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CURRENT STATUS AND SCHEDULE (NEWSLETTER) No missions in progress. Back to planning, preparation and training. FROM THE 4/4/13 BCDRG NEWSLETTER In this update: 1. National Hurricane Conference 2. Training opportunities 3. Other stuff 1. NATIONAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE -- Even though I no longer live on the coast, I like this conference because it includes more than just hurricanes, and draws top disaster experts from across the country, presenting developments and issues that haven't come over the horizon yet but are on the way. I never fail to learn something. This year, there were a lot of topics particular to our interests. A growing issue is the rising demand for background checks for volunteers. That, in itself, is reasonable, but the non-governmental organizations' (NGOs') insurance companies increasingly want each NGO to run a check of its own -- it can't accept a check run by anyone else. An extreme example is a spontaneous volunteer who registers through a Volunteer Operations Center (VOC) and is assigned to help the Salvation Army feed survivors in an American Red Cross shelter in a school. He gets background-checked and badged at the VOC, then the Salvation Army has to run a check before he can be issued their badge and go to work for them, as does the Red Cross, and then the school district insists on its own. By this time, more than $100 has been spent on duplicative background checks and his work-day is about over. Consensus is this will become more of a burden to agencies using spontaneous volunteers until they persuade their liability insurance carriers to accept a single standard background check. They're not there yet. Meanwhile, prepare for delays. A trend in federal planning is acknowledging that the federal agencies need to work more closely with NGOs, including faith-based. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is evolving a strategy of handing off to NGOs the hardest-hit families quickly after disasters. Their thinking is once insurance and federal aid are exhausted, the hardest-hit families will need lots of help for a long time from NGOs and Long-Term Recovery Organizations, and the sooner they can pass the cases the better, even while federal and insurance money are still coming. That's close to what's already happening, but it speeds up the process. FEMA and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are developing a policy to let them work more cooperatively with NGOs, starting with blue-tarping damaged roofs. In the past, NGOs have put volunteer workers in a damage area to patch roofs, but had only the tarps they could afford to buy. USACE has stockpiles of tarps, but could only turn them over to contractors it hired to put them on houses. Free tarps and free labor, but never on the same jobs. After Tropical Storm Isaac, a pilot program in Louisiana gave NGOs tarps from USACE, and the Southern Baptists put them on roofs. Worked well and saved lots of money. USACE and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) are developing a memorandum of agreement to make that easier to use in the future. A benefit to the states from the VOAD-USACE cooperation is that the state can make a profit on every roof! Usually, a state has to partially match federal expenditures, contributing as much as 25% of the cost. But volunteer labor can be counted against that match requirement, and applying tarps can be worth $20 per hour per worker while tarps are cheap, so the state may recover more than the required matching amount, and can apply that "profit" to other parts of its required match. Another pilot project is "Rapid Temporary Repairs", using federal supplies and NGO volunteer labor to make quick repairs to houses to keep their damage from getting worse. It would include plywood to cover broken windows and sheetrock to replace wet wallboard, and eventually might extend to some debris removal. It's not for reconstruction, but can be used to make a damaged house safe and secure so occupants can remain in it while they begin their recovery. The American Red Cross is and will remain the agency responsible for mass care after disasters, but the ARC can't do it all alone, and in fact has been supported by other NGOs working under their direction. The ARC and National VOAD are developing a National Mass Care Strategy (NMCS) to establish a structure for putting more NGOs to work under the ARC, especially when incidents are too small for a federal declaration or still need mass care after the feds have gone home. The plan as it stands now -- although it still is in development -- is on line at http://nationalmasscarestrategy.org. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Once the strategy is in final form, they'll train state VOADs on it, which then will train local VOADs and NGOs. The NMCS also establishes a new category of aid, to be federally funded and delivered by NGOs: Essential Assistance (EA). EA is not a part of the existing Individual Assistance, which provides federal disaster relief to individuals and families, but a new category to cover services for things which now fall through the gaps between federal and NGO aid. Exactly what services is yet vague. Another part of the NMCS will change the way we talk about disaster resources. (Has there ever been a program which didn't create new terms or abbreviations?) Current problem is terms are not specific enough. If I ask for a forklift, will I get one that lifts pallets or cargo containers? Will the new shelter manager be suited to run a 50-person emergency shelter or a 5,000-person long-term mega-shelter? New terminology will include sub-categories so everyone knows precisely what is needed and being sent. The first few standards are published on the same website for comment, with more in the pipeline. The US House of Representatives has passed along to the Senate an amendment to the Stafford Act which will, as I read it, make churches and other religious entities eligible for federal assistance on the same basis as purely secular entities. Not favoritism for faith-based groups, but being religious no longer blackballs an organization from federal aid. Details are at http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/592/text?q=HR592 A potential train-wreck to watch for is in flood insurance. FEMA is re-drawing flood maps and putting more areas in high-risk zones. At the same time, the National Flood Insurance Program is revising its rate structure to match risk to premium rates as federal subsidies for flood insurance are phased out. Numbers like $30,000 a year for flood insurance have been tossed around for high-risk homes. Meanwhile, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program sends money to local governments to rebuild housing. HUD requires a family rebuilding with a CDBG forgivable loan to commit to maintain flood insurance on the property forever, and that requirement passes to all subsequent owners. If the owner drops the insurance within the 5-year loan forgiveness period, HUD can demand repayment of the loan amount. If they drop it later, the owner may not be eligible for future federal disaster aid. Given that CDBG grants tend to go to low-income families whose annual income may be less than the insurance premium, and considering poor people tend to live where land is cheapest (i.e.: flood-prone areas), it is likely that poor homeowners will be saddled with high premiums which they can't pay, but must promise to pay in order to get their homes rebuilt, even knowing it will mean liens on their homes and ineligibility for future federal disaster aid. Unless, of course, someone else pays for their insurance. Both FEMA and HUD are aware of the pending problem, but haven't found a solution. 2. TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES -- You're welcome to attend any of these classes, and they're free unless otherwise noted. The American Red Cross Hill Country Chapter (our mother chapter) courses are at the Chapter House, 333 Earl Garrett at Jefferson, in Kerrville unless otherwise noted. To register for a class, call 830-792-4677 or register online through https://classes.redcross.org/. 4/18 9-3 Shelter Fundamentals. Introduction to mass care sheltering. ARC Centex Chapter in Austin trains at its Chapter House at at 2218 Pershing Drive. To register for a class, go to the Saba website listed above, or call Kevin Fincher at 512-929-1221 or email Kevin.Fincher@redcross.org. 4/6 8:30-12 Disaster Frontline Supervisor. Advanced course for volunteers with enough experience to become supervisors. 4/6 1-4:30 Disaster Frontline Supervisor Simulation. Practical exercise to see how much you learned during the morning. 4/10 6-10 Shelter Fundamentals. Introduction to mass care sheltering. 4/13 Disaster Instructor Specialty Training. How to become a teacher of disaster courses. 4/20 8:30-12 Disaster Service: An Overview. Basic training for any ARC volunteer interested in disaster services. 4/20 1:30-4:30 Disaster Action Team Workshop. Practical training for DAT volunteers who provide quick response to survivors of mini-disasters, such as housefires. 4/27 8-5 Client Casework: Providing Emergency Assistance. This is the nuts and bolts of getting aid to survivors of disasters. It all begins and ends with paperwork, and this course teaches you the always-in-demand skills of doing it. ARC San Antonio Chapter trains at its Chapter House at 3642 East Houston Street. To register, go to the Saba website above, call 210-224-5151 or go to http://www.saredcross.org/ 4/6 9-1 Psychological First Aid. Good course. Teaches you how to recognize and respond to psychological effects of disaster on survivors and fellow responders. Will be taught at St Mary's University. 4/13 9-12 Disaster Service: An Overview. Basic training for any ARC volunteer interested in disaster services. 4/13 9-12 Disaster Action Team Orientation. Introduction to DATs, which respond quickly to local mini-disasters, like housefires, helping survivors find a meal and a place to spend the night, then begin the casework to get them started on recovery. 4/24 1-2:30 Disaster Service: An Overview. Basic training for any ARC volunteer interested in disaster services. You're probably not on the mailing list for the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands (OK, neither am I), but they're offering a free five-week course you may be interested in: Terrorism and Counterterrorism: comparing theory and practice, in cooperation with the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism and Centre for Innovation The Hague. The course is a MOOC...a Massive Open Online Course...available free by internet to anyone in the world who wants to take it. They haven't announced the start date yet, so it's probably a few months away. When it does start, it'll last five weeks. FEMA has an online independent study course called IS-288 The Role of Voluntary Agencies in Emergency Management. It's pretty basic, but a good starting point for folks new to the field. Find it at https://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=is-288 Are you smarter than an epidemiologist? They're the detectives of the public health world, figuring out how serious an outbreak of disease is, what the disease is, and how to stop it. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new online outbreak detective game at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solve-the-outbreak/id592485067?mt=8. It's actually a learning tool for folks unsure about how epidemiologists work, but fun. 3. OTHER STUFF -- The fire services in drought-stricken Wales have fought more than 150 grass fires, many of them deliberately set, since Easter Sunday, and are using social media to prevent arson fires, to catch arsonists and to alert people in the fires' path. Since the arsonists are believed to be teenagers, the prevention is by reminding parents of the consequences both to victims and to arsonists of fire-starting. Gathering tips from the public and sharing leads publicly helps identify the culprits. As new fires start, Twitter alerts go to people living in the area, especially downwind. SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has advice on helping children through crises at http://www.samhsa.gov/trauma/?from=carousel&position=1&date=11012012 Save the Children also has a list of 10 tips for helping children cope with traumatic events at http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8479773/k.2264/How_to_Help_Children_Cope_with_a_Crisis.htm Another online tool is a downloadable map of wildland fire potential and probability across the US. Not a big issue after our nice rain, but how often can we say that? Tuck the URL away for later in the season. It's at http://www.firelab.org/fmi/data-products/229-wildland-fire-potential-wfp?utm_source=NHC+Master+List&utm_campaign=eb65712a0b-DR605&utm_medium=email Speaking of wildfires, go to http://fireadapted.org/~/media/Fire%20Adapted/Images/News%20Images/Waldo-Canyon-Rpt-FINAL-shrunk%203.pdf for a report on lessons learned from last year's Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado. The terrain is similar to the Hill Country. It has lots of photos of safe and unsafe construction, landscaping, land use, and how to correct the problems. Some of the content is technical but most is in layman's language. Another online report is from a study of disaster recovery leadership. It's keyed to the New Zealand experience after the Christchurch earthquake, but includes examples and contributions from around the world, including Louisiana after Katrina. Lots of how-to, how-not-to, and lessons learned for government and community leaders. http://recoverymatters1.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/elizabeth-mcnaughton-winston-churchill-report-2013-final.pdf Want to see something different in these updates? Get off the email list? Add friends to it? Let us hear. George Barnette Blanco County Volunteers 830-868-0808 FROM THE 2/4/13 BCDRG NEWSLETTER In this issue of Disaster Update: 1. Planning for 2013 2. Disaster conferences 3. Other people's training, which you're welcome to take 1. PLANNING FOR 2013 -- We're a tad bit tardy with 2013 planning, thanks to some fresh items dropped on our plate. The big one for the spring, we hope, will be firefighters rehabilitation, in cooperation with local VFDs, and with an out-of-town presenter. Firefighter rehab is on-the-spot physical care for firefighters at a fire scene. The most common situation here is getting overheated at a wildfire, and the rehab part cools them down safely, gets liquids in 'em, lets them rest, and then sends them back to work -- instead of them working until they drop and then have to go to the hospital. We already have the tent, cooling fan, and other supplies for that, but there's more to it and we want to find out what and how to do it. We haven't given up hope on the rural search and rescue, either. If we can get schedules to mesh, that still could happen, too. That still leaves room for more. Ideas? Anything you'd like to know more about? 2. DISASTER CONFERENCES -- There are two large disaster conferences I try to attend in the spring every year. Unfortunately, the planners picked the same dates for them this year, so going to one means not going to the other. The closest and cheapest for us is the Texas Emergency Management Conference March 25-28 at the Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. Lots of speakers and courses on lots of disaster preparation and response topics, plus an exhibit hall where you can see all the toys, from gadgets to mobile command post vehicles. Best part is everything is Texas oriented, so it's all education you can use. Costs $150, plus hotel room (at group rate) if you want it, but SA is close enough to JC for a daily commute. The registration website isn't up yet but will be this month. Start at http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/conference/txEmerMgmtConf.htm and sign up when they're ready. The big daddy is the National Hurricane Conference, also March 25-28, at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Also has lots of speakers and courses and workshops in multiple tracks. The good news is this one tends to draw the big guns in disaster response nationally; the bad news is it isn't all specific to Texas. This year it probably will be dominated by lessons learned in Superstorm Sandy, taught by the response managers who lived it, and will be immensely interesting but a hurricane compounded by a blizzard isn't a big threat in Texas. I haven't found a better place to discover what's coming over the horizon -- regulations, hardware and policies that will trickle down to state and local awareness in a year or two. Cost is $350 (it goes up $50 after Friday) and there's a group rate at the hotel. Start online at http://hurricanemeeting.com/. 3. OTHER PEOPLE'S TRAINING -- which you're welcome to take. Courses are free unless otherwise noted; some require registration. The American Red Cross Hill Country Chapter (our mother chapter) courses are at the Chapter House, 333 Earl Garrett at Jefferson, in Kerrville unless otherwise noted. To register for a class, call 830-792-4677 or register online through https://classes.redcross.org/. Set the search radius for 100 miles and you'll get class listings in San Antonio and Austin, too. No courses currently in the computer for Hill Country Chapter. ARC Centex Chapter in Austin trains at its Chapter House at at 2218 Pershing Drive. To register for a class, go to the Saba website listed above, or call Kevin Fincher at 512-929-1221 or email Kevin.Fincher@redcross.org. 2/07 6-9:30 Psychological First Aid. Not all disaster injuries are physical, and the ones that aren't are least likely to be identified and addressed. This course teaches you how to spot signs of over-stress, both in survivors and in response workers, and how to get them connected with the attention they need. 2/9 8:30-2:30 ERVs: Ready, Set, Roll. ERVs are the ambulance-looking vehicles the Red Cross fills with people, food, supplies, or whatever else needs hauling to a disaster site. They also serve a mobile feeding stations. The course teaches how they work and how you can work in them. 2/13 6-9:30 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. 2/19 6-8:30 Disaster Assessment Basics. How to evaluate the damage done to a structure, neighborhood or community and report it back to the planners who are deciding what and how much relief is needed and how quickly. 2/20 6-9 Disaster Action Team Workshop. These are the folks who show up for minor emergencies, such as house-fires, to provide fast assistance to survivors. 2/23 6-9:30 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. ARC San Antonio Chapter trains at its Chapter House at 3642 East Houston Street. To register, go to the Saba website above, call 210-224-5151 or go to http://www.saredcross.org/. 2/2 9-5 Client Casework: Providing Emergency Assistance. Nothing happens 'til the paperwork's filled out, and this course teaches you how to do that to get help moving to survivors quickly. Whether it's a housefire or tornado, the more substantial aid relies on this step to start the process. 2/09 9-12 Disaster Action Team Orientation. These are the folks who show up for minor emergencies, such as house-fires, to provide fast assistance to survivors. 2/15 6-9 Psychological First Aid. Not all disaster injuries are physical, and the ones that aren't are least likely to be identified and addressed. This course teaches you how to spot signs of over-stress, both in survivors and in response workers, and how to get them connected with the attention they need. 2/23 9-12 Disaster Assessment Basics. How to evaluate the damage done to a structure, neighborhood or community and report it back to the planners who are deciding what and how much relief is needed and how quickly. 2/27 1-2:30 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. You know there was a lot of bad weather across the US in 2012, but you're not sure just how bad and where. The Naural Resources Defense Council has an animated online map that will show you, month by month, where the weather crises were, then put them all together at the end. It covers the map. http://www.nrdc.org/health/extremeweather/default.asp?utm_source=NHC+Master+List&utm_campaign=1c03fe1aff-DR601&utm_medium=email As you might expect, the FLorida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center is a treasure trove of information about storm risk, and it includes other locations in the US and around the world, too. It has so much data it's been hard to find exactly what you want. Now they've made their library easier to search. Go to http://www.stormrisk.org/?utm_source=NHC+Master+List&utm_campaign=1c03fe1aff-DR601&utm_medium=email and start rummaging. Here's a disaster response problem I'll bet you haven't planned, much less trained, for. You respond to a mass casualty situation (tornado, big traffic pile-up, apartment fire, etc.) and a small child walks up to you. She's alone. And scared. And she doesn't know where her family is, or where she lives, or how to reach anyone. The National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health has a short, free, online course called "Tracking and Reunification of Children in Disasters" at http://ncdmph.usuhs.edu/Learn/PedsTR/TRCD_0a.htm?fs=0. You get theory and rules, case studies, and a card to carry to remind you of the principles and steps. FEMA's Emergency Management Institute has a new online course for FEMA's response partners (that could be us) on how to work better with the feds. A lot of it's practical stuff...if you're going to deploy to a distant disaster, there's advice on how to prepare, then how to acclimate yourself to the local conditions when you arrive. Take the free course whenever you wish via your computer from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is102c.asp. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a new blog to cover extreme hazards -- extreme weather, extreme outbreaks, environmental and social disasters, the kinds of things we might be called on to help with. In the natural disasters category, blog postings include the effect of the 2011 Joplin Tornado on functional needs populations, and ways to educate the public about wildfires. The Response category includes one on disaster response changes needed to deal with climate-change driven events, which go well beyond weather. There's even a disaster category for Zombies (used in teaching disaster preparedness). It's at http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/ There's a collection of short (10-20 minutes), free audio presentations on public health aspects of disasters at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health. How to help people with disabilities in emergencies, how to include the disabled in disaster planning, etc. http://cphp.sph.unc.edu/training/training_list/?mode=view_subcat_detail&subcat_id=197 Want to see something different in these updates? Get off the email list? Add friends to it? Let us hear. George Barnette Blanco County Volunteers 830-868-0808 FROM THE 12/1/12 BCDRG NEWSLETTER In this issue of Disaster Update: 1. Local Sandy response 2. Planning ahead 3. Other people's training, which you're welcome to take 4. Miscellany 1. LOCAL SANDY RESPONSE -- The plan to collect money for Superstorm Sandy survivors and use it to buy pre-paid gift cards to send, instead of sending a check to a fund, seemed to work pretty well. It was cost effective, since the Johnson City Bank gave us the cards for the face value, without charging us their normal per-card fee. We were able to send $1,000 worth of $50 cards to the Superintendent of the United Methodist Church's district encompassing the south Jersey shore, including Atlantic City. He made the distribution. It was quick and donors had the satisfaction of knowing their gift went directly to survivors, rather than into a fund to be co-mingled with others and eventually arrive somewhere to help someone some way...the details of which we'll never know. In fairness, the big NGOs and faith-based disaster response funders aren't spending your ear-marked donation in the first days of the emergency. They spend their money, and your money replaces it, like repaying a loan. Your gift of $100 enables them to apply $100 on day 1, even before you know you're going to give it. Still, there's something more satisfying about holding a card in your hand and knowing someone who needs it will have it in a couple of days. We may try it again next time. 2. PLANNING AHEAD -- December tends to be a slow month for disaster training and preparation, so we'll spend it planning for next year. Got any ideas? We'll do a training session here in Blanco County for the American Red Cross and Library of Congress project to do video interviews with veterans on their stories, which isn't exactly disaster-related. We still hope to get the oft-postponed rural search and rescue class and field exercise scheduled. We already have the hot-weather rehab tent for firefighters and others doing stressful labor in the heat, and we have some general procedures we use for it. It would be good to have more serious rehab training, perhaps in cooperation with the fire departments, their fire corps and the emergency medical folks. There's a terrific lady in Ingleside I'd love to get up here to teach us how. What else? 3. OTHER PEOPLE'S TRAINING -- which you're welcome to take. Courses are free unless otherwise noted; some require registration. (Check on Red Cross courses with the chapter concerned. The online training schedule has been known to be in error...often...sometimes dramatically so.) The American Red Cross Hill Country Chapter (our mother chapter) courses are at the Chapter House, 333 Earl Garrett at Jefferson, in Kerrville unless otherwise noted. To register for a class, call 830-792-4677 or register online through https://classes.redcross.org/Saba/. Set the search radius for 100 miles and you'll get class listings in San Antonio and Austin, too. 12/1 9-12:30 Disaster Services: An Overview. Intro to ARC's disaster service and local disaster response programs. (EMS Facility, 221 Friendship Lane, Fredericksburg) 12/3 6-9 New Volunteer Orientation. How the ARC works and the roles of volunteers in disasters. ARC Centex Chapter in Austin trains at its Chapter House at at 2218 Pershing Drive. To register for a class, go to the Saba website listed above, or call Kevin Fincher at 512-929-1221 or email Kevin.Fincher@redcross.org. 12/4 6-10 Psychological First Aid. How to recognize people who may ened additional psychological or emotion assistance under stress, and how to get it for them. 12/8 9-12 Logistics Overview. How to get the right stuff from here to there, and store it in the meantime, under disaster conditions. 12/8 1-5 Logistics Overview Simulation. Exercise to test your skills and what you learned in the morning class. 12/13 9-12 Disaster Action Team Workshop. Practical application and problem-solving for DAT members. 12/15 8:30-12 Disaster Frontline Supervisor. How to manage staff and volunteers in disaster situations. ARC San Antonio Chapter trains at its Chapter House at 3642 East Houston Street. To register, go to the Saba website above, call 210-224-5151 or go to http://www.saredcross.org/. 12/8 9-12 Disaster Action Team Orientation. These are the folks who show up for minor emergencies, such as house-fires, to provide fast assistance to survivors. 12/12 6-9:30 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. 12/15 1-4:30 Disaster Frontline Supervisor Simulation. Exercise to see how well you paid attention during the morning class. 12/15 9-5 ERVs: Ready, Set, Roll. ERVs are Emergency Response Vehicles, those ambulance-looking trucks the Red Cross uses for everything from moving people and supplies around to feeding hungry folks. Learn how they work and how to use them. 12/15 9-5 12/8 1-5 Logistics Overview Simulation. Exercise to test your skills in moving needed stuff from place to place and storing it under emergency conditions. 12/19 1-2:30 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. FEMA's Emergency Management Institute has some new courses than can do you some good. They are on disaster mitigation -- reducing the threat or effect a given disaster can have on your property. The free online courses are intended for FEMA's mitigation staff, but they give you lots of guidance on how fires, floods and storms can affect your home and what you can do now to reduce the danger. The one on earthquakes isn't a biggie in Central Texas, but we are more vulnerable to tornado (IS-319), wildfire (IS-320), hurricane (IS-321), and flood (IS-322). Go to http://training.fema.gov/IS/, enter your IS course number listed above in the "Search" box in the upper right corner, and go to it. Another FEMA course is The Role of Voluntary Agencies (that would be us) In Emergency Management. Take it free on line by starting at https://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS288.asp and following instructions. This online lesson will give healthcare workers a background in handling children who’ve become separated from their parents in a disaster. From creating general awareness of responder responsibility, to identifying lost children, to knowing what resources are available to help find parents, this tool will help guide emergency workers in the field. The lesson, created by the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, is also eligible for a variety of continuing education credits. http://ncdmph.usuhs.edu/KnowledgeLearning/2012-Learning1.htm?utm_source=NHC+Master+List&utm_campaign=f477eade5b-DR599&utm_medium=email Anyone who has seen the challenges of rescuing household pets during disasters would likely be daunted at the prospect of saving something bigger. Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue might just be able to overcome that fear. TLAER offers courses to emergency personnel on how to safely rescue trapped or injured horses and cattle from disaster and emergency zones—including education on how to prevent entrapment. Visit the site to learn more about how to form large animal rescue response teams, find training and education resources, and see pictures of real life rescues. http://www.tlaer.org/?utm_source=NHC+Master+List&utm_campaign=f477eade5b-DR599&utm_medium=email How about a MOOC? A MOOC is a Massive, Open, Online Course offered by colleges and universities free to anyone worldwide interested in the topic. A hot topic in disaster management these days is using social media for two-way communication between managers and the public during disasters. Maria Andersen, PhD, will teach a course on using social media for the Canvas Network from 2/25 to 5/6 with video lectures, online discussion with her and fellow students (potentially thousands of them!), group projects, but no final grade, no credit, and no charge. Go to https://www.canvas.net/courses/social-media and click either "enroll" or, to keep your options open, "Keep Me Posted". 4. MISCELLANY The US Dept of Health and Human Services has a page of links and tools for dealing with disasters. Some are specific to Superstorm Sandy, or to the northeast, or to cold weather, but most are usable here in Central Texas. Find it at http://www.phe.gov/emergency/events/sandy/Pages/default.aspx. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an all-hazards page of links to informaiton on a variety of disasters at http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/alldisasters.asp?s_cid=ccu071612_014. If you ever had a question relating to the intersection of public health and disasters, this Pan American Health Organization Web site probably has the answer. With information arranged in easy-to-access modules, the site spans everything from basic concepts and terminology to global trends and strategies to reduce disaster risk. The latest PAHO publications and opportunities for classes and training are also featured. http://saludydesastres.info/index.php?lang=en&utm_source=NHC+Master+List&utm_campaign=f477eade5b-DR599&utm_medium=email Want to see something different in these updates? Get off the email list? Add friends to it? Let us hear. George Barnette Blanco County Volunteers 830-868-0808 FROM THE 11/4/12 BCDRG NEWSLETTER In this issue of Disaster Update: 1. Sandy 2. Local Sandy response 3. Things completed 4. Other people's training, which you're welcome to take 1. SUPERSTORM SANDY -- Shortly before Hurricane Sandy came ashore in New Jersey, someone asked me why everyone was so excited about it...Sandy was only going to be a Category 1 storm...no big deal. Now we know how a little deal turns into a a big deal. And just to add trouble, another storm is on its way up the Atlantic Coast, due to hit Wednesday with gale-force winds, sub-freezing temperatures and snow. New York had, on Sunday morning, almost 10,000 people still living in shelters. Now it's trying to find shelter space for as many as 30,000 more before the freezing weather hits. Just getting people into shelters will require some doing. With FEMA in Florida, we found many elderly residents of high-rise condos trapped on upper floors because they couldn't go down stairs; they depended on the elevators, and with power off they were stuck in apartments with no way to get food or medicine, slowly roasting as temperatures rose in their closed spaces. We had to bring them down before they starved or suffered heat stroke. NY will need to do the same, but at the other end of the thermometer, and with lots more high-rise residents Sandy also reminded us how little it takes to stop disaster aid from getting where it needs to be. Failure of the power grid was expected, so FEMA and other agencies pre-positioned big electrical generators in the area. But generators aren't all of the same output capacity, and a big generator's output needs to be matched to the demand it's connected to. You can't just crank 'er up and plug 'er in. It took more time than expected for local officials to figure out what output was available and where there was a matching demand. Speaking of power problems, in Katrina, a problem in New Orleans was hospitals going dark when electrical generators drowned because they were in the basements. Lesson learned; NY hospitals had generators moved from basements to higher ground. One New Orleans hospital had anticipated that problem and moved its generator to the roof, but left the diesel fuel tanks in the basement, so it still went dark when the water came in. That extra lesson hadn't made it to all NY hospitals. Has now. We've also seen more evidence of leaders not bothering to learn about disaster response until they're in it. NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted power restored to neighborhoods based on who deserved it most...the hardest hit areas getting electricity first. That, of course, is not how broken power grids get put back on line. Countless leaders are complaining about FEMA's slow response, even though FEMA is not, never was, and by law cannot be a first-responder. It is a backup resource to states, providing only what is requested, when requested. And it's no longer the parking garage for out-of-work political operatives it was before Katrina. Another lesson re-learned is that whenever a big city and a less-populated area are both affected by a disaster, the major metro area will get all the attention and the outlying area will be overlooked. Manhattan is the area's (nation's) biggest media center, so much of what you've seen and read has been about that island. Elected officials and relief aid follow media coverage, and much of that has gone to Manhattan, too. Meanwhile, other boroughs and islands...Long Island, Staten Island...also part of NY...complain they're being bypassed and overlooked. The Jersey shore even more so. 2. LOCAL SANDY RESPONSE -- The United Methodist Churches in Blanco County are running an experiment with storm relief. The mainstream relief agencies -- American Red Cross, UMCOR, etc. -- are rushing millions of dollars into the disaster area. There is still a preference, though, for giving a thing that the donor knows will go into the hands of someone who needs it, a process more personal and psychologically satisfying than just writing a check that disappears into the broader flow of aid. So the Methodist churches in Blanco and Johnson City are asking for pre-paid gift cards to send to the Jersey shore. A donor can buy the card, hold it in his hand, and know that it will end up in the hands of someone who needs it. It's a compromise; not a winter coat or hamburger, but more personal than a check. Of course, checks are good too -- Cattleman's Bank is making the churches a deal on cards bought in quantity. The collected cards will be shipped overnight to New Jersey, where a contact will distribute them where they're needed. As we said, it's an experiment to see whether that works for donors better than just asking for cash. Let you know. 3. THINGS COMPLETED -- The Children's Disaster Services class happened as scheduled. Good crowd, most of whom signed up to work with children in shelters when needed. Good information, both for disasters and any time a child is in a high-stress situation. The flood buckets got filled and delivered to the warehouse. Probably none of them got shipped to the northeast after Sandy, but they're in the pipeline which makes immediate shipments possible without clearing the warehouse shelves. Saturday was the American Red Cross training day in Kerrville for volunteers learning how to do interviews with veterans to go into the archives of the Library of Congress for use by future historians. Five of the 20 trainees were from Blanco County, so we're now ready to begin interviewing our own vets for the program. We've had at least as many people here say they'd like to help but couldn't be in Kerrville Saturday, so we'll do another training session here, probably after the first of the year. 4. OTHER PEOPLE'S TRAINING -- which you're welcome to take. Courses are free unless otherwise noted; some require registration. (Check on Red Cross courses with the chapter concerned. The online training schedule has been known to be in error...often...sometimes dramatically so.) The American Red Cross Hill Country Chapter (our mother chapter) courses are at the Chapter House, 333 Earl Garrett at Jefferson, in Kerrville unless otherwise noted. To register for a class, call 830-792-4677 or register online through https://classes.redcross.org/Saba/. Set the search radius for 100 miles and you'll get class listings in San Antonio and Austin, too. (Be aware the ARC is having problems with Saba; for instance, it doesn't list any Hill Country Chapter classes, including the one here this weekend.) None in the computer for Hill Country Chapter, but I understand they're trying to schedule a new volunteer orientation for this month or next. ARC Centex Chapter in Austin trains at its Chapter House at at 2218 Pershing Drive. To register for a class, go to the Saba website listed above, or call Kevin Fincher at 512-929-1221 or email Kevin.Fincher@redcross.org. 11/06 6-9:30 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. 11/10 8-4 Shelter Management. How to plan and manage emergency shelter setup, staffing, supply, operatikons and shut-down. 11/13 6-9 Disaster Action Team Workshop. These are the folks who show up for minor emergencies, such as house-fires, to provide fast assistance to survivors. 11/17 8:30-12 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. ARC San Antonio Chapter trains at its Chapter House at 3642 East Houston Street. To register, go to the Saba website above, call 210-224-5151 or go to http://www.saredcross.org/. 11/10 9-12 Disaster Action Team Orientation. These are the folks who show up for minor emergencies, such as house-fires, to provide fast assistance to survivors. 11/28 1-2:30 Disaster Services Overview. Basic training for disaster volunteers. How disaster happen, how the ARC responds to them, disaster jobs open to volunteers. The American Red Cross had a big disaster exercise in Austin Saturday, and on Monday, Nov 19, they'll do an after-action review of how things went, and you're invited. Besides just who did what, it will provide a good overview of how different entities come together in an emergency. It's 9:30 am at the United Way headquarters, 2000 East MLK. It's not training, but it is flu shot clinic time again, and the Texas Department of State Health Services could use a hand again, especially from volunteers who've had the shot-clinic training or who have helped before. They don't expect big crowds, but may need some folks who can help people with their paperwork. 9:30-11 Wed Nov 7 -- Blanco, Trinity Lutheran Church, 281 and 7th St 9:30-11 Wed Nov 14 -- Johnson City, First United Methodist Church, Pecan and Ave E Animals exposed to floods may be contaminated with chemical and biological substances in the water. The American Veterinary Medical Association has advice on decontaminating animals at https://www.avma.org/News/Journals/Collections/Documents/javma_232_3_364.pdf Can animals sense natural catastrophes before they happen? For a long time, there have been reports of animals behaving oddly just before storms and earthquakes. Now science is looking into it seriously. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a blog on the topic. Go to http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2012/10/pet-sense-disaster/ and see what Muffy may be trying to tell you. How do you explain to children -- especially very young ones -- about the hurricanes and other disasters they see on TV and hear the grown-ups talking about? And what better guide to communicating with kids tfhan the pros at Sesame Street? Go to http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topicsandactivities/toolkits/hurricane?utm_source=NHC+Master+List&utm_campaign=7e9006e9d3-DR598&utm_medium=email for guidance and teaching aids for explaining it all in terms a pre-schooler can understand. On the same topic, here's how Elmo explained the hurricane to children on the radio in NY http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2012/oct/30/elmo-explains-hurricane-sandy/?utm_source=local&utm_media=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostlistened The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety has a free disaster-preparation app for Apple devices (other makes to come). Lots of user-friendly features, including the ability for you to make 11 different customized to-do lists for fires, floods, storms, etc. It's in the Apple itunes store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-plan/id537737839?mt=8 The Emergency Management Forum at EMForum.org is offering a short online interactive session on mass shootings at 11 am Monday, Nov 12. Go to https://eiip.webex.com/e?iip/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=?924639307 and follow the directions. It's free. Save the date: Friday, Dec 7, from 5:30 the midnight, the Austin PD cadet class will have their practical field sobriety test exercise to see whether they can judge who is legally bombed and who's just happy. For this, they need volunteer drinkers. They'll feed you a measured amount of alcoholic beverage and then let the cadets check you out. (Hint: falling down while wearing a Santa hat is too easy.) Getting snockered on the City of Austin's tab...who else gives you opportunities like that? Details to come.
Want to see something different in these updates? Get off the email list? Add friends to it? Let us hear. George Barnette Blanco County Volunteers 830-868-0808 http://www.blancocountydisasterresponsegroup.org/ |
