EMERGENCY PARTNER POSTINGS

Volume 3, No. 8

April 1999

Special Event - Student Day:
"Student Day" was a March highlight and a "first" in the EIIP Virtual Forum -- an opportunity for emergency management students throughout the country to meet with practitioners from all levels of involvement. A special message from FEMA Preparedness Associate Director Kay Goss, CEM and excellent career advice was provided by participants from the public, private, and academic sectors. See http://www.emforum.org/vclass/990331.htm for further info. The response was encouraging and we hope to make this an annual event.

EIIP Road Trip:
The EIIP participated in a 2-day Emergency Management Hearing and Workshop, March 22-23, sponsored by the Government Management, Information, and Technology Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee. Approximately 100 professionals from all sectors of government and society met to discuss emergency management with an emphasis on the Year 2000. IAEM's President-Elect, FEMA staff and others testified before Congressman Stephen Horn, Chairman, Government Management Information, and Technology Subcommittee.

Red River Basin Disaster Information Network (RRBDIN):
The RRBDIN conducted its second online workshop, Flood Forecasting, Today and Tomorrow, on March 25. The focus of the workshop was the current Spring Flood Outlook and the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System, with speakers from the National Weather Service participating from four different physical locations, including North Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, and Maryland.

The RRBDIN is sponsored by the International Joint Commission (IJC) and the Red River Basin Board with support from the Global Disaster Information (GDIN) Transition Team and the EIIP. For further information about the RRBDIN and membership, see http://www.emforum.org/redriver/ .

Round Table Discussions - Tuesdays - 1:00 PM EDT
The Round Tables are Partner-led discussions; the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) hosts one Round Table discussion each month (April 27). Partners are encouraged to schedule and moderate a session. Please support Partners in the Virtual Forum Round Table discussions as well as the formal sessions on Wednesdays. Watch for details on topics and speakers each weekend prior to scheduled session.

April 6: Community Family Preparedness - Kellye Junchaya
April 13: The Y2K Game - Jan Nickerson
April 20: National Volunteer Week (TBA)
April 27: IAEM's Y2K Message - Phyllis Mann

April 1999 - Wednesdays - 12:00 Noon EDT

April 7: The Virtual Library presents Anita Kellogg, Project Manager, ICF Kaiser, and paper on "Public Health Response: Evaluation of Implementation of a New Emergency Management System for Public Health in the State of Georgia."

April 14: The Virtual Classroom features Dr. Donald A. Wilhite, Professor and Director, National Drought Mitigation Center, International Drought Information Center, School of Natural Resources Sciences http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc/

April 21: The EIIP Panel Room hosts panelist from Lubbock Texas to discuss their recent Y2K Community Exercise; lead panelist, Ken Olson, Emergency Management Coordinator, City of Lubbock

April 28: The Tech Arena presents John Cormack, FEMA IT Directorate, in a discussion and demonstration of NEMIS.

The following submitted the agreement form to become formal Partners and are listed on the EIIP Virtual Forum web site, with links to Websites if available (see http://www.emforum.org/partners/partic.htm). Each Point of Contact (POC) has been welcomed to the EIIP and encouraged to become an active participant and worker in the Partnership:

Mobile Systems, Inc: John F. Doyle, President MSI (mobiletrainingsolutions@msn.com)

Readiness Consulting Services: Robert P. Fletcher, Jr. (bobfletcher@erols.com)

Interested in joining the EIIP? New Partners are welcome; Partnership Criteria and Agreement Form may be found at the following URL: http://www.emforum.org/partners/criteria.htm

EIIP Logo Accessible to Partners

We continue to add new Partners to the EIIP. Part of the EIIP Memorandum of Agreement states that we will link to each other's web sites, if one exists. In response to a request of a new Partner for the EIIP logo, we have made the logo easily accessible and in an appropriate size for any of our Partners' use at: http://www.emforum.org/images/ic_forum.gif

Louisiana State University is sponsoring an Internet conference starting June 1, 1999 that will present a series of papers addressing issues of hurricanes and chemical hazards. Access to the conference will be open to the public at no cost. Conference participants are encouraged to review these papers and make email comment on them. Some of the particular issues that will be addressed will include finding out what information is currently available to help understand the risks, how to examine the impact of these hazards, and what issues will come up in a release of hazardous materials as a result of a hurricane. For additional information on the conference see: http://hurricane.lsu.edu.

National Volunteer Week --- April 18-24

Millions of volunteers will participate in special projects that connect them to their families, friends, neighbors, total strangers, and entire communities during National Volunteer Week, April 18-24. The theme this year is "Volunteers Light the Way!" Service projects and recognition ceremonies mark the week-long celebration honoring men, women and young people for their commitments to their communities and country as volunteers. National Volunteer Week began in 1974 through an Executive Order signed by President Richard Nixon. Every subsequent president has supported the week by signing a Presidential Proclamation. (The EIIP Virtual Forum will celebrate with a Round Table discussion devoted to National Volunteer Week on Tuesday, April 20.)

New Players in Domain Name Game

Big changes are coming in the Internet's Domain Name System registration. They will not affect .gov or .mil registrations, which are handled by separate, government-controlled systems. The new Internet corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit corporation that will manage non-government IP address space allocation, DNS and its root servers.

As domain registration costs drop, the number of domains will explode. Look at http://www.register.com which registers a .net, .com or .org domain name for just $70 for two years. Namestake.com, operated by intellectual property researcher Thomson & Thomson, already offers a free service to screen potential addresses for trademark infringement. A 1995 law, commonly known as the trademark dilution act, formed the basis of several judicial decisions last year stating that the owner of a domain name might not have the right to keep it if it adversely affects another company's trademark. ICANN is working with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to develop a best-practices policy for registration authorities and users to minimize conflicts.

EENet Schedule for April '99:

April 7, 2:00-3:00PM EDT: Learning Again- Unique Applications of Incident Command at Disasters - Part 1 of 2 parts.

April 14, 2:00-4:00PM EDT: Unified Command: Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Focus - last of 3 part series on Unified Command.

April 21, 2:00-3:30PM EDT: National Alert Broadcast - FEMA Video Magazine.

April 28, 2:00-4:00PM EDT: Mitigation - Topic to be Announced

See http://www.fema.gov/home/EMI/eenet.htm for further info.

New Journal Seeks Contributors: Elsevier Science announces a new journal, "Global Environmental Change Part B: Environmental Hazards" edited by Kenneth J. Mitchell of Rutgers University and Susan Cutter of the University of South Carolina. The journal addresses the human and policy dimensions of threats to human safety and sustainability, such as geological, hydrological, atmospheric, and biological hazards. For information or to submit manuscripts, contact James K. Mitchell or Susan L. Cutter, "Environmental Hazards," Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. Authors should submit three copies of articles of between 4,000 and 6,000 words, although shorter pieces will be considered. Volume 1 will be issued in the summer of 1999.

Request for Press Releases from EmergencyNet News / ERRI: The EmergencyNet News service invites all Fire, Police, EMS, Disaster, Military, Intelligence and other emergency-related agencies to submit their press releases, situation reports, and/or supplemental information on notable incidents for daily news reporting on http://www.emergency.com . Send press releases by e-mail to firenet@emergency.com (preferred), or fax them to 773-631-4703. Contact: Clark Staten, Executive Director / Publisher, EmergencyNet News Service, Emergency Response & Research Institute; (773) 631-3467 - Modem/Emergency BBS On-Line; http://www.emergency.com; email
webmaster@emergency.com

TIEMS '99 Theme: Defining the Agenda for the Third Millennium: TIEMS '99 will be held at Delft University of Technology (TUD), in The Netherlands, June 8-11, 1999. Current conference information may be accessed through the following web site: http://www.sepa.tudelft.nl//tiems.htm . The last few years have introduced new dimensions to contingency, emergency, crisis, and disaster management on a global scale. The scope of TIEMS '99 is to bring together professionals in the field of Emergency Management, including practitioners, researchers, and policy makers from industry, universities, public and private organizations, and government agencies. All papers will be reviewed and published in the conference proceedings. Contact TIEMS at tiems@sepa.tudelft.nl .

• Y2K Survival Kit -- With all the dire predictions about January 2000, advertising executive Stan Chrzanowski dreamed up the Y2K Survival Kit ($14.95 at http://y2ksurvivalkit.net ) as a gag gift. It includes a compass, squirt gun, dowsing stick, magnifying glass, candle, pencil and pad of paper, and plant seeds.
  
  
• National Weather Service Y2K Status -- NWS mission critical systems are supposed to be Y2K compliant by March 31, 1999. To make NWS Y2K compliancy status widely available, the NWS maintains a Y2K web site, http://www.oso1.x3.nws.noaa.gov/y2k . Although a majority of National Weather Service data is not date dependent, the connectivity and processing ability between the NWS and its partners has been tested.
  
  
• Health Industry Posts Y2K Guide -- Site, http://www.odin-group.com , helps health care providers that are behind in Y2K projects.
  
  
• Think Tank on Y2K Law Formed -- Composed of professors from 175 top universities, members of US and UK think tanks, individual consultants, law firms and other professional services firms. A consortium of consulting professors in Chicago initiated this effort.
  
  
• Food Giants -- Nestle USA Inc. and the Kroger Company recently won praise from the US Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem because of the get-tough steps they have taken to address the date rollover problem. See Senate's 160-page report on Y2K at http://www.senate.gov/-y2k/index.html .
  
  
• ABC Plans 27-Hour Millennium Special -- ABC is planning a 27-hour special to mark the start of the year 2000, a telethon-like affair with Peter Jennings as the host. The special will blend news and entertainment, with ABC correspondents stationed in different time zones to mark the historic entry into the new year. Jennings said, ``The idea of being able to go from time zone to time zone around the world and get some sense of what's going on is exciting. A lot of it will be very celebratory.''
  
  
• Web Resources on International Y2K Issues:
  World Bank site: http:///worldbank.org/y2k
  Federal Govt. Gateway: http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mks/yr2000/g7yr2000.htm
  European Commission: http://www.ispo.cec.be/y2keuro/year2000.htm
  Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development: http://www.oecd.org
  World Information Technology & Services Alliance: http://www.witsa.org

http://www.ContingencyPlanning.com/forum.cfm
The Contingency Planning & Management magazine now features interactive
Continuity Conversation on their web site.

http://www.the-dma.org
The Direct Marketing Association will create an "opt-out" email program through which consumers can register to not receive unsolicited commercial email. The program should be available by July '00 and will be similar to others through which consumers can ask to be taken off telephone and US Postal Service marketing lists.

http:www.uscg.mil/hq/g-o/g-opr/sar.htm
The Coast Guard web site highlights one of the agency's oldest missions: the search and rescue of boaters in distress. The site is an effort to provide Coast Guard employees, industry and the public with access to data about the agency's SAR efforts.

National Emergency Management Association (NEMA)Update:

The NEMA Y2K Subcommittee and liaisons from the R&R Committee are scheduled to meet with FEMA R&R staff in April to discuss criteria for Y2K disaster declarations and other related issues. FEMA is offering to help States with financial support and speakers for state Y2K conferences. The NEMA Response & Recovery Committee will meet with FEMA and the Catastrophic Disaster Response Group on April 28 in Washington, DC.

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International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Update:

IAEM members held their mid-year meetings on March 13-15 in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The Board of Directors moved forward on a number of projects, including creation of a task force to develop procedures for an IAEM scholarship program, and a professional exchange with Italy.

The IAEM Board also approved numerous position statements recommended by the Government Affairs Committee during the conference: proposed amendments to the Stafford Act, FEMA's FY2000 budget, federal programs for domestic preparedness for terrorism events, criteria for disaster declarations, a FEMA proposal to require insurance coverage for public buildings and infrastructures, and the NFPA 1600 standard to enhance professionalism of EM programs. See http://www.iaem.com or call IAEM headquarters (703)538-1795 for more information.

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American Society of Professional Emergency Planners (ASPEP) Update:

A reminder from ASPEP that papers for the 1999 ASPEP Journal are due July 31, 1999. See the web site: http://www.aspep.org or contact Tom Heath tmheath@globalserve.net .

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Arkansas Tech University Update:

Arkansas Tech proudly announces a portion of courses required for their bachelor's degree program will be available through the web by August. Also by August, the program will hire a full-time assistant professor to develop these online courses, serve as an instructor, and assist the dean with outreach services.

Due to demands, Arkansas Tech will offer an emergency management ethics course in three different locations within the state of Arkansas. The class will be taped and available through video after the fall semester.

April 11-14, 1999: UCLA Conference on Public Health and Disasters - Redondo Beach, CA - Contact Eva Klein Selski, Program Coordinator (eselski@ ucla.edu ).

April 14, 1999: IAEM Region II Education Conference - Y2K, Bomb Blast Mitigation, and Domestic Preparation for Weapons of Mass Destruction; Sponsored by Emergency Management Bureau and Port Authority Police; contact IAEMREGION2@Yahoo.com

April 21-23, 1999: Embracing Continuity & All that Jazz! Continuity Planning & Management '99 - Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Oleans LA. Visit the CPM '99 web site for details http://www.ContingencyPlanExpo.com.

April 21-25, 1999: Celebrating the Many Facets of Crisis & Disaster-Stress, Trauma & Coping in the Emergency Services Professions Management - Baltimore, MD by International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc. (ICISF). See http://www.icisf.org.

May 12-14, 1999: 1999 HMAC Annual Conference & Hazardous Materials Transportation Exposition - Sponsored by the Hazardous Materials Advisory Council; contact HMAC, 1101 Vermont Avenue, Ste 301, Washington DC, http://www.hmac.org

May 12-15, 1999: Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN) Conference - Mexico City; sponsored by the Mexican government in partnership with the US Government and the World Bank, http://www.state.gov/www/issues/relief/gdin99.html.

May 17-20, 1999: Technology Partnership for Emergency Management Workshop & Exhibition, FEMA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Gatlinburg, TN. Contact John Sorenson jhs@ornl.gov

May 23-28, 1999: Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) Annual Conference - Portland, Oregon ( asfpm@floods.org ).

May 24-29, 1999:CAMEO99 - Crowne Plaza Phoenix Downtown, Phoenix AZ. Sponsored by EPA CEPPO, NOAA HAZMAT, AZSERC; see web site: http://www.nrt.org/nrt/cameo.nsf

June 3-6, 1999: International Hazardous Materials Response Teams - IAFC, Towson Maryland.

June 8-11, 1999: Community and Family Preparedness Conference - FEMA Community and Family Preparedness Program. Mt. Weather, Virginia. Contact: Ralph Swisher, FEMA (202) 646-3561; ralph.swisher@fema.gov .

June 16-19, 1999: Response '99 - National Association of Search & Rescue, Orlando, Florida.

Nontaxing Sites: Sites to search for tax-preparation questions:
The main IRS site - http://www.irs.ustreas.gov
Clever advice on matters such as income-shifting and charitable gifts - http://www.quicken.com/taxes
The complete US Tax Code online - http://www.fourmilab.ch./ustax/ustax.html

"Emergency Partner Postings" is a monthly update on progress of the partnership, activities, and services available through Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership (EIIP) Virtual Forum web site, other electronic sources of information, and articles of interest concerning awareness and use of information technology. The news will be posted on the web site the last week of each month.

We encourage readers to submit articles for this newsletter about use of the Internet for emergency management and other aspects of information technology. Deadline for contributions is the 20th of each month for that month's newsletter. Submit contributions to Jennifer Suter, jsuter@emforum.org.

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