A Message From the Administrator
Release Date: April 4, 2007
Release Number: Con-01-03
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 Art Cleaves Region I Administrator |
Welcome to the first issue of Continuum - a quarterly e-newsletter designed specifically for the New England private sector community. I hope you will find Continuum an interesting and informative publication that looks at issues that are topical and important to your operations. We created the newsletter as a way to share best practices and lessons learned so that all of us can benefit from the experiences of others. Emergency planning, continuity of operations and critical infrastructure/key resources protection has become commonplace in both the private and public sectors. As the nation's premier emergency management agency it is important to us to make sure that all areas of society are informed and prepared when crisis strikes.
Through the cooperation and help from many in the private sector and our state emergency management counterparts throughout New England we have been able to unite two critical sectors to look at crisis with a single focus. Events such as the World Trade Center terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina have taught us one important fact, responding and recovering from large scale events must be done jointly. Joining the private sector, local, state and federal governments and voluntary organizations forms a critical coalition to minimizing crisis in our country.
Continuum will also serve as an informational resource for your businesses regarding the activities of FEMA here in New England. We have developed a Situational Awareness web page that allows all New Englanders to view real-time weather and incident news and that can be found under Hazards Tracker. We also will be posting critical information to our own website that will help guide individuals not only in personal preparedness, but in recovering from a disaster. That can be accessed under FEMA New England.
As we have learned over the years there is no better way to minimize the effects of a disaster than to prepare for it ahead of time. Personal preparedness is the most important action any individual can take for themselves and their family. Through FEMA and the Ready campaign, individuals and businesses now have access to information that will help protect you.
As part of FEMA's commitment to New England we take preparedness seriously. Our Regional Response Coordination Center in Maynard, MA is a self-sufficient facility that leads our internal preparedness. We invite anyone who would like to learn more about the facility and take a tour to see what our capabilities are and how FEMA is equipped to respond to your needs during a crisis. Along with our state emergency management partners there is a robust emergency management operation in New England ready to prepare, respond and help individuals and businesses recover from disaster.
The private sector plays an important role in the events following a disaster by continuing to provide goods and services. Continuity of operations depends on business backup plans, and individual employees being able to work either at their present or an alternate location. If an employee is not prepared for a disaster, they may not come to work or they may not be engaged in their work because of worry and concern for their family. Employees should be encouraged to take some very basic steps such as having a family communications plan and an emergency preparedness kit. While this employee outreach may require an initial investment, the result can go a long way.
The private sector provides many essential services that would be sorely missed if they were unavailable during and after a disaster: first responders, hospital and utility employees, gas station attendants, and radio and TV announcer to name a few. If those employees did not show up for work because they weren't prepared and did not want to leave their families, we would all feel the repercussions.
As emergency workers here at FEMA, we must all be prepared on an individual level. Many of us must leave home for extended periods of time with little or no advance notice. Because of the importance of individual preparedness, we review our employees' communications plans and disaster kits.
An excellent source of information on building an individual preparedness plan can be found on the Ready.gov website. I encourage everyone to take the time to visit this site. It is my hope that we in New England are as prepared as we can be for whatever future events come our way.
I want to thank JetBlue Founder and CEO David Neeleman and Raytheon's Director for Preparedness and Crisis Management Robert Connors for contributing to our introductory issue. Their willingness to share their accounts of recent events that have helped shape the way their companies look at and respond to crisis is commendable. My goal for Continuum is that more companies and organizations in the private sector will want to share their experiences and solutions to incidents that have affected them and will benefit others.
As you read through the newsletter we hope you will think about topics, issues and areas involving the private sector that you would like to read more about or share with others. Sharing Continuum with senior leadership and employees at all levels in your organization will contribute to an informed and aware workforce.
We encourage any feedback you may have, both positive and negative, so that we can continue to provide you an informational tool that you feel is useful and worth contributing to. The whole is stronger than the parts and here in New England FEMA is committed to that effort - we hope we have your commitment as well. Please enjoy Continuum.
Arthur W. CleavesFEMA Region I Administrator
Last Modified: Thursday, 19-Jul-2007 11:07:10