FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN R2 –WEEKLY BULLETIN Volume 1, Issue 4 January 31, 2009 INTEGRATED PLANNING TAKES FIRST STEPS IN REGION II “If there’s a shortcoming in Preparedness, it’s in planning,” said Region II’s Preparedness Analyst, Terra Flynn as he began leading the region’s first meeting on regional planning. He later added, “planning is the weakest link in the chain of preparedness and readiness for all emergencies, whether it’s Mother Nature, human error or terrorism.” He was leading a group of individuals identified as planners from a range of agencies at a meeting conducted at FEMA Region II. This late January Planners meeting (the first of many), introduced the Integrated Planning System (IPS) and the Regional Catastrophic Planning Grant initiatives. The Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, DHS, the NYCOEM, FEMA, and others had gathered to participate. “There has never been national or regional plans that address the 8 scenarios identified in the IPS”, Flynn said, “and we are very early in taking the necessary steps to develop them.” Asked how the initiatives would look once in place, he had a ready answer. Comparing the difference between adopting such integrated regional efforts and the gaps they fill, he said, “what comes to mind is the difference between the orderliness of the Houston Astrodome and the disarray in the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina.” He attributed the difference to the broad planning undertaken by the Citizen’s Emergency Response Team (CERT) in Texas’s Harris County, home of the Astrodome. It’s a clear image. TIP of the Week Gotta Have It? Yen Pan IT Services Branch Save your files onto either your network G: or H drives; and not to your C: drive. The C: drive is physically located in your desktop or laptop unit. The G: and H: drives are physically located in the server rooms of 26 Federal Plaza and the CAD. The G: drive is also known as the common drive. All FEMA Region II employees can view all files stored in the G: drive. This is a good place to store files that you want to share with others. The H: drive is also known as the personal drive and it provides more privacy. Only you and the IT staff can view the files stored in the H: drive. All hard drives are prone to failure. Weekly, the IT staff backs up all files stored in the G: and H: drives. The C: drives are not part of the weekly backup, and the IT staff also may overwrite the C: drive during normal maintenance or repairs. Therefore, the IT staff is not responsible for any files saved on the C: drive. You are. So, if you Gotta Have it, think G and H. REGION II COMES THROUGH Despite tough economic times, the employees of Region II came through for those in need. The Combined Federal Campaign reports that the Region nearly doubled it goal of $6,500 for the 2008-2009 campaign, with the final tally of contributions topping $12,229. The chairwoman of CFC New York singled out the efforts of Anna Fusco for her “support and expertise.” “I wish I had every Agency this good,” she wrote. Anna, in turn, thanked her “key workers – they know who they are. “While I’m proud of the total, in fact, only 20% of the staff contributes. As long as the economy is in the doldrums, we can and should be doing better,” Anna said. , FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN PUT IT IN WRITING: Region II’s Disaster Operations Division met with representatives from the Logistics Management Directorate (LMD), local representatives from VITEMA and PREMA, the CAD office and NORTHCOM last week to design and draft a Logistics all Hazards Operations Plan tailored to the Caribbean. This plan is the first of its kind to addresses the specific obstacles and challenges we face when a disaster strikes in this area of our Region. In the past, distribution management and transportation have proved the major challenges in both our response and recovery efforts. Subject matter experts in Transportation and Distribution Management were brought to the table by LMD. The team assembled to write this plan collectively had over 100 years of emergency management experience, while NORTHCOM added the military transportation experience that FEMA will rely on when a disaster strikes. ****** . Region II and New Jersey agreed last week to put together a comprehensive Federal/State Public Information Plan for use in the event of a large incident. The meeting, led by Acting Regional Administrator Mike Moriarty, included an old friend, Joe Picciano, formerly Region II’s Deputy Regional Administrator and currently Deputy Director of the NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness Joining them were representatives from the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, the Governor’s office and Region II’s Director of External Affairs, Kristina Simpson. The plan is to be written February 19-20. Training on the plan for state and federal public information officers will be jointly funded. Ultimately, a joint exercise, which will also include county Public Information Officers, will be held to test both the plan and its’ procedures. The group also discussed ways to improve understanding -- for both legislators and the public at large -- of the disaster declaration’s process, Fire Grants, and Mitigation efforts, centering on concrete ways in which the Region and the State of New Jersey can work together to improve the ways in which they we do business. Faces of Region II WITH AN EYE TO THE STORM By Marshall Mabry The Hurricane Liaison Team is a partnership between the National Weather Service (NWS) and FEMA. It fields a team of FEMA Hurricane Program Managers, Disaster Assistance Employees and NWS meteorologists to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) when a tropical system threatens the United States. Once there, our team is briefed on the various threats the tropical system brings with it. A schedule of routine briefings, conference calls and video teleconferences is developed to keep all affected Emergency Operations Centers informed of the storm’s path. We discuss how the forecast models are performing, as well as information from the hurricane reconnaissance aircraft, keeping track of both schedules to ensure we all have the latest information. Situational awareness is further enhanced by input typically from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC), one of the River Forecast Centers (RFC), the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and local weather offices, enabling the Team to quickly identify information vital to emergency managers whose jurisdiction may be in harm’s way. In addition, our realtime situational awareness enables us to quickly identify media misinformation about the approaching storm. Misinformation is reported to the NHC staff. I have been a part of the Hurricane Liaison Team since 2000. Last year the Team received the Administrator’s Award for Excellence. Our mission is to support hurricane response operations through the rapid exchange of critical information between the NHC and emergency managers. We work to keeping the channels of communications open – between EOCs and NHC specialists and various NWS experts – but always with an eye on the approaching storm. FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN