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[Emergency manager Steve Kuhr recently posed the following question via the Networks in Emergency Management (Nets) e-mail listserve (nets-em@sfu.ca):]
A regional emergency management task force is working on the development of a coastal flood warning system using a network of tide gauges. The intent is to have a system of gauges using those similarly designed to judge water levels in riverine environments. If the project comes to fruition, five area emergency management offices, the National Weather Service and USGC would have real-time access to the data.
Is anyone running an infrastructure such as this? Any tips, comments, ideas?
Steven Kuhr, CEM, EMT-P
New York City
Work: kuhr@mayorlan.nycnet.ci.nyc.ny.us
Home: skuhr@worldnet.att.net
WWW: http://home.att.net/~skuhr
The Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership (EIIP), authors of the Emergency Management Forum (EMForum) Web site and Internet discussions, ask any and all interested persons to log in Wednesday, October 29, noon EST, for the monthly EIIP Live Chat Panel Discussion. The topic will be "Using the Internet for Response and Recovery." The forum will provide a unique opportunity to learn from guest panelists who have actually used the Internet in real disaster situations.
Either use the link: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/formchat.htm to log in to the discussion, or go to the EIIP Virtual Forum Home Page (http://www.emforum.org), Virtual Forum, Live Chat page.
The organizers also ask that interested persons consider joining the regular Wednesday informal brown bag session, which will follow at 1:00 pm EST, in the Virtual Forum room.
SCEPD is looking for four qualified people to fill the following positions:
1) CHIEF, MITIGATION & RISK ASSESSMENT (MERIT TITLE: PROGRAM MANAGER 1-EPD): Under the Division Director, is responsible for the overall leadership and supervision of the state's hazard mitigation and risk assessment program activities. Implements comprehensive all-hazard mitigation activities in coordination with related state agencies and all forty-six SC counties and their subdivisions. Leads the division's strategic planning process to produce an organized, systematic approach to developing an increased state preparedness, response, and recovery capability. Responsible for the development and maintenance of the division's Five Year Strategic Plan. Leads and participates in the conduct of staff studies and developmental projects, conferences and seminars.
Minimum Training and Experience: A bachelor's degree and six years management experience. Mastery of theoretical methods of emergency/crisis management, including the dynamics of hazard mitigation and risk reduction methods, planning, and emergency operations. Must possess the ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with local, state, and federal personnel, and must be able to communicate in a clear, concise manner, both orally and in writing, in order to successfully accomplish job duties. CLASSIFICATION CODE: AH45 (MB 84) SLOT: 0004 POSITION NO: 048471; STARTING SALARY: $40,002.00 BAND:07
2) COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER (MERIT TITLE SAME AS LISTED): Supervises, plans and organizes the division's communications systems, under the direction of the Division Director. Provides training and advice on automation, computer hardware and software, and compiles communications packages, data base services, RF and other communications system. Supervises the training given users of automation equipment, and other voice and data transmission equipment. Serves as EPD Communications Center supervisor during emergencies and exercises.
Minimum Training and Experience: A bachelor's degree and four years experience or an associate degree and six years experience in automated information or electronics communications system design. Must possess a thorough knowledge of programs and procedures relating to communications and warning systems, FCC rules/regulations, amateur radio capability, and emergency preparedness services. Must possess extensive knowledge of automation systems and its ability to integrate functions into data processing and telecommunications. CLASSIFICATION CODE: AJ50 (MC36)SLOT: 0001 POSITION NO: 048480; STARTING SALARY: $30,396.00 BAND:06
3) TRAINING & EXERCISE OFFICER (MERIT TITLE: EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COORDINATOR C): Assists with the development and implementation of the state's emergency management training program. Serves as instructor and/or course manager as required. Provides support and advice on planning and conducting professional development training courses and exercises to include scenario development and staffing. Assists with the input of training data in the Training Management System software. Prepares training summaries, after-action reports, and evaluations. Prepares subcontract course bids and proposals, and coordinates course location to include negotiation of contracts. Serves as liaison between the state and the federal Training Directorate to ensure that all federal and state requirements are met.
Minimum Training and Experience: A bachelor's degree and four years of administrative or technical training or an associate degree and six years experience in administrative planning. Must possess the ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with local, state, and federal personnel, and the ability to communicate in a clear, concise manner, both orally and in writing in order to successfully accomplished job duties. CLASSIFICATION CODE: JE20 (MJ27) SLOT: 0004 POSITION NO: 048490 STARTING; SALARY: $30,396.00 BAND: 06
4) PUBLIC INFORMATION COORDINATOR (MERIT TITLE: PUBLIC INFORMATION SPECIALIST II): Plans, develops and coordinates public information and public education activities of the division to enhance the awareness of emergency preparedness and response issues. Researches materials, compiles information and writes copy for news releases, brochures and other publications, including the division's quarterly publication. Makes presentations to civic and governmental groups and other organizations. During emergencies or disasters, acts as liaison and state coordinator of emergency public information.
Minimum Training and Experience: A bachelor's degree and two years of related experience or professional experience in a related field on a year-to-year basis. Must possess considerable knowledge of journalistic principles and techniques for disseminating information to the public through a variety of media. Must possess the ability to arrange and conduct workshops, seminars and other presentations and must be able to edit and analyze informational material prepared by others. CLASSIFICATION CODE: BC20 (MC57) SLOT: 0001 POSITION NO: 048495; STARTING SALARY: $24,018.00 BAND: 05
All Positions: Merit, Full-Time, Permanent
Hours Worked per Week: Normal 40 hour work week, except during emergencies or exercises when round-the-clock or extended operations are required. During emergencies, on call 24-hours a day.
General Instructions: Applications will be accepted for these positions beginning Thursday, October 23, 1997, until vacancy is filled. To be considered for a merit position, a S.C. State Government Application must be submitted for EACH position of interest to the State Career Center, 2221 Devine St., P.O. Box 50367, Columbia, SC 29250, by fax at (803) 734-9098, by mail or hand-delivered. Please apply under the Merit Job Title on the application. For information on obtaining an application visit SCEPD's WWW site: http://www.state.sc.us/epd
The Office of the Adjutant General is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.
Cliffside Software, Inc. has a new product and is interested in your reaction. To obtain a free demonstration disk of Plan AHEAD, simply log onto Cliffside's Web site at www.cliffsidesoftware.com.
Plan AHEAD - All Hazard Exercise Administration and Development is the world's only exercise development system. Plan AHEAD produces materials used to drive exercises, for creating plans, training participants, and for testing plan operational readiness. First shipped in May 1997, Plan AHEAD is already installed in 28 state offices of emergency management, several FEMA sites, and other jurisdictions such as a state prison system, VA hospital, even the IRS (back-up and recovery exercises). Plan AHEAD is equally appropriate for commercial business concerned with practicing for unlikely but high impact events, such as utility outage (electrical, gas, telephone, data), chemical spill response, even training security officers on how to control disgruntled employees.
Download the demo, and call or write with your reactions. We are eager to hear from you and thanks in advance.
Michael W. Frishberg President
Cliffside Software, Inc.
Toll free (US and Canada): 1-888-752-6489
E-mail: info@cliffsidesoftware.com
http://www.redcross.org/disaster/safety/disability.html
The Red Cross has prepared a booklet entitled "Disaster
Preparedness for People With Disabilities" that is now available via
the URL above and on cassette. The booklet includes sections on
Understanding Disasters, Creating a Personal Support Network,
Completing a Personal Assessment, Personal Disaster Preparation,
Disaster Supplies, Making Your Home or Office Safer, as well a
glossary and several appendices and check lists.
To learn about all the disaster services and resources available
from the Red Cross, see http://www.redcross.org/disaster/.
http://www.iris.edu
The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) is a
university research consortium dedicated to exploring the earth's
interior through the collection and distribution of seismographic
data. IRIS programs contribute to scholarly research, education,
earthquake hazard mitigation, and the verification of a Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty. Besides abundant information about IRIS, its projects
and publications, this Web site provides a full-color "Seismic Monitor
Map" that displays seismic activity around the globe. Users can click
on the map to obtain information from about 40 seismic stations around
the globe, as well as details about earthquakes that have occurred in
the last five years (or last 30 minutes).
http://www.scecdc.scec.org/
Speaking of seismic data, the Southern California Earthquake
Center has *a lot*, primarily focusing on Southern California,
available from the Web site above. The site also includes publications
and seismic hazard maps for the region. The center itself hosts a Web
site at http://www.scec.org.
http://www.theadvocate.com/news/
The Advocate, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana newspaper, recently ran a
series of articles on the National Flood Insurance program entitled,
"Flood Insurance: The Money Drain." Its three parts include:
Part I: The disaster the National Flood Insurance Program can't seem
to fix - homes that flood year after year.
Part II: Treading water, floods as a way of life for some
Louisianians.
Part III: How Tulsa, Oklahoma, stemmed its growing tide of flood
claims, and other ways to fight back.
The articles are available at the URL above.
http://www-sfb461.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/
This is the Web site for the new Cooperative Research Center:
"Strong Earthquakes - A Challenge for Geoscientists and Civil
Engineers" funded by the German Research Foundation and regionally
focusing on Romanian Earthquakes. The information is in English. For
additional information about the center, see the Web site or contact
Prof. Dr. Friedemann Wenzel, Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe
University, Hertzstr. 16, 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany; tel: 49-721-608
4431; fax; 49-721-71173; e-mail: fwenzel@gpiwap1.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de
To promote faster news dissemination, the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) has established several e-mail lists that will automatically
provide subscribers with the latest news releases, bulletins, and
other information about USGS activities as issued by the Survey's
Office of Outreach. The listserves are organized by topic:
water-pr
geologic-hazards-pr
biological-pr
mapping-pr
products-pr
lecture-pr
To subscribe to any of these lists, send e-mail to listproc@listserver.usgs.gov, and in the body of the message say:
subscribe [name of list] [your name]
(For example: subscribe geologic-hazards-pr James Witt)
General comments or questions about this new service can be directed
to Karen Wood; e-mail: kwood@usgs.gov; tel: (703) 648-4447.
The University of California-Berkeley Extension has recently issued the 1998 spring and summer schedule of courses for its Emergency Preparedness Planning and Management Program. Upcoming courses include:
Date Title
---- -----
February 19-20, 1998 Introduction to Emergency Management
February 21, 1998 Emergency Operations Center Course
February 23-27, 1998 Strategic Planning and Implementation in
Emergency Management
March 17-20, 1998 Business Recovery for Your Organization
April 1-4, 1998 Integrating Emergency Management Structures
into Your Organization
May 8, 1998 Emergency Preparedness on the Internet
May 19-22, 1998 Financial Support for Emergency Preparedness,
Recovery, and Business Continuity Planning
June 12-13, 1998 Designing Emergency Plan Exercises
July 14-17, 1998 Corporate/Public Agency Coordination and
Interdependence
For information on these classes and the emergency management education and training program contact: Diane Wolcott, Emergency Preparedness Planning and Management Program, Environmental Management, U.C.-Berkeley Extension, 1995 University Avenue #7012, Berkeley, CA 94720-7012; (510) 642-7537; fax: (510) 643-8290; e-mail: dlw@unx.berkeley.edu.
In DR#236 we noted several new publications available from the Hazards
Center Web site, including a passel of new Quick Response reports
(studies conducted immediately following recent disasters) - the
correct Net address (URL) for obtaining the entire list of quick
response reports is:
http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr.html
Below are recent conference announcements received by the Natural
Hazards Center. Most previous issues of DR contain additional notices.
A comprehensive list of upcoming disaster-related meetings and
training is available from our World Wide Web site:
http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/conf.html
19th European Regional Earthquake Engineering Seminar. Cairo, Egypt: December 1-4, 1997. Contact: Prof. M. Sobaih, Cairo University, Faculty of Engineering, Giza, Egypt; fax: (202) 572 3486.
International Geoscientific Symposium in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Great Managua Earthquake. Sponsor: Nicaraguan Science and Research Agency, INETER (Instituto Nicaraguense de Estudios Territoriales). Managua, Nicaragua: December 2-4, 1997. Contact: Fabio Segura, Technical Committee Coordinator for INETER; e-mail: Ineter@ibw.com.ni; fax: +505.249.6987
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) 1997 Annual Meeting: "Improving Public Policy Through Risk Assessment and Risk Management." Washington, D.C.: December 7-10, 1997. Contact: SRA, 1313 Dolley Madison Boulevard, Suite 402, McLean, VA 22101; (703) 790-1745; fax: (703) 790-1745; e-mail: sra@BurkInc.com; WWW: http://www.sra.org.
World Wide Web Short Course for Geologists and Geotechnical Engineers. Sponsor: San Francisco Section of the Association of Engineering Geologists. World Wide Web: January 17, 1998. Contact: Jack Alt; (510) 791-1986; e-mail: jlalt@home.com.
National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) 1998 Mid-Year Conference. Washington, D.C.: February 8-11, 1998. Contact: Marcia Hensley, NEMA, P.O. Box 11910, Lexington, KY 40578-1910; (606) 244- 8162.
Second Japan-Turkey Workshop on Earthquake Disaster Prevention Research in Turkey. Istanbul, Turkey: February 23-25, 1998. Contact: Dr. Ayfer Erken, ITU, Faculty of Civil Engineering, maslak 80626, Istanbul, Turkey; fax: (90) 212 285 6587; e-mail: erken@sariyer.cc.itu.edu.tr.
Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Buildings Course (E-279). Offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Mitigation Directorate and Emergency Management Institute (EMI). Emmitsburg, Maryland: March 30- April 3, 1998. Contact: EMI, National Emergency Training Center, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD 21727; (301) 447-1525; fax: (301) 447-1441.
European Geophysical Society (EGS) 23rd General Assembly (includes session on "Landslide Hazards in Seismically Active Regions"). Nice, France: April 20-24, 1998. Abstracts due December 15. For details on the landslide hazards session, contact: Janusz Wasowski (Convener), CNR-CERIST (Italian National Research Council), c/o Istituto Geologia Applicata e Geotecnica, Politecnico di Bari, via Orabona, 4 - 70125 Bari, Italy; tel: +39-80-5428111; fax: +39-80-5567944; e-mail: wasowski@area.ba.cnr.it; WWW: http://www.copernicus.org/EGS/egsga/nh3-5.htm. For general information about the assembly, see http://www.copernicus.org/EGS/EGS.html.
Ninth Global Warming International Conference and Expo (GW9). Sponsors: Global Warming International Center USA and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Hong Kong, China: June 8-11, 1998. Submission deadline: November 17, 1997. Contact: Prof. Sinyan Shen, Chair, International Program Committee, Global Warming International Center, P.O. Box 5275 Woodridge, IL, 60517, USA; (630) 910-1551; fax: (630) 910-1561; WWW: http://www2.msstate.edu/~krreddy/glowar/glowar.html.
National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) 1998 Annual Conference. Charleston, South Carolina: September 9-12, 1998. Contact: Marcia Hensley, NEMA, P.O. Box 11910, Lexington, KY 40578-1910; (606) 244-8162.
1998 International Snow Science Workshop. Bend, Oregon: September 27- October 1, 1998. Contact: ISSW Registration Committee, ISSW '98, Stevens Pass Inc., P.O. Box 98 Skykomish, WA 98288.
Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Buildings Course (E-279). Offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Mitigation Directorate and Emergency Management Institute (EMI). Emmitsburg, Maryland: September 28-October 2, 1998. Contact: EMI, National Emergency Training Center, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD 21727; (301) 447-1525; fax: (301) 447-1441.
First International Conference on Computer Simulation in Risk Analysis and Hazard Mitigation (Risk Analysis 98). Organizers: Wessex Institute of Technology and Universitat Jaume 1, and others. Palau de Pineda, Valencia, Spain: October 7-9, 1998. Proposals, due February 17, 1998, are currently being solicited. Contact: Paula Doughty-Young, Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton, SO40 7AA, U.K.; tel: 44 (0)1703 293223; fax: 44 (0)1703 292853; e-mail: wit@wessex.ac.uk; WWW: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/.
Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) 1998 Annual Meeting. Palm Springs, California: October 17-20, 1998. Contact: SCEC, University of Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740; (213) 740-5842; fax: (213) 740-0011; e-mail: mcraney@terra.usc.edu; WWW: http://www.usc.edu/go/scec.
First Spanish Conference on Earthquake Engineering. June 1999. Contact: Spanish Association for Earthquake Engineering (AEIS), Almagro, 42, 28010, Madrid, Spain; fax: (34) 1 523 2685.
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