Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Resource Distribution

The human brain is 75% water - moderate dehydration can cause headaches and dizziness Blood is 92% water. Muscles are 75 % water Bones are 22% water Water is vital for body temperature regulation, therefore fluid replacement is vital. During summer when the temperature increases, your body requires even more fluid to maintain it's normal body temperature. 1-5% Thirst, vagueness. Discomfort, increased pulse, nausea 6-10% ...more »

Dropping water from helicopters is a wonderful help - but a short term fix. We need solar powered water purification systems that use surface water and can be dropped or driven into place in the first few days of disaster. These stations must communicate and be on real time situational awareness dash board with status updates....location, filter status, amount of water available, water pumped....smallest units pump and ...more »

We (Pemberton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey) try to have a booth at every public event where large crowds are expected. When we have other duties at an event, we usually have an Awareness/Recruiting booth. At the Whitesbog Blueberry Festival (where the modern cultivated blueberry was developed), we asked everyone who came near our booth, "Are you prepared for a disaster?" We handed out brochures and recruited ...more »

FEMA would do well to hire the soon to be released "seasonal" US Forest Service Wildland Firefighters to do tree clearence and other recovery duties. The USFS has highly trained tree cutters, sawyers, who have been cuting trees in fires all summer. They are about to be released for the winter off season. Switch them over to FEMA or have the USFS extend their season to go help. You could send hundreds of these men and ...more »

Regardless of where you get the water (I would NOT use the 15 gallons in my water heater even if I could get them out--electricity loss means water loss in my neighborhood). you need large quantities in ready supply. CERT members think in terms of a 3-day disaster. That means water before food. We recommend 1 gallon per person per day. For the non-human members of the family, you may need a bit less (a wolf-dog hybrid ...more »

The Enterprise just completed its last cruise. It has a nuclear power plant that can support a small city. Why not give it one more mission of providing power for part of NY and possible provide power for hurting parts of NJ. It would not detract from defense mission. NY and NJ needs immediate help both from a physical and morale stand point. Let's take the two helicopter carriers committed to supporting the storm ...more »

With the non-used/non-distributed trailers being housed in a parking lot in Cobleskill, NY and recently advertised as being available to sell, wouldn't it be more prudent to reassign them to the tornado devostated areas of the U.S where peoples' home have been demolished?

Rapid disaster information systems are becoming important means for strengthening prevention and social resilience against the adverse effects of major natural events and should therefore become the keystones of disaster mitigation. According to reported statistics from losses due to past earthquake, it seems that earthquake early-warning systems have not been so successful in real disastrous situations. Although there ...more »

Critical needs for basics, particularly clean water and fuel, are common to most crisis events (e.g., Katrina, Irene, Charlie, and now, Sandy). We can stage tanker trucks of fuels (gasoline, kerosine, LP) and water with portable "self-powered" pumping stations outside of harms way. In the immediate aftermath of a catastrophy these trucks can be deployed in great number to every major section of a disaster zone to provide ...more »

Sharing the driveways and infrastructure, neighbors may accomodate trailer homes which come with all the appliances and may be connected to the utilities and sewers during the reconstruction time. The middle lands which used to have Mobil Home Parks may be restored to offer quick accomodations and independence to people. Owners of 2 or 3 homes that are not rented should offer those homes to people who are homeless after ...more »

Sharing the driveways and infrastructure, neighbors may accomodate trailer homes which come with all the appliances and may be connected to the utilities and sewers during the reconstruction time. The middle lands which used to have Mobil Home Parks may be restored to offer quick accomodations and independence to people. Owners of 2 or 3 homes that are not rented should offer those homes to people who are homeless after ...more »

Yesterday I saw news concerning the retirement of the ship Enterprise. Why not park it in the New York Harbor and in that way provide shelter, energy and food for the homeless (mostly those affected by Sandy)?

Thanks for letting me share this idea!

There are some closed Catholic School buildings with good size rooms that if the Government authorize and some construction volunteer workers may quickly convert into small appartments for families with children. They have the stall toiletts and sinks but showers should be added. They would not have a kitchen for each family, but they have large kitchens and cafeterias, that could be converted into a restaurant for ...more »

Once again our nations ability (or rather the lack there of) to communicate with survivors of catastrophe was crystal clear in the wake of Sandy. Efforts to communicate better integrated systems, hardened structure caches, deployable assets, and such with REAL promise for REAL emergency PREPAREDNESS continue to fall on deaf ears. Response is NOT enough; never has been and never will be - we must be prepared. Why ...more »

I am involved with NGOs working in Brazil, especially in the mountainous regions of Rio de Janeiro, which were badly hit by landslides at the start of last year. As a local preparedness effort, I have created CERT teams and translated much of the material into Brazilian Portuguese. I would like to know if anyone is working on Brazilian Portuguese versions of the CERT program for Brazilians who reside within the US, ...more »

I'm a retired electrical contractor. Saw this morning a story on fuel shortages due to no power at the gas stations. There probably is a huge amount of fuel now stored that way. I also see the power trucks Being shipped in to restore power. The military has generator trucks & Portable gens could be provided to the power crews. It would be relatively simple for these crews to isolate the power panels at the stations ...more »

I, and likely many people, Have an RV that is no longer is use. Possibly these could be used for temporary housing. Mine, has heat, shower, Kitchen, washer/dryer and could hold a family of 4 easily for a month or more.

May people, like myself, have a RV that could be used for temporary housing. Mine has capabilty to hold a family of 4, a kitchen, shower, bathroom, washer/dryer,.

Officials from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers presented Alabama-based Decatur Utilities with documents that “required our folks to affiliate with the union,” Ray Hardin, general manager of Decatur. “That was something that we could not agree to. It was our understanding and still is that it was a requirement for us to work in that area.” Hardin said most of his six-man, four-vehicle crew was stuck ...more »

DUE TO THE MASSIVE BREAKAGE OCCURRING TO MOST HOUSES AFFECTED BY HURRICANE SANDY, A UNIT THAT REESTABLISHES CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT SUCH AS BRICKS IS EXTRMELY NECESSARY AND WILL BENEFIT CLEANUP ALL THE MORE. THIS IS NOT A WAIT TILL PROJECT ,, IT IS AN IMMEDIATE SOLUTION THAT NEEDS TO BE IMPLEMENTED CITIWIDE COVERING ALL 5 BOROS,INCLUDING LONG ISLAND , AND NEW JERSEY..... PLEASE SEND IMMEDIATE RESPONSE VIA TEXT OR PHONE ...more »

There's a company in the UK that I read about recently (snoozebox.com) that has portable hotel rooms in shipping containers that are able to be shipped anywhere in the world and easily set up. They wouldn't be comfortable for long-term stays, but they would sure work in a pinch. It might be useful for the needs of temporarily displaced people.

I live in NYC and I have a start-up company that works to distribute portable solar energy solutions to the extremely impoverished living in Liberia. I would be more than willing to mobilize my network of contacts in the industry to bring solar lanterns that are also capable of charging cell phones. I also have access to some larger, more powerful systems that are ready to go out of the package. This would require ...more »