Emergency Preparedness News articles from January 2006

Emergency Preparedness News archives from January 2006

Top state concerns for 2006.(disaster preparedness)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2006... TOP STATE CONCERNS FOR 2006 include, not surprisingly, disaster preparedness. The National Conference of State Legislatures has assigned a task force to explore traditional ideas, such as requiring stronger building codes and upgrading...

Risk-based funding rolls out at DHS; cities must justify Uncle Sam's outlay.(Department of Homeland Security)
January 10, 2006... High-risk cities that hope to win DHS anti-terror grants this year will have to meet two new criteria on their applications: regional collaboration on preparedness and a plan showing more specifically how the money will be spent. The new...

Contracting, technology troubles top list of DHS management challenges.(Department of Homeland Security)
January 10, 2006... The "unprecedented opportunity for fraud, waste, and abuse" that has been created by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will be a top priority this year for the DHS Office of Inspector General, according to its assessment of the major management...

US-VISIT meets milestone deadline.(Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology )(Brief Article)
January 10, 2006... The DHS US-VISIT program beat by a day its Congressionally-mandated Dec. 31 deadline for installing biometric entry capabilities at 104 land ports, meaning that biometric devices are now deployed at all fixed ports of entry open to US-VISIT...

Director downplays pandemic panic: 'people can keep it together' in crisis.(Outlook 2006)
January 10, 2006... Panic, chaos, and quarantines enforced at gunpoint. These are not the scenarios that Dave Liebersbach envisions if a flu pandemic--avian or otherwise--spreads to the United States. "The media and Hollywood exaggerate how things play out," he...

Mitigation saves a bundle, national experts conclude.(Slants & Trends)
January 10, 2006... Each dollar spent on hazard mitigation saves U.S. society an average of four dollars, the Multi-hazard Mitigation Council has concluded. MMC, an organization within the National Institute of Building Sciences, analyzed hazard mitigation...

The 2006 edition of Edwards Disaster Recovery Directory.(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... The 2006 Edition of Edwards Disaster Recovery Directory is now available, a 400-page business-to-business collection of recovery services throughout the United States and Canada. The directory is available in hard copy and on CD with links to...

Rebuilding After Disaster.(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... "Rebuilding After Disaster," a free informational workshop, is being offered by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International on January 23 at the Louisiana State University Fire and Emergency Training Institute in...

A Hurricane Relief Assistance Program.(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... A Hurricane Relief Assistance Program is being offered by APCO Institute to help with the new employee training costs of member agencies in communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The organization will provide one free tuition...

Symposia on APCO International's Project Retains.(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... Symposia on APCO International's Project RETAINS are being offered on Feb. 22 in Los Angeles, March 22 in Chicago, and April 20 in Baltimore. Project Responsive Efforts to Address Integral Needs in Staffing is a tool kit designed to assist with...

American National Standard for Hand Protection Selection Criteria (ANSI/ISEA 105-2005).(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... American National Standard for Hand Protection Selection Criteria (ANSI/ISEA 105-2005), just published by the International Safety Equipment Association, gives guidance for selecting the correct gloves that will protect workers from biological...

Select Homeland Security Accomplishments for 2005.(Responder resources)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2006... Select Homeland Security Accomplishments for 2005 highlights what DHS touts as its major achievements under Secretary Michael Chertoff. These include standard National Incident Management System and counterterrorism training, deployment of...

AmeriCorps hurricane expansion.(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... The Corporation for National and Community Service will award $5.5 million to eight organizations to expand relief efforts to families affected by last fall's Gulf Coast hurricanes. The funding will support 304 additional AmeriCorps members to...

DHS enlists top scientists to delve into terrorists' psyche.(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... Because terrorists score victories through psychological warfare as well as physical violence, DHS has enlisted its own cadre of experts to psyche out the enemy. The department recently opened the Center of Excellence for Behavioral and Social...

R&D for homeland defense.(Responder resources)
January 10, 2006... The Homeland Security Centers of Excellence, operated by the Science & Technology Directorate, is an integrated network of university-based centers that conduct multidisciplinary research and develop education programs for homeland security...

Company aims to make satellite option affordable, accessible to responders.(CapRock Communications )
January 10, 2006... Satellite systems are one alternative that responders can turn to when disaster has knocked out normal means of communication, but the choice is a pricey one. Houston-based CapRock Communications has come up with a way to take some of the...

National Interoperability Survey.(Briefly Noted)
January 10, 2006... The DHS Science and Technology Directorate is conducting a SAFECOM Interoperability Baseline Survey to measure the current state of public safety communications interoperability among state and local responders. The data are intended to provide...

Katrina rental reprieve.(Briefly Noted)
January 10, 2006... The Department of Housing and Urban Development has extended the signup deadline for the Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance program from Dec. 31, 2005, to March 11. KDHAP is a rental assistance program for which displaced families may register...

Max appeal deadline.(Briefly Noted)
January 10, 2006... U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Rosemary Collyer has set a Feb. 27 deadline for filing appeals of her decision barring DHS from implementing its new personnel system-MaxHR-until it complies with collective bargaining law...

Uncle Sam's biometric ID.(Briefly Noted)
January 10, 2006... The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued Special Publication 800-76 specifying technical acquisition and formatting requirements for the biometric credentials of the Personal Identity Verification standard for federal...

New preparedness chief.(George Foresman appointed)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2006... The Senate has confirmed George Foresman to be DHS Under Secretary for Preparedness. The new Directorate for Preparedness consolidates scattered DHS preparedness assets and is part of Secretary Chertoff's reorganization plan (EPN, July 19,...

Responders going home.(Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Disaster Medical System teams demobilized)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2006... FEMA is demobilizing National Disaster Medical System teams that have provided care to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The NDMS has more than 8,000 personnel nationwide, all of whom were called up following the Gulf Coast storms. Teams...

Insurance company preparedness.(Briefly Noted)
January 10, 2006... Insurance providers told the Government Accountability Office that they could recover high priority operations within a day of a disaster, and most other operations within three days. GAO noted that the insurance sector has advantages for quick...

Americans see disaster as 'not in my backyard'.(Briefly Noted)
January 10, 2006... Despite the incidents of tsunamis, hurricanes, terrorist threats, and pandemic flu warnings in 2005, 85 percent of Americans do not anticipate their own town being impacted by disaster in 2006, according to MessageOne, a disaster recovery and...

Calendar.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 26: Furthering the Role of Technology in Homeland Security, New Orleans. Sessions include lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and international cooperation on homeland security. Contact:...

A new twist in the circumstances.(Slants & Trends)
January 24, 2006... A NEW TWIST IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES surrounding the confirmation of a fifth Canadian cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy has reopened debate on mad cow trading rules with a vengeance. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported...

Sandia scientists question anthrax sampling technique.
January 24, 2006... Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., made a disturbing discovery in the fall of 2004: the techniques used to decontaminate an area after an anthrax exposure-namely swabbing, wiping, and vacuuming-are apparently much...

DHS, state team to provide secure yet smooth travel.(Department of Homeland Security)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2006... DHS and the State Department have pledged to step up efforts to balance stronger international security with ease of travel by implementing: * A pilot model airport program to create a welcoming environment for foreign visitors, including...

New Orleans unveils plan for modern flood control, rebuilt infrastructure.
January 24, 2006... The Bring New Orleans Back commission, appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin, took President Bush seriously when he commented that the federal government will do "whatever it takes" to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. The commission...

Poverty, slow pace challenge Mississippi recovery efforts.
January 24, 2006... Debris removal and housing remain the top DHS priorities for hurricane recovery in Mississippi, according to Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding Donald Powell. Powell told a field hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and...

L.A. minorities are most prepared for terrorist attack, survey finds.
January 24, 2006... In a reversal of accepted wisdom, ethnic minorities living in Los Angeles are generally the most prepared for the aftermath of a terrorist attack, according to a joint study by the Rand Corp., the Los Angeles Health Survey, and Los Angeles...

Katrina's effect on communications.
January 24, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission has assembled the Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks and set the first meeting for Jan. 30 from 10am-5pm, with Real Audio Access at www.fcc.gov. The panel...

Doctors say U.S. medical system has 'poor capacity' to deal with disaster.
January 24, 2006... A panel of experts convened by the American College of Emergency Physicians has given the nation's emergency medical care system an average grade of C-, and that is under normal conditions. "If the emergency medical system gets a C- on an...

Incident commanders can turn to net for managing mass casualty disasters.(Hospital Incident Response System)
January 24, 2006... Mass casualty events strain the operations of even the smoothest run hospitals (see story, this page), forcing managers to deal with logistical issues ranging from identifying the cause in the case of biological, chemical, or radiological...

NRC seeks safeguards for radioactive sources.(Nuclear Regulatory Commission)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2006... The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is soliciting ideas for safeguarding "radiation sources of greatest concern" from criminal or terrorist use as dirty bombs. Responders may be surprised to learn that the most worrisome potential dirty bomb...

FY06 Homeland Security Grant Program/Program Guidance and Application Kit.(Responder Resources)
January 24, 2006... FY06 Homeland Security Grant Program/ Program Guidance and Application Kit is now available from DHS. The HSGP integrates the State Homeland Security Program, the Urban Areas Security Initiative, the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention...

The DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.(Responder Resources)
January 24, 2006... The DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office is testing current and prototype next-generation handheld and mobile nuclear detectors Jan. 9-Feb. 3 at its Nevada Test Site. DNSO is evaluating detectors' performance and will make results available to...

An Explosives Knowledge Center.(Responder Resources)
January 24, 2006... An Explosives Knowledge Center is under consideration at DHS to provide analytic support and information. Philip Hammar of the Homeland Security Institute is currently conducting an online survey among first responders and other potential end...

Funding the flu fight.(Briefly Noted)
January 24, 2006... President Bush has announced that the United States will provide $334 million to the United Nations-affiliated "International Partnership" to combat avian flu. The funding comes from a bill passed by Congress to support Bush's National Strategy...

ACLU sues for spying.(American Civil Liberties Union)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2006... The American Civil Liberties Union and a group of journalists, scholars, attorneys, and groups who frequently communicate by phone to the Middle East filed suit in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, asserting that the National...

Terrorists stifle growth.(Briefly Noted)
January 24, 2006... Terrorists have shifted from government to civilian/private targets, with a resulting significantly negative impact on investments, stock market capitalization, and economic growth across countries, according to the Milken Institute. A team of...

DHS struggles with port risk.(Department of Homeland Security)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2006... The Government Accountability Office examined three DHS components that manage port security risk and found that they face "many challenges in making further progress." The U.S. Coast Guard and the Office for Domestic Preparedness, which awards...

Employees pan DHS.(Briefly Noted)
January 24, 2006... DHS ranked 29 among the 30 largest federal departments and agencies in terms of employee satisfaction, according to The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government 2005, a report from the Partnership for Public Service. The Partnership asked...

Weak La Nina developing.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2006... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center is prognosticating weak La Nina conditions, although climatologists cannot yet predict the pattern's effect on spring and summer weather patterns in the United...

Mining disaster investigation may point to prevention technology.
January 24, 2006... As state and federal investigators grapple with tracing the cause of the coal mining accident that killed 12 miners in Sago, W.Va., earlier this month, a weather tracking technology company is assisting in determining if nature had a part in...