EMERGENCY PARTNER POSTINGS

Volume 4, No. 11

July 2000

As summer heats up, the EIIP continues to offer hot topics and subject matter experts with an average attendance each week of 40 participants. The next venture or exploration for the EIIP Virtual Forum is in the area of distance learning. We are currently testing distance learning software and talking with a couple of universities who find they need more interaction in their on-line classes between instructors, students and practitioners. We will keep you posted as we progress - we may call upon some of our most active Partners and EIIP Pledgers to assist us in testing some technology and ideas in the near future.

A heads up -- please plan to join us for our annual birthday celebration on August 9th. See next month's newsletter for further details.

The RRBDIN is sponsored by the International Joint Commission, the Global Disaster Information Network, and the Red River Basin Board with support by the EIIP. Workshop transcripts and related materials are available via the Web site. http://www.emforum.org/redriver/

Wednesdays - 12:00 Noon EST:
July 5: Virtual Classroom - Terrorist Incidents: Consequence Management Strategic Planning, David Wheatcraft, West Virginia Office of Emergency Services, and Rick Ranous, EQE International

June 12: Virtual Library - Emergency Medical Services, Libbi Rucker-Reed and Warren Vaughn, Emergency Management Association of Tennessee

June 19: Virtual Forum - What Does the Public Need to Know about Drought? Dr. Frances Winslow, CEM, Director, San Jose Office of Emergency Services

June 26: Tech Arena - OpsCenter, David Griffin, Essential Technologies, Inc.

Please mark sessions of interest on your monthly planning calendar now, just as you would a business meeting or other important appointment. Login via http://www.emforum.org/vforum/formchat.htm.

The following submitted the agreement form to become formal Partners; see EIIP Virtual Forum for list of Partners (http://www.emforum.org/partners/partic.htm).

DSR Disaster Recovery Consultants, Ken E. Consaul, Principal Consultant, dsrconsaul@hotmail.com

Hazardous Weather Preparedness Institute, LLC, Stephen Marks, Hazardous Weather Consultant, smarks@weatherpreparedness.com

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

25th Annual Hazards Research and Applications Workshop

By Dennis S. Mileti, Director
Natural Hazards Center
Dennis.Mileti@colorado.edu

The Silver Anniversary of the Annual Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, July 9-12, in Boulder, Colorado is a historic milestone, not only for the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, but for the entire hazards and emergency management community. For a quarter of a century, we have collectively struggled to answer the question, "Why, despite all our knowledge about the causes of extreme environmental events, our technical capability to make reasonable predictions - in most cases - of when and where they will occur, and our extensive access to information on effective means to avoid damages, do losses from natural disasters continue to rise so dramatically?" In spite of our frustration, we have made great strides in unraveling the complexities inherent in this question. We know that disasters are not problems that can be solved in isolation; we recognize the interplay between disaster resiliency and other aspects of a sustainable society such as economic vitality, environmental quality, and social equity; and we have acknowledged that ours is a global community - one in which mitigation programs transcend political boundaries and oceans alike.

The workshop program this summer features plenary and concurrent sessions that not only review some of these accomplishments but also address the cutting edge issues that face our community today. Topics such as "the political economy of hazards;" "disasters, diversity, and equity;" and "using the disaster recovery period and process to build local sustainability" are just a sample of the diverse discussions that will take place in Boulder.

July '00 EENet Schedule:
July 5, 2:00 PM EDT: "USAR & Family Response to Disasters" Part II
July 12, 2:00 PM EDT: Gems from EENet - "Animals in Disasters" Part I
July 19, 2:00 PM EDT: National Alert Broadcast - FEMA Monthly Video Magazine
July 26, 2:00 PM EDT: Gems from EENet - "Animals in Disasters" Part II

For a description of each of these programs and broadcast information,
visit the EENet Web site: http://www.fema.gov/home/emi/eenet.htm .

1st California Symposium on Aviation Emergencies:
Emergency & Disaster Management, Inc. and the Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Working Group (ARFFwg) will host the 1st California Symposium on Aviation Emergencies at the Museum of Flying, Santa Monica Airport (CA), September 25-26. An excellent conference and gathering of colleagues is expected, including Airport Firefighters; Airport Emergency Planners and Coordinators: Airline and Airport Officials: U.S. Coast Guard; Emergency Management and Preparedness Professionals; EMS Personnel; Fire Departments (industrial, local, federal, and military); Pilots and Cabin Crews; Law Enforcement and Security; Local, State, and Federal Authorities; Disaster Research, Training, and Education professionals.

If interested in speaking, presenting, sponsoring, or exhibiting at this very first event, please contact Sarah Kincaid at Emergency & Disaster Management, Inc. info@emergency-management.net Fax: 310-284-3195. http://www.emergency-management.net

5th Asia -Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine, September 27-30:
This is the first time this conference and exhibition on emergency medicine and disaster management has been held in North America - location is Vancouver, British Columbia. To date, 103 abstracts have been received from 24 countries. Thirty-nine speakers are invited to participate in the program. For details, see http://www.safety.ubc.ca/5APCDM/

New USFA Fire Safety Grant Announced:
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) recently announced $250,000 in grants now available as part of its National Fire Safety Campaign. Ten grants of $25,000 will be awarded to eligible organizations selected from applications postmarked by July 24, 2000.

"The new grant program is designed to help organizations currently working in communities with high risk groups on fire safety and prevention," said USFA Administrator Carrye B. Brown. The grants are aimed at delivering educational services and materials that will strengthen fire safety awareness for these high risk audiences."

Community-based organizations such as civic clubs, youth or senior citizen groups or more formal organizations (for example, fire departments, fire associations, or schools) are eligible to apply for a grant. The grant is for educational programs and is not to be used to purchase fire prevention equipment or apparatus.

Contact Cindy Adams, Contract Specialist, USFA cindy.adams@fema.gov Phone (301)447-1221. For application procedures: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/about/press/00-084.htm

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Update:

FEMA Releases Study on Erosion Hazards -- Evaluation of Erosion Hazards, prepared for FEMA by The Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, provides a comprehensive assessment of coastal erosion and its impact on people and property. According to the report, approximately 25 percent of homes and other structures within 500 feet of the U.S. coastline and the shorelines of the Great Lakes will fall victim to the effects of erosion within the next 60 years. For more details and links to the Executive Summary and the full report, see http://www.fema.gov/nwz00/erosion.htm. The report is also available at The Heinz Center http://www.heinzcenter.org.

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National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) Update:

EMAC Guidebook Updated -- The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), administered by NEMA, has updated the EMAC Guidebook and Protocols for member states and territories in preparation for the 2000 hurricane season.

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International Association of Emergency Managers Update:

NWS General Session on Weather and Climate Set For IAEM Conference -- On-line registration is now available for the 48th Annual IAEM Conference, November 4-7, 2000 in Austin, Texas. The IAEM 2000 Conference will include general sessions on Weather Disaster DuJour and the Year Ahead; School Violence: GA Model and Columbine; and Emergency Management in the 21st Century. Full program information is available at http://www.iaem.com. This looks like it may well be the very best IAEM conference in recent memory. Exhibitor space is still available.

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National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Update:

NVFC Announces Fall Meeting -- The NVFC will meet for their annual fall meeting in Daytona Beach, Florida, October 12-14, 2000. For tentative agenda and online registration, please see http://www.nvfc.org/fallmeetingfla.html.

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The National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue (NI/USR) Update:

NI/USR Annual Conference and Awards -- The NI/USR conference will be held in conjunction with the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch (NAEMD) Navigator 2000 Conference at the Aladdin Hotel, Las Vegas, August 29-September 2. One of the special events will be a Communications during Disaster Workshop and Table Top Exercise on August 28 and 29. See http://niusr.org/welcome.html for details on NI/USR, the conference and the XII Project.

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Essential Technologies Inc. Update:

Essential Technologies Inc. Announces Partnership -- ETI recently announced a major partnership with Alert Technologies Corporation. This makes Essential the primary reseller for OpsCenter Virtual EOC, a Web-hosted emergency management software by Alert Technologies, an Application Service Provider (ASP) in Pleasanton, Calif.

OpsCenter is available as a self-hosted application or through a professional ASP host. The latter enables users in the commercial sector along with federal, state and local government agencies to avoid the expense and logistics of building and staffing an Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. For those that don't want to bear the expense of a dedicated Emergency Operations Center (EOC), OpsCenter makes the virtual EOC a reality.

For more information about Essential Technologies, call (301) 284-3046, e-mail jhardy@essentech.com, or visit http://www.essential-technologies.com. (OpsCenter will be feautured in July 26 Tech Arena presentation in the EIIP Virtual Forum.)

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"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 newsletter will be posted on the Web site by the first of each month.

We encourage readers to submit brief updates that relate to using 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 Lori Wieber, lwieber@emforum.org.

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