Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Innovative Models and Tools

Many coastal Cinder Block houses are two stories of Cinder block, and cannot be raised and too costly to raze and rebuild with break-away walls. In A zones. making the bottom floor just garages and storage, and living above that and the Base flood elevation requirements should qualify for ICC and Hazard grants which it appears now is not the case. The bottom floor must have flood vents to equalize pressure on walls in ...more »

Design virtual call centers supplementing FEMA’s own, employing disaster survivors in their own recovery. Utilize technology and existing facilities such as hotels to establish instant call centers capable of registering survivors and providing referral information. Rollout hotel-based, VOIP-enabled, Internet-linked virtual call centers, staffed with disaster victims tasked to handle applicant questions and issues; ...more »

Egyptian invent the first innovation in the world to put out forest fires Look at the world of modern technology to put out major fires https://sites.google.com/site/eln7rawyproject -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.agricultureegypt.com/NewsDetails.aspx?CatID=90fa0b06-9fcb-4093-b5ab-249a5c4ac42f&ID=c4fe6569-97b9-40e8-a218-3593b8ba2fea#.UULTIhw0xBh ------------------------------------------------------------------- ...more »

Senthe identity and position / location of the downed officer and where they were stabbed or shot. The technology can simply in increase their chances of survival by providing redundant automatic help without human input or the necessity to push a hot button they have on their radio. Unlike your cell phone, this technology does not need to be recharged, it has a battery life that exceeds the life of the bullet proof ...more »

Emergency planners should pre-buy needed supplies, like canned foods and pre-package emergency kits for millions of people. They would do this each month before and during a new storm season. Organizers should include water rubber containers in the emergency kits. These containers would be placed in kitchen sinks and bathtubs filled with water from faucets. This way, the sheer weight of hauling bottled water could be ...more »

Portions of this process have already been legislated and implemented as the means for NIMS and in initial stages for Emergency National Alerts and Warnings. The next stages are to be the implementation of the National Emergency Communications Plan and the National Catastrophic Plan which can operate thru an android or laptop. The process is capable of integrating all disparate softwares as well as all Communications ...more »

There is a tremendous amount of data out there created and maintained by Federal Agencies that can be leveraged in Spatial Viewers. As they each create different viewers for their data, we are left with multiple windows to view the data. RSS has helped with pushing this information. If we could have a standard for changing these feeds to GEO RSS, then we could leverage this data in Mitigation, Response, and Recovery. ...more »

In seismic hazard areas, combine weather and riverine montioring stations with seismic monitoring. Example in the Puget Sound we have many USGS and WS DOE Stream Gages and Weather Stations in areas of higher ground shaking. Why not add seismic monitoring to these stations to take advantage of existing sites!

As climate science, weather prediction and DRR converge new opportunities arise. Insurance is slowly adapting but is still largely based on pooled risk and post event payouts. Index based insurance could allow for pre-event payouts for certain events that allow communities to better respond and prepare. Its market friendly with low political risk and empowering for exposed communities. It also allows for the decoupling ...more »

Restaurants should be encouraged to process biodiesel from their spent oil and keep it (safely stored!) onsite to power generators in case of power outage.

One way to build homes that can both protect people living in hareas of risk of disasters can be build houses of pre-fabricated panels of plywood reinforced with fiberglass, carbon fiber or kevlar in joints and seams.But the kevlar and carbon fiber only in joints and seams because it very expensive Reasons: They are lightweight and do not crumble into pieces on people in case of earthquakes _ Quickly transported, ...more »

Our Gripper System is a fully structural, engineered and vegetated solution for temporary flood control or permanent shoreline protection. The Gripper connector can be used with conventional sandbags or our permanent bio-bags and deployed rapidly to strengthen the structure by 3-4x. The Gripper can be collected from a temporary structure and reused many times. For areas that flood repeatedly a permanent structure is ...more »

I've produced 3 scale models that can be built with low cost, traditional building materials. They conform to a simplistic, aerodynamic shape.They utilize cisterns and solar power. The stronger the storm, the stronger the structure becomes.

Let every class room in the USA adopt a dog for each class room.These dogs could be let loose at any non authorized intruder who would be at that point occupied by barking dogs and not targeting not people. The kids would learn how to care for their class pet and the class pet would help protect the class. If all dogs are let loose at the same time on the intruder the intruder will have no time to attack the kids or anyone ...more »

Prototype Summary: Rather than more traditional disaster preparedness classes and exercise programs, The “Whole Community” Disaster Resilient Prototype should be a FEMA funded highly competitive grant requiring a complete set of operational processes and procedures. This will serve as a “how to” guide for aligning all Public Sector agencies and departments with Private Sector organizations (hospitals, group practices, ...more »

There are LOTS of wonderful ideas on mitigating the risk of Wildfire as well as supporting resiliency, response and recovery. Anchor Point, a small Colorado company, just completed the Nation's only 50 state Wildfire vulnerability assessment . It incorporates fire behavior, the built environment and clearly defines communities and number of people at risk. It provides a wildfire rating for every parcel and land base ...more »

“Prevention is better than cure.” A suggestion in line with the utilitarianism without destruction : In 2005, after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, I made a suggestion. Today, after the disaster of Hurricane Sandy, I renew my suggestion. To avoid loss of lives and properties, and economic losses due to tornadoes and hurricanes, I suggest the construction of hundreds of cooling towers of adequate size (eventually ...more »

Provide wiring harnesses for homes and businesses that can connect quickly and externally to power sources and snake through homes to provide receptacles and hardwire adaptors to however many rooms you require. Eliminates having to quickly repair electrical issues in the buildings. Should be composed of snap-together components that are intrinsically safe (water- and explosion-proof), easy for a homeowner to connect ...more »

Airdrop, or otherwise purvey, pallets of MRE's, water, and blankets/sleeping-bags ASAP. Take care of the people first, ...clear debris, and then reestablish essential services. Basic order of operations guys. Take care of Maslov's first hierarchy (food, water, clothing) for this people now.

Something to consider for a better seal on the subway plugs in development is adding another smaller tube of Vectran® that nests tightly into the Wet side perimeter margin of the large elongated plug and conforms to the shape of the tunnel - like an adaptive O-ring. Obviously, the service conduit voids can be sealed with high strength waterproof epoxy sealant at the point of performance.

Augmenting the current wild fire fighting methods by utilizing dry ice pellets on wild fires could give firefighters an unprecedented edge. PLANE AND HELICOPTER DROPS of volumes of dry ice pellets, similar to slurry and water drops from aircraft, followed by what could then be more effective water drops on 'cooled', less intense fire zones. BLASTING DRY ICE FROM WILD FIRE TRUCKS with equipment similar to that used to ...more »

There is 14 billion square feet of safe, secure & heated industrial space in the US, 10% or 1.4 billion vacant at any given time. When thousands become homeless at once, FEMA could temporarily house them in these spaces using large indoor tents with temporary wiring, cots and chairs. Bathrooms could be supplemented with portable facilities and community kitchens could be created. The National Guard or our regular militiary ...more »

10/25/12 RE:FRANKENSTORM... Couldn't you "pepper" the tropical storm (while it is over the ocean) w/silver nitrate or dry ice pellets to make it "rain out" (imbalance upsweep and slow down it's uptake of water). Then at the same time "salt" the artic storm (with acutal salt, sea salt is ok)to change the saline balance and "warm" it up (imbalance its original upsweep), then "pepper" it with silver nitrate to make it ...more »

Pierce County Emergency Management in Washington State developed a damage assessment app (for Apple and Android platforms) that expedites the damage assessment process, sending critical information to the EOC almost immediately after an incident -- with fewer personnel committed to the field. This tool also provides real time situational awareness via pictures and placement on a map to inform EOC operations. The International ...more »

New iPhone mobile app, EARTHQUAKE BUDDY, that sends an automatic and instantaneous email from the cloud to 4 friends/loved-ones in the event of an earthquake greater than 5.5. We know that most damage to telco infrastructure happens 1-2 minutes into an earthquake. EARTHQUAKE BUDDY harnesses community engagement with high technology to alert loved ones as to their whereabouts. The email contains a geo-tagged map of ...more »