This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.
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The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) was recently introduced to the Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute (HVRI), which is an interdisciplinary research and training center focused on the development of theory, data, metrics, methods, applications, and spatial analytical models for understanding the newly emergent field of hazard vulnerability science.
In addition to basic research, HVRI facilitates local, state, and federal government efforts to improve emergency preparedness, planning, response, and disaster resilience through its outreach activities. According to its website, HVRI initiatives include providing technical assistance to and translational products for the practitioner community as well as training emergency managers in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications.
When examining the HVRI mission, the EMR-ISAC learned about SHELDUS, a county-level hazard data set for 18 different natural hazard events in the United States such as thunderstorms, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and tornados. For each event this free database includes the beginning date, location (i.e., county and state), property losses, crop losses, injuries, and fatalities that affected each county. The new version of SHELDUS 8.0 contains more than 640,000 records and spans the years from 1960 through 2009.
This database has value for emergency planners and is provided free of charge. It was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the University of South Carolina.
As a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) training partner, the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC) provides high-quality training to Emergency Services Sector (ESS) personnel throughout the United States and its territories under a Homeland Security National Training Cooperative Agreement. According to its website, “it is the principle means through which DHS identifies, develops, tests, and delivers training to state and local emergency responders.
The EMR-ISAC learned that the NDPC is a partnership of several nationally recognized organizations whose membership is based on the urgent need to address the counterterrorism preparedness requirements of the nation’s emergency services within the context of all hazards including chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive weapons of mass destruction (WMD) hazards.
It is the mission of the NDPC to enhance the preparedness of federal, state, local, and tribal ESS departments and agencies, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, to reduce the nation’s vulnerability to incidents involving WMD, terrorism, and all-hazard high-consequence events by developing , delivering, and assessing plans, training, technical assistance, and exercises. The EMR-ISAC confirmed that the NDPC can be contacted at 3149 Pleasant Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803; phone: 225-578-8187; email: info@ndpc.us.
Adequately feeding the survivors was among the many concerns caused by past major hurricanes. “The food was getting to the people, but the process was very ugly, and there was a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering by the emergency managers,” said Michael Whitehead, the state mass care officer for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
The EMR-ISAC noted that with the assistance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Whitehead collaborated with several colleagues and groups (e.g., Salvation Army, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, American Red Cross) to develop guidance for working with the federal government to effectively conduct mass feeding during disasters. This effort yielded a template (PDF, 931 KB) that guides emergency managers to create a feeding plan.
The EMR-ISAC observed that the template provides suggested guidance and procedures for a jurisdiction to consider in the development of a multi-agency feeding plan and a coordinating group that supports feeding assistance in advance of, during, and after a disaster throughout an impact area. Additionally, the template can serve as an educational tool assisting jurisdictions, non-government agencies, the Private Sector, and other stakeholders providing feeding support to understand the complexities of implementing a coordinated and collaborative feeding operation.
According to the Fact Sheet regarding the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders (WISER), it is a free application designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. Developed by the National Library of Medicine, WISER provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression guidance.
In the WISER Fact Sheet, the EMR-ISAC observed that first responders and hazardous materials units can obtain accurate information about dangerous substances, the emergency resources available, the surrounding environmental conditions, and guidance on immediate actions necessary to save lives and protect the environment.
WISER is available for Microsoft Windows and Palm OS mobile devices. At this website, the EMR-ISAC also noted that a web-based WISER now supports web browsers for both PCs and PDA, including the iPhone and most recently the BlackBerry.
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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U.S. Fire Administration, 16825 S. Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727 | USNG: 18SUJ00529652
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September 9, 2010 InfoGram