Tag Emergency Management

The Monster Mash – What’s with the Zombie Thing in Emergency Management?

Tim Riecker, The Contrarian Emergency Manager Leave a comment

In May of 2011 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) unleashed its Zombie Preparedness campaign upon the world.  This campaign took off like a flesh-eating monster, encouraging preparedness throughout the nation and prompting similar campaigns in other countries.  My guess is that the CDC took a creative prompt from the current pop culture zombie craze (mostly fueled by AMC’s The Walking Dead series – yep, I’m a big fan – note: season 3 starts on October 14th) as well as from the common sense, yet tongue-in-cheek group known in Zombie Squad.  Zombie Squad, whose website says they have been around since 2003.  ZS (as they are known) “… is an elite zombie suppression task force ready to defend your neighborhood from the shambling hordes of the walking dead.” “When the zombie removal business is slow we focus our efforts towards educating ourselves and our community about the importance of disaster preparation.”

So how does this all make sense?  Actually, it fits very well.  Contrary to the other monster fad currently sweeping the globe – vampires – which seems to be intent on teenage-level love stories, this zombie business is serious, really.  The Walking Dead has spurred many conversations in on-line discussion boards and in my own home about people functioning and surviving when society has crumbled around them.  Zombieism is also a disease, so all the concepts that go with a major disease, such as transmission prevention, isolation and quarantine, treatment, vaccination, etc. all apply.

From a preparedness angle, the zombie concept works well. On the CDC website, their director, Dr. Ali Khan explains “If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack.”  They then further encourage people to get a kit, make a plan, and be prepared.  It’s great that we’re all using the same message!  The Zombie Squad website also encourages the same.

Now how about from the prospective of emergency response and emergency management folks?  Surely, we can’t be swayed by this pop culture silliness as well?  We sure can – and I think it’s great!  For many of the same reasons explained earlier, we can draw many similarities between a zombie attack and an actual incident.  Sure, we take some liberties and we have a little fun with it, but why can’t we?  A successful exercise is one that tests our objectives, is it not?  Drawing the scenario similar to a pandemic or hazardous materials type of incident, agencies are testing objectives related to mass casualties, mass fatality management, isolation and quarantine, public messaging, incident command, crowd control, looting, disease prevention, points of distribution, etc.  So many times I had heard from those who taught me ‘the art of exercises’, that the scenario really doesn’t matter, it’s all about the objectives.  Sure, in the past we’ve always given consideration to the scenario being realistic so that the participants buy into it, but I think many can totally get into the zombie thing.  This local exercise is using the zombie theme later this month (they are even giving prizes for things such as ‘best zombie walk’ to encourage volunteers to come for this, and yes, they are holding a ‘Thriller’ dance!), and you’ve probably seen articles on National Guard and Department of Defense units using a zombie attack as their scenario.

Bottom line, it’s fun, it’s effective, and it’s a graveyard smash!

Emergency Preparedness for Persons with Disabilities

Tim Riecker, The Contrarian Emergency Manager Leave a comment

My post is in reference to an article in Emergency Management Magazine (found here:http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Emergency-Planning-Disabled-Uphill-Battle.html).  The author’s article brings up several pertinent points around preparedness planning for persons with disabilities.  This, like darn near everything in emergency management, requires a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary approach.  We also need to be very certain to not lump all persons with disabilities into one category.  There are various levels of function that people may have.  Many people live with disabilities every day and are highly functioning, requiring little or no help.  Others may require daily or constant assistance from family, friends, or other care takers, including medical professionals.  Some folks are dependent upon medications or medical equipment (insulin dependant diabetics, those requiring dialysis, or home oxygen), while some have mobility impairments.  Some may have cognitive disabilities such as autism, Down’s Syndrome, or a traumatic brain injury.  Some persons may have several disabilities which need to be considered.  A community’s planning efforts must incorporate the full spectrum of needs.

Following our emergency planning steps, we can easily pull together the people and information we need.  First, form a planning group.  Emergency management, local health department, and local organizations that advocate for persons with disabilities, such as the Arc, associations for the blind and hearing impaired, diabetes association, MDA, UCP, etc.  These are all important stakeholders as they serve and advocate for our disabled populations on a daily basis.  You should probably know your community’s hazards, but we should analyze how they can impact persons with disabilities.  We have to define what needs exist that we need to address.  We can even consider mitigation measures, such as obtaining strobe light alerting for those with hearing impairments.

Help your community keep its finger on the pulse of the needs of persons with disabilities by forming a special needs registry.  Those utilized now are web-based and help first responders and emergency management identify, plan for, and address the changing needs in the community.  Having current information such as names, addresses, and type and severity of disability are extremely important.  Planning for notification, evacuation, transportation, and sheltering are often times the most challenging.  Expand your planning group when these challenges come up.  Include utility companies (who will prioritize power restoration to those who are dependent for medical reasons), local and regional transportation authorities, and those agencies and resources who will staff special needs shelters.

Remember, most persons with disabilities are not an idol portion of our population.  They are highly functioning and can help, needing only the right accommodations to do so.  Also, be sure to promote special needs preparedness.  FEMA, the American Red Cross, and others have excellent resources for this.  Your local association for the blind and visually impaired can help you obtain materials in large print or braille.  The National Organization on Disability is also a great resource (nod.org).  Don’t leave anyone behind!

Telephonic Alert Systems Not the Only Solution

Tim Riecker, The Contrarian Emergency Manager Leave a comment

Recently, Emergency Management Magazine posted an article on failures of telephonic alert notifications (http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Do-Alert-Notifications-Fail-Expectations.html).  The article certainly exposes some of the limitations of these systems as well as the reasons why these limitations exist.  One significant reason is that these systems typically require cell phone users to subscribe (yep… one more thing we need to ask the public to do in an effort for them to be responsible for their own well-being).  Those of you reading this who are in Emergency Management know that it’s very difficult to motivate the general public to do these types of things.  Yes, subscription can be circumvented by forced cell bursts, whereas public safety pushes messages out to all cell users within the range of a given tower(s).  This, though, by FCC regulation, is only to be done in the event of extreme emergency.

So what do we do?  First, we need to continue marketing these alerting programs.  The Feds have put one together they are hoping to implement nationally, many states have them, some cities have them, college campuses have them, even some businesses have them.  They have a huge value – particularly the ones that are customizable by the end-user and multi-modal (voice, text, e-mail, fax, etc.).  Just an hour and a half ago I received an alert by text and e-mail about a magnitude 2.5 earthquake in Canada on the Quebec-Ontario border.  Likewise, I receive them about local road closures and severe weather.  I market our local alert system as much as possible – I’ve even obtained hundreds of flyers from the state’s emergency management agency on the program so I can distribute them when I have speaking engagements and attend community events.  The technology is wonderful and it will continue evolving – both from the programming side that initiates the alert as well as the ability of our infrastructure to handle mass notifications.

The article, however, seems to not mention the integration of other modes of communication to the public.  This is absolutely vital!  You can never rely on only one mode.  Certainly EAS, pushed through radio and TV, is extremely valuable and effective.  But we also need to consider using sirens and even personnel driving through neighborhoods in vehicles providing information by way of loud-speaker.  There is always a chance that you won’t reach someone, but you have to cover as many modes as practical given the importance of the information that must get out.

The 2-1-1 Advantage During Disasters

Tim Riecker, The Contrarian Emergency Manager Leave a comment

I’m currently involved in efforts in central New York to bring 2-1-1 into the area.  2-1-1 is a nationally recognized and standardized information and referral system for public services.  Citizens can dial 2-1-1 (or reference their area’s 2-1-1 website) and obtain information on any day regarding services available to them for a variety of needs from government and local organizations, particularly health and human service related needs.

One of the strongest supporters of bringing 2-1-1 into the area is the county Department of Emergency Services – which oversees 9-1-1.  Especially during times of major emergencies and disasters impacting the area, 2-1-1 can relieve the 9-1-1 center of those calls which are important, but not life threatening emergencies.  The 2-1-1 center can be provided, directly from service providers, the Emergency Operations Center, or other authorities information on evacuations, sheltering, emergency food and water, points of distribution, traffic and school closures, crisis counseling services, volunteer opportunities, and other information.

California 2-1-1 indicated that during the San Diego wildfires of 2007, 2-1-1 provided information and support to more than 130,000 residents in a span of five days, including over 41,000 calls alone on one of these days (they averaged about 5,000 calls a day during ‘normal’ non-disaster operations).  This information, and more, is cited in a 2-1-1 after action document they published titled ‘Trial By Fire’.

Support a 2-1-1 system in your area!

The National Preparedness Report: Community Perspective

Tim Riecker, The Contrarian Emergency Manager Leave a comment

The National Preparedness Report (NPR) was published by the US Department of Homeland Security at the end of March.  It is a requirement of PPD-8  and is intended to provide an annual report summarizing the nation’s progress on various preparedness measures as they are identified through the core capabilities.  The data for the NPR is derived from state preparedness reports where the states self assess their confidence and progress in each of these core capabilities.  While the results shown in the report are reflective of a national snap-shot, they may or may not be reflective of the state of preparedness in any given community around the nation.  That said, reviewing the NPR provides a good opportunity to consider the state of preparedness in your own community.

As the chairperson of the VOAD in my area, I wanted to share the information contained in the NPR with our member agencies and organizations but wanted to target specific capabilities and data points to show direct relevance to our collective mission.  This was fairly easy to do since the core capabilities largely define many of the objectives we want to achieve or sustain through our partnerships.  Below are some of the core capabilities I chose to share with our membership.  These are relevant in every community across the nation.  How does your community rate?

Community Resilience

The NPR identifies this as a strength that continues to trend upward nationally.  This is a core capability directly related to the formation of VOADs and other similar groups.  It is defined as ‘…engaging with whole community partners… to strengthen community preparedness.’    This type of community engagement is a proven advantage not only in theUS, but across the globe.  The more organizations and people that can be reached result in better preparedness for the community.  Unfortunately, despite the national push we’ve experienced for the formation of entities such as VOAD and Citizen Corps, the vast majority of communities across the nation don’t have them in place.   Does yours?  If not, why not?

Fatality Management

Identified by the NPR as an area that still needs improvement despite progress.  Likely because this capability is very comprehensive – body recovery, victim identification, coordination with state and local authorities for temporary mortuaries, sharing information with mass care services (a task handled by many community organizations) for the purposes of reunifying family members and caregivers with missing persons/remains, and proving counseling services to the bereaved (another heavy task for community organizations).  A mass fatality incident also represents the worst case scenario for communities and is difficult to pull together a comprehensive plan for.  Given this, there exists a huge planning gap for fatality management.  It is a capability that must be planned for and thoroughly exercised.  There are a number of resources found on both the open internet as well as LLS to aid in planning.  Consider reaching out to communities that have been unfortunate enough to deal with a mass fatality incident – they usually assemble a model plan based upon their lessons learned.

Mass Care Services

The NPR states that ‘Public and private partners providing mass care have the resources to support feeding and hydration needs of survivors following a catastrophic event, but distribution of these resources presents challenges.’  All the more reason to strengthen our private partnerships and strive for strong private sector participation with emergency management preparedness efforts and with community groups such as VOAD and Citizen Corps.

Public and Private Sector Resources

Similar to the statements made in the NPR on Mass Care Services, whole community stakeholders have a demonstrated ability to provide for commodities such as meals, water, generators, blankets, cots, medical equipment and medications, as the NPR states.  Most communities certainly have the right private sector resources (big box stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, etc.) to accomplish this but it still require the formation and maintenance of strong partnerships between government and non government organizations to determine needs, obtain the resources, and distribute them to the public.  Consider memorandums of understanding with private sector partners and engage them and their employees in your planning efforts.

Economic Recovery

If area farms, business, and industry can’t get back on their feet, the community can’t recover.  The NPR identifies some progress in this area.  Concepts of COOP are catching on and are being reinforced in various industry standards (the ISO just released their updated preparedness standards).   There is a great opportunity for partnership, outreach, and education of the private sector in terms of preparedness activities.  Additionally, while government is often times resistant to provide direct assistance to private entities, the benefits of getting a community grocery store cleaned up or access to a generator so they can re-open has a major impact on the community recovering.  Remember, the private sector has a lot at stake in the event of a disaster… it impacts their business facilities and operations, supply lines, employees, and customers.  Community partnerships will benefit them as well.

Housing

Perhaps the largest shortfall nationally.  It seems that no one has the capabilities to deal with long-term housing issues.  While Federal assistance is sometimes available, we must keep in mind that all disasters begin and end locally… so the care of the community is left to community organizations in the end.

Further information on PPD8 and the NPR can be found at http://www.fema.gov/prepared/ppd8.shtm.

 

Tim Riecker