Author Archive

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The Politics of Presidential Disaster Declarations

Following a disaster, communities, tribes, and states typically experience years of rebuilding and recovery work. Understanding the presidential disaster declaration process and how to access supplemental disaster relief funds helps to speed the recovery efforts and potentially build back even better than before the incident. The Robert T. Stafford Disaster

Long-Term Community Recovery Planning Guidance

Preparedness planning is a large part of the foundation of emergency management. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Preparedness Report summarizes the building, sustaining, and delivering of the 31 core capabilities outlined in the National Preparedness Goal across all five mission areas identified in Presidential Policy Directive 8 (PPD-8):

Critical Infrastructure Protection: History, Overview & Update

Critical infrastructure protection focuses on everyday activities related to all kinds of hazards to promote security and threat deterrence. Community and infrastructure protection, transportation and trans-border security, and protection of key leadership and events encompass the mission activities of the new National Protection Framework.

Special Events: Plan, Assess, Train & Exercise

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides valuable resources for those responsible for or involved in planning a special event. These resources provide information on planning the event, assessing the hazards and threats, training personnel and volunteers, and exercising based on lessons learned from past events.

Preparing for Extreme Weather Events

The United States has received significant attention for its extreme weather events in 2014, with the worst drought in recorded history in California and significant moist snow, sleet, and ice in the eastern and southern states. The year 2013 had its share of extreme weather, as well, including:Winter Storm Nemo’s multiple

Checklists for All-Hazards Food Defense Planning

In the not-too-distant past, most food consumed by Americans traveled directly from the farm to the kitchen table. Today, there are a dozen or so stops of varying duration on the way – all of them vulnerable to mold, theft, sabotage, spoiling, and/or infection from zoonotic diseases.
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Emergency Management & Public Health: Partners in Preparedness

Despite the fact that emergency managers and their public health partners have much in common, they often do not collaborate effectively in responding to mass-casualty emergencies. By identifying existing similarities and finding more common ground, the future reparedness and response efforts of both groups will be even more successful.

Food Safety: An Emergency Manager’s Perspective

Emergency management is an evolving discipline that requires a progressive emergency manager to fulfill new and expanding requirements for success. Successful leaders in this field follow a systematic problem-solving process and excel at coordinating multiple agencies and information sources rather than simply being experts in one subject. The seven and
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Protecting Schools – Tornadoes & Other Natural Disasters

As the southwest areas of the country face deadly tornadoes, other areas are preparing their communities and schools for the 2013 Hurricane season, which officially starts on the first day of June. Unlike tornadoes, hurricanes usually give advance warning – sometimes several days – before making landfall. Schools, though, must

State & Local Medical Countermeasures: The 12-Hour Push

Emergency managers are working hard, on a continuing basis, to improve and support the national capability to assist in providing assets to affected areas during an extreme biological incident or emergency requiring medical countermeasures.

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Article Out Loud – National Preparedness Month 2024: Talk About It

  Full article by Ian Pleet, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, September 4, 2024. In this feature article, an emergency management professional highlights the country’s preparedness goals and identifies available federal resources. By educating and empowering individuals and families to prepare for emergencies, communities can better position themselves

Article Out Loud – Realizing the Power of Community in Disaster Recovery

  Full article by Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, August 21, 2024. In this feature article, a behavioral and social scientist understands that no two communities are the same. Each community has unique vulnerabilities, capacities, and needs, and each has its own leaders, areas of cooperation,

Article Out Loud – Return on Investments in Public Engagement

Full article by June Isaacson Kailes, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, August 14, 2024. In this feature article, a disability policy consultant reminds community leaders that public engagement and participation involve community members in problem-solving, decision-making, and policy development. Result-centered engagement can help protect people with disabilities and

Article Out Loud – A Homeland Vulnerability Continues

  Full article by Robert C. Hutchinson, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, August 7, 2024. In this feature article, a former police chief and deputy special agent in charge with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations in Miami, Florida, revisits the U visa process. The

Article Out Loud – What Level of Ugly Are Communities Prepared For?

  Full article by Joseph J. Leonard Jr., an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, July 31, 2024. In this feature article, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander reflects on the July 2024 attempted assassination of Former President Donald Trump. That incident raises questions about event security, the roles that

Article Out Loud – Volunteers: Incident Management Assets or Liabilities?

  Full article by David Wells, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, July 31, 2024. In this feature article, the director of disaster relief for a faith-based nonprofit describes how his organization has refined its volunteer program over the past 57 years of disaster response in the U.S. and

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