Corporations Sign On As Regional Project Impact Partners
Release Date: February 9, 2001
Release Number: R4-01-04
Atlanta, GA - Seven new regional corporate partners and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district office in Mobile, Ala., Thursday formalized their participation in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Project Impact program, an initiative designed specifically for building disaster resistant communities.
The Gulf Coast States Project Impact Conference (GCSPI) sponsored the signing ceremony. GCSPI, in turn, is sponsored by the Project Impact communities of Alabama, Mississippi and Gulf Coast Florida.
The seven companies that signed on as regional corporate partners in support of Project Impact communities throughout the Southeast are URS - Atlanta office, Dewberry & Davis - Atlanta office, Exeter Architectural Products of Wyoming, Pa., DRC of Mobile, C3 Industries of Orangeburg, S.C., TeleVox Software Inc. of Mobile, and Portland Cement Association's Southeast office, Birmingham, Ala.
As corporate or federal partners, the companies and the Corps District pledge to help Project Impact communities solve problems that otherwise would contribute to greater losses in natural disasters. They also agree to help educate their employees, evaluate their own facilities for disaster resistance, implement business continuity plans, and mentor small businesses with which they work.
Project Impact is a four-year-old program designed to lessen the impact of both natural and man-made disasters on lives and properties. It represents a combined effort at all levels of a community's society, with the active participation of each state and FEMA, to plan for and effect changes that mitigate or lessen future damage.
Regional corporate representatives to Thursday's signing ceremony at Point Clear, Ala, included:
Allen Groover, Atlanta office manager of Dewberry & Davis, which has been conducting debris management workshops around the country as a contribution to Project Impact. He also will assist Tampa Bay with risk assessment issues.
Peter Sonne of C3 Industries, which donated a steel frame house for use by Charleston County, S.C. as a hurricane resistant demonstration home. The house can resist Category 5 wind loads-the strongest of all hurricane forces-and will be elevated on piers to avoid localized flooding problems. C3 participates in numerous local hazards expos.
Nick Michalisin of Exeter Architectural Products, a company that manufactures metal grill hurricane shutters that are mounted over windows. The units provide a high level of protection without any human intervention required prior to a storm. Exeter also has donated an entire home installation to a Deerfield Beach, Fla. low-income family.
Gene DeBolt of Southdown, Inc., representing the Portland Cement Association's (PCA) Southeast office. In support of Project Impact, PCA provides seminars for builders and contractors on severe weather "safe rooms," and on hazard resistant construction that utilizes concrete materials. PCA has donated five safe room installations to communities around the nation, including three in Alabama and North Carolina.
The Mobile District Corps of Engineers has supported the Project Impact initiative since the program's inception. The district has assisted the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission in developing mitigation plans for Gulf Shores, the Alabama Tri-County coastal area, and Orange Beach. The Corps also has joined with FEMA to study hurricane evacuation methods and provide essential hazard information on riverine flooding and hurricane surge flooding for coastal counties in Alabama, Mississippi and the panhandle of Florida.
TeleVox Software, Inc., of Mobile, has the technological capability to work with all communities and to notify residents in a telephone calling or Internet access area of impending natural disasters. The company has prided itself on functioning quietly and efficiently.
DRC, also of Mobile, has worked with local communities of the Central Gulf State Project Impact conference in the past, including several on the Gulf coasts of Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle. DRC also has worked in disaster recovery events, and is a conference sponsor.
Signing on behalf of FEMA was Todd Davison, Mitigation Division director of FEMA Region IV, which includes eight southeastern states.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 07-Oct-2003 11:01:00