New Digital Communications Recommendations to Help Americans Prepare in Advance of an Emergency

New Digital Communications Recommendations to Help Americans Prepare in Advance of an Emergency: WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2011 - Recent weather events such as Hurricane Irene, the earthquake on the East Coast and other natural disasters highlight the need for Americans to prepare for emergencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the American Red Cross, the Ad Council and Google Crisis Response are collaborating to launch a new preparedness web resource, Get Tech Ready, on behalf of the Ready campaign.



Released just before the start of National Preparedness Month, this new resource educates individuals and families about how using modern-day technology can help them prepare, adapt and recover from disruptions brought on by emergencies or disasters.



A recent American Red Cross survey showed that the internet, including online news sites and social media platforms, is the third most popular way for Americans to gather emergency information and let their loved ones know they are safe.



"As technology becomes more a part of our daily lives, people are turning to it during emergencies as well. We need to utilize these tools, to the best of our abilities, to engage and inform the public, because no matter how much federal, state and local officials do, we will only be successful if the public is brought in as part of the team," FEMA Administrator, W. Craig Fugate.



"During Hurricane Irene, we saw people using new technologies in many ways, whether it was thousands of people downloading our new shelter finder App or others using our Safe and Well site and social media to let their friends and family know they are OK, " said Gail McGovern, President and CEO of the American Red Cross. "People now have more varied resources available at their fingertips that they can use before, during and after emergencies."



Get Tech Ready provides Americans with tips on how to use technological resources before, during and after a crisis to communicate with loved ones and manage your financial affairs. Preparedness tips on the website include:

• Learn how to send updates via text and internet from your mobile phone to your contacts and social channels in case voice communications are not available;

• Store your important documents such as personal and financial records in the cloud or on a secure and remote area or flash or jump drive that you can keep readily available so they can be accessed from anywhere; and

• Create an Emergency Information Document using the Ready.gov Family Emergency Plan template in Google Docs or by downloading the Ready Family Emergency Plan to record your emergency plans.



"Get Tech Ready is a resource that will truly help people in the US and around the world understand how they can use widely available technology to prepare for potential crises," said Nigel Snoud, Product Manager, Google Crisis Response. "We're thrilled to be working with FEMA, the American Red Cross, and the Ad Council on this public service project."



"We are delighted to collaborate with FEMA, Google and the American Red Cross to expand our Ready messages through this new web site to educate more Americans about the vital need to get prepared in advance of an potential emergency," said Peggy Conlon, president & CEO of the Ad Council. "The web site will provide access to critical resources to Americans addressing the importance of using technology as part of their individual and family preparedness plans."



Launched in 2003, National Preparedness Month is designed to encourage Americans to take steps to prepare for emergencies throughout the year. The Ready campaign was also launched in 2003 by FEMA in partnership with the Ad Council. Since its launch, media outlets have donated more than $900 million in advertising time and space for the PSAs. The new PSAs will air in advertising time that will be entirely donated by the media.

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

AMERICAN RED CROSS

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit http://www.redcross.org/ or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

The Indiana State Fair Incident

The Indiana State Fair Incident: Thanks Mary for bringing this to my attention! This article was taken from an Emergency Management blog. GO CERT!!I don't know if these were Indiana CERT members that this article talks about as civilian responders, but it sure sounds like it.



The Indiana State Fair Incident

August 15, 2011





This past Saturday night, an outdoor stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair, killing five and injuring approximately 50 spectators. The stage had been setup for a Sugarland concert and there had been severe weather passing through the area with very strong winds that subsequently resulted in a catastrophic failure of the stage and canopy. Even though this incident is still being investigated, there are several important lessons learned that emergency management professionals can immediately recognize and apply.



Simply stated -- this incident highlights the very fine line that we, as a society, walk between normal days and normal accidents. Charles Perrow describes “normal accidents” as the unexpected interaction between component failures in a system. In this incident, the interaction between the environment (severe weather) and technology lead to a very unexpected event -- a Black Swan Event, if you will.



As I watched and listened the events unfold via social media and public safety radio communications, there were several lessons learned that were readily apparent but here are the three most important for us to remember:



•The first responders were civilian bystanders and they did an amazing job. These people took immediate action, helped the injured, rendered first aid, and reported valuable information into “the cloud”. Each and every one of them should be commended for their selfless actions in a dangerous and chaotic scene. As emergency planners, we must recognize the importance of civilian responders in large scale disasters -- support them!•Social media played an unbelievable role sharing information. From across the country and sitting behind my computer screen, I had pictures and videos of the incident before the news media reported anything. I knew what collapsed and where, I had approximate numbers of people killed and injured, and where they were transported. I knew approximately many patients went to each hospital, which hospitals were on divert, and which hospitals were still accepting patients -- all via social media! If you have not embraced social media for emergency management use, you are only hurting yourself. Social media is an amazing resource when used appropriately and provides near real-time information on dynamic incidents -- use it!

•We cannot become complacent and fatigued when it comes to the planning process. I am not saying, however, that this occurred here but this incident should act as a reminder that we must be prepared for worst-case scenarios through exercising, collaborative planning processes, dynamic, bi-directional information sharing (both vertically and horizontally), and excellent preparedness capabilities. Like it or not, as emergency services we are all on the same team -- act like it.

Unfortunately, incidents like this happen and will continue to happen despite our best efforts to limit their occurrence and consequences. Bottom line -- thank civilian responders but give them the training and resources they need to stay prepared, embrace social media as the resource we know it is and use it, and stay open-minded when planning for the consequences of vulnerabilities and risks.



Then check this link out:

http://plcert.typepad.com/cert/2011/08/indiana-state-fair-stage-collapse.html