Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster Resilience Indicators

This cell phone app would alert authorities of an Active Shooter with One Click, and include; Name of Sender (verified), location, etc. The App would immediately silence (sound and vibration) of senders phone and keep line open. There would be no need to speak to 911 operators to determine type of emergency, etc. To have the app, the individual would have to apply to DHS or police force with Name, Address, Driver's ...more »

Ted Koppel has just put out a book detailing a frightening scenario if the US power grid was compromised due to a cyber attack...and well, it would cripple our infrastructure for months or years. http://www.salon.com/2015/10/27/ted_koppel_exposes_the_biggest_threat_to_national_security_you_havent_heard_about_the_government_has_no_plan/ The worst part, according to his interviews with key officials, is that the Federal ...more »

Perhaps a perspective on a positive experience will spark some ideas.. Over the past 18 months we've been working harder than ever to build relationships with local churches and civic groups in hopes to recruit new entities into the disaster relief/recovery world. After less than desirable response to a letter that went to every church in the county, in the wake of last year's ice storm, they started coming out of the ...more »

In preparation for the unlikely event of biological warfare, organizations should make sure that there are stockpiles of vaccines and treatments for illnesses and diseases. -- Brandon

I used to work for Amtrak a while ago,at Bear Deleware facility I noticed several old railcars sitting in the back yard. Many cars were passenger, some sleepers, some food service, and whatever else they used. Fixing up these cars into a train would not take much and can easily be rolled into a disaster area. Units could be parked all over the USA. Just a thought. PKing.

A LEED rated composite as roofing was evaluated by the Hurricane Testing Laboratory who concluded that no critera exsits for testing. The toughest building code body in America sees this development as "Revolutionizing construction". Florida's current administration opposes all developments that save energy. The state ranks #1 in killing green jobs/businesses based on its abundant sunshine. The composite has thermai ...more »

• Percent of housing units that are not mobile homes • Number of housing units • Number of vacant housing units • Number of hospital beds per 10,000 population • Number of ambulances • Number of fire stations • Number of hotels/motels per square mile • Number of public schools per square mile • Number of community centers • Number of community food service facilities • Number of temporary shelters • Number of licensed ...more »

• Percent of housing units covered by NFIP policies • Percent of municipal expenditures for fire, police, and EMS • Emergency Response Strategy at State, County, and Local levels • Number of fire fighters and police officers • Number of physicians per 10,000 population • Blood banks and capacity per 10,000 population • Number of health care workers • Number of building inspectors • Number of highway, street, and bridge ...more »

• Per capita income

• Percent of homeownership population

• Percent of employed population

• Percent of health insurance population

• Emergency Management Funding

• Percent of non-elderly population

• Percent of population covered by comprehensive plan

• Percent of population covered by zoning regulations

• Percent of population covered by building codes

• Number of community and social care workers

• First Responder programs

• National Guard contingency programs

We Americans can contain Ebola; after all, we were the first in flight, developed the vaccine, put a man on the moon, and developed the Internet, when we all work together! One idea can build upon another and more ideas can build on these two new concepts and on and on it goes. Just like how we Americans developed inventions as listed, we can stop this deadly disease. Fortunately we have this Internet where we can share ...more »

In the IT world, they place more than one layer of protection to prevent cyber attacks. Can they place more than one layer of protection around schools? I recently helped my daughter move into a dorm, and they gave her a key card to get into the building. Though a student was waiting at this doorway to enter the building at the same my daughter would enter. Not safe, though innocent. Can they place a secondary fence ...more »

As FEMA develops more tools to assess and develop business and organizational resilience (e.g. PS-PrepTM, the Business Continuity planning suite), it would be great if they also thought about how to drive and develop tools to help build a culture of resilience in organizations. Standards like ASIS SPC.1-2009 are useful for BC planing etc., but orgs also need leadership, culture, and processes that enable unplanned adaptation ...more »

Each level can be considered a "street" address. Each level therefor is equivalemt of a block. So within the building inside any community, Each unit should have an inside community email address. More&more, people are living in multi-residential buildings and they don't even know the people on their own level yet have ideas about how their community should be maintained. If the USA citizens can't even get together and ...more »

This is an add-on to Candice Abinanti's idea already submitted. UN ISDR also has a free scorecard containing over 80 detailed assessments of disaster resilience - in effect, 80 resilience indicators - available from http://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/. This offers a level of detail below the LG SAT and is consistent with that instrument, being based on the same Ten Essentials as defined by the UN ISDR. ...more »

I think that building a TEBM for a given location should take into account 3 components: 1). Exposure Matrix (EM): what specific exposures have happened in the past could serve as baseline model? What exercises/drills could be developed to address and train groups for future events? 2). Infrastructure Matrix (IM): how will a specific threat impact the ability of infrastructure to support recovery operations? What specific ...more »

The Local Government Self-Assessment Tool (LGSAT) developed by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s "Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!" campaign could help inform the identification of domestic indicators of disaster resilience. As of August 14, 2014, 2,000 cities around the world participate in the campaign, including four cities in the United States: Hoboken, Normandy, North Little ...more »

I hope this idea has already been addressed but in case not here it is. While watching the Katrina evacuation I noticed that the super highways leading out of New Orleans had traffic jams leaving the city, but the separated part of the highway leading INTO the city were completely empty. It seems that in an emergency the authorities could allow outbound traffic in BOTH lanes to evacuate the city so much easier. It ...more »

The computer available self study program is not being utilized by upper level emergency managers enough, which sets a bad example for other workers and devalues this important rule book for conduct, to avoid panic based decisions by the uninformed. Further the wide range of topics gives an opportunity to advance, but also empower filling in during an emergency with poor communications or attendance at the site. It is ...more »

Enhance federal policies and funding programs and promote flood hazard "avoidance" practices over those supporting "retrofits, rehabs, restorations, and replacements." These practices would includes buy-outs, land use regulation and conservation particularly at areas identified by a community or state as key attenuation assets to more evenly distribute flood energy, sediments, and debris in riverine and coastal areas. ...more »

This recent earthquake should be used to reinforce why buildings need to be brought up to code. Seems as if there is no way to track this in California...is it time for cities to submit information to a central database in Sacramento?

What is needed is an integration of physical and social datasets through a suite of statistical and geospatial techniques to construct theoretically based and methodologically sound indicators/indices of resilience for the nation at the county level. The Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina has identified a set of quantitative baseline indicators for measuring disaster resilience. ...more »