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IAEM
The IAEM call for speakers for the EMVision Talks is now open. The Talks are based on the TED™ Talk format and provide a forum for people to share a personal connection to an idea, experience or passion related to emergency management, leadership, communication, community engagement, or other related topics. Limited to seven minutes, the top several selected speakers will present their talk on the plenary stage on Nov. 17, 2020, at the IAEM 68th Annual Conference & EMEX in Long Beach, California. Check out our informational flyer for more information.
IAEM
There are just two more weeks to submit an abstract for the IAEM Poster Showcase at the 68th Annual Conference & EMEX in Long Beach, California. Presenting a poster at the conference provides an opportunity to share your work and network with thousands of other emergency managers. View the webinar on tips for success, and read the guidance for directions on how to submit your abstract.
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Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada via Benzinga
Governments at all levels and the private sector need clear advice when it comes to determining the services and functions that are essential in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, has released the "Guidance on Essential Services and Functions in Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic" to assist various jurisdictions and businesses in their decision-making around the types of employees considered essential to maintain the health, safety, security and economic well-being of Canadians throughout this health crisis.
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Global News
The B.C. Wildfire Service is ramping up its spring training program as wildfire season approaches, but it will be a very different process than in past years due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
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Everbridge
With severe weather season intensifying, counties and cities across Florida share their perspective on hurricane preparedness and the benefits of leveraging Everbridge as their statewide mass notification platform, including improved situational intelligence, communication, and mutual aid. Watch Now.
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| | IAEM-OCEANIA COUNCIL NEWS |
The Washington Post
It has been less than two weeks since New Zealand imposed a coronavirus lockdown so strict that swimming at the beach and hunting in bushland were banned.
The number of new cases has fallen for two consecutive days, despite a huge increase in testing, with 54 confirmed or probable cases reported.
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Homeland Security News Wire
Scott Morrison has made clear his view that any attempt to eliminate COVID-19 entirely in Australia would carry too high an economic cost, while Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says such an aim would require “very aggressive” long-term border control.
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BCG is committed to helping you respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Our years of experience in the disaster and emergency management field make us a great partner for providing solutions to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and the challenges it presents.
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Republic
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the demotion of Health Minister following a breach of nationwide lockdown order imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. Ardern said that the minister, David Clark, had offered his resignation for flouting the social distancing rules to drive his family to a beach.
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IAEM
On Apr. 3, IAEM and 10 other organizations sent a letter to DHS and FEMA requesting a one-year delay on recently issued, new guidance for FY 2020 preparedness grants. The new guidance would require grantees to obligate 20% of grant funds to comply with core DHS priorities. IAEM does not oppose the new guidance, but feels the COVID-19 response is creating unprecedented challenges that make an implementation delay prudent.
Optimum Seismic
California just experienced its deadliest and most destructive wildfire, ever. Nearly 14,000 homes, 530 commercial structures and 4,300 other buildings were destroyed in November when the Cal Fire ravaged the Butte County landscape, incinerating entire communities like the town of Paradise in its wake.
The devastation of lives and livelihoods lost is unfathomable. So too is the sheer scope of work needed to clear the charred debris before recovery can ever start.
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IAEM
The Hazard Mitigation Assistance program recently published the Summary of Stakeholder Feedback online. The 72-page summary provides an in-depth review of the comments FEMA received during its 2019 stakeholder engagement process. The summary is intended to help develop the new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program. Input is included from federal, state, tribal and territorial stakeholders, as well as local partners, and members of the general public about the challenges they face in implementing mitigation projects. Recommendations also are included on how BRIC can be responsive to hazard mitigation needs at all levels of government. To learn more about the BRIC grant program, visit the FEMA website.
IAEM
The Communications Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC) has issued guidance regarding autodialers and how to ensure that legitimate COVID-related public service announcements are not inadvertently blocked. If your organization uses, or expects to use, automated dialing technology to make large numbers of voice telephone calls to citizens about COVID-19, there are measures you are advised to take to help ensure that those calls are not inadvertently blocked by service providers or other entities. Please see the fact sheet the CSCC has prepared.
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NPR
As hospitals across the country fill with COVID-19 patients, medical personnel are sounding the alarm about shortages of drugs essential to those patients' care. Vizient released data showing dramatic spikes in demand for sedatives, pain medications, paralytics and other drugs that are crucial for patients who are on ventilators.
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Homeland Security Today
This review provides the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other decision-makers (e.g., State and local officials and other Federal agencies) with a national snapshot of hospitals’ challenges and needs in responding to the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This is not a review of HHS response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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CNBC
First responders are preparing for raging wildfires that they expect will consume thousand of acres and drive some residents from their homes in upcoming months.
But this year, preparations have stalled. The coronavirus pandemic has hit the country’s already strained emergency services, raising concerns over inadequate disaster relief during peak fire season.
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Emergency Management
UPS launched a two-week operation to run 25 cargo flights carrying masks, gloves, surgical gowns and other equipment for the health care industry under the federal government’s Project Airbridge.
The airlift of shipments from China, Malaysia, Honduras and other countries is an initiative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and companies including health care distributors.
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The Hill
Typically asked to respond to wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters hitting a localized area, FEMA has been thrust into uncharted territory. While it has dealt with public health matters before when regions are decimated by hurricanes or impacted by hazardous materials, FEMA has yet to confront something of the nationwide scope of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Homeland Security News Wire
As governments, the private sector, NGOs, and others mobilize to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen calls to use location information — typically drawn from GPS and cell tower data — to inform public health efforts. Compared to using individualized location data for contact tracing—as many governments around the world are already doing — deriving public health insights from aggregated location data poses far fewer privacy and other civil liberties risks such as restrictions on freedom of expression and association.
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OCHA Services
Children and youth under age 30 currently make up more than half the world’s population. They are the ones who will benefit most from reducing the risk and impact of disasters, curtailing climate chaos and achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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IAEM
A growing number of cyber criminals and other malicious groups online are exploiting the COVID-19 outbreak for their own personal gain, security officials in the United Kingdom and the United States have revealed. A joint advisory published this week by the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) shows that cyber criminals and advanced persistent threat (APT) groups are targeting individuals and organizations with a range of ransomware and malware. Read the full update online.
| | UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE EM ISSUES |
Campus Safety
What should we do if we learn that a member of our school, college, or university community has been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19?
First, contact your local health officials for guidance and follow relevant government agency guidance.
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| | CLIMATE/WATER/WEATHER UPDATES |
USA Today
Emergency managers run drills on handling multiple catastrophes at once, such as a cyberattack during a tornado or a mass shooting amid a destructive flood.
But most disaster plots don’t involve a months-long pandemic sapping resources globally from aid groups and governments while so much of the nation is shut down, self-isolating and unemployed.
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Homeland Security Today
Weather experts have warned that the coronavirus pandemic risks disrupting key forecasting services, including early warning alerts around the world.
Both the quantity and quality of weather observations and forecasts, as well as atmospheric and climate monitoring are at stake, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva.
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IAEM
FEMA released an updated edition of the NFIP Flood Insurance Manual, effective Apr. 1. The manual is updated twice a year to enhance the customer experience. This updated edition of the Flood Insurance Manual does not change flood insurance coverage or supersede the terms and conditions of the Standard Flood Insurance Policy.
IAEM
Airbnb and its hosts are helping to provide places to stay for medical personnel and first responders on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis, including those who need a convenient and clean place to stay while serving or self-isolating. Those who are eligible may sign up online. Through this program, frontline staff can book both free and paid stays in 160 countries and regions. Airbnb is waiving all fees for these bookings and will not profit from these stays. Thousands of places to stay are available in major cities in the United States on the front lines of this response. Hosts participating in the program are required to agree to our program criteria, including cleaning standards and guidance regarding appropriate physical distancing, before we approve them for this program.
IAEM
To better understand the complexities and contradictions of the intergovernmental web of structures and protocols in times of disaster, the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) Standing Panel on Intergovernmental Systems developed a case assessing this system specific to emergency response in the United States. The case research, developed before COVID-19 came to light, investigates how government emergency management strategies and disaster preparation and mitigation efforts have evolved over time in this country, to highlight steps backward and forward. The cases collected are rich with examples of response following a multitude of disasters spanning earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires. Some responses successfully navigate the intergovernmental web to meet objectives of effective and efficient results. On the other hand, there are numerous examples of how our system lags. The report is available on the NAPA website.
Catholic Relief Services via Thomson Reuters Foundation
When the mayor of Tacloban City in the Philippines announced a lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, humanitarian workers were alarmed. They knew the precaution was necessary to keep residents safe. But they worried about the impact the restriction would have on a displacement camp in the Anibong district.
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NPR
President Trump asked Americans during Monday's coronavirus briefing to maintain their social distancing through the end of the month to bring the coronavirus under control.
And if people really do observe the stay-at-home orders, models suggest that the epidemic could wane by summer. There's also hope that the changing weather will help slow the spread of the virus, though that's far from certain.
But there's a problem. Even if things "get better all of a sudden," as the president suggested he hoped would happen, the virus will not have gone away.
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Homeland Security Today
Given limited time and resources, most organizations must prioritize preparedness activities. In that, hot topics and recurring issues – threats like active shooters and ransomware/data breaches – often take up a lot of what is available. Too often, maintaining plans and training for health threats and business continuity are neglected, and exercises not conducted.
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Homeland Security Today
With COVID-19 we are dealing with an invisible stressor and the potentially traumatic threat of death to ourselves and our loved ones. Both of these are creating widespread feelings of anxiety and depression, and may in the long run, if we get the hundreds of thousands of deaths as potentially predicted, cause a new kind of post-traumatic stress in some, and complicated grieving in others.
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Preventionweb
New research suggests that using an app to track people’s movements and identify and isolate anyone who has come into contact with an infected person could be critical in avoiding or leaving lockdown.
This kind of contact-tracing technology has already been used with some success in countries such as China and South Korea.
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Healthcare IT News
While Australia suffered through its unprecedented bushfire emergency, one life-saver app in the worst-hit state was compulsively used by those in the danger zones and beyond.
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IAEM
Certification candidates may submit online certification applications at any time. A list of upcoming credential reviews is available on the IAEM website. IAEM staff will notify candidates if there is any expected delay in reviews due to COVID-19.
The BayNet.com
Charles County Administrator Mark Belton is pleased to announce the appointment of Michelle Lilly as director of the Department of Emergency Services. Lilly assumed this role on March 14, 2020.
As director of the Department of Emergency Services, Lilly oversees 9-1-1 Communications, Emergency Medical Services, Animal Control, Emergency Management, the Tactical Response Team, and False Alarm Reduction.
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IAEM
The Notice of Funding Opportunity is now available for $350 million in Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants. The SAFER grant enhances the ability of recipients to attain and maintain fire department staffing and to ensure that their communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. The application period opens Apr.13 and will close at 5:00 p.m. EDT, May 15. The Notice of Funding Opportunity is available for download on grants.gov and the FEMA website. SAFER Grants provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to help them increase or maintain the number of trained, "frontline" firefighters available in their communities. The goal of SAFER is to enhance the local fire departments' abilities to comply with staffing, response and operational standards.
IAEM
Is your organization a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador? NOAA and the American Meteorological Society would like your feedback on the WRN Ambassador Program. Make your voice heard, and help shape the future of the program, by completing a short online survey. Input is anonymous, and the survey will take less than 15 minutes to complete.
IAEM
The Public Safety Broadband Technology Association will hold a webcast today, Apr. 9, at 2:00 p.m. EDT, on “COVID-19 Response: Rapidly Deployable Network for Healthcare.” Learn how AT&T and Cradlepoint can help frontline healthcare providers rapidly deploy secure and reliable on-site wireless networks with FirstNet cellular connectivity to support pop-up testing, quarantine, and healthcare delivery sites. Speakers are Donna Johnson, vice president, Cradlepoint, and Abicar Gonzalez, Enterprise Manager, AT&T FirstNet. The discussion will be moderated by Martha Ellis, executive director, Public Safety Broadband Technology Association. Register online.
Homeland Security News Wire
Germany has drawn up a list of steps, including mandatory mask-wearing in public, limits on gatherings and the rapid tracing of infection chains, to help enable a phased return to normal life after its coronavirus lockdown is set to end on 19 April.
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Homeland Security News Wire
The U.K. is approaching its peak in coronavirus deaths, with the highest number of expected daily deaths expected within a week, according to analysis by The Telegraph.
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Homeland Security News Wire
More than 12,400 people have died with the coronavirus since the pandemic started gutting this country last month, making Italy’s mortality rate around 10.2 percent in comparison with 4.2 percent or less elsewhere, based on World Health Organization figures.
What is the explanation for Italy’s staggering mortality rate? Barbie Latza Nadeau writes in the Daily Beast that there are two explanations.
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Euronews
Extreme rainfall, snowmelt, storm surges, and sea-level rise are most often behind river and coastal flooding, affecting lives in cities and the countryside. Flood trends across the European continent vary and will continue to, says the European Environment Agency (EEA), as warmer temperatures might lead to more intense precipitation and longer dry spells.
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Homeland Security News Wire
Botswana’s president has proposed extending a state of emergency in the southern African country to last six months. President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the measure is needed because people are not complying with restrictions on movement to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Critics worry the plan, if initiated, would put too much power in the hands of the president.
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RNZ
There's been no communication from the Vanuatu islands hardest hit by the powerful Tropical Cyclone Harold. The Category 5 storm made landfall on the Vanuatu island of Santo with destructive winds as high as 235km/h.
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RNZ
There are concerns about food security in Solomon Islands, after Cyclone Harold washed out much of the Guadalcanal Plains. The director of the national disaster office, Loti Yates, said much of the plains are under water after days of torrential rain, and several villages have lost their food source.
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CTV News
Ukrainian firefighters labored into Sunday night trying to put out two forest blazes in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, which was evacuated because of radioactive contamination after the 1986 explosion at the plant.
Ukraine's emergencies service said one of the fires, covering about five hectares (12 acres), had been localized.
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