Bruno opens up Where will stimulus collaboration ALERT · Case Study Designer Creative Dir. Editorial Prepress Other OK to go ... VP of Events: Alan Cox [email protected] Marketing

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inside:

New York City’s Bruno opens up

Where will stimulus money land?

Nonprofi t collaboration

ONCOLLEGE CAMPUSES PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABLE PANDEMIC

May/June 2009

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Copyright © 2009 ESRI. All rights reserved. The ESRI globe logo, ESRI, ESRI—The GIS Company, The Geographic Advantage, and www.esri.com, are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners. Photo courtesy of FEMA/Todd Swain.

Discover more public safety case studies at www.esri.com/publicsafety.

GIS—Providing You the Geographic Advantage™

Delivering Actionable Information

Transform Your Data into Actionable Information

During a crisis, emergency managers receive data from numerous

sources. The challenge is fusing this data into something that can be

quickly understood and shared for effective decision support.

ESRI’s GIS technology provides you with the capability to quickly

assimilate, analyze, and create actionable information.

GIS aids emergency management by

4 Rapidly assessing impacts to critical infrastructure

4 Determining evacuation needs including shelters andappropriate routing

4 Directing public safety resources

4 Modeling incidents and analyzing consequences

4 Providing dynamic situational awareness and a commonoperating picture

4 Supplying mobile situational awareness to remote field teamsGIS is used to model the spread and intensity of a chemical spill. Real-time weather data is used to determine the plume’s spread, direction, and speed.


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ESRI—Th e GIS Com pa ny™

www.esri.com/publicsafety

The Executive View service can consume disparate data sources. This service was tailored for use during response to and recovery from past floods.

A screen shot from the Emergency Operations Center depicts a quick assessment of total possible damages. The extents of the affected area are shown in red.

Parcel information is brought into the map with the damages overlaid to determine property damage.

Large-scale emergencies—floods, earth-

quakes, hurricanes, wildfires, terror-

ist attacks—are multifaceted events

that impact tens of thousands of lives.

Response to these major incidents involves

multiple agencies. The key to a successful

response—to get people, equipment, and

supplies where they are needed as quickly

as possible—is establishing a communi-

cation network that provides a complete

picture of what’s happening in real time.

It also requires bringing together all neces-

sary parties, from private entities to city,

county, and federal agencies, to share

information and resources and work in

an effective, integrated fashion.

The Indiana Department of Homeland

Security (IDHS) embarked on an ambitious

campaign that provides just such a commu-

nication network based on server, desktop,

and Web geographic information system

(GIS) technologies. It provides a two-way

stream of information flow among local,

county, state, and federal agencies that is

vital to disaster response.

“We wanted to leverage resources already

in place with other state agencies and in

the universities across the state,” says

Roger Koelpin, GIS/critical infrastructure

planner, IDHS. “We are able to work with

those partners as resources for our internal

disaster recovery strategy and continuity of

operations planning. Ultimately, we hope

to turn this into a viable process for bot-

tom-up reporting of data to meet federal

data calls and keep our federal partners

informed as part of our routine, authorita-

tive, common operating picture.”

A Common Operating Picture Using Web-Based GIS Services

The enterprise disaster response system

provides several functions. First, it can be

used for mitigation, with state agencies

identifying high-risk populations, infra-

structure, natural resources, and other

assets. Second, it can provide instant

response capabilities. When a disaster

strikes, real-time situational awareness

can be achieved. Using GIS, command-

ers can make quick decisions on where

to send law enforcement, fire personnel,

emergency medical services staff, and

other responders. They can instantly see

available resources, prioritize activities,

and monitor events in real time. This capa-

bility also helps with long-term recovery.

A major component of the system comes

from Indiana University partners, who are

already using GIS and related technolo-

gies to publish IndianaMap, a singular,

statewide geospatial resource for Indiana

that includes a wide variety of information

in a format accessible to both expert GIS

users and the general public. The strat-

egy of working with universities allows

IDHS to leverage the databases and tools

these academic institutions use in their

individual GIS work. It also provides a

decentralized information network that

can supply data and applications should

state government information systems be

disrupted or become inaccessible.

Indiana Department of Homeland Security Implements Advanced Response System

Case Study


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Contents

F E A T U R E S

40Tapping the Nonprofi tsNonprofi ts allow government agencies to bypass their formal procurement processes.

30Stimulating Public SafetyGrants will benefi t public safety but come with caveats in some cases.

24Pending Th reatSwine fl u outbreak underscores the need for universities to actively prepare for a global emergency.

O N T H E C O V E R

46Choices to MakeInteroperability can take many forms but what is mission-critical?

4

36Boston’s Buddy SystemLocal government, businesses and nonprofi ts should lean on each other.

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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 Rundle [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] Designers: Michelle Hamm [email protected] Joe Colombo [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 Hux [email protected] Business Development Director: Glenn Swenson [email protected]

Bus. Dev. Managers: John Enright [email protected]

Lisa Doughty [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. Erik Eberz at (800) 290-5460 ext.150or [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

14EM Bulletin

10Point of ViewWalking the Preparedness Talk

12In the News

16Eye on the News

20Major PlayerJoseph Bruno, New York City Offi ce of Emergency Management Commissioner

66Last WordPerspective on the ‘Death Map’

O N L I N E E X C L U S I V E S

www.emergencymgmt.com

A 311 contact-center model has emerged as a proven standard for municipal communications in numerous cities throughout the world. There are many reasons why a 311 contact center is a critical component in the effi cient delivery of effective e-government.

Do You Need a 311 Contact Center?

Understanding the concept of essential records helps emergency managers protect their own essential records as well as any such records they may encounter during a response and recovery effort.

Protecting Essential Records During an Emergency

64Eric’s Corner:The New Emergency Management Professional

42Education Directory

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

60Products

Texas newspaper kept printing despite Hurricane Ike’s wrath.



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Energy | Environment | National Security | Health | Critical Infrastructure

© 2008 Science Applications International Corporation. All rights reserved. SAIC and the SAIC logo are registered trademarks of Science Applications International Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

For detailed information go to www.saic.com and type “ESS” in the search field,or call Patrick Cameron at 757.962.8139

Mission Ready 24/7.

Mission Critical?

ESS is the only shelter system available with the innovative Quicklock secure cargo system

SAIC introduces the Expandable Shelter System (ESS):modular, expandable, deployable and multi-functional. ESS allows you to tailor the system to meet your application. ESS is ideal for C4I, forensic labs, disaster response, MASH units, berthing, field kitchens and more. Basically, it is limited only by the imagination.


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Contributors

8

Patton is a hazard mitigation writer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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.

David RathsContributing Writer

Raths is a Philadelphia-based writer for Government Technology, Public CIO and Emergency Managementmagazines.

Stone is a journalist basedin Maryland who covers business and technology. He’s a regular contributor to Government Technology and Emergency Management magazines.

Adam Stone Contributing Writer

Ann Patton Contributing Writer

Fraser has served as the 37th commissioner of the Boston Fire Department since 2006. He served for more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy and was commanding offi cer of the USS Underwood during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Roderick FraserContributing Writer

Galvin is a Portland, Ore.-based writer who covers interoperability issues and trends and technology tied to the public safety fi eld.

Contributing WriterBob Galvin

Rundle is also a staff writer and copy editor for Government Technology magazine. She previously worked as a copy editor for the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Elaine RundleAssociate Editor



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ADT state license numbers are available for review at www.ADT.com or by contacting 1-800-ADT-ASAP.® ©2009 ADT Security Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ADT, the ADT logo, ADT Always There and 1-800-ADT-ASAP are registered trademarks of ADT Services, AG, and are used under license.

Network Video Mass Notification Access Control Critical Condition Monitoring

Schedule 84Homeland Security SAFETY Act Certifi ed and Designated for Electronic Security Services

For the high-risk areas you need to protect every day, ADT® has proven homeland security solutions.

Security requirements at the city and county levels are more complex than ever. Which is why the resources

of ADT Security Services can really help. Not because we’re the world’s largest electronic security company.

But because ADT is helping regional and municipal governments like yours, every day, all across America

with inter-operable solutions scaled and tailored to your needs. Effective security planning, technology

and services for the many public decisions you face: homeland security, life safety, crime prevention,

emergency preparedness and more. Our dedicated state and local government sales representatives can

help you put together a customized plan for your city or county today.

1. University Campus

2. Water Treatment Plant

3. Government Square

4. Port Authority

5. Mass Transit/Airport

6. High-crime Zone

1

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Call 1-866-748-9166 or visit ADT.com/gov

to see ADT Homeland Security successes at work.

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10

In 1988, a moderate earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay Area — an unremarkable occurrence for most, a poignant event for me. A tall, solid-oak bookcase nearly toppled onto a “fort” made of chairs and blankets my two nephews had constructed at the bookcase’s base. Th ey went home about 30 minutes prior to the temblor, but their fortress remained. Were it not for the ground-swells of that quake literally catching the plunging bookcase and thrusting it back against the wall, and had those two little guys still been in there playing, it would have been catastrophic.

Th e next Saturday, we went to the hardware store and found L-brackets, lag bolts and stud fi nders.

We got home and I announced that I would be the one to do this task. I started by fi nding the stud, then drilling a hole … and no stud. I tried again — no stud. Seven holes later, I found the stud. We were renters at the time. When we moved, we easily repaired the wall with toothpaste (I now recommend spackle) and received all of our deposit back.

My job at the time of this quake was to motivate the community to secure its bookcases, and I hadn’t even persuaded myself to do so. Th at motivated me to help others with this easy task, and also to learn what behavioral research has to teach about constructing messages that motivate action. Here’s what I’ve learned:

If you don’t walk the walk, you cannot eff ectively talk the talk. You won’t persuade people to take your message to heart and do something if you don’t follow your own advice. Your message will lack emotion and passion, which are critical elements in any persuasive endeavor.A poignant story is an invaluable teaching aid. Many have reported back to me — sometimes years later — that my stories motivated them to stop procrastinating and take action.Peer-reviewed research has demonstrated the value of adhering to the following formula when constructing a message to

1.

2.

3.

motivate preparedness activity: Th reat (i.e., consequence + probability) = Response (i.e., eff ectiveness + capability).Th reat must balance Response in the message. Th e threat’s

consequences and the likelihood of those consequences occurring inform the message’s why (i.e.,“Why do you want me to do this?”). Th is threat must match the response (i.e.,“OK, I get the why. Now what should I do about it?”). Too much threat will scare people. Too much response will overwhelm people. Too little threat doesn’t compel action. But the right amount of response will show precisely how the recommended action reduces or eliminates the threat’s stated consequences.

Th e tipping point for a preparedness action ultimately hinges on whether or not the person accepts that she or he can actually do the recommended response. Th is is where most preparedness messages fall woefully short.

A staple of many preparedness campaigns is a comprehensive checklist of activities to complete. A checklist simply doesn’t build my confi dence to go to the hardware store, fi nd the right stuff , spend the requisite $1.50, return home, fi nd a wall stud, drill a hole and expend the necessary fi ve minutes attaching the brackets and bolts.

My most persuasive message is my own preparedness story. I explain the details of the threat and response. I use my experi-ence to answer the questions, and people walk out the door feeling enabled, empowered and motivated.

Remember, the passion that persuades stems from walking the preparedness talk. k

LuAn Johnson is the public education program manager of the

Washington State Emergency Management Department.

Walking the Preparedness Talk

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

My job at the time of this quake was to motivate the community to secure its bookcases, and I hadn’t even persuaded myself to do so.

LuAn Johnson

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“Fastest” claim based on initial call setup time. GPS: Requires GPS and Java-enabled phone. Environment may limit GPS location info. Coverage not available everywhere. Nextel National Network reaches over 274 million people. ©2009 Sprint. Sprint and the logo are trademarks of Sprint. MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Of� ce. Other marks are the property of their respective owners.

When everyone is on shaky ground, you can’t afford to be swayed. In an

emergency, you’ve got to get the right people to the right place, right now,

and miscommunication is not an option.

Nextel’s GPS tracking lets dispatchers know the exact locations of fi refi ghters, police and EMTs, so when an emergency arises, they can respond immediately without communication slipping through the cracks. Nextel Direct Connect.® Only on the Now Network.™

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THE FASTEST NATIONALPUSH-TO-TALK NETWORK.

Connecting the world’s largest

push-to-talk community.


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12

In the NewsAlaska’s Mount Redoubt erupted

continuously during the end of March and into April, spewing ash nearly 65,000 feet in the air, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Trace amounts of ash were found up to 106 miles away in Anchorage.

The ash, which consisted of tiny rock fragments with jagged edges, threatened national and international aviation as it entered the North Pacifi c fl ight path between North America and Asia.

The USGS said Redoubt is one of the nation’s most threatening volcanoes, and is monitored 24 hours a day by scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. k

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13

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Slopes covered in ash surround Mount Redoubt on March 31.

The eruptions fl ooded the Drift River Valley with ejected volcanic material called tephra deposits.

The snow in Diamond Ridge, Alaska, is barely visible under the ash.



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CDW-G Launches Mass Notifi cation Web SiteCDW GOVERNMENT launched its Mass Notifi cation Toolkit, a Web site that provides practical guidance on implementation, marketing and sign-up challenges asso-ciated with the deployment of mass notifi cation systems.

Th e Mass Notifi cation Toolkit builds on CDW-G’s 2008 study Th is Is a Test — Th is Is Only a Test: UpdatingAmerica’s Emergency Alert Infrastructure. Th at study found that one-third of U.S. residents have no knowledge of or experience with their local emergency notifi cation program. Th e study also identifi ed a deep divide between how Americans communicate and how local govern-ments disseminate information.

Th ough the number of wireless subscribers in Americais at an all-time high and 1 billion text messages are sent by citizens daily, local governments still relay information largely via television and radio, which requires electricity that might not be available during an emergency.

Th e new Web site, www.cdwg.com/massnotifi cation, provides guidelines on establishing an eff ective mass notifi cation system such as:• who must be involved in system development;• what a mass notifi cation system IT infrastructure

looks like;• how to craft eff ective mass notifi cation messages; and• how to increase constituent participation in mass

notifi cation systems.

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AEM Bulletin

3.5 Million Sandbags Aid Fargo, N.D., FloodingIN LATE MARCH, heavy rains and above-freezing temperatures contributed to the Red River’s fl ooding in Fargo, N.D. Th e river crested at 40.82 feet on March 28, breaking its 112-year-old record of 40.1 feet. According to CNN, the river is usually around 14 feet deep during that time of the year and it’s considered to be fl ooded when it reaches 18 feet deep.

Emergency crews erected dikes when the water level reached 30 feet and used HESCO Concertainers — 4x3x15-foot cubes made of fabric and fi lled with sand — to protect structures. Citizens turned out in droves to fi ll sandbags beginning on March 23, and it was estimated that 3.5 mil-lion sandbags were fi lled throughout the emergency.

Although there was not a citywide evacuation, authori-ties evacuated vulnerable populations, like the elderly, and people living near retaining dikes were asked to leave voluntarily.



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15Emergency Management

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APCO Shares Security Secrets With Saudi Arabia UniversityIN APRIL, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Offi cials (APCO) International extended its training arm to help secure King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), being built as an international, graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientifi c achievement in the kingdom.

APCO will provide an all-inclusive training program for communications personnel in the university’s new communications center. Th e training began in April and continues for three months. Th e program will be conducted by APCO Institute Adjunct Instructor Mark Boudreaux, director of Terrebonne 911 District in Louisiana. KAUST will staff a 20-person communication center and use all APCO training programs and soft ware.

“Th e ultimate goal is to respect the rights and protect the safety of all students, staff , residents and visitors of their campus,” said APCO International President Chris Fischer in a press release. “We are happy to support this eff ort by ensuring KAUST communications personnel are fully trained, self-suffi cient and prepared to success-fully handle fi re, EMS or police-related emergency calls.

Th e campus occupies almost 14 square miles on the Red Sea and sits approxi-mately 50 miles north of Saudi Arabia’s second largest city, Jeddah.

CDP Course Covers Chemical, Biological AgentsFEMA’S CENTER for Domestic Preparedness(CDP) offers a hands-on, three-day course that addresses the effects of chemical and biological agents, including radiation and explosive injuries.

Th e Weapons of Mass Destruction Emergency Medical Services (EMS) course is one of several courses that relate to health care and emergency response and is pertinent to emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency room nurses,medical emergency planners and law enforce-ment offi cers.

“Anytime a medical responder — or any responder with medical skills — initiates contact with a potential casualty in the fi eld, they place themselves at the mercy of a terrorist or accidental hazardous environment,” said EMS course manager John Skinner. “Th e fact that hazardous situations can be harmful if responded to improperly, which makes responders the victims, is important.”

Each class can accommodate 40 responders, and successful completion of the training includes 2.4 continuing education units. For more informa-tion, visit the CDP at https://cdp.dhs.gov or call 866/213-9553.

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16

Texas newspaper kept printing despite Hurricane Ike’s wrath.

Th e Galveston County (Texas) Daily News has written countless stories about the challenges and heroes of Hurricane Ike. But there’s one story journalists for the paper have refused to write: their own.

During Ike, Th e News staff lost almost everything but its grit. Even when the storm was at its worst, the paper didn’t miss an edition.

“It’s all a blur,” Building Superinten-dent Brett Baker said about operations throughout Ike and its aft ermath on Galveston Island.

When the eye passed over the newspa-per building at 2 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2008, workers who were staying there overnight rushed outside and boarded up cracked windows in preparation for the second half of the storm. Th e worst was yet to come. It brought 110-mph winds and a 12-foot storm surge. Th e building’s roof cov-ering, power, generator, satellite phones and nearly all technology were lost. But the staff never stopped.

“We were operating, at one point, pret-ty much just on my cell phone,” recalled Editor Heber Taylor. “We had to improvise and overcome.”

Rain came in around the windows. Th e waterproof covering blew off the roof. Th e surge came quickly, fl ooded the carpet and then subsided just as quickly. Th e genera-tor failed when natural gas service was cut off . Before the storm was over, some Daily News staff ers lost everything.

“We were working around the clock,” Taylor said. “Our reporters were operat-ing out of emergency management centers in Galveston and League City.” Reporters fi led stories using whatever technology they could muster, including cell phones, laptops and air cards. Th e newspaper exported copy editing to the mainland and printed through sister newspapers, starting with the Herald-Zeitung in New Braunfels, Texas.

When the newspaper was ready for de-livery, fi nding readers proved nearly im-possible. Delivery personnel went where they thought people might be, dropping bundles at emergency centers and hotels. “People would see our trucks and fl ag them down,” Taylor said, “and I don’t know how many people told me they hiked to the points of delivery just to fi nd out what was happening. Th ink about it: Th ere was no cable, no CNN, no local news stations. Th is was the way they got information, and information is critical.

“Some people picking up the paper were astonished to fi nd out that the city had a curfew. People in the emergency com-mand center and people in other states knew there was a curfew, but the people living on the island had no way of knowing other than picking up the newspaper.”

Internet Distributes InformationTh e Daily News turned to the Web, post-

ing stories as soon as they were written and then assembling them for print. Th rough

the Web, the newspaper reached evacuees, extended families and news media.

“Our readership on the Web was enormous and continues to be very high,” Taylor said.

In some cases, faraway Internet users relayed information back to those living in the impacted area. “It was amazing to me how people in New York would see some-thing on our Web site and pass it along to somebody in Biloxi (Miss.) or New Orleans who somehow, maybe aft er 20 tries, would get a call in to Galveston and tell people there was a curfew. And those people would go tell their neighbors,” Taylor said.

“It was critically important to get out ac-curate information,” he said. “Th ere were all kinds of horribly inaccurate rumors crop-ping up. Th ere was a pernicious rumor that Ball High School burned to the ground, and the rumor would not die. When the phones did work, I got angry calls from people ac-cusing us of hiding the truth. Of course, one thing you can do is report what is there, as well as what didn’t happen. Th ere is tremen-dous value in that.”

Eye on the NewsAnn Pattonby

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The extent of the damage of Hurricane Ike is shown in the picture as workers clear debris in Galveston, Texas. Photo by Greg Henshall / FEMA

Lessons Learned

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What kept the news staff going was dedi-cation to their readers and, as Taylor said, dedication to the craft .

Perhaps it’s not surprising that it would take more than Hurricane Ike to stop this paper and its 20-member staff . Th e old-est newspaper in Texas, Th e Daily News has been publishing since 1842, through epi-demics, wildfi res, the Civil War and major hurricanes in 1900, 1915, 1963 and 1983. Th e newspaper’s building was damaged while it was under construction during Hurricane Carla in 1961, so it was built strong enough to withstand hurricanes.

Preparing for the WorstBaker calls the structure one of the safest

buildings in Galveston. Th e newspaper’s plant is a hulking concrete fort with a 14-inch-thick concrete fl oor, 9-inch-thick concrete walls and a concrete roof. Th e windows are rated for up to 160-mph winds and further protected with internal fi lm. Th e building is behind the seawall, elevated and anchored on 30-foot-deep concrete piers.

Preparedness and business-continuity planning also contributed to the newspa-per’s ability to keep publishing.

When Hurricane Ike entered the Gulf of Mexico, the news team, according to plan, began preparation in earnest. “We fi lled 55-gallon drums with water so we could fl ush

toilets,” Baker said. “We got plywood and screws. We brought in drinking water, food and a grill so we could cook our food.”

Th e emergency plan included provisions for exporting printing and copy editing to the mainland if needed, which it was. Ex-porting the copy electronically turned out to be a major challenge, but the staff found ways to make it work.

Several survival systems used by The Galveston County Daily News are integral to continuity of operations plans, which could be useful for any business.

To ensure business continuity, employ the following survival plans:

Identify your risks and take aggressive hazard-mitigation actions to make your building and site safe. Secure your roof, windows and doors. If you’re in an area at high risk of fl ooding, elevate or fl oodproof, if at all possible. At a minimum, plan to elevate or move what’s most important, possibly including evacuation of personnel. Identify the things that must be done for your business to continue. Plan where and how you will continue, even if you have to leave your present site. Identify your communications needs and the best ways to meet them. Be redundant. Back up records. Plan for the potential failure of essential elements of your system and alternate ways to operate if your power fails, your computers crash, your suppliers abandon you or your customers disappear.

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Core Elements of a Business Continuity Plan

This photo is an example of how roads in Galveston, Texas, were damaged by Hurricane Ike as the ground eroded under the pavement from the storm surge. Robert Kaufmann/FEMA

Photo by Robert Kaufmann/FEMA



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Th e newspaper had installed a natu-ral gas generator as an emergency power source. “We assumed it would be 100-percent reliable,” said Taylor. “We certainly didn’t plan on losing natural gas service.” But at the height of the storm and for days aft er, natural gas service was disrupted for the entire island.

“We certainly never planned on our satellite phones failing,” Taylor said. “For a while, we were operating on the backup emergency power supplies for computers, and we used them to charge cell phones too.” In time, workers added small gaso-line generators.

Plan for FailureWhat advice does the newspaper staff

give to others who fi nd themselves in a similar situation?

Baker recommends investing in a strong, elevated building and protecting the integ-rity of the windows and other openings. “Th ese newer buildings are being built too

cheaply,” he said. “Corrugated steel. Th ey can’t handle this wind. Th ey rip apart.” He hopes to look into shutters or coverings for the windows and wants to have them resealed to prevent leaks.

“Have a written plan,” Taylor said. “Re-view it every year before the season. Also, have an annual review of technology. De-cide what you can use and what you can aff ord. And if you live on the Gulf Coast, I would seriously ask what you can’t aff ord not to have. Th e solutions that actually worked for us are not that expensive: air cards and cell phones.”

Taylor recommends redundant systems. “One of the most important provisions you can build in to any plan is the provision for failure. Th ink about what you will do if something fails, even something you think is going to be 100-percent reliable. You have to be very fl exible as things develop.”

Th e lessons learned from Hurricane Ike have changed the way the newspaper does

business, Taylor said. Th e newspaper now relies more on cell phones, air cards and the Internet. “We’re using the Web much more,” Taylor said. “We’re still operating as we did during the emergency — posting informa-tion as we get it. We’re posting these stories in real time on our Web site, then at the end of the day we pull together a print edition.”

Th e editor also said hazard mitigation, disaster preparation and emergency plan-ning will play a larger role in future news operations.

“Th e reward is that we were here when people needed us,” Taylor said. “If we hadn’t been in a strong, elevated building — if we hadn’t had that written plan — we simply would have failed when people most needed us. We’ll plan better for the next time, but we did have that plan, and it allowed us to keep functioning when things went wrong.” k

The Galveston County Daily News never missed an edition during or after Hurricane Ike, despite losing its roof covering, power, generators and nearly all its technological capabilities. Its success was due to having an elevated concrete building, preparedness planning, ingenuity and fi erce determination to keep information fl owing. Image provided by: The Galveston County Daily News

News Through Text and Twitter

Lessons Learned

Leigh Jones was one of The Galveston County Daily News reporters who had to resort to unconventional means to cover Hurricane Ike.

When most communications channels were down, Jones text messaged the news from her cell phone. She sent short, 140-character bulletins, called tweets, to Twitter, a social-networking Web site that works over multiple networks and devices.

Some of the tweets Jones posted included:5:44 p.m. Sept.12 — People are calling for help now but no one can get to them. The water is really coming up fast now.7:55 a.m. Sept.13 — Crews pulling people from high water.8:30 a.m. Sept.13 — Entire row of houses on fi re. Nothing crews can do.8:42 a.m. Sept.13 — Structures from the beach are now on the street.

In another city, a reporter who had traveled with evacuees to cover their story was able to access the Twitter site and convert the bulletins for The Daily News to post online in real time. Soon other media discovered the bulletins and used the Twitter text for regional and national coverage.

“So that’s how we got out information as quickly as possible,” Jones said. As time went on, the staff was able to use computers, but only sparingly. “Usually just

one of our cell phones (in the media pool) would work, because everybody had different carriers.” Jones said. “We would swap phones around and dictate our stories from the phone that worked to someone who had a computer to type them out. We didn’t have time to write them down. It was amazing.”

As the drama unfolded, Jones had her own personal disaster. Hurricane Ike fl ooded her home 8 feet deep. She lost everything, but never missed a deadline.



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What effects have the stimulus package had on your jurisdictional plans?

Th e stimulus package in New York is going to be used mainly on infrastructure — rebuilding bridges. Th ere are six basic projects and about 12 additional projects. Bridges are big, there’s some roadway stuff and also a little bit of work on the ferry terminal.

One of the projects is to work on the resiliency of the Brooklyn Bridge in diff erent portions of its infrastructure, some of which I don’t really want to go into detail about: resiliency for ordinary incidents, but also for hazards like hurricanes and other things that might come in.

It’s important to us that the more we put into infrastructure, the more it will be able to with-stand emergencies that occur here. Maintaining transportation networks and routes, which is part of what they’re doing, helps us also. It cuts back on the number of emergencies.

Were these projects in the works before the stimulus package?

Some were in the works and some were defi -nitely on hold because of the economy, so we were able to fi re them up. Th e projects were ready to go within a reasonable amount of time. So I think they all were planned, but they certainly all weren’t ongoing. Th e stimulus package has helped because it has allowed six major projects and about 12 additional projects to move forward.

More than a dozen private-sector groups operate alongside you in the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). What are these groups?

We’re probably one of the few cities that have such a strong relationship with the private sector and really incorporate it into our EOC. Th ey sit there with the mayor and whoever else is going to be there, and they are observing and learning.

We have, for example, private universities. We have the Hotel Association of New York City, which covers an enormous number of hotels, hospitalities and institutions. We have the Real Estate Board, which is the ownership of the major real estate in New York — a very large and infl uential group.

Next are the fi nancial and banking institu-tions. Th e Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Wall Street and the Food Industry Alliance of New York State are others. Th e city is fi lled with restaurants, and a lot of

Joseph Bruno was appointed commissioner of the New York City Offi ce of Emergency Management (OEM) in March 2004, and has since overseen the city’s adoption of the Citywide Incident Management System; the growth of Ready New York, the city’s preparedness campaign; and helped create Notify NYC, an emergency notifi cation system for city residents.

Emergency Management magazine asked him about the city’s plans for stimulus money, as well as public-private partnerships, community outreach programs and more.

Major Player

Jim McKayby

Joseph BrunoCommissioner, New York City Offi ce of Emergency Management

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things occur that could aff ect lots of restau-rants, so [the New York State Restaurant As-sociation] sits in the EOC.

Th e New York City Business Improvement District [participates]. Th ey are the areas of the city, like Grand Central, Times Square, Downtown Brooklyn, part of Coney Island, and all of Midtown and Lower Manhattan that have been designated as business improvement districts — there are now more than 100 of them. Th ey’re in Queens, the Bronx and all these areas where industry has continued to grow, business has become more consolidated and it’s a distinct area. Th e good part about them is they give us great access to small businesses when something bad happens.

And you have a direct line to them, it’s quick and they’re right there?

Th ey’re right in the room with us. We open whenever there is a major emergency for the private sector. [It’s] an open conference line where people can come on the line, and indi-vidual companies can seek advice and informa-tion about where we are at certain levels if they haven’t gotten it from their association. We also have CorpNet, which is a paging system that we put out from OEM to the private sector. Th ey have to be legitimate businesses [to get it]; they have to register at the level that allows us to feel that the information will go up and down for the organization. We provide them day-to-day situational awareness of what’s happening in New York City. Virtually everything I get on my paging device, they get.

You’re practicing that daily, so when something happens it’s “old hat?”

Th at’s right. Every one of those groups that I mentioned has designated staff . We’ve trained them how to use our soft ware in the EOC, and they know how to use the systems we use, where we are and when they have to come in. We have a call-down program to make sure we deploy them back to the EOC. It’s a very organized approach with a lot of training.

To what degree do you include social media before, during and after events?

Pre-event we have the Ready New York pro-gram, which provides guides. Th ese are house-hold guides, all the way down to people with

disabilities or pets. We produced this in sev-eral diff erent languages, in many cases, up to 14. We do public-service campaigns. We have videos, audiotapes and Web content that we will pass out to agencies and entities that want to put it on their Web site. We have a speak-ers’ bureau, and we do presentations — in the last year, we did more than 250 presentations to large and small groups. We have a school program going on now where we are educat-ing schoolchildren during and aft er school; corporate partnerships; a high-def DVD [is emerging in] many of the learning programs we have for people who we want to talk to about preparedness. We have distributed more than 6 million guides since 2003.

We are now moving to where the young population is, or lots of people are: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We are open-ing up our own page on these sites, where

we will start putting information on our pre-paredness and what we think people have to know to be safe in this city.

Talk more about community outreach and the various ways you accomplish it.

Th e other thing we’re doing during emergencies, or even before them, is we reach out to the ethnic media. We have lots of diff erent ethnicities in New York City — maybe 130 diff erent languages — so we reach out to the ethnic media. We know that is where many people get their information. We also reach out not only to the more established media, but also independent news outlets. We bring them in on a regular basis to instruct them on what we’re doing, give them information and get contacts. During emergencies, we work with the Mayor’s Offi ce and are responsible for coordinating the media outreach for

“We have lots of different ethnicities in New York City — maybe 130 different languages — so we reach out to the ethnic media.”



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the city. One message comes out of City Hall’s press offi ce.

We coordinate all of the public informa-tion offi cers of the agencies involved that have input into a message. Th at’s our job. During a large-scale emergency, we will manage the city’s Joint Information Center. We will bring all the entities into OEM, and have all the press offi cers work it through with the mayor and his press offi ce, and the mayor will oft en go on-air to give the message we’ve created.

Notify New York City is a notifi cation program. It’s in the pilot stage in four commu-nities. Very shortly, it will go out to a citywide pilot and then full-blown, and people will be able to register for it.

We’re going to use many diff erent methods to get to as many people as we can and be as specifi c as we can in how we get information out — like using cell towers and GIS, which

will allow us to draw a circle [around an area] and notify everyone within the circle.

Postmedia, one thing we do that’s an inter-esting program is incident-based distribution of material. When an incident occurs — a very signifi cant emergency — we will go out and distribute our guides to the community. We know that community has been traumatized by the incident, and we think it’s a good time to get them some information about prepared-ness, [aft er they say], “Th is thing really scared the hell out of me. How do I deal with this if it happens again?” Th at’s a good time to put out the information.

What is your most important piece of equipment or solution?

Th e biggest solution we have is the Citywide Incident Management System under which we manage emergencies. It gives New York

City agencies — very large, robust agencies — a game plan to follow. It sets forth who’s in charge and the structure that we follow, which is the national structure; it’s changed a bit because New York City is somewhat unique. We know who’s in command, who directs what work and all the agencies that should be there, and we assure that they are there.

Important on the equipment side or the facility side is a backup EOC. We need to have a backup EOC. We have a hot-site backup EOC in NYC now, so I could walk there and what’s on my desk right now is on my desk there. We have an EOC there ready to go — as big as or bigger than what we have in New York City — and that is very important. Perhaps I should also mention mobile assets. For example, we have lots of GIS capabilities, and we have a mobile asset that we can bring into the fi eld and do it on the fl y.

If you had a magic wand for funding, what would you spend it on?

I would spend it on postdisaster housing build-out. I think we’d like to see FEMA step up, create a menu of options for postdisaster housing across the country — from rural to dense populations, like New York. We would like to see prototypes built across the board and store a whole bunch of them for the fed-eral government to make available in diff erent parts of the country. For example, [make some that] are hurricane-proof because you know they’re going to need postdisaster housing.

I would have FEMA enter into a contract with New York City and we would help them build that capability not only for us, but for the whole country.

We suggested to the federal government that a major thing they could do with the stimulus package is take a look at postdisaster housing, the needs that we recognize down in all the hurricane-prone areas and try to foster a capability in the U.S. and maybe in indus-tries that are currently hurting — a capability to gear up in the event postdisaster housing is needed. I don’t know that the stimulus pack-age overall in the U.S. is really approaching that problem, but we do think that would be an area that could be very fruitful. k

“I would have FEMA enter into a contract with New York City and we would help them build that capability not only for us, but for the whole country.”

Major Player



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Th ree historic pandemic fl us have changed the way the world views the rapid, global spreading of disease: the Spanish fl u that killed between 40 million and 50 million people in 1918; the Asian fl u that killed approximately 2 million people in 1957; and the 1968 Hong Kong fl u that killed an estimated 1 million people.

Although there hasn’t been a pandemic in more than 40 years, the current swine fl u outbreak — which has infected 1,516 people worldwide and killed 30 as of press time — has emphasized the need to prepare for such an event. On April 25, the World Health Organization deemed the swine fl u an international public health emergency, and the United States declared a national public health emergency.

Colleges and universities are in a unique position when planning for a pandemic. Many students are housed in residence halls, and therefore are provided shelter and food. Should dormitories be closed during a pandemic? Should infected students be quarantined? Should campuses be closed? Th ese are important, diffi cult questions put to campus emergency managers.

B Y E L A I N E R U N D L E » A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R

THREAT

Swine fl u outbreak underscores the need for universities to actively prepare for a global emergency.

PENDING




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When the deadly H5N1 strain of bird fl u — which had a total of 120 outbreaks in 2006 and 2007 — found the media’s spotlight, campus emergency managers suddenly focused on pandemic plans for their organizations. Although many knew a pandemic could be immi-nent, other emergency topics, like preventing campus violence and creating emergency-noti-fi cation systems, kept it on the back burner. Th ree years later, offi cials are still planning for pandemics and new technologies are aiding the process.

LOOMING ISSUETh e spotlight on bird fl u brought increased

knowledge about the dangers of pandemics and the understanding that it’s a real, imminent threat.

“I have been in this business for almost 20 years, and I remember 15 years ago sitting in meetings and trying to talk to people about the danger of having a pandemic and people couldn’t grasp it — they just couldn’t see it,” said Valerie Lucus, emergency manager of the University of

California at Davis. “I think the H5N1 scare we all had about three years ago brought it more into the consciousness. People recognize it as a hazard that they really need to think about and address for themselves.”

In April 2006, the UC Davis provost issued a “charge letter” that discussed the threat of a bird

fl u pandemic. Th e letter asked each school, college or unit within the university to create pandemic plans. Lucus provided a template that included identifying the chain of command, determining how communications would continue during an emergency, and recognizing critical functions that would have to be maintained and the level of staffi ng they would require. Lucus wanted the units to understand their critical functions that could be delayed one week, one month and more than one month.

Lucus also touched on a critical issue caused by pandemics: excessive absenteeism. “Th e issues that excessive absenteeism bring to a campus

“ONE OF OUR MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS TO PUBLIC OFFICIALS WOULD BE TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THE POTENTIAL SOCIAL IMPACT OF CLOSING SCHOOLS VERSUS EDUCATING THE PUBLIC AND CONVINCING THEM TO STAY HOME WHILE THEY ARE SICK.” — Pinar Keskinocak, associate professor, School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech

The last pandemic was more than 40 years ago, but killed an estimated 1 million people. Campus emergency managers are creating pandemic plans to deal with their unique position of keeping students safe and operations running.



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emergency are diff erent because it’s not like your buildings are fl ooded and you can’t go in them anymore,” she explained. “It’s that you don’t have enough people around to keep the systems and processes going.”

Robert Lang, the assistant vice president of stra-tegic security and safety for Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, said it’s important for every pandemic plan to identify essential support func-tions like human resources, facilities, the health clinic, payroll and the campus police department. “Th ose people are going to have to come up with not only plans as to how they would support the university when people don’t show up, but how they are going to actually maintain adequate levels of support internally,” he said.

Identifying critical roles is easy enough, but cross-training workers to take on those responsi-bilities is the challenge. Lang said people mistak-enly think they can just step into the role, but he said they must be aware of certifi cation require-ments and be prepared to fully do that job in addition to their own.

Offi cials also must realize that they become fi rst responders in a full-blown pandemic because the university’s and city’s health and medical staff also will be aff ected. “Staffi ng and being able to get support is something that’s going to be very tough to get,” Lang said. “Th at’s why your internal procedures are going to have to try to support as much as you can without relying on outside entities.”

THE TROUBLE WITH TEMPLATESOnce the templates for an organization’s

pandemic plan are completed, people tend to

forget about the importance of keeping them updated. Lucus said that has changed within the UC system of campuses because of the addition of UC Ready, a Web-based business continuity tool developed by the University of California at Berkeley that aids the disaster planning. “Since it’s online, you only have to go in and do it once,” Lucus said. “Th en it’s easy to

keep up-to-date and it collects information in a more consistent way. We can pull the infor-mation out and it’s sorted.” UC Ready is being used by the UC system’s 10 campuses and fi ve medical centers.

Lang said keeping the plans current is a chal-lenge. “It’s tough getting a handle on putting it all together and fi nalizing,” he said. “And then once you have your full plan in place, the dynamics of maintaining accuracies is another eff ort you have to work on.”

New technologies may aid planning for pandemics and the information that’s available when creating tools like templates. Researchers in Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) created a model that simulates the spread of a pandemic geographi-cally and across time. Julie Swann, a developer and ISyE associate professor, said the model was created as part of a university initiative to study humanitarian logistics in health and other crises, and to use the skills professors teach in areas that have a public impact.

“Our reasons for participating in the research were to have a public impact, and this is one of

Researchers at Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering developed a simulation model to track a pandemic’s spread geographically and across time. This map is an example of the visual the model creates.

“I THINK THE H5N1 SCARE WE ALL HAD ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO BROUGHT IT MORE INTO THE CONSCIOUSNESS. PEOPLE RECOGNIZE IT AS A HAZARD THAT THEY REALLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT AND ADDRESS FOR THEMSELVES.”— Valerie Lucus, emergency manager, University of California at Davis



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the areas that we saw where some real help was needed,” Swann said.

As part of that initiative, researchers met with offi cials from the Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss diff erent challenges in the public health arena, including a pandemic.

Pinar Keskinocak, another developer and ISyE associate professor, described the model: “Th is is a large-scale simulation model, and we essentially simulate each person in a popula-tion according to age groups and social groups — such as households, school groups, work groups and community interaction. Taking all of these factors into account, the simulation model mimics the way the disease will spread both geographically and across time.”

Th e developers feed information into the model from the U.S. Census Bureau. Th ey used the public data source so the model could be replicated.

Th e model has two forms: simulation and optimization. Keskinocak said the simulation model gives a visual view of the disease, and the optimization model is used to help make deci-sions. For example, the optimization model

could be used by the Red Cross to calculate how to plan for food distribution. Th e model shows where the best place would be to open facilities, like food banks, and how to allocate resources over time.

TO CLOSE OR NOT TO CLOSECollege offi cials also face the diffi cult deci-

sion of closing the university or keeping it open. Keskinocak said the simulation model was used to test the eff ects of school closures. However, their data came from the Georgia Board of Education — an agency that oversees elementary, middle and high schools — so it

was not specifi cally tailored for a university setting. Nevertheless, the researchers tested the eff ects of school closures versus a voluntary quarantine.

“With voluntary quarantine, we found that it can signifi cantly reduce the spread of the disease and is sometimes more eff ective than school closures,” Keskinocak said. “One of our main recommendations to public offi cials would be to seriously consider the poten-

tial social impact of closing schools versus educating the public and convincing them to stay home while they are sick.”

Swann added that a major challenge of school closures is the time frame of a pandemic. Th at’s because the disease will persist at some level in the population for months. “Whether it is a university or elementary, middle or high school, closure would be diffi cult because the pandemic’s peak period may be for a couple of months, but there would be a signifi cant number of people infected for several months. We look at the course of a year in our planning period,” she said.

Lucus of UC Davis said you can’t really close a campus because it’s like a city. Th e univer-sity would suspend classes, which in eff ect is asking the students to go home. Suspending classes would also halt many of the university’s normal business operations, making it func-tion with less staff and faculty. “We would still be operating, but we would be operating with only the people who need to be here to keep the facility running,” she said.

“WITH VOLUNTARY QUARANTINE, WE FOUND THAT IT CAN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE SPREAD OF THE DISEASE AND IS SOMETIMES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN SCHOOL CLOSURES.”— Pinar Keskinocak, associate professor, School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech

Continued on p.5628

Purdue University virologist Suresh Mittal works on a new vaccine for pathogenic bird fl u, H5N1.

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Community Mitigation at a GlanceCommunity mitigation regarding a pandemic fl u is the actions that communities and federal, state and local governments take to reduce the pandemic’s effects. Actions that can slow a pandemic’s spread include:

✔ asking sick people to stay home and away from others;

✔ asking household members of a sick person also to stay home;

✔ dismissing children from school;

✔ closing child-care facilities; and

✔ limiting direct contact between people.

Other protective measures include:

✔ hand washing;

✔ covering coughs and sneezes;

✔ wearing face masks and respirators; and

✔ using anti viral drugs and vaccines.

— PandemicFlu.gov



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A replacement for the 50-year-old main fi re station building in Janesville, Wis., has been on the city’s capital improvement project list since 2002, but the city hasn’t been able to fund construction.

Th at may change with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, which contains $210 million in grants for fi re station construction (with no single grant to exceed $15 million).

“Our building is near the end of its life,” said Larry J. Grorud, Janesville’s fi re chief and president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). “It still has the original heating system. Th e city has grown, but the building has not. So we plan to apply for that funding. Th e stimulus could be very helpful to us.”

B Y D A V I D R A T H S

StimulatingPublic Safety

Grants will benefit public safety but come with caveats in some cases.



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Across the country, police, fi re and port security offi cials were pleasantly surprised by the scope of funding ARRA allocated for public safety. Th e lion’s share will fl ow through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) — $2.25 billion — and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program — $1 billion — but hundreds of millions also will be funneled through U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies that assist port, public transportation, railroad security and fi refi ghting organizations. Funding for emergency operations centers was struck from the bill before passage.

Now regional agency offi cials are working to understand how the funding will be disbursed and what to emphasize in competitive grant applications. Many are turning to state and national organizations, like the IAFC for infor-mation on funding breakdowns and grant deadlines. Th e fact that the money will be chan-neled through existing programs, like JAG, should expedite the process because recipients are familiar with those programs’ guidelines.

David Steingraber, executive director of the Wisconsin Offi ce of Justice Assistance, said his

agency is receiving guidance from two sources: the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the offi ce of Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle. “We are getting a clear message from both that they expect us to use this funding for job creation or retention,” said Steingraber, whose offi ce oversees policy development and grant administration in criminal justice, juvenile justice and homeland security grant programs.

Departments can create new positions or retain at-risk positions, or they can spend the

funding on technology and infrastructure in ways that create jobs, said Steingraber, who is also president of the National Criminal Justice Association.

Th e level of urgency concerning funding for positions and infrastructure varies by commu-nity. Where state funding is driven mainly by income and sales tax, public safety agencies are already experiencing shortfalls and layoff s. Local agencies funded primarily through prop-erty taxes may not have seen cuts yet. But Stein-graber said most municipal agencies are facing budget constraints. “We have seen agencies hold off on discretionary spending on capital improvements and on information technology infrastructure,” he said.

Th e JAG money will be allocated using formulas involving population and violent- crime statistics. Basically 40 percent of the money that goes to each state is awarded directly to city and county entities, as long as that formula allocates a jurisdiction at least $10,000. For areas too small to qualify for that amount, the money goes back to the state to distribute in subgrants to those communities.

Th e Bureau of Justice Assistance Web site has more information about JAG grants, including

Breakdown of Where U.S. Department of Justice Funds Will Land:

St. Elizabeths/DHS Headquarters Consolidation:$650 million ($200 million to DHS; $450 million to U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP):$720 million for construction at land ports of entry ($300 million GSA; $420 million CBP)$100 million for nonintrusive inspection technology$100 million for border technology on the Southwest border$60 million for tactical communications equipment and radios

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE):$20 million for ICE automation modernization and tactical communications

Transportation Security Administration:$1 billion for explosives detection systems and checkpoint screening equipment

U.S. Coast Guard:$142 million for Alteration of Bridges program$98 million for construction, which may include the following:

• shore facilities and aids to navigation facilities • vessel repair/acquisition (includes high-endurance cutter, national- security cutter)

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA):$100 million for Emergency Food and Shelter Program$150 million for transit and rail security grants$150 million for port security grants, doesn’t require a nonfederal match$210 million for Assistance to Firefi ghter grants for fi rehouse construction; the maximum grant is $15 million$5 million expansion in authority for FEMA Community Disaster LoansRequires the establishment of an arbitration panel to resolve Katrina/Rita public assistance disputesRequires FEMA to accept additional public-assistance applications for hurricanes Katrina and Rita disputesAll nonfederal matching requirements for Staffi ng for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants waived for fi scal year 2009-2010

DHS Offi ce of Inspector General:$5 million to conduct related oversight and audits

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The U.S. Department of Justice announced funding for additional programs:

$50 million is available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) program initiatives, administered by the department’s Offi ce of Justice Programs’ (OJP) Offi ce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Eligible applicants may access the ICAC funding solicitations and deadline information at www.ojp.gov/recovery.

OJP’s Offi ce for Victims of Crime will oversee $47.5 million designated in the act. In addition, $5 million will be directed to discretionary grant projects through the awards made under the National Field-Generated Training, Technical Assistance and Demonstration Projects competitive grant solicitation.



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a breakdown of available funding by region:www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/recoveryJAG/recovery allocations.html.

State and local agencies are busy prioritizing projects for competitive grant proposals. Maine, for example, will likely propose spending on IT projects to link courts, prisons, prosecu-tors and police agencies’ databases, according to Department of Public Safety Commissioner Anne Jordan in a Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram article in March.

For police departments in areas hit hard by the recession, COPS grants are extremely impor-tant, said Margaret Stark, a public safety grant consultant for Xenonics Holdings, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based digital surveillance systems maker. “Every day I talk to people in departments that are laying off offi cers. Flint, Mich., had to lay off 40 offi cers,” she said. “So the stimulus funding will allow those departments to rehire offi cers and avoid further layoff s. Despite the overall increase in funding,” she added, “the process isn’t going to be any less competitive, so it’s still important that agencies get good at writing grants or seek outside help.

Other Grant OpportunitiesBesides the huge JAG and COPS funding

programs, public safety agencies can look else-where for grant funding:

Approximately $9 billion of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund is designated for state governors to fund public safety, education and other government services.States and municipalities will compete for the $150 million in railroad and public- transportation security grants. Also eligible are railroad carriers, Amtrak and companies that ship security-sensitive materials by rail.ARRA provides $125 million specifi -cally targeting law enforcement and drug prevention and treatment in rural areas. “Th ey have been largely left out of homeland security funding that has gone to protect critical infrastructure in urban areas,” Stark said. “Th is will be a tremen-dous benefi t to them.” Th e act makes $40 million available for assistance to curb gun and drugtraffi cking along the Southwest border. Th e $150 million in ARRA for port security grants makes available about

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37 percent more money than the approximately $400 million awarded for fi scal 2009 by the DHS.

Ports will likely apply for grants to fund security cameras, lighting and other protec-tive equipment and infrastructure, as well as interoperable communications devices, inter-agency coordination and implementation expenses associated with the new Transporta-tion Worker Identifi cation Credential, such as installing biometric card readers.

With the fi nal DHS grant guidelines expected in June, administration offi cials clearly want port offi cials to think creatively about construc-tion projects that will create jobs and improve security systems, said Aaron Ellis, communi-cations director of the American Association of Port Authorities. “For instance, they may have purchased boats for security purposes but have trouble using them because they need to do dock repairs,” he said. “Traditionally they couldn’t use port security grants for those purposes, but now they may be able to.”

Th e ARRA funding also waives the 25 percent matching fund requirement of the traditional port security grant program. Th e 25 percent match is diffi cult for ports to come up with in the current economic environment for several reasons, Ellis said. “Some have faced cargo volume declines and tenants leaving. Plus, they have to borrow to do projects. Credit markets have tightened and bond ratings have dropped. Funds are either very expensive or not available at all.”

Some ports have applied for grants and haven’t received the funds yet. Th ey may be able to apply for a waiver so they could scale back a $1 million project to $750,000 and get all the funding from the federal government without providing the 25 percent match. Another

possibility is that they could withdraw their application from the last round and reapply.

Short-Term vs. Long-Term PlanningAs pleased as they are about federal aid,

some local agencies are concerned about using stimulus money to create jobs they’ll have trouble funding in the long term. For instance, the COPS grants come with strings attached. Th ey pay the salary and benefi ts of an entry-level offi cer for three years, but the local department must commit to paying for at least the fourth year.

Even facing that uncertainty, Steingraber tries to keep in mind that the grants will generate breadwinning jobs for three years. “We don’t have a crystal ball to know what the economy is going to be doing in three years. We’re all hoping the economy has improved and departments will have the funding to retain those employees.”

Th e same conundrum applies to grants to hire new fi refi ghters. ARRA waives the local match required by the SAFER (Staffi ng for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant program for new grantees. Yet the local fi re department must commit to keeping the SAFER fi refi ghter for fi ve years, and there’s a $111,000 cap on the total federal share of salaries and benefi ts asso-ciated with each fi refi ghter.

Chief Grorud noted that in Janesville, the full-burden cost of a new fi refi ghter is $67,000 per year. “By the end of the second year, we would have to have some funding available,” he said. “If you let that fi refi ghter go, you have to pay the money back. So if I had a crystal ball and could ensure the local economy and tax base would improve, I would feel comfortable going ahead and doing it. But you have to have those resources.” k

Local agencies can track both state and federal sources of funding on each state’s recovery Web page. Here, as an example, is New Jersey’s: www.recovery.nj.gov/grant.



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LOCAL GOVERNMENT, BUSINESSES AND NONPROFITS SHOULD LEAN ON EACH OTHER.

BUDDYBOSTON’S



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Government, businesses and non-profi ts must work together when emergencies strike. Being ready to successfully handle disasters

requires all three to plan together. Quickly communicating between government

layers, engaging resources found in the business community and nonprofi t organizations, and fl attening the coordination structure can greatly aid fi rst responders and emergency planners, and result in a more eff ective response eff ort. Build-ing the necessary partnerships is an ongoing process that must be continuously maintained as leadership in all three areas changes over time; leadership development is a building block of maintaining these partnerships.

As government builds emergency response and continuity plans, business continuity (BC) planning must develop with common goals in order for the community as a whole to benefi t. Barry Dorn, associate director of the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Confl ict Resolution at the Harvard University School of Public Health, said it best at a recent public-private partnership executive roundtable in Boston: “A disaster is not the time to exchange business cards.”

Th e past eight years, there has been a serious focus on government continuity and BC plan-ning among public safety emergency managers and their corporate partners. For example, in the aft ermath of 9/11, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 recog-nized the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs as the standard for voluntary adoption by the private sector. Th e NFPA standard established criteria for disaster management, emergency management and BC programs that apply to private- and public-sector organizations. NFPA 1600 can be downloaded at www.nfpa.org/assets/fi les/pdf/nfpa1600.pdf.

Strengthening Boston’s PartnershipsThrough the leadership of Mayor

Thomas Menino and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Preparedness, Boston is work-ing with its business and nonprofit leaders

to encourage their participation in emer-gency management and BC planning, and incorporating their recommendations in the city’s emergency management plans. The city’s efforts include processes to bet-ter understand the needs and expectations of the city’s largest employers, improving communications flow, and strengthening partnerships and coordinated planning. “This is about partnerships and about work-ing together,” Menino said. “The best plans are ones where government, business and nonprofits are prepared to react and know how to interact in an emergency.”

Boston’s Local Emergency Planning Committee, in partnership with the Boston Fire Department and the NFPA, hosted a business continuity seminar for all committee members to encourage BC planning. Th e seminar was led by Donald Schmidt, chairman of the NFPA Technical Committee on Emergency Manage-ment and Business Continuity, and attended by a cross section of the city’s leadership teams in the medical fi eld, higher education, energy ser-vice providers, manufacturing, and government agencies at the local, state and federal levels.

“It’s great when the public sector takes the lead and invites the private sector in,” Schmidt said. “It builds stronger relationships and understanding.” Following this seminar, many of the organizations sent representatives to a NFPA 1600 professional development seminar for more in-depth training on BC planning and emergency preparedness. “Using the introduc-tory seminar to encourage businesses to attend the NFPA technical seminar was very success-ful. We hope to use this as a model to encourage future [business continuity] planning initia-tives,” said Donald McGough, Boston’s director of emergency preparedness.

Boston initiated a study to serve as a blueprint for furthering cooperation, com-munication and coordination between local government and the private sector. CENTRA Technology presented the fi nal report, Build-ing Partnerships for Security with Boston’s Largest Employers. Th is report built on the premise that the city and its biggest employersmust improve coordination and commu-

B Y R O D E R I C K F R A S E R

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“It’s great when the public sector takes the lead and invites the private sector in. It builds stronger relationships and understanding.” — Donald Schmidt, chairman, NFPA Technical Committee on Emergency Management and Business Continuity

38

nication to improve the city’s pub-lic-private partnerships, with respect

to emergency management, and gov-ernment and BC planning. CENTRA

conducted a series of meetings with key stakeholders across the city to assess the private-sector needs and interests, identify gaps in the current process, develop recom-mendations based on those fi ndings and incorporate identifi ed best practices that could be used to improve Boston’s programs.

Better communications between the Mayor’s Offi ce of Emergency Preparedness and the busi-ness community was one of the most pressing needs identifi ed and one of the recommenda-tions the city started working on immediately. Although most large companies and nonprofi t organizations have direct contact with specifi c city departments on a routine basis — such as fi re, police and the Offi ce of Emergency Preparedness — the study recommended for-malizing these relationships to provide for better fl ow of information. As one stakeholder asked, “What does the public sector want the private sector to do in an emergency?”

Summit Unites EntitiesTo further this process, Menino hosted the

Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness in Boston to build relationships with business and nonprofi t leadership in the city, with a focus on preparation for large-scale emergencies. Th e Meta-Leadership Summit is a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC’s Foundation, Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leader-ship Initiative and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It’s designed to bring government, business and nonprofi t organizations together to work more closely and better respond during an emergency.

According to the summit’s Web site, meta-leadership challenges individuals to think and act cooperatively across organizations and sectors. Meta-leaders operate outside of their traditional professional boundaries

by providing inspiration, guidance and momentum to cross organiza-tional lines. The summit was many

participants’ first exposure to the concept of meta-leadership.

To ensure maximum participation in the Meta-Leadership Summit, the mayor hosted an executive roundtable four weeks before the summit. Th e roundtable focused on public-private partnerships, introduced participants to the concepts behind the summit and stressed its importance to the city. Th e roundtable discussion was led by Harvard University’s Dorn and Leonard Marcus, co-director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health.

Th e summit agenda began with an aft ernoon orientation, followed by a networking reception where the invitees made connections with other leaders, discussed the upcoming summit and its objectives and got to know one another on a personal level. Th e summit opened the next morning with welcoming remarks by Menino, followed by a full day of topics, such as leader-ship, making connections, building networks and where to go with these concepts aft er the

summit concluded. Th e summit provided an exceptional opportunity for leaders from across the city to learn and work together with a spe-cifi c goal and a combined vision. Additionally it was an opportunity to connect with those people who will be partners when real emer-gencies occur, and before government needs to reach out to the community for assistance.

“In Boston, like all communities across the nation, the private sector owns most of our critical infrastructure, employs most of our work force, and provides most of our essential goods and services,” Menino said. “For this reason, it is vital to our overall preparedness and resilience.” Th e roundtable was impor-tant in engaging the intended participants and demonstrating why their participation in the summit was important and what they could learn to make them better leaders in their respective fi elds.

Continuing the momentum that has been built is the next challenge. Developing more opportunities for training,

planning, and development initiatives that will engage all

stakeholders can maximize the progress made and improve processes going forward. k

“The best plans are ones where government, business and nonprofi ts are prepared to react and know how to interact in an emergency.” — Thomas Menino, Mayor, Boston

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA.ORG



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Brian WhiteDeputy Chief, New York City Fire Department

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Penn State’s online certificate in disaster preparedness puts Brian closer to becoming an emergency manager for the city. “Penn State prepared me to be a decision maker—at the forefront of planning for potential disasters of any kind.”

Read Brian’s story and learn more at:www.worldcampus.psu.edu/em09

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40

W hen the Miami-Dade County Department of Emergency Management holds its Storm Prep Expo, some 60 vendors and 5,000 visitors

come to teach and learn about hurricane preparedness. No way is Jaime Hernandez, the department’s public information offi cer, going to tackle that alone.

As project manager of the expo, Hernandez turns to the nonprofi t sector to make the event possible. Th e American Red Cross of Greater Miami and Th e Keys manages the $35,000 budget, handles the logistics, coordinates vendors and prepares the Miami Beach Convention Center to handle the crowds.

“Th e Red Cross handles the business side of everything,” Hernandez said. “Since they are a nonprofi t and we are a government agency, it is easier for them to go out and fi nd the private-sector sponsors and participants. For us in government, everything has to go through a formal procurement process, and we are always concerned that that could drag out for a very long time.”

Hernandez has tapped into an idea that’s gaining currency among emergency planners. It has long been understood that the nonprofi t sector can provide vital services during crises, delivering food, shelter and other vitals in a timely way. What Hernandez and others have come to realize is that philanthropic agencies also can access cash and resources with an alacrity not typically available to their public-sector counterparts.

Nonprofits Tapping

THE

B Y A D A M S T O N E



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Nonprofi ts allow government agencies to bypass their formal procurement processes.



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Education Directory

42

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]

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]

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



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Institution Contact Phone E-Mail

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

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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Researchers from the Urban Institute spell it out in their report Partnerships for Parks.“Nonprofi t agencies can tap funding sources unavailable to public agencies, including do-nations from individuals, corporations and private foundations. Unlike public agencies, nonprofi ts are fl exible in their ability to use these funds to pursue new programs, and they are free to develop innovative ideas and solicit contributions to support them.”

Access to ResourcesTake for instance, the New Jersey State

Police (NJSP) Offi ce of Emergency Manage-ment, which turns to nonprofi t partners in its eff orts to provide training to the state’s Citi-zen Corps. In a recent statewide exercise, for example, nearly 1,000 people enjoyed daylong meals at Salvation Army mobile kitchens.

Certainly this assistance helped keep costs in line. “Financial resources are always strained, and whenever we can do something in a more cost-eff ective manner, that’s the way we like to go,” said Howard Butt, emergency response specialist of the NJSP’s Offi ce of Emergency Management.

But it’s not just the budgetary concern at play here.

Equally important is the mere ability to get to those needed resources in the fi rst place. “Spending either federal or state dollars from any source is an art form in and of itself. It takes a lot of knowledge of the system and a lot of ability to move things through a bureau-cratic network that sometimes is not user-friendly,” Butt said. By rolling in hot meals on its own wheels, the Salvation Army saves planners untold time and eff ort.

Th at ability to streamline makes nonprofi t partners highly attractive, said David Miller, the administrator of the Iowa Homeland Se-curity and Emergency Management Division. Miller maintains relationships with a range of nonprofi ts through the Iowa Disaster Human Resource Council, a collection of community and faith-based organizations. In times of cri-sis, “I do think they can be more nimble,” he said. “Because of what they do, they are usu-ally active in the communities before we are and so they can act very quickly.”

Back in Florida, Hernandez said his rela-tionship with the Red Cross serves a number of valuable functions.

First, it’s great to have an extra pair of hands to assist with what might otherwise be an overwhelming task. Th ough his depart-ment has two dozen employees, an event like the expo could easily stretch them too thin. “We are an emergency management depart-ment. Our job is to keep our community safe and plan for emergencies. As important as an event like this is, we really have a lot of other things that we need to be doing.”

At the same time, the nonprofi t partner can streamline an already-prolonged pro-cess. Planning starts in January for the May

expo, and that timeline would stretch even longer without the Red Cross there to handle logistics. “We are required to go through a formal procurement process to do just about anything,” Hernandez said. “For such a large-scale event, with so many vendors involved, it would have been very diffi cult for us to handle that internally.”

Finding AlliesWhen it comes to forging meaningful ties

to the nonprofi t community, every emergency management agency starts out ahead of the game. While there are hundreds, if not thou-sands, of nonprofi ts poised to interface with

44

Partnering with nonprofi ts, such as the American Baptist Men and American Red Cross, members of the National Voluntary Organization in Active Disaster allows state agencies to better streamline disaster response. Shown here, the agencies distribute meals to Texas residents who were displaced by Hurricane Ike. Photos by Mike Moore/FEMA



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emergency management, planners can readily access broad swaths of the nonprofi t commu-nity through a single portal, the Florida’s Volun-tary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD).

VOADs unite a broad range of nonprofi t participants who share an interest in disaster relief. Members of state organizations typically meet in advance of any disaster to coordinate among themselves and to liaison with public-sector managers.

A national body, NVOAD, was formed in 1975 to coordinate the various state eff orts. NVOAD helps state organizations prepare for disaster and can be a useful starting point in any public-sector eff ort to line up nonprofi t partners.

NVOAD Executive Director Diana Rothe-Smith said there’s a natural synergy between emergency management and nonprofit capabilities.

“Government has a certain responsibility to its citizens, and it has created a very specifi c hierarchical structure to manage that. Th at chain-of-command structure is imperative to the wellness of the community,” she said. But structure can also mean rigidity. “Th ey have limitations, just because it is government.”

Governments benefi t because of nonprof-its’ structure. “Th e nonprofi ts are ‘squishy,’ for lack of a better word. Th ey are able to fi t where government can’t because of that hierarchical structure,” Rothe-Smith said.

She points to the human services arena as one in which this public-private partnership has always been at the fore. “It works because the nonprofi ts are able to move quickly, mobilize

millions of volunteers [and] do direct pushes for funding from their own constituents and the public overall,” she said. All those same factors can hold true when nonprofi ts lend their weight in the service of emergency management.

Making It WorkSome say there’s a kind of irony in the very

idea of government turning to the nonprofi t sec-tor for help in accessing and spending money in

support of emergency management missions. In the everyday world, aft er all, it’s the nonprof-its that look to the government for help.

“Th ere is a general perception within the nonprofi t community that all the money is on the government side,” said Jim Tragakis, chief of staff for federal government services at pro-fessional services fi rm Deloitte.

VOADs can be strong advocates for nonprofi t involvement, and they oft en have a prominent place at the table. “Th ey are generally up there trying to get their share of funding for various kinds of services they will provide,” Tragakis said. “It is a real battle from the nonprofi t perspective.”

Sometimes it’s in government’s interest to help the nonprofi ts win that battle, to ensure that these philanthropic friends are in a posi-tion to form fruitful partnerships.

Th e fi rst step is to establish an environment based on equality, Tragakis said. “From the

government side, there can be this perspective of, ‘Oh, we’re the professionals, we’ll call you guys when we need you.’ But there is a really feeling on the nonprofi t side that they have a lot to off er, and that needs to be recognized.”

At NVOAD, Rothe-Smith said emergency managers serve themselves best when they look at potential nonprofi ts in fi ner detail rather than broad strokes. “When we talk about the nonprofi ts, each of them has taken

on a very specifi c piece of the pie,” she said. “Most of these organizations are not looking at doing everything in terms of disaster.”

For example, the nation’s food bank network Feeding America may provide food to a group like Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, which in turn partners with the Salvation Army to distribute the food. In an eff ort to effi ciently distribute funds and get aid out on the streets, planners must understand these interrelation-ships. By the same token, emergency managers seeking logistical or other support from these agencies have to be aware of everyone’s relative place on the landscape.

“As a government agency, you should have awareness of that level of that detail,” Rothe-Smith said. “It’s not enough to just have a partnership with one agency. You need to be aware of where the pass-off s occur.”

Even done well, these partnerships pose potential risks. In New Jersey, Butt notes that a nonprofi t’s effi ciency, however valuable, must come under some oversight.

“Th e federal and state rules of purchasing and expenditures are in place for a reason, to make sure there is no abuse of the system,” he said. Emergency planners likewise must take some care in ensuring that a partner’s ability to make this happen quickly does not come at the expense of the public interest. “You need to be able to walk that fi ne line between accountabil-ity and urgency.” k

“It’s not enough to just have a partnership with one agency. You need to be aware of where the pass-off s occur.” — Diana Rothe-Smith, executive director, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster

When Miami-Dade County and the New Jersey State Police needed help with budgetary plans and event preparation, they turned to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.



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CHOICES MTO



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BY ROBERT GALVIN


MAKEOINTEROPERABILITY takes many

guises, but the basic concept of

communicating between and within

U.S. agencies and jurisdictions is an

essential issue that’s being worked

out, albeit slowly. Public safety agen-

cies typically have operated indepen-

dently, but 9/11 and other events

showed the importance of sharing

vital information to enable more

effective, rapid decision-making.

Unfortunately a large percentage

of public safety communities may

be woefully unprepared for major

incidents. These include emergency

medical events; hazardous mate-

rial spills; terrorist attacks; natural

and man-made disasters, such as

industrial accidents or structural

fi res; search-and-rescue operations;

and hostage crises. These require a

large-scale, multiagency response.

“How well [agencies] work

together is entirely dependent on

what they’ve done to plan for major

incidents well before they occur,”

said Alan Caldwell, governing board

member of the National Public

Safety Telecommunications Council

(NPSTC). Caldwell was also a vol-

unteer fi refi ghter in Fairfax County,

Va., for 30 years and operational fi re

chief for more than 20 years.

Interoperability can take many forms, but what is mission-critical?



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48

To achieve true interoperability, all com-munities ideally would have a public safety network that combines voice, data and video on an IP platform, say many public safety offi -cials. Th is would enable all fi rst responders to communicate with one another, share information and deploy assistance in a single jurisdiction or across county and state lines.

However, such networks usually come with huge price tags and may be a solution that many cities can only dream of having. So what other choices do cities have?

One alternative is to use available, aff ord-able technology for information sharing as part of incident response. Th is doesn’t consti-tute advanced interoperability, as a converged network would provide, but it’s still a huge step forward.

Sharing Preincident Plan Th e Canby, Ore., Fire Department uses Fire

Zone soft ware from Beaverton, Ore.-based Th e CAD Zone to draw building layouts. It utilizes a library containing hundreds of pre-drawn building templates and fi re industry symbols. Each layout shows the building’s fl oor plan and key details, like type of roof, exits, rooms, presence of hazardous materials, hydrants, standpipe location and more. Fire

Zone also imports digital photographs and converts two-dimensional prefi re diagrams into three-dimensional views.

First Look Pro, a companion CAD Zone soft ware program, retrieves building lay-outs created with Fire Zone, provides instant access to critical preplanning information, and allows instant viewing of the associated map, photos and other images. First Look Pro also

has a separate user mode for police, so fi re and police departments can share the same critical preincident planning information.

Val Codino, Canby fi re captain and medic who also serves on the Canby Police Depart-ment’s tactical entry team, decided that shar-ing Fire Zone and First Look Pro would benefi t both fi re and police personnel. “I approached my fi re chief and the police chief about it,

Drawn With The Fire Zone

On-scene incident response can be greatly enhanced if all responders have access to the same vital information. Specialized commercial soft-ware programs offering preincident diagrams, maps and information on buildings can signifi cantly aid responders. Photo provided by Robert Galvin

Some incident preplanning software programs offer three-dimensional views of incidents, such as this one made with The CAD Zone’s Fire Zone diagramming soft-ware. These can be helpful for subsequent incidents because they show building features and angles, plus staging areas for responders. A three-dimensional view also can be helpful for postincident analysis. Image provided by Robert Galvin



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and coincidentally, our 911 center,” Codino recalled. “We all decided this made a lot of sense and it was readily accepted.”

Canby’s collaboration paid off . Successful raids on methamphetamine labs at 300-unit apartment complexes have been launched as the city’s fi re, police, EMS personnel and 911 center communicated with one another by using Th e CAD Zone preincident planning soft ware.

“You need to have good, solid information when you’re en route [to an incident],” Codino said, “and when you’re en route, you want to bring up that information quickly.” So far, the

soft ware that Canby’s public safety agencies are using meets this need. Codino said he believes a large-scale incident could be managed with the city’s public safety agencies tied together via the preincident planning soft ware.

‘Operability’ Is a Focal IssueHelping public safety agencies achieve

interoperability is a major priority for the Communications and Technology Commit-tee of the International Association of Chiefs

of Police. According to Harlin McEwen, the committee’s chairman, interoperability is only one aspect requiring attention.

McEwen said many public safety response systems are older analog systems that must be replaced, and most oft en are converted to digital systems. “You can buy subscriber equip-ment from more than one vendor [to build a public safety response system],” McEwen said. “But this gets into the proprietary nature of the system installed.” Th at leads to incompatibility among equipment used by public safety agen-cies located in the same jurisdiction or region.

McEwen, a retired police chief and former volunteer fi refi ghter, feels the real goal to eff ectively achieve uniform interoperability

50

“You need to have good, solid information when you’re en route [to an incident], and when you’re en route, you

want to bring up that information quickly.” — Maj. Dean Hairston, Danville, Va., Police Department

Police departments can benefi t tremendously by installing rugged mobile computers and software that allows both police and fi re departments to share preincident plans. The preincident plans usually are generated by the fi re department, then shared with other public safety agencies. This police offi cer views a preincident plan made by the fi re department with The CAD Zone’s Fire Zone and First Look Pro preincident planning software. Photo provided by Robert Galvin

When 911 calls come into this police department dispatch center, a MobileCop system (from Bio-key International) dispatches the call’s details to MobileCop units in responders’ vehicles. Responders can then see the information on their terminals instead of having to get it from a dispatcher.Photo provided by Robert Galvin

The Funding ChallengeCapturing grants for full-scale public safety interoperability networks, or for information sharing software, is competitive. But persis-tence and patience may well pay off once time is taken to identify the scope of interop-erability that’s required by the community. Here are some funding sources to explore:

Grants.gov is a single access site for more than 900 grants programs offered by the 26 federal grant-making agencies.

Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Local Law Enforcement Block Grantswww.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA

Funds provided can be used for procuring equipment, technology and other material directly tied to basic law enforcement functions.

COPS Interoperable Communications Technology Program www.co.ps.usdoj.gov

Administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Offi ce of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), this program pro-vides equipment funding to law enforcement agencies to enhance multijurisdictional public safety interoperable communications and information sharing.

SAFECOM Programwww.safecomprogram.gov

This federal program was established to help local, tribal, state and federal public safety agencies to improve public safety response through more effective and effi cient interoperable wireless communications.

Offi ce for Domestic Preparedness’s Equipment Grant Programwww.ojp.usdoj.gov/odp

This grant program’s aim is to provide funding to improve the ability of state and local jurisdictions to respond to and mitigate the consequences of incidents of domestic terrorism involving the use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Technology Opportunities Program www.ntia.doc.gov/top

The Technology Opportunities Program from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration gives grants for model projects demonstrating innovative uses of network technology.



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52

is to establish a national broadband public safety network. In the meantime, he and his committee are working to ensure that there’s adequate federal funding to support local and state agencies in their eff orts to achieve some level of interoperability, and the FCC’s spec-trum requirements are in place for regulating the licensing and use of radio transmitters by local government public safety agencies.

GIS Good for Planning, Tactical UseWayne Senter, fi re chief of the South Kit-

sap Fire and Rescue in Port Orchard, Wash., considers GIS to be an important technology for achieving interoperability. GIS captures, stores, analyzes, and displays location-ref-erenced information, as defi ned by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Senter cites two trends in sustainable emer-gency service information systems. Th e fi rst one points to GIS as a foundation for sharing infor-mation, and the second trend favors a Web-based model for updates and access. “Th ere is so much data available within the public safety arena that if we stay on the same system of GIS, then we can connect our data,” he said.

South Kitsap Fire and Rescue has 1,300 build-ings identifi ed in its jurisdiction that require a detailed prefi re diagram. Senter said there are 10 key items that responders need to know before they arrive at the scene. All of these are placed on the prefi re plan for each building.

“If we put this information in a [Microsoft ] Visio format, which interfaces with GIS, we’re able to locate buildings on a GIS map when crews are responding,” Senter explained.

“Oft en the automated map systems used by emergency responders are GIS-based, and this reinforces the need to integrate rather than use a diff erent format that is incompat-ible. An icon that says ‘prefi re’ comes up, they click it and then this drawing comes up,” he

said. “Th is is an inexpensive service, and yet you have the information available for plan-ning and tactical use.”

GIS also can work across a wide range of records-management systems. “We’ve got to get away from all the information being on a hard drive,” Senter said. “Everything should

be Web-based. [With this in place], the infor-mation is accessible by fi re and law enforce-ment in the vehicle. Secondly we [fi re and police] need to train together.”

Wide-Reaching Network Is IdealTh ere isn’t an easy generalization to explain

what type of public safety network a com-munity should choose and how much to pay for it. “It all depends on how much interoper-ability a city wants to achieve,” Caldwell said. “Do you want it just within your jurisdiction or in other jurisdictions in surrounding coun-ties?” Th is choice can mean a huge diff erence in both the capabilities and limitations of the public safety system, plus its cost.

What’s important to remember is that large-scale incidents may easily aff ect an entire region, not just one isolated jurisdiction. Coordinated mutual aid can be essential. Th e IACP’s McEwen and NPSTC’s Caldwell agree on one point: “Th e most desirable option is an interoperable backbone,” as Caldwell said.

Information sharing among public safety agencies is already under way in most com-munities. With public safety funding still a major hurdle for many communities, infor-mation sharing is a good start toward nation-wide interoperability based on a wireless communication network. k

“We’ve got to get away from all the information being on a hard drive. Everything should be Web-based.” — Wayne Senter, fi re chief, South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, Port Orchard, Wash.

A typical screen shot showing how the First Look Pro software, from The CAD Zone, organizes and locates preincident plan diagrams, maps and information. The software enables fi rst responders from various agencies to share this information. Image provided by Robert Galvin

Using preplanning software, police and fi re can make more informed decisions when responding to emergencies.

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56

For students who live in the dorms, Lucus said the university would help students return home by transporting them to the airport and other eff orts. She said they would have time to get many students home because chances are, the disease would originate in the Far East or in another continent. By the time a pandemic from overseas reached the United States, there would be many warnings. Students who are unable to leave, like foreign students, would be housed in residence halls. Th e university stores a week’s worth of food for the campus in case of an emergency.

Kennesaw’s Lang said for his university to close there would have to be a total, full-blown epidemic — or at least a rapidly spreading disease in the region. He asked rhetorically whether it’s best to quarantine students in the dorms or only set up quarantine areas for those who are infected: “I think there are a lot of questions that many people will have when it gets to be that severe, and you’d better have a lot of people involved when it comes to making those decisions,” he said.

REAL-LIFE PREDICTIONSSwann and Keskinocak have used their model

to examine the way a pandemic would aff ect the entire state of Georgia. Aside from the American Red Cross, other organizations have reached out to them for help with pandemic planning. “Th ey’ve seen our results and actually asked for the details of the expected number of persons infected over time and region for the state of Georgia, so that they can make their plans based on what the work force and the critical infra-structure of the state might be,” Swann said.

Th ey have not used the data for other states yet, but the two of them said the information would be comparable for states like Illinois that have similar population density. However, they said the simulation and optimization models are fl exible and can be run with data from other

states. “We certainly would be open to exploring those types of possibilities if there are states that are interested,” Keskinocak said. “It’s a matter of inputting the right data into the model.” k

“I THINK THERE ARE A LOT OF QUESTIONS THAT MANY PEOPLE WILL HAVE WHEN IT GETS TO BE THAT SEVERE.”— Robert Lang, assistant vice president of strategic security and safety, Kennesaw State University

Continued from p.28



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800-685-0354 • [email protected] • http://kc.ssiservices.com

Chief Robert Full Chair, Southwestern Pennsylvania Task Force (PEMA Region 13): “Because of the large size of our region and the complexity of our emergency services community, we need to be on the forefront in emergency management tools and services. We need systems that are scalable, that can grow as our public safety responsibility grows. We also need systems that are fl exible, that can handle today’s threats, as well as tomorrow’s uncertainties. The Knowledge Center™ is precisely this type of solution.”

• Incident Management (ICS/NIMS)

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Next Generation Incident Management


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Intuitive Design Minimizes Training RequirementsIn May of 2008, the emergency management community outside of Philadelphia participated in an exercise involving the Limerick Generating Station (LGS) – Exelon Corp. Despite the fact that most exercise participants experienced only limited training the day before the event, Knowledge Center™ usage was widespread and eff ective. All of the diff erent players and locations were able to stay on the same page and communicate information effi ciently. Numerous participants in the fi eld operation stayed connected over a single network uplink and local Wi-Fi network. The EOC and the staging area no longer had to rely solely on radios, but now had the richness and timeliness of Knowledge Center™ to keep them connected.

Leverage Integrated ICS CapabilitiesBy seamlessly integrating the Incident Command System (ICS) into Knowledge Center™,emergency managers no longer had to worry about remembering form numbers or faxing reports to brief the response community. For example, users during the exercise dynamically generated key ICS components like the Incident Action Plan (IAP). By capturing information electronically, response participants understood their objectives and goals in real-time. In addition, Knowledge Center™ integrated information from a variety of sources to automatically generate situation reports (ICS-209) and incident briefi ngs (ICS-201). Not only did emergency managers have an intuitive mechanism for entering critical information, but also the ability to easily retrieve and report it.

Manage Incidents in Concert and in ParallelOn the western end of Pennsylvania, in June of 2008, the emergency management community outside of Pittsburgh supported a federally mandated exercise at the Beaver Valley Power Station (BVPS) – First Energy, Inc. As a federally required exercise, the scope of the event at BVPS signifi cantly

exceeded the scope of the LGS event. The BVPS event involved dozens of municipalities and counties, as well as state and federal resources.

Approximately 200 users communicated and collaborated to generate over 1,500 log entries over only a few hours time through Knowledge Center™. With three major EOCs activated, emergency managers leveraged the system to work independently within their own organizations, while simultaneously working cooperatively with external agencies. Knowledge Center™ enabled users to visually discern

information across the entire operational theater with tools like the built-in map capabilities and operational checklists. In addition, rather than the mass emailing and faxing endemic to many communications eff orts,users now had a way to share real-time document information through a centrally accessed repository.

As the event came to a close, exercise stakeholders were able to immediately start their After Action Review (AAR) process by leveraging

Knowledge Center™ reporting capabilities. With the click of a button, users were able to generate in comprehensive detail a full accounting of the exercise activities.

Knowledge Center™ – More than an Exercise ToolEven though this case study focuses on exercise use, emergency managers use Knowledge Center™ throughout the country on a daily basis to manage real-world incidents and events. For the two deployments mentioned in this case study – Region 13 (Southwest Pennsylvania Regional Task Force) and Southeast Pennsylvania Regional Task Force – Knowledge Center™

continues to play a central role in their day-to-day operations for their incident management, resource management, infrastructure management, document management, and communications needs.

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June 9–11, 2009Case Study: Nuclear Plant Exercises from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia Highlight Incident Management Software Tool–Knowledge Center™

In consecutive months in 2008, exercises at nuclear plants on opposite ends of Pennsylvania leveraged the software tool - Knowledge Center™ to improve their incident and event management capabilities. Knowledge Center™ facilitated information sharing among the various operations centers, both in the fi eld and at the EOCs, through the seamless use of NIMS and ICS concepts and principles. Knowledge Center™ enabled emergency managers and supporting agencies to generate a comprehensive “common operational picture” in real-time.


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Locking Storms OutTh e FM8700 series exit device was created

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Eric’s Corner

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

Eric Holdemanby

64

First, let’s dispel the television and movie spin that’s put on emergency management as a job. Th ere was a made-for-TV disaster movie that lowered the FEMA director into a deep hole in order to set off an atomic bomb to prevent a series of earthquakes. Although there might have been times when some of us would have liked to lower the then-FEMA director into just such a hole, that’s just fantasy.

Th e reality is that the daily existence for an emergency manager is a seemingly endless series of meetings, an inbox full of e-mails and no time to “get work done.” Like most jobs, emergency management is about planning and coordinating. You deal much more with people than you do numbers or widgets. When people ask me what I did as a local emergency management director, I tell them, “I tried to get people and organizations to work with one another.” If you think that’s easy in the multidisciplinary, interjurisdictional environment we call the United States of America — I have a lesson or two for you in dealing with people and their personal priorities.

Actually most emergency management jobs are “additional duties” that are assigned to fi re, law enforcement, public works and other administrative personnel. Most counties and cities are small and understaff ed, so there isn’t a full-time emergencymanager position. And if there is one, it’s one person who per-forms all the disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery duties.

You’ll only fi nd larger emergency management programs at the state level and in larger counties and cities. Th eir sizes

vary greatly. States might have 500-plus staff (e.g., California), down to a few dozen in rural states. In these settings, you might fi nd staff who are focused on just one aspect of emer-gency management. You might deal with homeland security grant funding or be responsible for a public education pro-gram. You might design and conduct disaster exercises and the like. Th en, when there’s a disaster and you must activate the emergency operations center, everyone pitches in to work 24-hour shift s — weekends and holidays included.

Th e traditional feeder sources for emergency managers have been the military, fi re and law enforcement professionals who are completing one career, sometimes retiring, and then moving into emergency management. It’s also not unusual, in smaller jurisdictions for a very active volunteer in emergency management to be tapped to fi ll a permanent position because of his or her passion for emergency management and disaster preparedness.

Since 9/11, more than 150 colleges and universities have begun off ering degrees in emergency management and home-land security. When I started in the business in 1991, there was one B.A. program in the nation. Now every state has some form of higher-education emergency management program, and there are many online courses to choose from.

Th is educational machine is producing a new crop of professionals, young college graduates and other mid-career professionals who are pursuing higher-level degrees in emergency management. Th ey have a broad background in emergency management, perhaps some practical experi-ence from an internship, and the enthusiasm and idealism that comes with youth.

For the average Joe or Jane, that means “walk-on” careers in emergency management might still happen — but they are the type of stories best suited for the movie script rather than the real world. k

OOver the years I’ve found that many people stumble upon the emergency management profession with the notion it’s interesting, is focused on helping people and is as exciting as portrayed in the movies and on television.

The New Emergency Management Professional



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Advertiser’s Index


University of Maryland University College (UMUC) www.umuc.edu 800-888-UMUC Page 35

SkyTerra Communications www.skyterra.com

1-703-390-2700 or 1-800-216-6728 Page 67

AAE Systems, Inc.www.aaesys.com

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University of Connecticut http://continuingstudies.uconn.edu/mps/

programs/hsl.html 860-486-0184 Page 23

EMX, Inc. www.emx-inc.com, Email: [email protected] 321-751-0111 (ext. 105) Page 61

Blackberry www.blackberry.com/gov Page 19

SAIC www.saic.com

757-962-8139 Page 7

CoreStreet www.corestreet.com/FRAC Page 53

Sprint www.sprint.com/nextel

1-800-SPRINT-1 Page 11

DQE www.dqready.com

1-800-355-4628 Page 51

Dellwww.dell.com/recovery

1-888-711-7295 Page 5

ESRI www.esri.com/publicsafety Page 2

ADT www.ADT.com/gov

1-866-748-9166 Page 9

Reeves EMS www.ReevesEMS.com

1-800-328-5563 Page 29

Deployed Resourceswww.deployedresources.com

Page 33

TEEX www.teex.org/fi re

1-866-878-8900 Page 51

Long Island University www.liu.edu/homeland

1-631-287-8010 Page 49

Penn State University www.worldcampus.psu.edu/em09 Page 39

SSI Knowledge Center http://kc.ssiservices.com

1-800-685-0354 Page 58

CDWGwww.the21stcenturycommunity.com

1-800-767-4239 Page 68

e.sponderwww.e-sponder.com

1-314-686-4100 Page 57

American Military University,American Public Universitywww.apus.edu 1-877-777-9081 Page 55


66

Perspective on the ‘Death Map’

Last Word

A recent article I co-wrote with colleague Susan Cutter titled Spatial Patterns of Natural Hazard Mortality in the United States was published last winter in the International Journal of Health Geographics. It discussed research on natural-hazard mortality and sparked considerable national media interest. Th e work was soon dubbed the “Death Map.”

For sure, a quantitative assessment of natu-ral-hazard deaths presented in visual form made for compelling special-interest news. Before long, the media began running stories in print and online, and information about the Death Map appeared in high-visibility outlets, such as the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC.com and Yahoo News.

With such widespread coverage, it was inevitable that information would be taken out of context or misrepresented. We, the authors, thought it prudent to provide some perspective. What does this map of natural-hazards mortality really tell us? How can emergency managers use it to mitigate future hazard deaths?

Th e article, based on research performed at the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Caro-lina, analyzed natural-hazard mortality data from the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States (SHELDUS). Specifi cally we used natural-hazard mortal-ity information from SHELDUS that covered

the past 35 years to calculate the relative risk of death from natural events at the county level. We employed standard-ized mortality ratios (SMRs) that indirectly adjusted for variability in the age structure of county populations.

Th e research’s purpose was to reveal the categorical and spatial distribution of natu-ral-hazard deaths over time for a variety of natural events.

Th e SHELDUS database is one of the most comprehensive publicly available sources of natural-hazard mortality. Furthermore, all the information contained in the SHELDUS database is geographically referenced to the county level, so we could compare mortality not only across types of hazards, but also by places. Th e article presented a way to visualize the national landscape of historical hazard mortality.

Th is data set represents a huge step forward in the collection, storage and manipulation of spatially referenced hazard-mortality information. However, in its current form the direct applications in planning and mitiga-tion for emergency managers are limited. Our paper’s analysis represents a tool that emer-gency managers can use to identify regional hot spots of hazard mortality. It’s crucial to point out that local-level analyses of any county (or counties) should be performed to verify the suspected mortality anomalies. Our research paper revealed broad spa-tial trends, but it doesn’t provide a detailed analysis of reasons that explain the individual county patterns within a state.

Media coverage of this work showed that the maps portrayed in the International Jour-nal of Health Geographics article can be easily misinterpreted and misused by the public.

For example, despite some claims by the media, the Death Map isn’t predictive. Th e spatial patterns in natural-hazard mortality in the paper do not defi ne future deaths from natural events, only what has happened dur-ing the past 35 years. Th erefore, these maps won’t reveal where people will die in the next hurricane, earthquake or heat wave.

Another reaction many people have is they expect to gain some insight into how many people will die and from what causes in the county in which they live. Unfortunately this work isn’t very useful for analyzing a single county. We aggregated deaths from all natural hazards in SHELDUS when calculating SMRs by county, so some level of detail is un-available in the fi nal map. We know very little, for example, about the contextual and causal factors surrounding each individual death.

Th ese unanswered questions don’t lessen the contribution of this research. Rather, the maps and analysis create opportunities for future research to answer some of these questions and provide detailed analyses for local emergency managers on the distri-bution and nature of deaths from natural hazards. Ultimately we hope our work will contribute to decision-making and emer-gency management that lessens the human toll of natural hazards. k

Kevin Borden is a Mellon postdoc-toral fellow with the EnvironmentalStudies Program at Colgate University. He co-authored Spa-tial Patterns of Natural Hazard Mortality in the United States, published in the International Journal of Health Geographics.

Kevin Bordenby

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