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'The Boss' Comes To Big Apple
Addressing a standing-room only crowd of Region II employees, FEMA Administer Craig Fugate laid out his vision for the agency, opening the Region II "All-Hands" meeting with, "I'm only interested in outcomes."
He challenged the audience with the question, "What credible system is capable of feeding 22 million people? (Twenty two million is the population of Region II's Tier 1 UASI area, which extends from western Connecticut, New York City and its suburbs, across northern New Jersey to eastern Pennsylvania.) Noting that "all planning assumptions look at the public as a liability that we have to take care of," he went on to say that "government-centric approaches have failed every time," and repeatedly emphasized the vital importance of the private sector in both emergency response and long term recovery, to ensure successful outcomes.
"Preparedness is not optional," the Administrator went on to say. "Everything we do must build on this."
For the public that means 1. Have an emergency plan; 2. Learn CPR or other emergency response procedures to support and augment first responders; and 3. Secure your family, then checking on a neighbor, the Administrator said.
Acting Regional Administrator Mike Moriarty thanked Mr. Fugate for his direct, plainspoken approach in laying out his vision and in responding to questions, awarding him the Region's highest honor: "You're an honorary New Yorker."
FEMA Recycles, School Children Benefit
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- FEMA donated 370 pre-used computers to 26 public schools and six private non-profit organizations in Puerto Rico. The donation was made in coordination with the Office of the Governor, the PR Department of Education and the General Services Administration (GSA).
"Over the past 20 years, FEMA has assisted many individuals and families in Puerto Rico. On this occasion, we are glad to participate and help public schools and students with such a vital educational tool that will help amplify their learning experience," said Alejandro De La Campa, DHS/FEMA's Caribbean Area Division Director.
FEMA made the donation of pre-used computers under GSA's "Computers for Learning Program," which helps schools with financial constraints obtain excess computer equipment from federal agencies.
Each of the schools will receive ten CPU Tower, Pentium 4, 1.8 GHZ, ten Flat, 17" Monitor w/base, and ten UPS, Battery Backup. The total FEMA donation had an original value of $362,600.
What's New Jersey Doing?
They're at it again.
Public Information Officers (PIOs) from New Jersey 's 21 counties met in West Trenton this month for their first meeting of 2009. County PIO Summits have been held quarterly over the past year, hosted by the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management (NJOEM). They are designed to both share ‘best practices' for public information during emergencies, and to develop new ones. And they're already showing results.
Last year the group found that many common emergencies in New Jersey – flash flooding; hazard materials release; evacuations and shelter in place instructions – did not have the necessary codes to interrupt regular programming. This oversight delays public notification of an emergency, as well as potentially life-saving instructions.
Led by NJOEM PIO Nick Morici, the group identified six emergencies common in New Jersey and a priority code for each. Next month, they will be ask the State Emergency Coordinating Center (SECC) to adopt these codes, giving them "auto pass-through” status within New Jersey 's Emergency Alert System.
"Tailoring the codes to reflect the risks our residents actually face will speed notification and outreach efforts in all future emergencies,” Morici said.
This month's meeting featured a presentation by Howard Butt, a NJOEM training officer who is also the state's coordinator for the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT). New Jersey leads the nation with 15,000 trained CERT volunteers operating on 450 teams. Yet Butt used the forum to enlist support on augmenting those numbers.
"We need every resident to know there are a lot of ways to be involved in protecting their communities,” Butt said.
CERT operates under the umbrella of Citizens Corp., which was launched in January 2002 to coordinate volunteer activities that make communities safer, stronger and better prepared. Citizens Corp also includes the Medical Reserve Corp, Fire Corp, Volunteers in Police Service and Neighborhood Watch.
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Last Modified: Monday, 06-Jul-2009 16:11:49 EDT