Disasters

Responder Knowledge Database: on overlook asset
Hosting data about DHS grants and third-party equipment certification, RKD is an invaluable resource for those in the emergency response business
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Survive shuts down operation
Membership organization was synonomous with continuity in Britain; consultants and trainers lose a reliable revenue source
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Noble Resolve exercises kick-off in Virginia
U.S. Joint Forces Command, increasingly interested in statistical modeling and simulation, teams up with Virginia authorities for emergency preparedness drills
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FEMA readies $65 million in preparedness grants
CEDAP to pay out $37 million for equipment, while CTGP offers public and private sector $29 million in training and management grants
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Fritz Institute to study community-based disaster relief
Little is known about how local groups and faith-based organizations operate during emergencies; a major push to help the neediest
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MIR3 unveils campus emergency notification system
The Virginia Tech tragedy highlights the importance of disseminating emergency alerts to thousands of recipients simultaneously, and do so to many different communication devices; MIR3 offers a solution
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FEMA tosses $40 million in MREs
A lack of refrigeration contributed to waste in 2006; agency now intends to hold-off on pre-positioning; ongoing delays for the Total Asset Visibility system
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DHS to award $33.7 million in local first responder grants
Funds can be used for a host of different products, including IT, thermal imaging, and video surveillance; applications due 29 May
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Digital angel buys Chemring's McMurdo
$7.5 million deal expected to pay dividends in 2009 when COSPAS-SARSAT equipment is replaced
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Minor league baseball passes on DHS Ready Campaign
Over two-thirds of teams are not participating in what William Arkin calls a “sophomoric and wasteful” effort
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Canada emergency response system requires CPR
So says a review of the recent Cyber Storm exercise; poor communications and data access cited as major concerns
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FEMA to miss June hurricane planning deadline
“Unexpected issues” cause delay, and congress is not happy; FEMA to revert to modified Katrina plan
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Virginia Tech attacks mobilize crisis industry
Flush with federal grants, psychologists use the Web to share data, best practices; American School Counselor Association reports a doubling of membership since 9/11
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DoE inspector general raps agency's computer management system
Twenty desktop computers containing classified information are missing; another seventy-four lacked proper labeling
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Hajj provides critical insights in crowd control
German researchers use the physics of fluids to predict dangerous crowd conditions; “thermometer of chaos” helped prevent Hajj deaths in 2007
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The long view

To bolster the world’s inadequate cyber governance framework, a “Cyber WHO” is needed
A new report on cyber governance commissioned by Zurich Insurance Group highlights challenges to digital security and identifies new opportunities for business. It calls for the establishment of guiding principles to build resilience and the establishment of supranational governance bodies such as a Cyber Stability Board and a “Cyber WHO.”
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Protecting the U.S. power grid
The U.S. power grid is made up of complex and expensive system components, which are owned by utilities ranging from small municipalities to large national corporations spanning multiple states. A National Academy of Sciences report estimates that a worst-case geomagnetic storm could have an economic impact of $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year, which is twenty times the damage caused by a Katrina-class hurricane.
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More than 143 million Americans at risk from earthquakes
More than 143 million Americans living in the forty-eight contiguous states are exposed to potentially damaging ground shaking from earthquakes, with as many as twenty-eight million people in the highest hazard zones likely to experience strong shaking during their lifetime, according to new research. The research puts the average long-term value of building losses from earthquakes at $4.5 billion per year, with roughly 80 percent of losses attributed to California, Oregon, and Washington. By comparison, FEMA estimated in 1994 that seventy-five million Americans in thirty-nine states were at risk from earthquakes. In the highest hazard zones, the researchers identified more than 6,000 fire stations, more than 800 hospitals, and nearly 20,000 public and private schools that may be exposed to strong ground motion from earthquakes.
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A large Ventura Fault quake could trigger a tsunami
Earthquake experts had not foreseen the 2011 magnitude-9 Japan earthquake occurring where it did, so soon after the disaster, scientists in Southern California began asking themselves, “What are the big things we’re missing?” For decades, seismic experts believed the Ventura fault posed only a minor to moderate threat, but new research suggests that a magnitude-8 earthquake could occur on the fault roughly every 400 to 2,400 years. The newly discovered risk may even be more damaging than a large earthquake occurring on the San Andreas Fault, which has long been considered the state’s most dangerous. Unlike the Ventura fault, the San Andreas Fault is so far inland in Southern California, that it does not pose a tsunami risk. A large earthquake on the Ventura fault, however, could create a tsunami that would begin “in the Santa Barbara Channel area, and would affect the coastline … of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, down through the Santa Monica area and further south.”
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Coastal communities can lower flood insurance rates by addressing sea-level rise
City leaders and property developers in Tampa Bay are urging coastal communities to prepare today for sea-level rise and future floods in order to keep flood insurance rates low in the future. FEMA, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP), is increasing flood insurance premiums across the country, partly to offset losses from recent disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Cities can reduce insurance premiums for nearly all residents who carry flood coverage by improving storm-water drainage, updating building codes to reflect projected rise in sea-levels, moving homes out of potentially hazardous areas, and effectively informing residents about storm danger and evacuation routes.
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California drought highlights the state’s economic divide
As much of Southern California enters into the spring and warmer temperatures, the effects of California’s historic drought begin to manifest themselves in the daily lives of residents, highlighting the economic inequality in the ways people cope. Following Governor Jerry Brown’s (D) unprecedented water rationing regulations,wealthier Californians weigh on which day of the week no longer to water their grass, while those less fortunate are now choosing which days they skip a bath.
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Responder Knowledge Database: on overlook asset

Survive shuts down operation

Noble Resolve exercises kick-off in Virginia

FEMA readies $65 million in preparedness grants

Fritz Institute to study community-based disaster relief

MIR3 unveils campus emergency notification system

FEMA tosses $40 million in MREs

DHS to award $33.7 million in local first responder grants

Digital angel buys Chemring's McMurdo

Minor league baseball passes on DHS Ready Campaign

Canada emergency response system requires CPR

FEMA to miss June hurricane planning deadline

Virginia Tech attacks mobilize crisis industry

DoE inspector general raps agency's computer management system

Hajj provides critical insights in crowd control

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Who's online

The long view

To bolster the world’s inadequate cyber governance framework, a “Cyber WHO” is needed

Protecting the U.S. power grid

More than 143 million Americans at risk from earthquakes

A large Ventura Fault quake could trigger a tsunami

Coastal communities can lower flood insurance rates by addressing sea-level rise

California drought highlights the state’s economic divide