Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Presidential Policy Directive 8

Eco Woolis is a Mexican company that has developed a geodesic shaped portable structure, based on an igloo, that once assembled becomes a shelter that is over 344 sq. ft. and over 8 ft. high. Assembling the structure is simple and the heaviest piece weighs only a little over 15 lbs. The Mexican government plans to distribute the shelters for disaster relief in Mexico. In addition to disaster relief, Eco Woolis sees a ...more »

We need to have all forms standardized for all regions and sections. We need a repository to access these forms no matter where you're standing up an office. The forms also need to be kept updated so that individuals in each declaration doesn't decide they want to make "disaster specific" forms.

Disaster Specific needs to stop.

Encourage communities in seismically active areas to create long-range plans for seismic safety in privately owned buildings. San Francisco has created a draft 30-year plan with 50 important steps that will be taken to retrofit our buildings, strengthen our communities, and prepare in advance for the next big earthquake. Here in California, we know a big one is coming, it's just a question of when, where, and how large. ...more »

HSPD-8 vs. PPD8 Sitting here, rereading both of these documents...I am still trying to figure out what the REAL differences are between them. Considering the fact that the HSPD-8 is referenced in many areas of FEMA documentation, and that there really is no MAJOR changes from the HSPD-8, one can only wonder if this directive was issued as a political move, which really has no merit in emergency planning, or if it is ...more »

There are many tools available to help share information such as video, text, images, maps & sound. There are many different types of social media (twitter, youtube, FB, mapping). Social Media and Web 2.0 technology can handle larger capacities, is scalable, flexible and adaptable. This should be integrated into the day to day operations building community resilience between officials, agencies, and civilians (all-of-Nation) ...more »

We have developed a series of household preparedness efforts centered around high consequence "disasters" which seems unrealistic to community members. Often times, this leads to the question: "Why should I prepare so intensely for something that is not likely to happen?" This is a challenge to those charged with preparedness education; especially in the northeast. We have an opportunity to incorporate basic safety ...more »

The Ready Initiative leverages game play and the tools of the technology generation (the internet, social networking, and mobile communication) to enable individuals, families, small businesses, and communities to prepare for disasters, and to increase the effectiveness of FEMA in mitigating, managing, and communicating disaster impacts for those who are most in need (and historically the least ready) when a disaster ...more »

Anyone could sigh up for free service, using their cell phone or land line, for early warnings of severe weather. The call list could be created and updated via website or by calling into the center. The center could be set up the dial out to subscribers via local service providers. Could be linked with/through 911 dispatchers.

Instead of TCLs or CCL, we should use and endorse a national standard for an emergency management program. There are a few out there such as NFPA 1600 or EMAP. I like these because they require documentation to prove you have a Mitigation Plan as an example. I think the fundamental failure of TCL and potentially with CCL is that it is a check the box and the box is vague and not the reality for most across the country. ...more »

It is predicted that 2011 was the most expensive year for disasters globally in recorded history -- $350B in economic losses. Yet only $108B was covered by insurance. The US had twelve billion dollar events this year alone and FEMA needed more emergency funding. The cost of disasters is increasing and FEMA is being spread too thin. We should work to find ways to transfer the financial risk (and cost) of these disasters ...more »

Too many reservists will lead to too much down time and too much time between deployments. The little bit of training between deployments will not replace actual on the job experience. Increasing staffing to 12,000 reservists may look good on paper but I believe it will be detrimental to the purpose of the program which is to help disaster survivors. Keep staffing at current levels and use the "Fema Corps" as a surge ...more »

S.N.A.P. is an acronym for Start Now And Prepare. It is an emergency starter kit which contains 11 basic items and a completion plan to fully customize the kit to suit each household. It is currently entered into an online contest hosted by Wal-Mart. The direct link is http://www.getontheshelf.com/product/3148/S-N-A-P--Emergency-Start. If it is the top vote getter, it will be featured on Walmart.com and possibly gain ...more »

The private sector could improve community recovery efforts if there were greater financial incentives for them to bolster preparedness efforts. By providing tax breaks to businesses for insuring vital equipment, will create a more resilient business by bringing post-disaster costs down. For every $1 spent on preparedness, $3 of post-disaster recovery efforts are saved from ever being spent. Other financial incentives ...more »

"RELOCATE INSTEAD OF REBUILDING HOMES IN NATURAL DISASTER ZONES" Offer a home owner that had their home destroyed by a NATURAL DISASTER. an opportunity to relocate to another State, City of their choice in the USA 1. These home owners would be sent a list of BANK OWNED REPOS in the USA and the Bank would have to make sure that after the homeowner chose this property a few things would have to happen first, this ...more »

In aniticipation of a disaster where a community/area may experience a CBRNE event, the familiar will quickly turn into a scene of major disruption. Neighborhoods will be made unrecognizable and the daily flow of "business as usual" will suddenly change without warning. Many people will seek out the help of available religious leadership and look for solice in the spiritual symbols of their faith to empower and sustain ...more »

In attempting to deal with major disasters, a significant number of first responders and support personnel (such as bus drivers needed for emergency urban evacuation) do not report for duty. Typically, they have gone to help their own families escape or recover from the disaster. To deal with this problem it is necessary to have extra emergency response personnel ... and to have plans to assist the families of these ...more »

Our military long ago discovered that its prospective leaders ... leaders who can effectively function and lead well on a battlefield... must be given leadership training under conditions of high stress, fatigue, confusing situations, and demand for immediate decisions that focus on correct battlefield solutions. In my opinion, emergency managers need leadership training similar to the military ... and I don't see this ...more »

Planning for an Emergency Water Supply http://www.awwa.org/files/GovtPublicAffairs/PDF/PlanningSupply.pdf is a report was commissioned by the USEPA in response to requirements in the 2002 Bioterrorism Act. The guide outline basic building blocks and options, and include several findings/recommendations for next steps. The latter are in alignment with the objectives of PDD-8. The finding have also helped to focus the DHS ...more »

Engineering mistakes and omissions tend to magnify the damage caused during major disasters. When attacked by terrorists, using aircraft as missiles, the Twin Towers reportedly collapsed quickly because steel members of those towers lacked proper insulation against fire. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans quickly flooded due to engineering mistakes on coastal areas and protective levees. One year ago, a tsunami ...more »

On our emergency task force we are commited to be proactive in deveoping ways of making sure we have done our best to evacuate safely people with a disability. The problem we have is that they are very reluctant to self identify. How have others overcome this problem. For example, we have asked disabled employee to sign up to participate in a BUDDY program so we could match them with an able-bodied person willing to help ...more »

The Medical Reserve Corp is set up in regions across the USA. My unit is the CNY-MRC (Central NY). We are highly trained medical professionals that started as disaster relief medical help that has progressed in to community health back-up, assisting the health dept handle rabies clinics, vaccine clinics, etc. We are sometimes needed as back-up for paid org's (Dept of Public Health). As it stands now, we can not go ...more »

On 16 March 2012, President Obama reportedly signed his expanded version of the 1950 Defense Production Act (Public Law 81-774)...with the expansion being in the form of an Executive Order. This act was first expanded on 11 Aug 2010 to cover emergency preparedness activities and create a National Defense Executive Reserve. The newly expanded version, if reports are correct, seems to give the President unlimited authority ...more »

Most American cannot even imagine how they would now sustain themselves without information technology at their "fingertips." Yet, any one of several possible types of cyberterrorist attacks could make our information systems and computers ineffective for many long hours. There are several significant potential disasters that may occur during this type of event based on the fact that many of our utilities and critical ...more »

There are some potential major disasters that may require rapid urban evacuation of large numbers of people. Our transportation systems were not designed or constructed to facilitate such mass movement of people within a limited time. Large numbers of vehicles, all attempting to move at the same time, soon drain fuel supplies ...and the passengers soon consume available food, while over-crowding sanitation facilities. ...more »

A study by the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DOD) disclosed that American prisoners of the North Vietnamese communists (during the Vietnam War) died at a much faster rate if they lacked strong religious conviction, or some other basis of hope for the future. In my three years of combat, during that same war, I discovered that the very best jungle survivors had several survival courses, over a period of years, starting with the ...more »