millicent D. West was appointed as the Emergency Management Director for Washington, D.C I was quoted as not being that complimentary of the selection process since it appeared to be a political appointment to me.
Now we we're informed that she has resigned, D.C. agency head named in Thomas probe resigns
There has already been too much leadership turmoil in that office. Two directors in less than three years. This is a very complicated community to work in with the multiple jurisdictional issues and plethora of Federal agencies all wanting to assert their authority and influence. Hopefully the city will take a more measured approach this time and do a national search for a new director. They deserve the best person they can find.
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Emergency Management Magazine sponsors 16 All-Hazard All-Stakeholder Summits throughout the year in different cities. You can check out the list and schedule at the link above.
For the one coming up in Seattle (which is the first one for the year) there are three primary speakers scheduled for March 21st, all of who I regularly learn something from. If you are in the neighborhood this event would be an excellent session to attend.
You have to register, but attendance is free to government types!
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I still like reading publications in a paper copy/print edition. But, while I'm waiting for the print edition to come in my mail box, you can now access the digital edition of the January-February Emergency Management Magazine
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Nominations are now being accepted to for the 2012 9-1-1 Honor Awards to honor heroes and leaders in 9-1-1. The 2012 awards ceremony will take place at the 9-1-1 Honors Gala on Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 in Washington, DC. The Co-Chairs of the Congressional NG9-1-1 Caucus have been invited to present the awards.
We ask your help in identifying the 2011 Heroes and Leaders the N9-1-1 Institute should be honoring in March. Heroism and leadership activities throughout the year of 2011 will be considered for the awards.
The NG9-1-1 Institute is now accepting nominations for six awards categories. Below are the descriptions of the various award categories. Anyone who fits the descriptions is eligible to be nominated and anyone can nominate. You DO NOT need to be a member of the NG-1-1 Institute to nominate or receive an award.
9-1-1 Honor Award Categories
- 9-1-1 Professional Award
- Citizen in Action / First Responder Award
- Government Leader Award
- Industry / Technology Private Sector Award
- Outstanding 9-1-1 Call Center / Program Award
- 9-1-1 Education Award
The nomination form for 2011 can be found at: www.e911institute.org All nominations must be received by Wednesday, February 15, 2012
If you have questions you can email them to contactus@e911institute.org.
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The National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation (NAPSG) has a survey on the street in which they are looking for more public agency participation. The topic for the survey is GIS for Multi-Agency Coordination Centers, including Emergency Operations Centers
Their request is below:
As many of you know, NAPSG Foundation and it's Standards Working Group recently developed and released a Standard Operating Guidance document for Multi-Agency Coordination Center information sharing. We currently are updating this document, to reflect (among other things) lessons learned from its deployment in Emergency Operations Centers around the country.
As part of our effort to ensure we create both a useful and used document, our Standards Working Group has drafted the below survey. Please take a few moments to complete this survey, so that we can continue to produce materials that meet the expressed needs of the public safety community.
The survey should take only a few moments, and it will provide tremendous value to NAPSG Foundation.
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One of the good things about Homeland Security grants drying up is that we will be forced to go back to partnering with all the various organizations in our regional communities. This includes the nonprofit sector.
Check out a publication put together by the Rand Corporation. It is not their typical research piece, but a compilation of information they gleaned from conference sessions on the topic of the nonprofit sector's role in disaster resiliency.
You can download a copy of the report at their website. See The Nongovernmental Sector in Disaster Resilience
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See a recent article on very poor people in the Philippines rebuilding their homes on the banks of a river that is sure to flood again, Flood Survivors Rebuild in Philippine Danger Zones
Yes these people are poor and they have no where else to go, but their behavior is no different than many other people living in industrialized nations, aka the United States of America. We have repeated flood properties that are flooded again and again. Not only do the residents rebuild in the danger area, the Federal Government subsidizes their insurance and promotes living in the flood zone.
The above behavior is what we need to end if we are really committed to becoming a disaster resilient nation and not a basket case of Federal bailouts--one home at a time. The risk of living in harms way needs to be borne by the people choosing that behavior.
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“The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but information in the hands of many.” John Naisbitt Information and those who control it are indeed powerful. Today we are now surrounded by information streams coming at us, bombarding us with messages. Many times it seems that our primary function is to determine which messages you listen to and where you get the information that guides your understanding and thinking on an issue.
Trusted sources of information are extremely valuable. We are seeing that the average person in using social media is much more likely to believe and trust the messages that they get from their social networks than those that come from “official sources.”
There is a new power that comes from information being in the hands and minds of many. We must be careful that the information we consume is not just coming from sources with which we agree. I believe it is important to hear dissenting voices and messages. One hazard with the multiple sources of information is that you can tune into only one line of reasoning that can seriously skew your belief system.
And, a counter view to the above is that the Super Packs that are funding the political campaigns of 2012 are a great example of “money in the hands of a few” welding undue power and influence over the many.
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I've had previous blog posts on holding the date for the 2012 Urban Area Security Initiatives (UASI) Conference, but now the full agenda, hotel, etc. information is all available.
I've been fortunate to attend several of these in the past. This year it looks like I'll miss it due to the fact that I'll be out of the office the entire week before this event attending the Executive Leadership Program that the Post Naval Graduate School hosts. I'm really looking forward to that series of sessions in 2012 and 2013.
One more thing about the conference. I may have missed this before, but the event is being branded as the National Homeland Security Conference. Perhaps it has always been billed as that event--or maybe they are looking to broaden the appeal since the number of UASI Cities are sure to be declining in future years as the Homeland Security funding dries up. Either way, it has been a good event previously and I'm sure this year with all the changes ongoing it will be another good conference to attend.
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There are two topics that keep popping up in articles that I'm reading lately. One is cyber security and the other is radiological readiness here in the United States. There is certainly a concern by national authorities and others on those two items. Be it Iran or other potential rogue nations, the idea of a nuke being popped in an urban setting is disconcerting at best.
See Shortcomings Seen in Local Nuclear, Radiological Event Readiness
Bill Cumming shared the link above.
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