em mag nov09

November/December 2009

Long-term recovery gets too little attention

Rebuilding New Orleanspublic schools

inside:

Issue 6 — Vol. 4

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TECHNOLOGIES FOR CRITICAL INCIDENT PREPAREDNESS

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Critical ConnectionsLinking Responders with Technology


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Contents

F E A T U R E S

40Recovery Starts NowEmergency management experts say long-term recovery gets too little attention, but should be a critical component of prevention.

22Hell on EarthThe rise of more dangerous wildfi res forces communities worldwide to rethink how they handle infernos.

O N T H E C O V E R

4 PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BURNFIRE COOPERATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE

Cover photo provided by Ross Beckley

46Community TiesSanta Barbara County, Calif., moves disaster planning and coordination forward by teaming with a charity and a private company.

50A Recipe for ChaosStates and locals will have to quickly fi nd ways to spend stimulus cash.

D E P A R T M E N T S

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Windows®. Life without Walls™. Dell recommends Windows.

DELL INTRODUCES THE THINNEST RUGGEDIZED TABLET ON THE MARKET.

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6 A p u b l i c a t i o n o f

Group Publisher: Don Pearson [email protected]

Founding Publisher: Tim Karney [email protected]

VP Emergency Management/Homeland Security: Martin Pastula [email protected]

Publisher: Scott Fackert [email protected]

Executive Editor: Steve Towns [email protected]

EDITORIALEditor: Jim McKay [email protected]

Associate Editor: Elaine Pittman [email protected]

Managing Editor: Karen Stewartson [email protected]

Assistant Editor: Matt Williams [email protected]

Features Editor: Andy Opsahl [email protected]

Chief Copy Editor: Miriam Jones [email protected]

Staff Writer: Hilton Collins [email protected]

Editorial Assistant: Cortney Towns [email protected]

DESIGNCreative Director: Kelly Martinelli [email protected] Designer: Crystal Hopson [email protected] Designer: Michelle Hamm [email protected]: Tom McKeith [email protected] Director: Stephan Widmaier [email protected] Manager: Joei Heart [email protected]

PUBLISHINGVP of Strategic Accounts: Jon Fyffe [email protected] VP Bus. Development: Tim Karney [email protected] East

Regional Sales Directors: East Leslie Hunter [email protected], Central Shelley Ballard [email protected] Managers: East Melissa Cano [email protected], Central Erin Gross [email protected] Business Development Director: Glenn Swenson [email protected]

Bus. Dev. Managers: Lisa Doughty [email protected]

John Enright [email protected]

Pat Hoertling [email protected]

Kevin May [email protected] Sales Administrators: Sabrina Shewmake [email protected]

Christine Childs [email protected]

National Sales Administrator: Jennifer Valdez [email protected] of Marketing: Andrea Kleinbardt [email protected]. of Custom Events: Whitney Sweet [email protected] Dir. of Custom Events: Lana Herrera [email protected] Events Coordinator: Karin Morgan [email protected]. of Custom Publications: Stacey Toles [email protected] Publications Writer: Jim Meyers [email protected] of Web Products and Services: Vikki Palazzari [email protected] Services Manager: Peter Simek [email protected] Web Products Manager: Michelle Mrotek [email protected] Advertising Manager: Julie Dedeaux [email protected] Services/Project Coordinator: Adam Fowler [email protected] Coordinator: Gosia Colosimo [email protected]

CORPORATECEO: Dennis McKenna [email protected] VP: Don Pearson [email protected] VP: Cathilea Robinett [email protected]: Lisa Bernard [email protected]: Paul Harney [email protected] of Events: Alan Cox [email protected] Director: Drew Noel [email protected]

Government Technology’s Emergency Management is published by e.Republic Inc. © 2009 by e.Republic Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the publisher or editors.

Article submissions should be sent to the attention of the Managing Editor. Reprints of all articles in this issue and past issues are available (500 minimum). Please direct inquiries to the YGS Group: Attn. Mike Shober at (800) 290-5460 ext.129 or [email protected].

Subscription Information: Requests for subscriptions may be directed to subscription coordinator by phone or fax to the numbers below. You can also subscribe online at www.emergencymgmt.com.

Canada Post Publication Mail Agreement 40048640, undeliverables 2-7496 Bath Road, Mississauga, Ontario L4T 1L2

100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA 95630 Phone: (916)932-1300 Fax: (916)932-1470www.emergencymgmt.com

Contents

R E S T O F T H E B O O K

8Contributors

18EM Bulletin

10Point of ViewAre Blue-Light Phones Necessary?

12In the News

58Last WordDon’t Ignore Needs of the Children

56Eric’s Corner:Lessons Observed, not Learned

54Products

14Quick ActionThe Louisiana Recovery School District teamed with FEMA for a speedy beginning on the long path of rebuilding New Orleans public schools.

20Major PlayerJames Featherstone, General Manager, Los Angeles Emergency Management Department

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The inside pages of this publication are printed on 80 percent de-inked recycled fiber.e

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Contributors

8

Wormeli is co-chairman of the NIEM Commu-nications and Outreach Committee. He is also the executive director of the IJIS Institute. He can be reached at [email protected].

Jim McKay Editor

McKay also is the justice and public safety editor of Government Technology magazine. He has spent more than a decade as a writer, editor and contributing writer for publications, including Th e Fresno (Calif.) Bee, Th e Vacaville (Calif.) Reporter and Th e Ring magazine.

Andy Opsahl Features Editor

Opsahl joined Government Technology in 2005. He regularly covers govern-ment IT outsourcing and private-sector solutions in government. Opsahl also writes for Government Technology’s Public CIO.

Williams is the assistant editor of Government Technology maga-zine. He was formerly a sports-writer for newspapers, and was a researcher for Sports Illustrated.

Matt WilliamsAssistant Editor

Paul Wormeli Contributing Writer

Collins is a staff writer for Government Tech-nology magazine. He’s written extensively on IT security and work force issues. Prior to joining Government Technology, Collins wrote for the Davis (Calif.) Life Magazine on various subjects.

Staff WriterHilton Collins

Pittman is also a staff writer and copy editor for Government Tech-nology magazine. She previously worked as a copy editor for the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Elaine PittmanAssociate Editor



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10

When I think about safety on college or university campuses, blue-light phones — those iconic, stand-alone towers with a blue light on the top — aren’t the fi rst thing that jumps to mind.

A college or university campus has diff erent safety concerns than an elementary or secondary school, one being remote locations where students might need help, like parking lots or deserted quads. Th e 20-year-old solution has been remote blue-light call boxes with direct access to police dispatch.

Given all that, and with the proliferation of cell phones and wireless 911 service, how necessary are the blue-light phones?

Certainly today’s units can off er more than just a blue light and direct access to police dispatch. Th ey can be purchased or retrofi tted with cameras, sirens and loudspeakers. Emergency messages can be micro-broadcast to anyone standing in a limited radius. Th e cameras can watch — like Big Brother — innocent and nefarious activity.

But do they really create a safer campus? I posed this question to other college and university emergency managers. I received lots of comments and positions, but only one affi rmative answer: a reply from one campus describing a call from a student who’d just been robbed. By promptly describing the perpetrator, that person was picked up a short time later.

Th ere are some reasons a campus might want to keep blue-light phones, such as failed 911 service or geography that causes spotty wireless coverage. Th ey also might off er some redundancy if cellular service fails, although most new units depend on radio reception of some sort.

Even so, we should be looking to the future. New technology will resolve reception and delivery problems. Like it or not, communication is moving inexorably into the wireless realm.

Th ere aren’t too many college students who don’t have a cell phone, and most of them use cell phones constantly to commu-nicate with their friends. Th e Virginia Tech shootings and Hurricane Katrina showed how eff ectively students can receive

and distribute emergency information via text messaging and Twitter. Twitter is the grapevine of choice for college students, and even for those of us in the “older” generation. Th e service relays more information faster than any other medium.

Whether blue-light phones are expendable is still debatable on most campuses. Th e major argument for keeping them is that parents and students want them. Some campuses believe the units’ visibility adds value to the perception of security, or that they play a role in application decisions, or that repurposing them with cameras and speakers extends their security presence.

Th e fact is, they’re rarely used — and when they are, it’s not for emergencies. For example, they’re used for nonemergency road service requests, like fl at tires or a jump-start. More oft en, they’re intentionally activated as a prank, which diverts resources from real emergency calls. Th ey have other drawbacks: Th e lights off er a false sense of security — the perception of safety — and they

are expensive to install and maintain. Laws or codes don’t require the lights: there are no standards to govern what they look like or where they’re placed.

Th e bottom line is the question of the lights’ return on invest-ment. Where else could our shrinking security dollars be used? More offi cers? A better emergency notifi cation system? Buying cell phones for students who don’t have one? Campus budgets are being slashed and serious decisions are at hand. We don’t want to cut security services any more than we want to cut anything else, but we must make choices.

I’m a parent. I have a daughter in college. I’d vote to take the blue-light phones out and apply that money against the next tuition hike. k

Valerie Lucus is the emergency and business continuity

manager at the University of California, Davis. She also writes

the Campus Emergency Management blog at www.emergency

mgmt.com.

Are Blue-Light Phones Necessary?

Point of View

Questions or comments? Please give us your input by contacting our editorial department at [email protected], or visit our Web site at www.emergencymgmt.com.

L E A D , F O L L O W O R G E T O U T O F T H E W A Y .

Best Public Safety/Trade2009 Maggie Award

Th e lights off er a false sense of security — the perception of safety — and they are expensive to install and maintain.

Valerie Lucus



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GSA is here to help. www.gsa.gov/stateandlocal or (800) 488-3111

Whether you’re advancing your IT infrastructure, responding to natural disasters, waging the war against drugs, or replacing offi ce furniture, you need quick-and-ready access to mission-critical resources. GSA makes it easy for state and local agencies to procure leading-edge IT products, professional services and solutions, surplus personal property, temporary housing and shelters, fi refi ghting equipment, a variety of law enforcement and security products and services, and much more. By leveraging the government’s buying power, we provide best-value solutions from pre-qualifi ed contractors. Best of all, we put you in control and a step ahead to accomplish the task at hand.

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12

In the News

TO HELP TRACK H1N1 TRENDS, Rhode Island

health offi cials are receiving electronic prescription

data to identify outbreaks based on age groups

and ZIP codes. Th e state receives the data from

retail pharmacies through an electronic link with

Surescripts, an e-prescriptions network. State health

offi cials view the data, which excludes personal

information, to identify increases in Tamifl u

prescriptions or other anti-viral medications.

According to Amy Zimmerman, chief of health

information technology for the Rhode Island

Department of Health, 100 percent of the state’s

retail pharmacies can receive e-prescriptions, and 80

percent of those pharmacies can have their dispensed

prescription data aggregated at Surescripts and then

used by the state to monitor H1N1. Zimmerman

said the state has been promoting e-prescribing

since 2003 in collaboration with the Rhode Island

Quality Institute, a nonprofi t organization. “When

Surescripts fi rst came into being and wanted to pilot

the e-prescribing network, it chose Rhode Island

and partnered with the Quality Institute to do that,”

she said.Surescripts uses the pharmacies’ data to report

how much Tamifl u and other anti-virals are being

dispensed to patients and categorizes the information

by ZIP code and age group. Th e reports are sent to

the state every two weeks, Zimmerman said.

“Th e data is very valuable for being able to

monitor trends over time to be able to see if there

is an increase in the dispensing of the anti-viral

medications, and we can map that against our other

surveillance indicators of actual disease,” she said.

Th e other surveillance indicators include a

syndromic surveillance system — the reporting

of emergency room visits for infl uenza-like illness

— and 25 physician sites across the state that also

report infl uenza-like illness data. “You would expect to see the increase in the

dispensing of anti-viral medication when you start

to see peaks in infl uenza-like illness,” Zimmerman

said. “So it allows us to monitor the trends; it allows

us to identify if there’s potentially overprescribing.”

She said observing e-prescription trends allows

state health offi cials to monitor and ensure that

anti-virals are being appropriately dispensed. “For

instance, Tamifl u is appropriate to be dispensed for

H1N1, but seasonal fl u seems to be resistant to it

— so if there’s a lot of seasonal fl u and not a lot of

H1N1, you would not expect to see a lot of Tamifl u

being dispensed,” Zimmerman said. Th e information helps health offi cials determine

if additional education is needed to ensure that anti-

viral medication is being prescribed appropriately.

If the reports say that a lot of anti-viral medication

is being dispensed, but there’s not information

indicating an outbreak in the area, offi cials can

educate doctors in the area about the fi ndings.

“As the director of health has said, it’s a diff erent

tool; it’s another measure that has become

very handy in putting the big picture together,”

Zimmerman said. k

Rhode Island Tracks H1N1 Using Electronic Prescription DataBY ELAINE PITTMAN



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13

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Alexander Garza tried to quell fears and provide answers to an inquisitive and anxious group in November at the 57th Annual International Association of Emergency Managers Conference in Orlando, Fla. Garza, the DHS’ assistant secretary for health aff airs and chief medical offi cer, said eventually everyone who wants an H1N1 fl u shot will be able to get one and that the delay in providing the vaccine isn’t because of a shortage, but a delay in vaccine development. Most in the interactive session agreed that communications among government entities and medical facilities needs to improve. “Developing [a vaccine] from scratch is diffi cult, and the antigen wasn’t growing well and had to be redone,” Garza said. Part of the reason for the delay is that offi cials want to ensure that the vaccine is safe. Th e vaccine is going through all the same safety tests that the regular fl u vaccine undergoes, he said. Projections are that the vaccinations will catch up with demand by the end of December, Garza said. By that time, a good portion of the population may have natural immunity. Although Garza said the “third wave” of H1N1 is on its way, there’s some good news. He

said even though the number of fl u infections is up for this time of year, the death rate hasn’t been as great as offi cials thought it might be. A question was raised about why President Barack Obama waited so long to declare the fl u a national emergency. Th e participant said she had nine patients dying in her intensive care unit before the declaration.“Declaring a national emergency is a double-edged sword,” Garza said. “You want policies in place [before it’s done]. Also, some people interpret things the wrong way, as if there’s something we’re not telling them.”He said there needs to be better two-way communication between local governments and the federal government about what’s going on in the communities. He said the response has to be more of a community response and not just getting a vaccine.One participant from a medical facility in Queens, N.Y., said the communication between his facility and state and local government is lacking. Garza said fusion centers would be used to help disseminate information and that “we somehow have to overcome this idea that all intelligence is law enforcement related.” k

‘Third Wave’ of H1N1 Due

RESPONSE TO THE H1N1 OUTBREAK will be a marathon, and health-care offi cials may have diffi culty keeping up with a barrage of patients and maintaining supplies. Th at was one of the messages delivered to an audience of health-care workers at a statewide disaster planning conference for hospitals called From Readiness to Recovery on Sept. 15 in Sacramento, Calif.Dr. Gilberto Chávez, state epidemiologist and chief of the Center for Infectious Diseases for the California Department of Public Health, said most of the cases of fl u in California have been H1N1 and that 1,806 people have been hospitalized and 152 have died (by Nov. 7 those numbers had increased to 5,380 hospitalized and 297 dead). Chávez said there’s a temporary reprieve from the virus, but that will change this fall.

Offi cials found this summer that although there may have been a good supply of anti-virals, masks and ventilators, they weren’t always easily accessible. One of the lessons learned from this past summer is to develop better communication between government agencies and the private sector, and among government agencies and jurisdictions. k

California Braces for Mutating H1N1 VirusBY JIM McKAY

BY JIM McKAY



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14

The Louisiana Recovery School District teamed with FEMA for a speedy beginning on the long path of rebuilding New Orleans public schools.

Th e average public school building in New Orleans is nearly 70 years old.

But there’s an exception on Trafalgar Street. Opened in August 2009, Langston Hughes Elementary is the fi rst new school built in the city since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005. Th e campus includes a media center, high-tech classrooms, a gymnasium and full cafeteria. It replaces the former campus that was damaged by Katrina; class previously was being held in temporary modular classrooms. Th e diff er-ence isn’t lost on students.

“You go into that new facility and you see the diff erence that children feel from that facility is amazing,” said Paul Rainwater, the Louisiana Recovery Authority’s executive director. “It’s a beautiful building.”

“Beautiful” hasn’t been a commonly used descriptor for the New Orleans school system — even before Katrina’s destruction. Test scores were down, infrastructure was

aging and fi nancial management was lack-ing. “Th e public schools in New Orleans were probably the worst school district in the country before Katrina — or one of the [bottom] two: New Orleans and Detroit,” said Ramsey Green, the chief operating offi -cer of the Recovery School District (RSD), which was created in 2003 to take over dozens of schools in the parish that were underperforming. Schools controlled by the RSD had about $1 billion in deferred maintenance that had nothing to do with the storm, he said. Th at amount more than doubled aft er Katrina damaged or destroyed 120 school buildings.

Due to decreased enrollment aft er Katrina, the RSD decided to close some schools and rebuild others. As of press time, 37,000 students were attending RSD schools in 85 buildings, Green said. “We agreed not to rebuild 50 schools. And we started con-struction on what we call the Quick Start

program of fi ve new schools in New Orleans about two years ago,” Green said.

Th e new Langston Hughes was the fi rst Quick Start school built, with another four expected to open in 2010. Quick Start is seeded by a $150 million lump sum from the FEMA Public Assistance Program that con-solidated 100 separate grants. Th is innova-tive “lump sum” funding approach required collaboration by the RSD, FEMA, Louisiana Recovery Authority, Congress and many other stakeholders. State and local offi cials hope to scale up Quick Start to include the RSD’s capital plan for a complete rebuilding of the New Orleans school system, at a pro-jected $2 billion cost.

The ‘Lump Sum’ ApproachRebuilding schools so quickly has been

an epic challenge. Quick Start wouldn’t have been possible without legislative changes made at the state, local and federal levels to

Quick Action

Matt Williamsby

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The fl oodwaters of New Orleans surrounded this school. New Orleans was evacuated following the breaks in the levees as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Lessons Learned



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16

expedite construction and streamline the disbursement of payments to the RSD and contractors. Katrina was such a catastrophe that the old rules weren’t eff ective.

“Th e way FEMA works is that aft er a disaster they come in and do an assessment of a building — they do a quick-and-dirty assessment. Th ey say, ‘OK, you had $2 million of damage. Move on,’” Green said. “But we’re fi nding that their initial assessments were undervalued by more than 100 percent in many cases.” Green said FEMA sometimes would initially commit (or “obligate”) dol-lar amounts well short of what was needed. “We’d write a new version of the project worksheet, and see the amount obligated go from $2 million to $30 million. Th at’s a regular occurrence,” he said.

Traditionally FEMA would pay only for damage. Representatives would inspect a building all the way down to moldy ceil-ing tiles. Th e RSD and state offi cials quickly realized that this kind of time-intensive approach wouldn’t work for a project as large as rebuilding an entire school system. Green said Louisiana lobbied and got fed-eral laws changed so that school districts can now transfer funds between projects without incurring a 25 percent penalty. Th e state also was able to consolidate its National Flood Insurance Program penalties, which saved another $70 million. And FEMA stream-lined the reimbursement process further by consolidating the $150 million earmarked for Quick Start into a single grant.

Rainwater began working on the RSD in 2008 when Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed him

to manage the Louisiana Recovery Author-ity. Rainwater saw an immediate problem that was bogging down construction: Con-tractors weren’t being paid in a timely man-ner. So Louisiana created a new payment system called Express Pay. “When the RSD sends the state an invoice, it used to take 60 days to pay it out. Now it takes between fi ve and 10 days. So we do a cursory look on the front end, and then a tougher audit on the back end. If there’s a mistake — and there has been no fraud — we just credit it on the next invoice,” Rainwater explained.

In sum, Rainwater said government offi cials did all they could to streamline rebuilding without violating the Staff ord Act, which is the statutory authority for FEMA’s disaster response. Th e result is that Langston Hughes Elementary was built and opened in two years.

Built to EndurePrior to Katrina, almost none of the

schools in New Orleans were built to with-stand a fl ood. Some of them were elevated, but most were built with fi rst-fl oor kitchens — easily destroyed by a hurricane. By con-trast, Langston Hughes Elementary and all other school construction is being built to withstand the next storm.

Th e Louisiana Legislature adopted the International Building Code. “We also have to build to FEMA’s base fl ood elevation, which means our buildings either have to be raised a minimum of three feet, or they have to be wet or dry fl ood-proofed,” Green said. Th e RSD is opening a school in January

2010 that is wet fl ood-proofed, which means a fl oodwall is inside the walls — absorbing three to four feet of water without incurring into the building. All windows are missile resistant to absorb 130 mph winds.

Th e RSD also implemented new proce-dures to minimize damage. Th e school dis-trict went into action before Hurricane Gus-tav made landfall in 2008. Plastic bags were put over all IT equipment, and computers were moved into hallways so if windows broke they wouldn’t be water damaged. Principals and teachers took photographs of classrooms to document them in case they were damaged and the school district had to go back to FEMA for additional funds. “Had Gustav been worse, we would’ve been a lot better off purely because we learned a lot of lessons aft er Katrina,” Green said.

And those lessons learned extend beyond emergency preparation. Th e RSD is build-ing its schools to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver standard for green building design. Some schools will have rain catchment systems, dual-pane windows and photovoltaic systems. Classrooms also are being modernized to include digital whiteboards and laptops.

But those improvements come with a heft y price tag. “Pretty much all that we build is paid for by FEMA, which puts us in an awkward position in trying to do a capi-tal plan,” Green said. “We have a $2 billion rebuilding program that takes place over 10 years, and that’s only partially funded at present [at $750 million]. We believe all of that should be funded by FEMA, and we’re working to get that done.”

Th e purse strings are controlled by Tony Russell, the acting director of the FEMA Louisiana Transitional Recovery Offi ce. Rainwater said because state and local stake-holders are working well with Russell and FEMA on the shared vision, he’s optimistic that an agreement will be reached, even if that means receiving the funds a chunk at a time rather than the preferred lump sum. “What we can’t do is continue this building by building, classroom by classroom. It just takes too long,” Rainwater said. k

Lessons Learned

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Langston Hughes Elementary opened its doors in August 2009. The state-of-the-art school provides classrooms equipped with the technology for 21st century learning.



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DISASTER RECOVERY SPECIALIST


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National Levee CleanupTHE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS faces stiff

opposition to its directive to cut down trees within 15 feet of thousands of miles of levees nationwide. Th e corps said trees can harm the structural integrity of the infrastructure, obscure visibility and impede access for maintenance and inspection, hindering fl ood-control operations.

But opponents said a tree has never been responsible for a levee breach and removing vegetation around levees is an unnecessary cost that harms the environment.

Trees are an essential part of the river system, critics say. “Water, as it’s going from the mountains to the oceans, goes under the ground, under the levees, into the fl oodplain, and as it does it is fi ltered,” said Bob Freitag, director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Hazards Mitigation Planning and Research. He said that’s the process that pro-vides clean water to the nation’s lakes and rivers, and with-out vegetation the process is gone.

Freitag said a better solution is tiered levees, moving the levees back or removing them altogether.

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EM Bulletin

Hackers Unite in the Name of Disaster Preparedness

BUILDING A DEVELOPER COMMUNITY to tackle IT issues related to disaster relief isn’t a simple task, but when Microsoft , Google, Yahoo, NASA and the World Bank team up, they mean business. In November, the enti-ties sponsored a two-day event in Mountain View, Calif., — called Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) — in which developers tried to solve real-world disaster relief issues with technology.

Patrick Svenburg, senior manager of Microsoft Federal Business, said Microsoft , Google and Yahoo recognized that there’s a stovepiped approach to technology because they each have their own systems. For example, he said there were 17 diff erent missing persons databases online during Hurricane Katrina, and “we know how to fi x that.”

Th e fi rst RHoK hackathon — an event where program-mers met and worked on technological solutions to a defi ned set of challenges — combined coders and subject-matter experts to address IT problems related to disaster preparedness and relief. One of the applications developed, called Break Glass, runs on a smartphone and is a combi-nation of an emergency preparedness plan and a disaster notifi cation tool to alert friends and family about one’s well-being. All of the hacks will be posted on GitHub — an open source community — so developers can continue to work on the solutions’ code.

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19Emergency Management

Citizens’ Perceived Preparedness Doesn’t Match Measures Taken

THE 2009 CITIZEN CORPS NATIONAL SURVEY, a report released by FEMA in August that evaluates the nation’s progress on personal preparedness, indicates that perceived emergency preparedness among citizens can diff er from the actual measures they’ve taken.

Th e report highlighted an important fi nding from the Citizen Preparedness Surveys Database — which contains 102 surveys on individual preparedness, 29 surveys on business preparedness and 11 surveys on school preparedness. Th e report said, “In nearly all cases, these surveys substantiate that the proportion of those who have taken appropriate preparedness measures is much lower than those that indicate that they are prepared.”

Participants were asked to identify potential reasons for not preparing, and 30 percent said the primary reason was that they thought emergency responders would help them in the event of a disaster. Respondents also were asked, “What is the main reason you have not received any preparedness training?” Th irty-three percent said it’s diffi cult to get information on what to do.

Perfect Match: Indigenous Knowledge and Emergency Management

DEMONSTRATING A PERFECT BLEND of indig-enous traditions and modern hazard mitigation prac-tices, eight villages throughout the fl ood-prone region of the Pangasinan Province in northwestern Philippines are using the kanungkong — a bamboo communication device — to warn citizens of rising fl oodwaters. A 2008 study by Lorna Victoria of the United Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, describes how the device, which was traditionally used to gather village residents to public meetings or signal a woman’s need for help during labor, was shown to be a highly eff ective early warning system for fl oods.

Th e villages established the warning system with help from the Program for Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia. Th e system consists of auditory alarms from the kanungkong that coincide with diff erent alert levels. Th is alarm system combined with staff , gauges and radio communications to signal rising waters from the City Disaster Coordinating Council, proved highly eff ective during the 2007 monsoon season.

Pangasinan was hit by Typhoon Chan-Hom in May 2009 and by typhoons Ketsana and Parma in September and October 2009.

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Earthquakes, mudslides, fi res and terrorist threats all are potential disasters in Southern California. How do you stay on top of all of it?

We must be prepared for a plethora of natural hazards, and also the potential for some man-made disasters that are unintentional. We have basic preparedness, and we have preparedness specifi c to certain disasters — what we call “triggers.” We think preparedness is a lot of sharing of preparedness eff orts across many diff erent types of disasters, but there’s also a certain amount of specifi city depending on what the disaster is.

Are the fundamentals the same in terms of preparedness and planning for all disasters? If so, what are the fundamentals?

Th ere are some common denominators in disas-ters or emergencies. One of the things that we look at in emergency management is sometimes called Th e Five Pillars: situation status; resource status; commander’s intent; whether the commander’s intent is at the tactical level, the strategic level, the grand strategic or policy level; and information management. A standing objective in our [Emer-gency Operations Center] is crisis information management — how we manage the message. What is going on? What are we doing about it? What would we like the public to do to assist themselves and to assist us? And the fi nal thing is to have processes: a planning process, a prevention process, a response process and a recovery process.

The people of L.A. are used to fi res, earthquakes and everything else. Does that make it easier, or in some ways harder?

Yes to both of those. “Used to” is an interesting phrase because we have our share of fi res and other disasters and catastrophes here in Southern Cali-fornia. But we must be careful that we don’t become jaded by these emergencies and crises. So it’s a constant struggle every day to get the message out — to make sure we have a message that goes out that is eff ective for the response community, the preven-tion components and the general public.

And citizens must realize that they become fi rst responders in times of crisis. How do you get that message across?

Th at message is very important. We under-stand how critical messaging is and we do regular routine messaging — day-to-day messaging — but we also have specifi c messaging that we push out in times of crisis or potential crisis. We found that by managing the information, it’s a force multiplier for the response eff ort. k

James Featherstone was appointed general manager of the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department in October 2007. He is a veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, and has served in various capacities, such as public information offi cer, fi re academy instructor, chief offi cer’s staff assistant, station commander and task force commander.

Featherstone has worked in numerous crises in Los Angeles, including the 1992 riots, the 1993 fi restorm, which burned more than 14,000 acres, and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. He was selected as fi re plans offi cer for the 2000 Democratic National Convention, for which he developed the department’s operational and tactical plans.

Major Player

Jim McKayby

James Featherstone

General Manager, Los Angeles Emergency Management Department

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WHEN FIRES RAGED through southeastern Australia in February 2009, the stunning display of destruction was

like to a modern-day hell on Earth. Hundreds of infernos ignited on Saturday, Feb. 7 and spread under torturous weather condi-tions. Communities were assaulted in the states of Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.

Th e region’s residents already were suff ering through a heat wave — temperatures climbed north of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Melbourne was scorched by three consecutive days above that threshold in late January before hitting 115 degrees on Feb. 7, the city’s hottest day on record — actually lower than the 118 degrees recorded by Avalon, Victoria, the same day. Winds of more than 60 mph compounded the hazardous conditions. When the blazes began, the gales fanned fl ames faster than residents or fi refi ghters could react.

THE RISE OF MORE DANGEROUS WILDFIRES FORCES COMMUNITIES WORLDWIDE TO RETHINK HOW THEY HANDLEINFERNOS.

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Th e parched environment and the blazes’ ferocity exceeded everything fi re agencies had experienced previously, according to Steve Warrington, a deputy chief offi cer of the Country Fire Authority (CFA). “We know that a fi re will go so fast under certain conditions. Of course, when you’re working in conditions that you haven’t seen before, it’s very hard to predict what that fi re’s going to do,” he said.

More than 4,000 fi refi ghters from diff erent agencies were dispatched. Many came from the CFA or the Victorian government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment. In some places, witnesses reported seeing fl ames leaping more than 300 feet high and melting aluminum. Th e convection eff ect from fi re plumes gener-ated winds that appeared to unscrew trees from the ground; the bushfi res occurred primarily in rural areas and grasslands.

“It was well beyond the norm,” Warrington said. And that experience is being felt worldwide as climate change, population growth and other factors increase the danger from wildfi res.

In Australia, news outlets chronicled the catastrophic damage. Th e Irish Times reported on Feb. 9 that fl ames scorched more than 1 million acres, and the Australian Broadcasting

Corp. reported the same day that 1,300 homes were lost northeast of Melbourne. According to a Feb. 8 Brisbane Times story, up to 80 percent of Marysville, Victoria, was destroyed by fl ames. An article in Th e Australian, also dated Feb. 8,

reported that only one building in the entire town was left standing.

Firefi ghting eff orts continued for days as temperatures cooled. Casualty reports varied, but a March 9 press release from the Victoria Police confi rmed that 173 lives were lost.

Although some fi res began before or aft er Feb. 7, that date that month saw the most fero-cious blazes. Consequently that day is widely called “Black Saturday.”

CALIFORNIA’S ‘100-YEAR BLAZES’ SHOW AUSTRALIA THE WAY

Victoria can do nothing but recuperate and prepare for the next big blaze. Californians know this well.

More than 340,000 acres in California were burned by fi res from Aug. 1 to Sept. 7, 2009. Flames from the Station Fire in unincorporated Los Angeles killed two fi refi ghers and destroyed more than 160 structures in about a week. In another example, then-Lt. Gov. John Gara-mendi declared a state of emergency in August for the Lockheed Fire — a blaze that prompted the evacuation of approximately 2,400 people in the Santa Cruz Mountains and destroyed nearly 8,000 acres. Th ose were just two fi res among thousands in California in 2009. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 6,000 fi res burned from Jan. 1 to Aug. 29. In 2008, 4,500 burned in the same period.

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Areas Most Affected by the Fires


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“Before the last fi ve or six years, it was, ‘Well, this is a once-in-a-100-year event,’” said Lou Paulson, a fi re captain for the Contra Costa County Fire District and president of the Cali-fornia Professional Firefi ghters. Previously 15 years or more would pass between notable wildfi res. “Th ey’re now coming all the time,” Paulson said.

Th at means authorities might have to rethink fi re mitigation and preparation since these scorchers are becoming more frequent. In Victoria, Australia’s government didn’t waste time getting to work. Th e 2009 Victorian Bush-fi res Royal Commission was formed on Feb. 16 to investigate the fi res’ causes, and to address preparation and response for the next one.

Th e commission has engaged citizens for their views and is working with researchers, emergency services personnel and other public-sector entities. Th e commission released an interim report in August. “It was released with

the hope that some changes could be made for this fi re season,” said Professor John Handmer of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University). He’s also the director of the Centre for Risk and Community Safety, which conducts research for the Royal Commission.

Th e interim report doesn’t address key issues like fuel management or how to remove and relocate dry wood, grass and other natural materials that can strengthen fl ames. However, the document includes recommendations for improving emergency notifi cation for the 2009-2010 bushfi re season. Th e fi nal version of the report is due July 2010.

Th e Victoria fi res sprang up in several rural locations. Victoria’s rural population comprised more than 1 million people in 2007. Although Victoria has more than 5 million residents, most live in the capital city of Melbourne, which was largely unaff ected by the catastrophe.

Warrington said ground forces were so blind-sided by the fi res that they couldn’t get a handle on them quickly, much less make speedy assess-ments for the public.

“It went faster, longer and harder than we’d predicted,” Warrington said. “When you’ve got a 15-minute window to warn a community that they’re about to be engulfed by fi re, it becomes very, very diffi cult. It’s not just about the window. What do the people do under those circumstances? You can’t evacuate them. You can’t put them on the road. You just hope like heck they bunker down in that environment.”

Th is diffi culty impeded the government’s ability to relay information quickly enough. “It was faster than we were able to know ourselves as a fi refi ghting service,” Warrington said of the fi re. “And therefore, if we didn’t know, we couldn’t communicate that to the public, so we were criticized for that.”

Th e interim report revealed that no emer-gency warning signal was used to alert the public and that “other avenues for issuing and

raising awareness were not encouraged, such as the use of local sirens or the use of commercial radio and television.”

But in California, many of those commu-nications lessons already have been learned. Th e Los Angeles Fire Department has received attention for using Twitter for crisis communi-cation in real time. Los Angeles fi re personnel used Twitter to help tackle a fi re in Griffi th Park in May 2007.

Brian Humphrey, a public service offi cer for the department, read tweets about the fi re sent by citizens, some of whom were on the opposite side of the blaze from the fi refi ghters. Th ey tweeted about wind conditions and fi re behavior, so Humphrey tweeted back asking them to call him. Th ey did and told him infor-mation about the fi res that he then passed along to fi refi ghters, which ultimately aided their containment strategy.

Warrington wants to use the Internet’s power similarly in Victoria. “We’ll be looking at, obvi-ously, how we can increase the speed and accu-racy of our messaging,” he said. Ideas include creating a comprehensive Web site for bush-fi re information. Th e interim report disclosed that existing Web sites and phone lines had incomplete or outdated information when the Victoria fi res hit.

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

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One month after the fi res, Marysville, Victoria, was still closed to public access. All of Main Street was destroyed, except two buildings, a motel and a bakery.


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He also wants to use Twitter for real-time information exchange. “How can we use that to try to fi nd out where the fi re is? How quickly it’s going? What’s going on? We’ll look at every possible means to try to inform the public,” he said.

Warrington mentioned other strategies, including sending automated messages to phones with fi re-related information. He also spoke of unique protection plans and approaches for each town that’s at risk for fi re damage and death. Th e Royal Commission’s interim report recommended that the country be more open to using national warnings and notifi cations during major fi res.

CLIMATE CHANGE MAKING A DEADLIER PLANET

Th e emergence of larger, more frequent fi res hasn’t gone unnoticed by those who wonder what role climate change plays on a hotter, deadlier planet.

“If we phrase the question, ‘Did climate change cause the fi res?’ I think we have to say, ‘No, almost certainly not.’ But if we say, ‘Did climate change contribute to the fi res?’ Th en I think we can say that it quite likely did,” RMIT University’s Handmer said.

Th e concern is that hotter temperatures exacerbate fi re conditions. Many causes of the Victoria fi res were attributed to lightning,

arson or other physical actions. Conditions at the time, were hot and dry, Warrington said.

“We had a number of fatalities just because of the heat wave,” she said. “Th e trains stopped running. Th e power went out because of the heat wave. Th e whole state was tinder dry.”

Australia has been dealing with serious drought. According to the report Climate Change in Australia, rainfall in southern Australia has declined over a 30-year period. Th e report also indicated that the country’s frequency of hot days and nights has increased.

“We’re in winter and I look out the window — it’s a lovely sunny day. It’s warm,” Warrington

said. “Th ere’s not a cloud in the sky, and we still haven’t gotten any bloody rain.”

Between the drought, rising temperatures and dry air, Australia’s climate was conducive for fi re.

DOES ‘STAY AND DEFEND’ DELIVER FALSE SECURITY?

When fl ames are approaching, people need to act quickly. Victorians have a long-standing fi re strategy in place called “prepare, stay and defend, or leave early,” also known as “stay or go” for brevity’s sake.

Th e approach, which also is applied in other Australian states, calls on individuals to prepare for fi res beforehand and defend their homes from fl ames if possible. If not, they should leave long before the fi re arrives. It’s up to residents to decide what’s best based on the information available.

But the Victoria fi res besieged communities so quickly that people had less time — some-times no time — to act. Normally the Austra-lian Bureau of Meteorology will broadcast a fi re conditions bulletin a few days in advance to warn the public, which Warrington said happened before Feb. 7. But even so, people were stunned.

“You’re living in the bush. You’ve got your curtains down. You’ve got the air conditioning going. You’re probably watching football on the [television],” Warrington said. “Th e fi rst thing you hear about as the thing fl ashes across the screen is, ‘Th ere’s a fi re in your community.’ You’ll open the window and the fi re is literally at your back door.”

Th e “stay or go” policy has drawn criticism. Harold Schaitberger wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 23 that “stay and defend is clearly a half-baked idea” because common citizens aren’t fi refi ghters. His article responded to news that California fi re chiefs were considering the tactic for the state. On Aug. 20 the San Jose Mercury News reported that the California Professional Firefi ghters dubbed the approach “stay and die.”

Th e Royal Commission’s interim report called for a re-examination of the policy’s messaging, and said citizens should more fully understand the risks of remaining at home.

Th e policy may not be as simple as its detrac-tors suggest. For starters, “prepare, stay and defend or leave early” is oft en shortened to “stay and defend,” “stay or go” or something similar.

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

The road out of Marysville, Victoria, to the east was completely overcome with fi re. No trees or structures survived.

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Th e word “prepare” is missing, so some feel its meaning has been compromised.

“Th e emphasis on preparation hasn’t gone through very strongly because there’s no point staying and defending if you haven’t done your preparation — and that’s not preparation on the day [of a fi re]. Th at’s well and truly beforehand,” said Gary Morgan, CEO of the Bushfi re Coop-erative Research Centre, which is assisting the Royal Commission’s research.

Th e key message is that residents in a bush-fi re-prone region should leave ahead of time, Warrington said. Th ey shouldn’t wait to leave until they see the fi re. “Only stay if you’ve prepared your home and if you’re physically capable of doing it. If you’re in a bloody wheelchair or you’re unstable, you quite clearly can’t stay,” he said.

But do even the able-bodied have that much nerve?

“‘Leave early’ and ‘stay and defend’ potentially gives folks a false sense of confi dence that they’re going to be able to deal with things,” Paulson said. “We’ve had people in the past who’ve said, ‘I’m going to stay in my house.’ And then at the last minute, when they see the fi re coming they want to leave.”

For years, the stay-or-go policy was in place for “regular” fi res. Th e Black Saturday fl ames were unheard of for civilians, let alone the profes-sionals. If fi refi ghters have trouble managing, it’s unclear what the public can really do.

“What do you do about the fi re that happens at 1:00 in the aft ernoon on Th ursday when people are at work? How do you deal with people who are entrenched and want to go back and protect their homes? ” Paulson asked.

In the July 11 article Let’s Not Th row Good Policy into the Fire, CFA Fire Captain John Schauble wrote that the stay-and-defend policy is rooted in practices of rural people who’ve dealt with fi res for generations and had to fi ght fi res to protect their property and livestock. In the past, staying at home in isolated areas was the main option for those who lived too far from fi refi ghters. Th ey stayed and defended because that was their only option.

Schauble supported the policy, but pondered how well it would apply in urban settings.

“I think that fi re is just too variable to be able to have any policy that is going to work all the time,” said U.S. Forest Service researcher Sarah McCaff rey.

She accepts Victoria’s policy, but said no approach should be a one-size-fi ts-all solution. Th e Victoria infernos were monsters. “It was a very fast-moving fi re. I certainly heard inter-views with people who couldn’t leave, but they knew how to stay. Th ey wanted to leave but they knew what to do, and so they actually managed to stay and survive,” she said.

Th e Royal Commission’s interim report said there should be more options than staying or going, and that “a person’s preferred option may not be possible and sometimes fails.”

“Th e more options you have, the better,” McCaff rey said. “Either ‘stay and defend is the

solution everywhere’ or ‘fast evacuation is the solution everywhere’ is problematic to me.”

As Australia continues its debate regarding the merits and application of stay or go, emer-gency managers around the world will be watching. Circumstances may change by July 2010, when the Royal Commission’s fi nal report is scheduled for release. But for now, the Victorian government is standing by its policy while admitting that bushfi res, like stay-or-go tactics, can be more complicated than they fi rst appear.

PREVENTION MUST BECOME BIGGER PART OF EQUATION

Back in California, Ventura County fi re professionals encourage residents to evacuate early if they know a fi re is coming. But since not all Californians comply, the county educates them about how to prepare their homes if they choose to stay before help arrives. Th e plan is called “Ready, Set, Go!”

Sound familiar?Ventura’s approach certainly sounds a lot like

Victoria’s. In fact, U.S. fi re offi cials were consid-ering the Australian approach in early 2009. Advocates felt that the public should know

“We know that a fi re will go so fast under certain conditions. Of course, when you’re working in conditions that you haven’t seen before, it’s very hard to predict what that fi re’s going to do.”— Steve Warrington, deputy chief offi cer, Country Fire Authority


COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGEAS GLOBAL WARMING brings extreme heat waves and rising temperatures, emergency managers must be aware of how the new climate may affect their communities. A National Wildlife Federation and Physicians for Social Responsibility report, More Extreme Heat Waves: Global Warming’s Wake Up Call, addresses how cities can proactively prepare for climate change.

“We are going to have more heat waves and more of these extremely hot days, and there are measures that we’ll need to do to adapt to those changes,” said Amanda Staudt, climate scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. “But the other important message is that we can make a difference in terms of how many hot days we have in the future by making good choices now about our global warming pollution.”

According to Staudt, steps that emergency managers and state and local governments can start taking to combat the effects of climate change include:

developing heat watch warning systems;personalized outreach to at-risk citizens, like going door to door to provide information about heat waves;establishing public cooling places;working with power companies to ensure that citizens’ power isn’t turned off during a heat wave due to nonpayment of bills; andproviding low-income residents with cooling assistance, like improving insulation in their homes.

She also suggested that cities start building more green space, like parks, and planting trees, which will reduce the urban heat island effect — meaning built-up areas are hotter than nearby rural areas.— Elaine Pittman

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what to do in case fi refi ghters couldn’t reach them in time.

County Fire Chief Bob Roper told the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 13, “We don’t have enough resources to put an engine at every house in harm’s way. We fi gure, if people are going to stay, maybe they can become part of the solution.”

Roper and likeminded professionals in Southern California were concerned about leaner budgets that will impede their ability to fi nance fi refi ghting. And they could become more overstretched as more people move into denser, fi re-prone communities.

Firefi ghters from seven Southern California districts met in fall 2008 to discuss adopting a preparedness approach similar to Australia’s. Th e preliminary discussions preceded the Victoria fi re and the ensuing re-examination of Australia’s fi re tactics. Some fi re districts, like Ventura County, decided to move forward, as Ready, Set, Go! demonstrates.

If money and resources become tighter as fi res become more frequent and dangerous, perhaps citizens and fi refi ghters need a more cooperative approach. Paulson thinks that

prevention and better warnings will become more prominent in time. “We’ve been more focused on the response portion of it, but I really think the prevention portion is going to become a bigger key,” he said.

Th at would mean focusing more on the reduction and removal of dry, combustible

materials near properties, known as fuel or vegetation management. Planners might also push for building structures with less combus-tible material or not building in certain areas.

“I think, from an urban-planning perspec-tive, the urban sprawl of a lot of cities — instead of redeveloping a section, they will just expand their borders and sprawl out to the interface,” Paulson said. “What they should be doing is urban renewal and infi ll.”

He also questioned why houses are being built in fi re-prone areas.

As super fi res come and go, communities will be asking these kinds of questions for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, citizens and fi refi ghters will have no choice but to get ready for the heat. Infernos wait for no one — even people who are ready for them. k

Australia’s Bushfi re Cooperative Research Centre researchers wanted to learn more about a house that was successfully defended by its owner amid the fi restorm in Strathewen, Victoria.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BURNFIRE COOPERATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE

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“We’ve had people in the past who’ve said, ‘I’m going to stay in my house.’ And then at the last minute, when they see the fi re coming they want to leave.”— Lou Paulson, fi re captain, Contra Costa County Fire District; president, California Professional Firefi ghters


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edge

Dr. Karen Cieslewicz: It’s not often a professional with a doctorate returns to school to earn a master’s degree, but for Dr. Karen Cieslewicz it was the right decision for her unique and multifaceted career path.

Dr. Cieslewicz is a subject matter expert consulting with federal agencies in all aspects of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, medical planning and implementation. Additionally, she serves as a compliance and training officer for the Baltimore County Department of Public Health, a surgeon and an adjunct faculty member to name a few of her many roles.

“Since high school, I wanted to be a doctor,” she explains, “I’ve always been interested in being a healer.” After serving in the U.S. Army and working for the Department of Defense, Dr. Cieslewicz earned her medical doctorate and later was working as research assistant in vascular surgery in Baltimore when 9/11 occurred. “I lost friends in the Pentagon and World Trade Center in New York,” she recalls. Since 9/11 and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, a new and changing era in emergency management and civil defense emerged and she wanted to be a part of it.

There wasn’t an exact blueprint at the time for a surgeon working alongside various fi rst responder organizations. So Dr. Cieslewicz blazed her own trail seeking a dual education in homeland security and emergency management. “I started researching educational programs at a time when emergency management was in its infancy and no other college had what American Public University (APU) off ered,” she says, “It’s what makes APU so unique.”

Dr. Cieslewicz required a program that was fl exible to her demanding professional schedule, which included trips over-seas for outside government training. “There were two things I looked at in universities — fl exible classroom environments and the quality of instructors.“ Her expectations were exceeded at APU. “The instructors are not just about academics, they are practicing professional,” she says.

Teaching is part of Dr. Cieslewicz’s own professional respon-sibilities. She approaches her craft with the same vigor and support she received from her APU instructors. “I had instructors who challenged me to avoid the normal way of looking at things and to develop research that really pushed the envelope,” she says.

Alumni ProfileAPU Master’s Degree, Homeland Security Certifi cate in Emergency Management

American Public University and its sister university American Military University are both part of American

Public University System.

American Military University | American Public UniversityHomeland Security ProgramsEmergency & Disaster Management Programs(877)777-9081 | www.apus.edu

Alumni ProfileUNLV Executive Masterof Science DegreeIn Crises and Emergency Management ECEM

OverviewThe University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Department of Public Administration is off ering the Executive Master of Science Degree In Crises and Emergency Management (ECEM). As a result of national, state, and local experiences such as September 11, 2001, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the United States must come to grips with topics such as government responsibility and ac-countability, coordinated response and recovery, and citizen awareness and preparedness. UNLV recognizes the continuing need for experienced leaders who can provide direction for our nation in times of great challenge and it is proud to off er the ECEM degree which began in 2003.

This is the 2008 graduating class for ECEM which includes, Richard Wells (Director of GIS at City of Las Vegas), Jim Lopey (Deputy Sheriff of Washoe County), Marc Glasser (Federal Agent), Dustin Olson (Deputy Police Chief for UNLV), Christopher Sproule (Fire Fighter for City of Las Vegas), Stephen Gay (Engineer for North Las Vegas), Kim Ferguson (Director of Emergency Management at Nevada Energy), Monique Sanchez (Los Alamos Labs), Ernest Chambers (Las Vegas Metro), Elliot Jones (City of Las Vegas Fire Fighter) and one faculty member s (Dr. Paul Davis) and a guest lecturer (Dr Wade Ishimoto).

UNLV ECEM Program4505 Maryland ParkwayBox 456026Las Vegas, NV 89154(702)895-4828

http://urbanaff airs.unlv.edu/pubsadmin/



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Education Directory

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Emergency Management and Homeland Security Certificate Programs

Institution Contact Phone E-Mail

American University of Puerto Rico Rosabel Vazquez (787) 620-1032 [email protected]

Barton Community College Bill Nash (785) 238-8550 [email protected]

Blair College Don Collins (719) 574-1082

Bryman College San Jose North Alan Pruitt (408) 246-4171

Center for Homeland Defense & Security Office for Domestic Preparedness Kevin Saupp [email protected]

Columbus State Community College Tracy Lamar-Nickoli (614) 287-2681 [email protected]

Columbus State Community College J.R. Thomas (614) 287-2681 [email protected]

Community College of Denver Public Security Management John Belcastro (303) 556-2485 [email protected]

Corinthian Colleges Inc. Academic Affairs Daniel Byram (714) 427-3000 ext. 201 [email protected]

Cumberland County College Charles Kocher (856) 691-8600 ext. 277 [email protected]

Curry College Steve Belaief (617) 333-0500 [email protected]

Delgado Community College Patrick Cote (504) 361-6246 [email protected]

Fairleigh Dickinson University Off-Campus Credit Program Ronald Calissi (202) 692-6520 [email protected]

George Washington University Greg Shaw (202) 991-6736 [email protected]

Georgetown Public Policy Institute Virginia Anundsen (202) 687-2269 [email protected]

Georgetown Public Policy Institute Eugenia Pyntikova (202) 687-3422 [email protected]

Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs Kelly Brown (765) 455-9328 [email protected]

Iowa Central Community College Homeland Security Training Center Michael Burke (800) 362-2793 ext. 2226 [email protected]

John Jay College of Criminal Justice Julie O’Brien (212) 237-8433 [email protected]

Johns Hopkins University Steven David (410) 516-7530 [email protected]

Johns Hopkins University Dorothea Wolfson (202) 452-1123 [email protected]

John Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Thomas Mahnken (202) 663-5947 [email protected]

Kaplan College Frank Desena (866) 523-34737 ext. 7457 [email protected]

Lakeland Community College Fire Science & Emergency Management Department Lee Silvi (440) 525-7252 [email protected]

Lamar Institute of Technology Jim Doane (409) 880-8093 [email protected]

Long Island University at Riverhead Homeland Security Management Institute Vincent Henry (631) 287-8010 [email protected]

Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice Phillip Schertzing (517) 432-3156 [email protected]

Missouri State University Bernard McCarthy (417) 836-6679 [email protected]

Northern Virginia Community College Linda Malami (703) 257-6634 [email protected]

Ohio Dominican University Renee Aitken (614) 251-4761 [email protected]

Parks College Stuart Goldman (303) 745-6244

Penn State University Peter Forster (814) 863-8304 [email protected]


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00327

Visit www.tesc.eduor call (888) 442-8372.

Finish your degree. Anytime. Anywhere.

Sometimes people in your line of workdon’t get the credit they deserve.

- Bachelor of Science in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

- Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice

- Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security

- Master of Arts in Liberal Studies – Homeland Security

Earn credit for college-level knowledge you’ve gained through training:


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Education Directory

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Emergency Management and Homeland Security Certificate Programs

Institution Contact Phone E-Mail

For more information, please visit www.fema.gov.

Penn State Fayette’s Center for Community & Public Safety Ted Mellors (724) 430-4215 [email protected]

Pikes Peak Community College Lonnie Inzer (719) 502-3195 [email protected]

Purdue University School of Industrial Engineering Dennis Engi (765) 496-7757 [email protected]

Saint Louis University Institute of Biosecurity Larry Bommarito (314) 977-8135 [email protected]

Southwestern College Kevin Farlow (316) 684-5335 [email protected]

Southwestern College Kelley Krahn (888) 684-5335 ext. 124 [email protected]

Southwestern College Mike Packard (316) 684-5335 [email protected]

Southwest Tennessee Community College Business Department Tracy DeWitt (901) 833-8973 [email protected]

Tulane University School of Continuing Studies Keith Amacker (504) 247-1662 [email protected]

University of Central Florida Naim Kapucu (407) 823-6096 [email protected]

University of Cincinnati/Clermont College Head Criminal Justice Program Ed Bridgeman (513) 732-5251 [email protected]

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Debbie Sagen (719) 262-3357 [email protected]

University of Denver Graduate School of International Studies David Goldfischer (303) 871-2564 [email protected]

University of Findlay School of Environmental & Emergency Management Harold Huffman (419) 434-5814 [email protected]

University of Massachusetts Lowell Kim Downey (978) 734-2143

University of Massachusetts Lowell David Hirschel (978) 934-4106 [email protected]

University of Massachusetts Lowell Cathy Kendrick (978) 934-2495 [email protected]

University of New Haven Thomas Johnson (203) 932-7260 [email protected]

University of New Haven John Tippit (650) 787-9684 [email protected]

University of South Florida Sally Szydlo (813) 974-3783 [email protected]

University of Southern California Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering Evelyn Felina (213) 740-7549 [email protected]

University of Tennessee Center for Homeland Security & Counterproliferation Macel Ely II (865) 740-1748 [email protected]

Virginia Commonwealth University John Aughenbaugh (804) 828-8098 [email protected]


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Enroll now. Call 800-888-UMUC

or visit umuc.edu/standup

Copyright © 2009 University of Maryland University College

UMUC

EMERGENCYMANAGEMENT

Preventing and responding to disasters. Preparing for acts of terrorism. Government and private employers are creating thousands of jobs for managers with these critical skills. Be ready with a bachelor’s degree in emergency management from University of Maryland University College (UMUC). You’ll learn the leadership and analytical skills employers want for managers who need to make split-second decisions.

AN URGENT NEED.

IMMEDIATE OPPORTUNITIES.

preparation and response plans

crisis management and disaster response

monthly payment plan available


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Master’s Degree Programs

Institution Program Contact Phone E-Mail

Adelphi University Emergency Management Programs Richard Rotanze (516) 877-4572 [email protected]

Arkansas Tech University Emergency Administration and Management Ed Leachman (479) 964-0536 [email protected]

American Public University Emergency and Disaster Management Chris Reynolds (877) 777-9081 [email protected] Military University

California State University Professional Studies Department Anthony Argott (888) 999-9935 [email protected] Beach

Eastern Kentucky University Master of Science in Safety, Security & Emergency Management Elizabeth Ballou (859) 622-8325 [email protected]

Eastern Michigan University Department of Interdisciplinary Technology Gerald Lawver (734) 487-3170 [email protected]

Elmira College Master of Science in Emergency Preparedness Angela Wood (607) 735-1825 [email protected]

Florida Atlantic University Crisis & Emergency Management Master of Mantha Mehallis (561) 297-0052 [email protected] Business Administration Program

Florida State University Florida Public Affairs Center and the Center for Disaster Risk Policy Janet D. Dilling (850) 644-9961 [email protected]

George Washington University Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management Gregory L. Shaw (202) 994-6736 [email protected]

Georgia State University Master of Public Administration with a William L. Waugh Jr. (404) 651-4592 [email protected] Concentration in Emergency Management

Jacksonville State University Institute for Emergency Preparedness Barry Cox (800) 231-5291 [email protected]

John Jay College, City Master’s Degree Concentration in Emergency Management Norman Groner (212) 237-8865 [email protected] of New York

Lynn University Master of Science in Administration/Specialization in Ernest G. Vendrell (561) 237-7146 [email protected] Emergency Planning

Louisiana State University Disaster Science and Management John C. Pine (225) 578-1075 [email protected]

Loma Linda University Emergency Preparedness and Response Program Ehren Ngo (909) 558-8519 [email protected]

Massachusetts Maritime Emergency Management and Facilities Management Alfred Towle (508) 830-5098 [email protected]

Metropolitan College of New York Emergency & Disaster Management School of Public David Longshore (646) 243-7608 [email protected] Affairs & Administration

Millersville University Master’s Degree in Emergency Management Henry W. Fischer (717) 872-3568 [email protected] of Pennsylvania

National University Master of Science in Homeland Security and Safety Engineering Dr. Shekar Viswanathan (858) 309-3416 [email protected]

New Jersey Institute of Information Systems Department Michael Chumer (973) 596-5484 [email protected]

New York Medical College, Graduate Certificate in Emergency Preparedness Michael Reilly (914) 594-4919 [email protected] School of Public Health

North Dakota State University Master’s Degree in Emergency Management Daniel Klenow (701) 231-8925 [email protected]

Northcentral University Graduate Degree Programs with Homeland Security Specialization Francisco C. Lopez (877) 756-0839 [email protected]

Norwich University Master of Science in Business Continuity Management, Online John Orlando (802) 485-2729 [email protected]

Oklahoma State University Master of Science in Fire and Emergency Management Administration Anthony Brown (405) 744-5606 [email protected]

Education Directory

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AMU offers respected online degree programs designed for students who want to

advance their career. Our Emergency and Disaster Management and Fire Science

programs are among 3 of 76 online degree porgrams for those who wish to serve,

learn and lead in their professions.

Serve. Learn. Lead.

amuonline.com | 877.777.9081AMU is a member of the regionally accredited American Public University System (APUS).

2009 International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Recipient:

• Academic Recognition Award, Emergency & Disaster Mgmt. Program.

• Student Council Chapter of the Year, APUS’ International Association of Emergency Managers Student Association (IEMSA).


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Master’s Degree Programs

Institution Program Contact Phone E-Mail

Education Directory

38

For more information, please visit www.fema.gov.

Olivet Nazarene University Master of Science in Nursing Degree: Emergency Linda Davison (815) 939-5340 [email protected] Preparedness Disaster Readiness Track

Park University Disaster and Emergency Management Concentration Laurie N. DiPadova-Stocks (816) 421-1125 [email protected] within the Master of Public Affairs Degree

Saint Leo University Criminal Justice Rande Matteson (352) 588-8848 [email protected]

Saint Louis University Master of Science in Biosecurity and Disaster Preparedness Larry Bommarito (314) 977-8135 [email protected]

Saint Xavier University Graduate Certificate in Disaster Preparedness and Management James C. Hagen (708) 802-6220 [email protected]

Texas A&M University Graduate Certificate in Environmental Hazard Management Michael K. Lindell (979) 862-3969 [email protected]

University of Chicago Master of Science in Threat and Response Management Marsha Hawk (773) 702-0460 [email protected]

University of Colorado at Denver Emergency Management and Homeland Security Lloyd Burton (303) 315-2482 [email protected]

University of Connecticut Masters of Professional Studies In Homeland Security Donna Lee Campbell (860) 486-0184 [email protected]

University of Delaware Master of Environmental and Energy Policy and Young-Doo Wang (302) 831-8405 [email protected] Ph.D. in Environmental and Energy Policy

University of Florida Master of Science in Fire and Emergency Services Barbara Klingensmith (352) 369-2800 [email protected]

University of Nevada at Executive Master of Science in Crisis and Emergency Christine G. Springer (702) 895-4835 [email protected] Las Vegas Management Program

University of New Orleans Master of Public Administration with Hazard Policy Track John J. Kiefer (504) 280-6457 [email protected]

University of North Carolina Master of Science in Disaster Management Jim Porto (919) 966-7354 [email protected] Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina Master of Public Administration with Emergency James W. Douglas (704) 687-4532 [email protected] Charlotte Management Concentration

University of North Carolina Emergency Management Master of Public Administation Concentration Nicholas Giannatasio (910) 521-6531 [email protected] Pembroke

University of North Texas Master of Public Administration with Bob Bland (940) 565-2165 [email protected] Specialization in Emergency Administration and Planning

University of Richmond Master of Disaster Science Degree, Online (Thesis Track) Leigh Anne Giblin (804) 287-6897 [email protected]

University of South Florida, Graduate Certificate in Disaster Management Wayne Westhoff (813) 974-6621 [email protected] of Public Health

University of Tennessee, Knoxville Emergency Management within Master’s Degree in Safety Susan M. Smith (865) 974-1108 [email protected]

University of Washington Institute for Hazard Mitigation Planning and Research Bob Freitag (206) 818-1175 [email protected]

Virginia Commonwealth University Master of Arts and Graduate Certificate in Homeland John Aughenbaugh (804) 828-8098 [email protected] Security and Emergency Preparedness

Virginia Commonwealth University Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security Gregory L. Shaw (804) 827-0879 [email protected] and Emergency Preparedness


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Protect Your Homeland.Become Certified in Homeland Security, CHS® today.

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text for UNLV ad in EM Sept.indd 1 9/24/09 12:15:37 PM



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40

RECOVERYSTARTS N



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EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT EXPERTS SAY LONG-TERM RECOVERY GETS TOO LITTLE ATTENTION, BUT SHOULD BE A CRITICAL COMPONENT OF PREVENTION.


It seems obvious that communities hit by disasters are doomed to repeat history if

they don’t recover in ways meant to antici-pate similar events in the future. However, many emergency management experts are concerned that long-term recovery isn’t receiving the attention it needs.

Th e crux of the problem is a lack of coor-dination between the players contributing to long-term recovery.

Federal, state, nonprofi t and volunteer groups tend to respond to emergencies independently, oft en rebuilding the same vulnerabilities that compounded the disas-ter in the fi rst place. Public empathy and zeal to rebuild oft en propel well intended recovery eff orts without those involved knowing relevant regulations, according to Gavin Smith, executive director of the Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. States tend to be sluggish about communicating that data to recovery groups, oft en doing so aft er eff orts are near completion. In some cases, federal funding that could have helped recovery becomes available long aft er proj-ects have started.

A N D Y O P S A H L » F E A T U R E S E D I T O R

NOWEM11_40.indd 41EM11_40.indd 41 12/9/09 2:28:02 PM12/9/09 2:28:02 PM


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It seems that society’s natural inclination is to fi nd a uniform approach for all communi-ties to make long-term recovery improvements. However, most experts warn that’s a foolish expectation, given the diversity of needs and resources in local areas. Emergency manage-ment offi cials and analysts can off er examples of what works, but most agree that the real answers are within each community.

UNIFORM COORDINATION MYTHMost agree that more coordination between

the diff erent players in a recovery is essential for eff ective long-term eff orts. However, Smith said it’s unrealistic for federal or state planners to mandate uniformly who the coordinating organization should be. Th is lack of uniformity can be maddening for government planners, especially at the federal level, due to the logistics involved in disbursing funds. Pronouncing that recovery funds will always go to “agency X” is simpler to administrate.

“In diff erent communities, diff erent players take on the collaborative leadership role,” Smith said. “It could be a neighborhood association. It could be local government. It could be a member of the private sector. I’m suggesting the

federal, state and local governments’ role can be to provide education and outreach training for teams at the local level — not necessarily dictate recovery, but help them build their capacity.”

Smith said he’d like to see a new federal recovery act that mandates federal or state agen-cies to coach individual communities in iden-tifying who their recovery players and leaders are. Th at lead player would interact with federal and state agencies regarding funding. Smith also wants to see this act earmark funding for long-term preventive recovery activities, espe-cially training.

“Th ere has been post-Katrina legislation. At least on its face, it’s trying to address some of these issues, but it’s hard to tell how eff ective that is,” Smith said. “Th e federal government tends to spend the bulk of its time dealing with the postdisaster aft ermath, rather than investing in pre-event planning for postdisaster recovery or investing in capacity-building.”

Once that coordination happens, state and federal agencies need to be ready to update the recovery groups on relevant regulations immediately aft er a disaster strikes, said Nancy Dragani, executive director of the Ohio Emer-gency Management Agency.

“You can’t wait anymore. You can’t even wait until day three or four,” Dragani said. “When the water is still up, you need to begin communicating with the constituents and volunteer groups.”

“Recovery starts the minute the response to an event occurs,” said John S. Fernandes, administrator of the Los Angeles County Offi ce of Emergency Management.

His agency is widely viewed as having a well organized long-term recovery coordination for mudslides. Mudslides in Southern California typically result from wildfi res eliminating the vegetation that would normally contain that mud during rainstorms. While the fi res are still burning, Los Angles County begins setting up incident management centers devoted to the mudslides anticipated to result months later.

“We establish teams to assess the fi re damage areas and look at the weather pattern trends in respect to what to expect in terms of rainfall,” explained Fernandes.

Based on that analysis, the incident manage-ment team conducts a public outreach campaign advising citizens on what to expect and where to go for assistance. Th e team also uses the data to plan where to set up temporary shelters.

Smith said there’s a common misconception that nonprofi ts can do no wrong during disasters.

“Th ey cut through the red tape. Th ey may assist individuals more quickly than the federal government. Th ey may, for example, repair their house shortly aft er the storm, whereas it might take months, and in some cases years, to get federal assistance,” Smith explained. “Th ey’re well intentioned eff orts, but oft entimes nonprofi ts rebuild the damaged homes to their previous conditions in areas that just received storm surges or fl ooding. Th ey’re in essence setting the stage for the next disaster.”

Ohio recently learned that the hard way aft er a local fl ood. Th e state waited several days before advising volunteers on the new base-fl ood elevation rules and requirements for “substantially damaged” homes.

“Th ere was intense motivation to rebuild very quickly — to build within one or two days. By day fi ve, our fl ood plain managers got in and said, ‘Wait a minute, you have substantially damaged homes, which fall under diff erent criteria for rebuilding,’” Dragani said. “People were already halfway through a rebuild. Th ey didn’t want to hear it at that point. I wouldn’t have wanted to hear it at that point.”

PHOTO PROVIDED BY DIANNA GEE/FEMA

FEMA Hazard Mitigation Specialist Larry Ruffi n (right) and Field Inspector Bruce Figoli (left) discuss rebuilding options with disaster survivor Dan Haley in March 2008 after a hurricane in Cynthiana, Ky. Haley planned to rebuild using mitigation techniques for greater resistance to high winds.



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REALISTIC PRECAUTIONSIt’s also important to promote a culture of real-

istic expectations regarding long-term recovery, said Claire B. Rubin, emergency management adviser and president of Claire B. Rubin and Associates. Th ere’s no such thing as foolproof long-term recovery because disasters behave diff erently each time they strike.

As important as it is to have a thorough long-term recovery plan, communities should be mindful of the limitations Mother Nature imposes on any prevention strategy, said Rubin. She warned that even areas with mature, well thought-out recovery plans can be caught ill-equipped. She pointed to several hurricanes that hit Corpus Christi, Texas, during a span of time when the city had the same disaster offi cials.

“Th ere was that hard-earned experience, and yet the characteristics of at least two of the hurri-canes — 10 years apart — were entirely diff erent. One pushed water in, and salt water pushed up into fresh water streams and caused a serious problem. Th e subsequent hurricane, because of the way it hit, sucked water out and left boats pulled out and then thrown back on the shore,” said Rubin. “I was absolutely struck that even if you knew Corpus Christi was going to get hit, even if you had the same public offi cials in place with prior knowledge, the characteristics of the hit could be diff erent, even though it was the same disaster agent — a hurricane.”

She recalled a situation in earthquake-prone Marin County, Calif., where meticulous long-term recovery had only a limited benefi t. She described the county’s zealous disaster recovery offi cial.

“He had run everybody through all kinds of emergency drills and practices. Th ey were really kind of sick and tired of him. Th en they experi-enced a disaster, but it wasn’t an earthquake. It turned out to be extreme storms and then land-slides, all of which were related to earthquakes. Th ey have unstable soil, so they were relatively well prepared, but not for the disaster that actu-ally hit them,” Rubin said.

She remarked that communities could reach a general level of useful long-term prevention, but more research is needed fi rst.

“Th e thing about a really comprehensive recovery strategy framework and plan is that it would involve multiple federal agencies. Th at hasn’t been tackled yet. Th is is not anything that’s going to resolve very easily. It’s going to require a really major study,” Rubin said, later adding, “If I were in a major job at FEMA or the DHS, I would convene an expert panel at the National Academy of Public Administra-tion or the National Academy of Sciences. You need multiple disciplines and multiple agencies’ perspectives.”

Ohio’s Dragani has a few suggestions for such a plan. She said recovery operations typically lack strategies for ensuring that small businesses

can provide the services demanded of them aft er emergencies.

“It’s a chicken-and-the-egg kind of thing. People are challenged in moving back into a community that’s devastated until the busi-nesses are there to support them, yet the busi-nesses can’t survive until the people are there to purchase those goods and services,” Dragani explained. “Understanding how the economic impact on small business aff ects long-term recovery and being able to tie them into any long-term recovery plan should be one of the top three priorities.”

She also pointed out that rebuilding public buildings should refl ect the inevitable popula-tion shift s that result from natural disasters. For example, imagine a hurricane devastated an area with a 12,000-student school. Th e rate of people moving out of the area might dictate that only an 8,000-student school need be rebuilt.

FAILING THE FEDERAL THRESHOLD

One challenge of the long-term recovery discussion oft en ignored is when disasters fail to qualify for receiving federal disaster declara-tions. Not reaching that threshold sharply limits the amount of federal assistance communities can get for long-term recovery.

“If you aggregate all smaller events that are never declared federal disasters, they exceed the total damages of those events that are declared,” Smith said.

Dragani said states should establish programs that mirror those off ered by FEMA, but with lower eligibility thresholds.

“In Ohio, we have an individual assistance program that the governor can activate at his or her discretion. Th e only threshold is that we have to have a Small Business Administration disaster-type of situation, which is far easier to get than a threshold for a federal disaster,” Dragani said.

She added that states could put special eff ort into organizing the appropriate volunteers in diff erent communities. Dragani recommended that states collaborate with the National Volun-tary Organizations Active in Disaster group. She warned of the citizen backlash that can happen without contingency plans for not meeting the federal threshold.

“If I live in a community and we have 15 homes that are destroyed, and one of those homes is mine, I don’t really care about the federal threshold. It was a disaster for me.” k

This house is being rebuilt as debris from a tornado still covers the ground. Homes should not be rebuilt to previous conditions but to withstand the next disaster.

PHOT

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EMA

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46

Th rough a partnership with a philanthropic organization and a private company, the Santa Barbara County, Calif., Offi ce of Emergency Services (OES) has improved its disaster preparedness and response initiatives to ensure that offi cials can communicate with residents when power, landline phones, cell phones and the Internet are down.

Th e genesis of the improvements was a Santa Barbara Civil Grand Jury report released in 2006 that identifi ed gaps in community preparedness

and recommended that the OES become a stand-alone government department. Shortly thereaft er, the Orfalea Foundations, a Santa Barbara-based philanthropic organization that includes the Orfalea Fund and Orfalea Family Foundation, took interest in resolving the county’sissues. Natalie Orfalea, the wife of Kinko’s copying and printing founder Paul Orfalea, noticed the foundation was receiving requests related to emergency preparedness programs. Th ose requests, and the Orfaleas’ desire to help

the community, prompted her to approach the county and James Lee Witt Associates.

Together, they established the Aware & Prepare Initiative, a public-private partnership that aids the community’s disaster preparedness and response capabilities.

“Th e idea from Orfalea was we get everybody together in the same room and work together as much as possible in a strategic way, rather than having our various agencies and resources go to individual funders and end up not working in a

Community TiesSanta Barbara County, Calif., moves disaster planning and coordination forward by teaming with a charity and a private company.

In November 2008, more than 200 homes in Santa Barbara were destroyed by a rapidly moving wildfi re that originated from the remains of a day-old bonfi re.

B Y E L A I N E P I T T M A N I A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MANCINO/FEMA



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47

coordinated manner,” said Michael Harris, the OES emergency operations chief.

Removing the OES from the fi re department was one of the fi rst changes made in response to the Civil Grand Jury report. “[Michael] Brown, the county executive offi cer, moved OES within the County Executive Offi ce and brought me in to work with the staff to put some strategic direction to the department, add some forward movement and address some things that needed improvement,” Harris said.

When the partnership began in 2007, the OES shortly before had been made a stand-alone department, according to Barbara Andersen, the Aware & Prepare consultant for the Orfalea Foundations. “When we started the initiative a couple years ago, there was a need for leadership when it came to emergency preparedness and emergency services in Santa Barbara County,” she said, later adding, “Mike Harris had just come on, so it was really ripe for someone to take the initiative and help the community move forward.”

Harris said the partnership’s predominant focus has been emergency preparedness and infrastructure, centered on Voluntary Organiza-tions Active in Disaster, also known as VOADs. “[Th e VOADs] bring together nongovernmental agencies in partnership with our department to look at the capability around disaster recovery and response,” he said. If a major disaster hits locally, they’re coordinated to work together.

For example, VOADs include food banks, nonprofi t agencies that distribute clothing to the needy, and nonprofi ts that aid fi nancial recovery. “You have organizations and agencies that day in and day out provide a service to your commu-nity,” Harris said. “Th e question is: During an emergency, how do you work with them? Th at requires up-front planning, discussion and organization.”

Constant CommunicationOne initiative that evolved from the part-

nership was the Radio Ready program, which ensures that offi cials can communicate with the community during an emergency even if power, phones, cell phones and the Internet are inop-erable. Harris said a group of concerned citi-zens approached the county with the idea, and those citizens worked with the public-private partnership to add satellite communication equipment to the county’s infrastructure. Th ey



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48

also distributed hand-crank radios to citizens. Th e satellite communication equipment was installed in the county’s two emergency opera-tions centers, multiple radio stations and a duty offi cer vehicle.

“We serve all of Santa Barbara County, which is 2,700 square miles. It would be impractical to have a county radio station, so we have this partnership with local media, including radio stations that have generators,” Harris said. “We now have satellite links with those radio station control rooms to help us broadcast emergency information to the community.”

Since the partnership was established, there have been fi ve major incidents in the county that demonstrated the importance of disseminating public information, Andersen said. “Especially during the Gap Fire [in July 2008] there were a lot of intermittent fi re outages, and a lot of people didn’t know to have a hand-crank radio or battery-operated radio on hand to get the infor-mation they so desperately needed,” she said.

She added that the participating citizens had researched what equipment the county needed for satellite communications and how to coordi-nate the equipment’s installation. Th e citizens also worked with the OES to establish relationships with the radio stations and educated the public about the importance of having backup radios.

Moving ForwardTh e partnership began with an initial commit-

ment from the Orfalea Foundations for three years, Andersen said. When the partnership ends at the end of 2010, the foundation will begin a two-year phaseout.

Harris’ advice for local emergency agencies that are interested in partnering with private-sector and nonprofi t organizations is to clearly identify goals, like the seven priority themes

identifi ed for the Aware & Prepare Initiative. “Even if you don’t have an Orfalea Fund or Foun-dation in your neighborhood or community, you can still work with your community to identify the directions that you want to go and the things that are worth following up on,” he said. “Th is creates a sense of community and direction, and when people feel like there’s some ownership, they’re more likely to participate.”

Andersen said the greatest lesson the founda-tion learned is that it takes a lot of eff ort, time and trust to build a partnership. “I think local government really needs to realize that [nongov-ernmental organizations], the philanthropic community, local foundations and even philan-thropic individuals are really an asset to them,” she said. k

“I think local government really needs to realize that [nongovernmental organizations], the philanthropic community, local foundations and even philanthropic individuals are really an asset to them.”— Barbara Andersen, Aware & Prepare Initiative consultant, Orfalea Foundations

“We now have satellite links with those radio station control rooms to help us broadcast emergency information to the community.”— Michael Harris, emergency operations chief, Santa Barbara County, Calif.

Aware & Prepare’s 7 Priorities

The Santa Barbara County, Calif., Offi ce of Emergency Services, the Orfalea Fund and James Lee Witt Associates worked together to determine priority themes and funding areas for improving emergency preparedness. The themes were based on what the partners saw as the priority areas for the county’s operational area, said Michael Harris, the emergency operations chief of the Offi ce of Emergency Services. The seven priorities were:

1. public education and awareness — establish strategies to help prepare the public for emergencies;

2. coordination and communication — develop relationships between the local government and private and nonprofi t organizations;

3. preparedness — develop an inclusive planning process and target the community via training and exercise programs;

4. emergency public information — develop strategies and capabilities to warn the public about a disaster;

5. resources and personnel — develop caches of disaster supplies, and know what skills individuals and organizations can contribute;

6. authority and management — understand the capabilities of emergency leadership to provide command, control and coordination of disaster response activities; and

7. Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster

(VOAD) — develop a VOAD group, which is composed of nongovernmental agencies that partner with the local government to aid disaster preparedness and response.

In October 2007, wildfi res burned more than 500,000 acres from

Santa Barbara County to the U.S.-Mexico border.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREA BOOHER/FEMA



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50

The combination of funding contained in the American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Act of 2009 and fi scal 2009 and 2010

budget appropriations eventually will provide a special surprise package for public safety and emergency management agencies.

But it will also provide a good measure of chaos — and possibly abuse — as state and local governments try to spend billions of dollars in a short time frame.

Aft er cutting $157 million from the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program for fi scal 2008 appropriations (a 67 percent reduc-tion from the previous year), Congress decided to restore the program’s funding to more than $550 million for fi scal 2009 and moved along appropriations for fi scal 2010 (which started in October) without any cuts.

Th en came the Recovery Act — the stimulus. It gives states $2 billion alone in JAG block grants, plus $1 billion from the Community Oriented Policing Services program, and another $1 billion for discretionary and related grants.

Th e result is that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will have had more than $4 billion in grants to award within a 12-month period. Th is is roughly 20 times what was previously available. Th e Bureau of Justice Assistance estimates that it will need to process about 7,000 grant applica-tions, about four times more than in 2008.

Th e U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) won’t have as much of an adjustment because it had been getting higher levels of

funding than the DOJ before the Recovery Act. Th e DHS got a comparable amount as the DOJ from the stimulus act — $3.2 billion to hand out on top of the normal fi scal year appropriations.

Understaff ed and OverworkedHandling the entire life cycle of grant

processing for this funding is a signifi cant chal-lenge for DOJ and DHS staff s. But there’s an even greater level of complexity for the state agency administrators who are involved in distributing both the DOJ and DHS block grant funding. Th ese state offi ces generally are understaff ed and overworked in normal times, and handling this increased workload will stress them all.

Even at the federal level, cracks are begin-ning to be noticed. In a report issued in June, the DHS Offi ce of Inspector General concluded that:

“Th e department has put a great deal of eff ort into improving its processes and controls over awarding, managing and monitoring contract and grant funds, but it still needs to do more. Th e department should address the risks of a shortage of trained contracting personnel, such as contracting offi cers, contracting offi cer technical representatives and project managers, as well as a shortage of trained grants manage-ment personnel. Th e department also needs to continue to improve its oversight of the grants it awards to state and local recipients. Finally the department needs to identify prudent measures to track the Recovery Act funds while simulta-

neously working to complete its remediation of material weaknesses in its fi nancial manage-ment systems and processes.” It only takes a few minutes browsing on

Recovery.gov to see that the money isn’t moving to the distribution levels as anticipated. As of mid-August, the funding available for the DOJ, as reported by the agency recovery sites, showed that just $970,000 of approximately $3.3 million available had been paid out; and of $861,545 from the DHS, only $99,815 had been paid out. Looking across the states and the federal agency programs, those payout fi gures hover around 10 percent of the available funding.

Federal authorities also recognize that the challenges brought on by distributing so much money so quickly can lead to fraud and abuse. Th e DOJ’s Antitrust Division has launched an initiative to train government offi cials and contractors to recognize and report illegal profi -teering from stimulus projects.

According to its inspector general, the Social Security Administration has received reports of fraudulent e-mails that link to what appears to be the agency’s offi cial Web site, instructing indi-viduals to submit personal information to receive their $250 one-time economic recovery payments.

Mistakes ExpectedIt’s likely that mistakes will be made, but prob-

ably many of them will be unintentional as state and local agencies rush to spend this funding. One of the chief deterrents to intentional abuse,

States and locals will have to quickly fi nd ways to spend stimulus cash.

A Recipe for Chaos B Y P A U L W O R M E L I



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This free first-of-its-kind online training covers the development and maintenance of collaborative planning relationships, the sharing and tracking of information, patients, and resources, and examples of disaster preparedness and response via a large scenario case study.

Each of the four course modules will be approximately one hour in length and feature pre-filmed streaming video with synchronized transcript and slides. Additional materials will be available for download. Each participant will also be placed into a state-specific virtual community to foster increased collaboration.

This training will be available nationwide in early 2010. There will also be live Q&A sessions for each state, featuring a panel of subject matter experts from within each state who will address state-specific implementation of general ideas presented.

For more information, visit http://www.tinyurl.com/acep-cdp. For questions, contact Linda Becker at [email protected].

Photo credit: FEMA/Greg Henshall.

Building Collaborative Disaster Planning Processes Between Hospitals and

Emergency Management

Available in early 2010!

This program is supported by Cooperative Agreement Number 2007-GT-T7-K020, administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA. Points of view or opinions in this program are those of the author(s) and do not represent the position or policies of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA.



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52

in the minds of many proponents, is the require-ment to report the expenditures in detail and show the actual outcome related to saving or creating jobs. Th e reporting requirements are much more complete than any previously attempted grant-management process.

Concerns about possible abuse, as well as the reporting requirements, are slowing the funding distribution; the real workload of handling so many grants also is a factor. So agencies that still have projects in mind aren’t yet out of luck in seeking funding. Th e state agency administra-tors for both the DOJ and DHS funding should become your best friend if you are seeking funding or advice on how to do so. As over-worked as they are, these staff s have been fully briefed on the possibilities, are endeavoring to apply them in each state and will comply with the reporting requirement. Progress also has been made in using Grants.gov to announce grant programs for multiple agencies, and most individual agencies also have program guidelines and grant program potentials (e.g., www.ojp.usdoj.gov/funding/solicitations.htm and www.homelandsecurityfunding.info).

While funding will continue through the 2010 calendar — including year two of the Recovery Act funding — there will also be new fi scal year funding that continues to support improvements in public safety and emergency management. So this is not just a fl ash in the pan.

Indications from numerous of state agency administrators are that IT projects are likely pros-pects for Recovery Act funding. In many cases, agencies have had plans to modernize their IT infrastructure that have been on hold during the fi nancial crisis that states in particular have found themselves. Th e federal funds can permit important infrastructure improvements to move forward, oft en with money saving and job producing consequences. k

States Total State Fiscal Stabilization

Funds

Total Government

Services Dollars

Percentage for Public

Safety

Total Public Safety Dollars

California $5,960,267,431 $1,084,768,672 100% $1,084,768,672

Pennsylvania $1,905,620,952 $346,823,013 100% $346,823,013

Georgia $1,541,319,187 $280,520,092 100% $280,520,092

North Carolina $1,420,454,235 $258,522,671 100% $258,522,671

Washington $1,002,380,010 $182,433,162 100% $182,433,162

Alabama $596,355,871 $108,536,769 89.4% $97,031,871

Kentucky $532,798,000 $66,870,956 100% $96,969,236

South Carolina $597,741,302 $103,328,917 73% $75,430,109

Maryland $719,676,984 $130,981,211 57% $74,659,290

Kansas $367,422,833 $66,870,956 100% $66,870,956

Wisconsin $876,940,096 $159,603,097 40% $63,841,239

Tennessee $755,135,000 $141,074,570 33% $47,006,047

Nebraska $235,589,279 $42,877,249 100% $42,877,249

Ohio $1,463,709,963 $266,395,213 12% $31,168,240

Minnesota $667,888,000 $121,555,616 25.6% $31,118,238

Rhode Island $164,929,269 $30,017,127 100% $30,017,127

South Dakota $127,497,174 $23,204,486 100% $23,204,486

Massachusetts $994,258,205 $180,954,993 11% $19,905,049

Wyoming $67,620,000 $12,306,840 100% $12,306,840

Iowa $386,373,745 $70,320,022 17.4% $12,235,684

Arkansas $363,053,019 $66,075,649 10% $6,607,565

Oklahoma $472,821,000 $86,053,422 5.9% $5,068,547

Indiana $823,661,000 $149,906,302 3% $4,092,442

Vermont $77,150,000 $14,041,300 26% $3,650,738

Idaho $246,576,628 $44,876,946 6.7% $3,006,755

Montana $148,689,792 $27,061,542 10% $2,706,154

Virginia $1,202,770,052 $218,904,149 1.2% $2,626,850

North Dakota $85,644,337 $15,587,269 6.6% $1,028.760

Grand Total $23,794,343,364 $4,300,472,212 $2,906,497,081

Median $582,048,587 $105,932,843 65% $31,143,239

$2.9 billion of Recovery Act state stabilization funds have been allocated to public safety (through the Government Services Fund).Seventy-four percent of the total is being spent in fi ve states: California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Washington.Eleven states are spending 100 percent of their Government Services Funds on public safety.

•

•

•

Conclusions

Sour

ce: G

alai

n So

lutio

ns

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, passed in February, contained a $48.6 billion appropriation for Department of Education allocations to state governors. This money, disbursed according to population statistics and dubbed the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), is designed to “advance essential education reforms to benefi t students from early learning through post-secondary education.”

Unknown to many, 18.2 percent of this money could be spent at the governor’s discretion (labeled the Government Services Fund) for a limited variety of things, including public safety initiatives. Some states chose not to allocate any money for public safety, while others chose to assign all discretionary dollars to safety-related programs.

The chart lists the 28 states allocating some portion of discretionary funds to public safety. It highlights the total SFSF dollars provided to the state, the total dollars associated with the Government Services Fund, the percentage of the Government Services Fund allocated to public safety, and the total public safety dollars this represents.

Following the States That Spent Stimulus Funds on Public Safety



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Th e suit is compliant with the National Fire Protection Association’s Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting (NFPA 1971). It also meets the standard’s optional chemical, biological and radiologi-cal particulate terrorism agent protection criteria. www.lionpsg.bz

Safe QuartersTh e Rapid Deployment Shelter System

is a rigid wall structure that was developed by the Y-12 National Security Complex at the U.S. Army’s request and manufactured by Adaptive Methods. Th e shelter unfolds from a 20-foot standard shipping container into a 400-square-foot refuge at the touch of a button. It can be deployed by one per-son in less than two minutes. When the unit is no longer needed, it returns to the ship-ping container to be transported. It can be reconfi gured for a variety of applications including fi rst responder or family housing, barracks, offi ces, medical triage and com-mand, control and communications centers. www.adaptivemethods.com

Products

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Map MakerDepiction mapping soft ware allows emergency managers to build, use and present

custom, interactive maps and simulations. By combining geography, data and other information with what-if possibilities, emergency managers can garner views into possible situations. Educators are also using the soft ware to enhance student learning with scenarios, and fi rst responders can use it as a training tool.

Depiction lets users make living maps by merging personal and freely available data, and update their maps with live fi eld reports. Th e soft ware costs $89. www.depiction.com

Loud and ClearCommunication and realism are impor-

tant aspects of emergency training drills, and the Technomad Military PA System provides high-powered communications while the SuperConductor MP3 military player/recorder injects audio into the scene.

Th e PA system has a weatherproof design and features high-quality sound and long-distance output. Th e SuperConductor can automatically play fi les on a scheduled basis and also record live fi eld audio direct to MP3 format for immediate or future playback. http://military.technomad.com



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Eric’s Corner

Eric Holdeman is the former director of the King County, Wash., Offi ce of Emergency Manage-ment. His blog is located at www.disaster-zone.com.

Eric Holdemanby

56

Most of the time the aft er-action report that says “lessons learned,” actually means “lessons observed.” We read, we listen, perhaps we even experience the event, yet we don’t learn from others’ mistakes or from the ones we make ourselves.

As adults, we’re programmed to learn from other adults. It’s one reason that when you do training for adults you should allow time for small group discussion. Having an “expert” up front doing the instruction and sharing his or her knowledge pales in comparison to one peer looking another peer in the eye and say-ing, “Let me tell you what I did that I’ll never do again.” It’s at those moments we learn best when learning from one another.

I really believe in “institutional knowledge” when it comes to emergency management and disasters. Th e experience of going through a disaster is seared into one’s brain. When a mistake is made, there’s a long-term impression that’s indelibly fi xed on your memory. I’ll give you a great example.

When issuing a news release that provides a telephone con-tact number for the public, that number needs to be double-checked, even triple-checked before the news release is sent. I have been burned more than once.

During a large-scale power outage due to a huge windstorm, we provided a 1-800 number for the public to report damages. Someone transcribed it wrong, and it was some form of “adult” call line. Not the fi rst time a number was wrong in a news release, but there had been nothing like that before.

Later in the same disaster we had the great idea of putting up reader board signs along the heavily impacted areas, since people didn’t have power and couldn’t get radio and TV announcements for a phone number to call and report damage.

Road crews were wonderful about getting the reader board signs deployed and operational. But — you guessed it — the number on the signs was wrong. We made two mistakes in one disaster.

People rarely remember what they read or are trained on in preparation for a disaster. What they do remember is what they did for the last disaster exercise. Th is is why it’s very important that people do things correctly during a disaster exercise. If they follow a fl awed procedure, but they get away with it, not only has a lesson not been learned, a negative learning experience has been reinforced by “success.” Disaster exercises are the great learning laboratory. If you want to “learn lessons,” have a robust disaster exercise program.

People also forget how they do things during exercises and actual events. Not only does time heal all wounds, but it also makes people fail to remember how to operate in an Emergency Operations Center. If you’re only doing one functional exercise a year, it will be diffi cult for people to retain what they learn from one year to the next.

What are the lessons to be learned? Read, study and try to assimilate information from others’ experiences. But in most cases, these will be just lessons observed. Th e way to learn and remember the lesson is by doing and creating your own learning experiences. k

WWe learn from others by reading case studies, aft er-action reports, results of audits and investigations, and from personal experience. In the personal experience category, I favor learn-ing by participating in disaster exercises. Th ough successful exercises are good, it’s many times the failures that provide the real learning opportunities.

Lessons Observed, not Learned



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58

Don’t Ignore Needs of the Children

Last Word

In one of Craig Fugate’s earliest pub-lic comments as FEMA administrator, he acknowledged what those of us in the disaster relief community have been saying for years: Th e unique needs of children are too oft en ignored during disaster relief eff orts and we need to do much more to protect them. Th is was a powerful and promising embrace of change for an untenable situation.

From 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina to the California wildfi res, those of us in the child advocacy community or on the front lines of disasters have witnessed fi rsthand the devas-tating eff ects of a relief and recovery system that oft en has failed our children.

For example, children are rarely counted separately from adults in shelter facilities, making it diffi cult to provide services that meet their needs and keep them safe. Th ere is oft en a shortage of diapers, wipes and cribs — items essential to a baby’s well-being — and bathrooms are too oft en inaccessible or not closely monitored for safety and security.

In a new report from Save the Children’s U.S. Programs, Th e Disaster Decade: Lessons Unlearned for the United States, we surveyed the disaster preparedness requirements that are currently in place in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Specifi cally we looked to see if they met four basic standards for protecting children who are in schools or child-care facilities during disasters: plans for parent-child reunifi cation, evacuation measures, plans to accommodate children

with special needs and mul-tihazard disaster plans.

We found that just seven states have implemented all four of these minimal stan-dards. Th e lack of prepared-ness is astonishing when you consider that there are 67 million children in schools and child-care facilities on any given weekday.

Th ere are steps that can be taken now to protect our children. Save the Children is advocating a fi ve-point plan for positive change on this issue that includes tying fed-eral child-care and education dollars to the four basic criteria outlined in the report and

creating a “kids desk” at FEMA. We want to make child-care centers eligible for federal disaster aid for the fi rst time.

But we can all play a role in helping to make change. Emergency providers are among the most powerful and credible advo-cates on behalf of better disaster policy. So it’s crucial that the emergency management

community work closely with local child-care providers and regulators to ensure that they have basic plans in place to protect kids during disasters.

When it comes to robust and eff ective disaster relief, there is probably nothing

more important than eff ective and thorough planning by everyone — from families to governments. And with good planning, we can ensure that emergency providers are able to do what they do best: protect people. Now is the time to take action so that the next disaster response doesn’t become a disaster in its own right. k

Mark Shriver leads Save the Children’s domestic emergency response programs to ensure children’s needs are incorpo-rated into disaster preparedness, response and recovery plans.

Mark Shriverby

Th e lack of preparedness is astonishing when you consider that there are 67 million children in schools and child-care facilities on any given weekday.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate (at podium) addresses questions about children’s needs during disasters along with Mark Shriver (left) at the 2009 National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Photo Courtesy of Bill Koplitz /FEMA



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