Radiological and nuclear sources pose a wider variety of threats than many realize. By understanding the threat and leveraging federal requirements such as the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA), emergency managers can better equip themselves and their communities to prevent, protect against, and respond to incidents related to these threats.
Law enforcement personnel operating in their communities have been trained to report suspicious activity sightings to their headquarters. Firefighters, emergency medical service providers, public health officials, and other first responders have been asked to "Remain Alert for Suspicious Activity." Now, every citizen and visitor plays a critical role in preventing terrorist threats.
Many communities - large and small - have recovered from disasters. Some have been successful, while others struggle to return. Disasters affect hundreds of communities nationwide every year and - at some point in time - each is confronted with the hard reality of recovering from a disaster. When the national attention and bright lights of the media fade, communities need to be prepared to recover.
Public health practice parallels the whole community approach advocated by 21st century emergency management practitioners. Therefore, public health's emergency preparedness actions integrate nicely with contemporary emergency management practice. Several methodologies of public health practice lend themselves to collaboration with other planning and response disciplines. By examining these methods, public health can extend and maximize its role in community-based emergency planning, response, and recovery.
"Forms, we dont need no stinking forms to handle an all hazard emergency response in our ______ (fill in the blank: town, city, county, parish, tribal territory, region, state)," was no doubt echoed by many of the leaders of the numerous alphabet agencies attending mandatory National Incident Management System (NIMS) training some 15 years ago.
For the first time since the demise of the civil defense program of the Cold War, the federal government has made one of the most significant modifications to its emergency preparedness message. A three-day emergency kit is no longer sufficient to prepare for emerging threats, whether coming from Earth or from space.
A 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the Washington and British Columbia coast along the 700-mile Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) followed by a tsunami with 90-foot or more wave surges in some areas is possible based on geological factors and historical accounts. Communities in and around the CSZ, and those with interconnected waterways, need to be prepared for the inevitable.
The Space Weather Conference in Broomfield, Colorado, on 25-29 April 2016 focused on improving space weather models and exploring more diverse and effective research tools. Current U.S. policy has shifted in favor of more research and funding, which can only be accomplished through better cooperation between the public and private sectors.
With the United States as de facto leader, the five members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany - the so called "5+1" club - spent over two years negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or so-called "nuclear deal," which is expected to reduce the danger of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. However, the nuclear deal is not seen by all as a "good deal."
Few preparations made in anticipation of a disaster pay bigger dividends than how the team communicates with the news media and the public during a disaster. Seamless and coordinated communication is as important as seamless and coordinated operations - both during the disaster and in the recovery stage. Communications and operations must work in tandem.
