This message was sent to ##Email## To advertise in this publication please click here August 26, 2021 .IAEM CONFERENCE NEWS Take advantage of IAEM Annual Conference early bird pricing ending Sept. 10 IAEM You don't want to miss out on the discounts that come with early bird pricing for the IAEM Annual Conference & EMEX, Oct. 15-21, 2021. Save money by registering now! As a special bonus, those who register for the conference by Sept. 13 will gain access to eight additional sessions in the Early Edition Speaker Series starting on Sept. 14. Register now to lock in early bird pricing and the Early Edition Speaker Series. We're excited to see you in Grand Rapids in October. .IAEM-USA COUNCIL NEWS IAEM-USA elections close Tuesday — Don't miss your chance to vote! IAEM Voting began on Aug. 2 for IAEM-USA Council elections as well as IAEM-USA Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Voting will close at 5:00 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Aug. 31.  Voting links were sent to all IAEM-USA Individual, Affiliate, and Lifetime members via email. If you are a voting member and have not received your voting link or have been unable to cast your vote contact IAEM Elections Staff Liaison Rebecca Campbell. Don’t miss this opportunity to let your voice be heard on the future of IAEM! The BuildStrong Coalition establishes focused presence in California IAEM The BuildStrong Coalition has launched its inaugural dedicated state chapter – BuildStrong California – with a focus on optimizing state access to federal resiliency funding and sensible policies that ensure California adapts to new challenges brought on by extreme climate events. BuildStrong has long been engaged with resilience and mitigation policymakers and other stakeholders in California, including hosting its Disaster Mitigation and Resilience Forum in Sacramento last spring. With the launch of BuildStrong California, this state initiative is now official. BuildStrong Coalition members include the American Society of Civil Engineers; International Association of Fire Chiefs; International Code Council; National Emergency Management Association; and members of the insurance, infrastructure, and materials industries, among many others. To learn more, please visit the state chapter's digital headquarters at ca.buildstrongamerica.com and read the press release announcing the new chapter. FEMA seeks public feedback on Community Rating System IAEM FEMA published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on the National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System. Public comment will be accepted through Sept. 22 via the Federal eRulemaking Portal, Docket ID: FEMA-2021-0021. This notice is to better align understanding of flood risk and flood risk approaches and to incentivize communities to manage and lower their flood risk. FEMA posted in the Federal Register a request for information to gather public comment about ways the agency could consider modifying, streamlining and innovating to improve the Community Rating System. FEMA will host a series of virtual public meetings to explain the process and how to provide information for public comment. Anyone interested may register online via Zoom. .EM NEWS FEMA and other federal agencies respond to Storm Henri Nextgov Federal agencies have been responding over the past few days to Hurricane Henri, which was downgraded to a tropical storm but still caused major disruptions in the Northeast. The storm developed off the East Coast and while it was no longer a hurricane by the time it made landfall on Sunday in Rhode Island, it still brought high rainfall and winds and left tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power. This is the eighth named storm of the 2021 hurricane season. READ MORE  SPONSORED CONTENT Promoted by Veoci Upcoming Webinar: Reframing Resilience for Long Term Care Facilities The Town of Guilford Drives Cost Savings and Efficiencies Through Automation and Innovation Digitally Managing FEMA Reimbursements and Streamlining Recovery The Benefits of Cloud-Based Emergency Management Budget Season: Tips for an Emergency Management Program Oregon State scientists collaborate on road map for adapting dry forests to new fire regimes Homeland Security Today Oregon State University scientists and collaborators from throughout the West say that thinning and prescribed burning are crucial parts of adaptive management for seasonally dry, fire-dependent forests such as those east of the Cascade crest. In a paper published in Ecological Applications, Andrew Merschel, James Johnston and Meg Krawchuk of the OSU College of Forestry also join other researchers in acknowledging the role of Indigenous fire stewardship in past and present landscapes and the value of restoring that stewardship – intentional low-severity burning that reduces fuels and is important culturally. READ MORE First HERicane Camp kicks off in Philadelphia teaching teenage girls about emergency management* KYW-TV As Beyonce says, who runs the world? Girls! The very first HERicane Camp kicked off in Philadelphia. The program is for girls between the ages of 13 and 17 who are interested in emergency management, a field where very few women hold response and leadership roles. READ MORE  PRODUCT SHOWCASE Innovative Strategies for Resilient, Prepared Communities For over 36 years, IEM’s team of nationally recognized emergency management, disaster recovery, and crisis response leaders have applied their expertise, experience, and innovative solutions helping communities prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against disasters, public health emergencies, and other hazards. No matter the crisis, #TeamIEM is prepared to take on the challenge. How can we help you create a more resilient future? LEARN MORE Can burying power lines prevent California's next big wildfire? Grist On July 18, California’s Pacific Gas & Electric revealed that its electrical equipment might have sparked the Dixie Fire, a blaze that has since become the second-largest in the state’s history, torching 700,000 acres and destroying more than 1,200 structures. Three days later, PG&E, which emerged from bankruptcy last year after amassing some $30 billion worth of liabilities from wildfires, announced something more surprising: To prevent future blazes, the state’s largest utility plans to rip out 10,000 miles of overhead power lines in high fire risk areas and bury them underground. READ MORE In fire scorched California, town aims to buy the highest at-risk properties NPR By the heat of the afternoon, smoke from the largest wildfire burning in the U.S., the Dixie Fire, drifts into Paradise, Calif. "Quite literally, it's hanging over your head," says Dan Efseaff, director of the Paradise Recreation and District. For many locals, seeing and smelling the smoke is a constant if ominous reminder of the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed some 19,000 structures here. The Dixie Fire ignited in nearly the same place. READ MORE .UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE/SCHOOL EM ISSUES Fake COVID-19 vaccination cards a concern for colleges Campus Safety A number of colleges are requiring students to show proof of vaccination, but are they ready to spot fakes and mete out appropriate discipline for violations? READ MORE  SPONSORED CONTENT Promoted by American Military University COVID-19: Will This Be the Public Health’s 9/11 Earthquakes: The ‘Big One’ Might Hit the Midwest – Not California ­COVID-19: Flattening the Curve to Avoid a 'Great Depression II' Staying Safe: The Twin Threats of COVID-19 and Disaster Events ­How 1911's Triangle Fire Changed US Safety Laws .HEALTHCARE EM UPDATE Georgia deploys National Guard to hard-hit hospitals Government Technology Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday deployed Georgia National Guard medical staffers to nearly two dozen hospitals in the latest sign of the state's worsening struggle to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The governor's order sends 105 medical personnel to assist staff at 20 hospitals, including Grady Memorial in Atlanta and Phoebe Putney in Albany , facing severe strain from the vicious fourth wave of the disease. READ MORE COVID has Oregon's 'lean' healthcare system on the brink Government Technology For decades, Oregon's health system was envied across the nation. Managed care organizations enrolled a large share of the population. The Oregon Health Plan, conceived in the 1990s, made care more available to the working poor. The system ran lean. Reformers emphasized primary and preventive care, allowing the state to operate with the fewest hospital beds per capita in the nation. READ MORE .CLIMATE/WATER/WEATHER UPDATES Scientists find climate change increases risk of extreme flooding Homeland Security Today This July, heavy rainfall associated with the cut-off low-pressure system “Bernd” led to severe flooding particularly in the German states North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as in Luxembourg, and along the river Meuse and some of its tributaries in Belgium and the Netherlands. At the time of the heavy rainfall event, soils were in part already saturated. Some valley sections are very narrow with steep slopes leading to funnel-like effects in the event of extreme floods. These factors were modified locally also by differences in land cover, infrastructure and water management alleviating or increasing the devastation of the extreme flooding. READ MORE The lesson from German floods: prepare for the unimaginable Climate Home News A month after fatal floods swept through western Germany, survivors are still in shock and experts warn such disasters are becoming more common. READ MORE  FEATURED ARTICLE   Taking Responsibility For Ourselves And Our Community Promoted by Optimum Seismic Inc. “We educate our neighbors so not only are we taking responsibility for our property, but realizing what we do on our property impacts our neighbor’s property, which impacts the neighborhood, which impacts the whole community…” Mountain Rim Fire Safe Council President Laura Dyberg recently told the Orange County Register. LEARN MORE   .CYBERSECURITY NEWS CISA warns of hurricane-related cyber scams* Homeland Security Today CISA warns users to remain on alert for malicious cyber activity targeting potential disaster victims and charitable donors following a hurricane. Fraudulent emails—often containing malicious links or attachments—are common after major natural disasters. Exercise caution in handling emails with hurricane-related subject lines, attachments, or hyperlinks. In addition, be wary of social media pleas, texts, or door-to-door solicitations relating to severe weather events. READ MORE COVID-19: Impact on financial fraud Domestic Preparedness The past 16 months have been challenging. COVID-19 left a trail of destruction and a tremendous loss of life. It has had an impact on almost every aspect of daily life. The economy, supply chains, social norms, schools, and places of worship were all affected. The pandemic also led to increased risk of financial fraud and cybercrime. The nation seems to be turning the corner on the pandemic, and people are gradually setting their sights on returning to a new normal way of life. READ MORE  PRODUCT SHOWCASE Disaster Recovery. Simplified Deloitte’s Close as You Go (CAYG) is a secure cloud-based software platform built to help agencies manage recovery documentation for procurement and contracting, model policies and procedures, and plan for disaster. Developed alongside specialists in preparedness and response, CAYG helps you prepare, so you can focus on recovery. LEARN MORE CISA provides recommendations for protecting information from ransomware-caused data breaches Homeland Security Today CISA has released the fact sheet Protecting Sensitive and Personal Information from Ransomware-Caused Data Breaches to address the increase in malicious cyber actors using ransomware to exfiltrate data and then threatening to sell or leak the exfiltrated data if the victim does not pay the ransom. These data breaches, often involving sensitive or personal information, can cause financial loss to the victim organization and erode customer trust. READ MORE .EM RESOURCES FEMA offers exercise assistance to stakeholders IAEM FEMA is accepting requests for exercise support through the National Exercise Program. State, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions can request no-cost assistance for exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation to validate capabilities across all mission areas. FEMA is hosting webinars for all interested governments and other community partners on the exercise support process. Visit the webinar webpage to register. The webinar dates are Aug. 30 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, Sept. 7 at 2:00 p.m. EDT, Sept. 15 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, Sept. 23 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, and Oct. 1 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Fall 2021 requests for support are due no later than Nov. 1. To submit a request for exercise support, download the nomination form, then email the completed form with any supporting documentation to NEP@fema.dhs.gov. Awardees will be notified by Dec. 10. FEMA will hold additional exercise support rounds in the spring and fall of 2022. PRODUCT SHOWCASE Online Executive Program from Harvard The online executive program Promoting Racial Equity in the Workplace runs from Sept. 13-17, 2021. Learn effective strategies for increasing diversity, inclusion, and racial equity within your organization while building your network.   LEARN MORE   Match Vaccine Supply with Resident Demand Address challenges around vaccine appointment scheduling. Avoid system crashes that frustrate and confuse residents. Data and targeting features increase reach and facilitate two-way communication. Automate appointment signup to provide clear status information. Generate vaccination heatmaps to discover and address problem areas. Request a Demo!   LEARN MORE   The BuildStrong Coalition and NAMIC release BRIC Pocket Guide IAEM The BuildStrong Coalition and its founding member, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), jointly released the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Pocket Guide. The BRIC Pocket Guide is designed to help communities on assessing risks, collaborating with both government and non-government stakeholders, and making use of the numerous tools available to maximize a mitigation project’s effectiveness. Download the guide from NAMIC's website. .NEW INSIGHTS All these simultaneous disasters are messing with our brains Government Executive Last week, the psychologist Steven Taylor was at a socially distanced get-together with some relatives and their friends when the conversation turned to the chaos in Afghanistan. Someone mentioned the sickening footage of desperate Afghans clinging to American military aircraft as they departed. Then one man made a remark that caught Taylor off guard: The videos, he said, were funny. Others agreed. READ MORE As California burns, some ecologists say it's time to rethink forest management Los Angeles Times As he stood amid the rubble of the town of Greenville, Gov. Gavin Newsom this month vowed to take proactive steps to protect California’s residents from increasingly devastating wildfires. “We recognize that we’ve got to do more in active forest management, vegetation management,” Newsom said, noting that the region’s extreme heat and drought are leading to “wildfire challenges the likes of which we’ve never seen in our history.” READ MORE .DISASTER TECHNOLOGY NEWS NIST's emberometer could gauge threat of wildfire-spreading embers Homeland Security Today As wildfire fronts advance through landscapes or communities on the ground, they also attack from above, launching volleys of glowing embers into the air. Also known as firebrands, these specks of burning debris can glide for up to 40 kilometers (approximately 24 miles) before landing and can cause up to 90% of home and business fires during wildfires. Guidance on fending off ember attacks is sparse, largely because so little is known about embers’ behavior. READ MORE Beyond local: Disaster-mapping drones often neglect deadliest, costliest events and hardest-hit areas Newmarket Today Every year, disasters kill an average of 60,000 people, affect 200 million and cause US$150 billion in damage. To combat these devastating impacts, governments and other stakeholders routinely rely on images captured by satellites and crewed aircraft for crucial tasks such as identifying and monitoring areas most at risk, evacuation routes, damage severity and extent, and recovery progress. Alongside these standard spaceborne and airborne platforms, small aerial drones equipped with cameras are relatively newer tools. Praised for their low cost, easy use and capture of on-demand visuals, drones may be a game-changing technology for emergency response. READ MORE Remote sensing detects 8,450 potential hazards in areas including Three Gorges Reservoir: ministry Global Times With the help of remote-sensing satellites, China has completed the identification of potential geological disasters in regions with high risks, covering areas such as the Three Gorges project and the southeastern areas in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, said the Ministry of Natural Resources. According to a report the ministry released on Friday, a total of 8,450 potential hazards were detected in 2020 by remote-sensing satellites in nine provincial regions with high geological disaster risks in China. READ MORE .IAEM CERTIFICATION UPDATES IAEM provides information to AEM® and CEM® candidates who want to receive diplomas at the Annual Conference IAEM IAEM invites those who have received the AEM® or CEM® designation in 2021 to receive their certification diploma by participating in the awards ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at the IAEM Annual Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Candidates who want to be recognized and receive their diploma during the ceremony must have had their initial application approved prior to or during the July 21 meeting and pass the certification exam by Sept. 17, 2021. .IAEM MEMBER NEWS City of Richmond names Oliver as director of emergency management coordinator Fort Bend Herald A familiar face has been named as the emergency management coordinator for the city of Richmond. Robert Oliver, who has worked with the city for over 11 years, has been promoted to lead the city’s day-to-day operation of the EOC, including during times of natural or man-made emergencies/disasters. READ MORE .GRANT ANNOUNCEMENTS ASPR announces new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Partnership for Disaster Health Response IAEM The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has announced a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Partnership for Disaster Health Response, a demonstration to improve the clinical specialty and medical surge capabilities necessary in response through the establishment and maturation of a Regional Disaster Health Response System (RDHRS). This NOFO seeks to fund one (1) new demonstration site that will advance the vision for a nationwide, regional response system, and that will help identify issues, develop leading practices, and demonstrate the potential effectiveness and viability of this concept. The new award will focus primarily on building and maturing the partnerships that are required to effectively prepare for and respond to the management of patients in disasters, including those that facilitate rapid expansion of medical surge capacity of the existing health care system, coordination of patient and resource movement to support the response, and the swift involvement of specific clinical specialists, building on lessons learned from the three active demonstration sites established in 2018 and 2020. For more information about RDHRS, please visit the RDHRS page on PHE.gov. Applications are due at 11:59 p.m. EDT, Sept. 20, 2021. .IAEM-ASIA NEWS China warns Tibet climate risks could soar despite short-term gains* Thomson Reuters Foundation Rapid climate change in China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau could destabilise water supplies and cause more frequent disasters, even though warmer temperatures have improved conditions in the short term, scientists said after an expedition to the region. The region, which covers much of China's remote northwest and includes the Himalayas, has been identified as one of the country's "ecological security barriers" and is a vital "water tower" regulating flows to eastern, central and southern Asia. READ MORE .IAEM-EUROPA NEWS Italy — once overwhelmed by COVID-19 — turns to a health pass and stricter measures to contain virus* The Conversation Italy was the first Western democratic country that faced the COVID-19 crisis. In early 2020, as parts of the country were being overwhelmed with coronavirus cases, some media outlets argued that the Italian government had taken too long to impose restrictive measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus. But Italy has learned several lessons since its first national lockdown on March 9, 2020, and now – a year and a half after that first crushing wave of COVID-19 cases – the country has put in place measures that in some cases are more stringent than in other countries, including the United States. READ MORE Climate change made deadly floods in Western Europe at least 20% more likely — study* Thomson Reuters Foundation Climate change has made extreme rainfall events of the kind that sent lethal torrents of water hurtling through parts of Germany and Belgium last month at least 20% more likely to happen in the region, scientists said Tuesday. The downpour was likely made heavier by climate change as well. A day of rainfall can now be up to 19% more intense in the region than it would have been had global atmospheric temperatures not risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial temperatures, according to research published by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) scientific consortium. READ MORE .AROUND THE WORLD Hurricane Grace hits Mexico with major flooding, eight killed* Thomson Reuters Foundation Hurricane Grace pummeled Mexico with torrential rain on Saturday, causing severe flooding and mudslides that killed at least eight people, authorities said, after it became one of the most powerful storms in years to hit the country's Gulf coast. Grace was whipping up maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour (201 km per hour), a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, when it slammed into the coast near the resort of Tecolutla in Veracruz state in the early morning. READ MORE California fire breaks hazardous air quality records Government Technology A spot fire that took hold on the eastern edge of the Caldor fire has pushed the growing blaze closer to South Lake Tahoe, belching smoke that has caused record-breaking air pollution and spurring anxiety the fire could reach resort communities. The spot fire had jumped to around 100 acres and was “growing at a fairly rapid pace,” said Eric Schwab, an operations section chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. READ MORE Henri roars ashore, battering New England with wind, rain Government Technology Tropical Storm Henri, downgraded at sea from a hurricane, is soaking the U.S. Northeast with rain after it came ashore in Rhode Island. The storm is leaving a trail of power outages and flooded roadways from New Jersey to Massachusetts. Henri drove the ocean 1 to 2 feet higher as it made landfall near Westerly, Rhode Island, with top winds of 60 miles per hour. READ MORE More than 270 homes were destroyed in central Tennessee as flash flooding killed 18, officials say CNN More than 270 homes in central Tennessee were destroyed in deadly flooding that killed 18 people and left three still unaccounted for days later, officials said Tuesday. A damage assessment conducted in Humphreys County showed 271 homes were destroyed by Saturday's flooding, according to a news release from the county's emergency management agency. Another 160 homes had major damage, and 28 had minor damage. READ MORE In Greece, heatwaves are so bad officials are considering giving them names The Verge During a summer of punishing heat, Greek officials and researchers are thinking about naming individual heatwaves to help keep people safe when temperatures soar. It’s part of a bigger push internationally to create a system for naming and ranking heatwaves, similar to the process for major storms. READ MORE The true Haiti earthquake death toll is much worse than early official counts Scientific American Haiti is still rebuilding from the massive earthquake that struck 11 years ago, as well as dealing with the fallout of its president’s assassination in July. So the island nation was ill-prepared for the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit its western region on August 14. At the time of publication, the official death toll hovers around 2,000, although for the first few critical days after the quake, media reports listed a death toll in the hundreds. But the true number of deaths is probably at least five to 50 times that number, according to a scientific model from the U.S. Geological Survey. READ MORE People evacuated as new wildfire hits Greek island AFP via France24 Scores of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft battled a forest fire that broke out early Monday on the southern part of Greece's Evia island, less than two weeks after an inferno decimated its northern part. The fire was burning near the village of Fygia where two neighborhoods have been evacuated and was moving toward the coastal tourist village of Marmari, where authorities were preparing boats to evacuate people if needed, according to Athens News Agency. READ MORE   IAEM Dispatch Connect with IAEM Jason Zimmerman, Director of Publishing, MultiView, 469-420-2686 | Download media kit Bob Kowalski, Executive Editor, MultiView, 469-420-2650 | Contribute news International Association of Emergency Managers 201 Park Washington Court  |  Falls Church, VA 22046-4527  Elizabeth B. Armstrong, MAM, CAE, IAEM CEO, IAEM Executive Director Dawn M. 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