FEMA encourages
partners to join in supporting Building Safety Month in May, a public
outreach and education campaign coordinated by the International Code Council (ICC) and their thousands of members worldwide. Building Safety Month aims to increase
awareness of the need for overall safety and sustainability of buildings
through the adoption of model building codes and promotion of code enforcement.
The campaign includes an array of community events, safety demonstrations, and
educational outreach activities which are designed to promote awareness of the need for safe and sustainable structures where people live,
work, and play.
For the fifth consecutive year,
President Obama proclaimed May as National Building Safety Month to
highlight the essential role that safe building codes and standards play in
decreasing the damaging effects of disasters. In keeping with Presidential
Policy Directive-8, (National Preparedness), and Presidential Policy
Directive-21 (Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience) building safety,
fire prevention, and energy codes and standards better enable disaster resilience
for our nation.
This
year's theme is “Resilient
Communities Start with Building Codes." Each week in May will have an individual theme. The theme for May 4-10 is "Don’t
Get Burned – Build To Code," which is designed to spotlight the importance
that fire prevention and safety plays in overall efforts to build and sustain
safer buildings. As
part of this theme, a national effort led by FEMA’s U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) reminds all
that “Fire Is Everyone’s Fight" and everyone can work to lower the
number of home fires and home fire injuries in America. Along with USFA and
partner organizations across the country, the fire community is speaking out
with a unified message of fire prevention and safety to the public.
Find out how
organizations can participate in Building Safety Month by visiting ICC’s Building Safety Month page for more information.
The Quinault Indian Nation is in the second year of an
ambitious three-year planning project to relocate Tahola Village on safer ground,
out of the tsunami inundation zone and flood hazard area. Situated in a natural bowl carved out of the
Washington Coast by the Quinault River, the Tahola Village area of the Quinault
Indian Reservation has been a traditional dwelling and fishing site for centuries. While the primary goal of the relocation project is to move the community out of harm’s way, Quinault leaders recognized a great opportunity to
build a new upper village by combining traditional wisdom with contemporary
technology to create a more sustainable and resilient nation.
More than 600 people reside in roughly 175 homes located in the
risk area, along with a number of tribal administrative functions and their
school. The new village will be
pedestrian friendly but also auto accessible, with safe, lighted, wide sidewalks,
and interconnected trails. New plans
include the use of passive and active solar panels, bio mass power generation,
energy efficient infrastructure and building design, and a multi-function
building to house Head Start, the Elder Center, and Childcare. A new community center will double as an
evacuation center, including a helipad and an area to pitch tents for temporary
shelter in an emergency.
While they work on the Taholah Village Master Relocation
Plan, the Quinault Nation is
aggressively clearing building sites and roads. With technical assistance from FEMA Region X
Mitigation staff, they are now scoping the first removal of critical facilities
from the floodplain, and passed strong land use ordinances.
The Relocation Project planners used a number of surveys and
held a series of charrettes in the planning process to capture and incorporate
the values and vision of the residents. More sessions are planned to scope concepts for housing design
options. This community-driven process
is helping to translate the culture of this historic place to the new site,
located safely above the existing location and well out of the tsunami
inundation zone.
A map of the Tahola relocation area.
FEMA is
partnering with the American Planning Association (APA) and the Association of
State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) to offer an eight-part quarterly webinar
series to share challenges, best practices, and evolving methods and techniques
in hazard mitigation planning. The purpose of the webinar series is to
encourage peer-to-peer learning and the exchange of information among a
national and even international audience. The
planning information exchange will focus on multi-hazard mitigation planning
but also emphasize its connections with recovery planning and preparedness.
The first webinar, The Role of Hazard Mitigation in Post-Disaster
Recovery, will occur May 6, 2015 from 4-5 p.m. ET. Participants can
earn one continuing education credit per webinar through APA and ASFPM. For more
information and to register for upcoming webinars, visit the American Planning
Association website.
After
an emergency event, schools must sometimes wait for first responders to arrive.
To equip students, staff, and schools with basic response skills and emergency
preparedness concepts, FEMA established the Teen Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT) program to support high schools, which has been adapted from the
adult CERT program.
FEMA and the Readiness and Emergency
Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center, on behalf of the U.S.
Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students, will be hosting
a webinar on May 14 from 2-3 p.m. ET regarding Teen CERT and how schools may use it to engage youth in school
emergency management planning and promote student preparedness. The webinar will provide an overview of FEMA’s Teen CERT program along with
examples of how schools and districts are using Teen CERT to support their
emergency preparedness and response efforts. The guest speakers are Dante Randazzo, program specialist at FEMA's Individual and Community Preparedness Division, and Susan Graves, safety coordinator of Oregon's Lincoln County School District.
Participants can register for the webinar online. Closed captioning will be offered.
On January 30, the
President issued Executive Order 13690, “Establishing a
Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and
Considering Stakeholder Input.” Prior to implementation of the Federal Flood
Risk Management Standard, additional input from stakeholders is
being solicited and considered on how federal agencies will implement the new
Standard. To carry out this process, a draft version
of Implementing Guidelines is open for comment until this Wednesday, May 6, 2015.
Questions may be submitted to FEMA-FFRMS@fema.dhs.gov.
The fourth public meeting of the Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC), is scheduled
for May 12 – 13, 2015, in Reston, Virginia. The public meeting will be held at
the U.S. Geological Survey Headquarters Main Auditorium on May 12
from 8:00 a.m. – 5:45 p.m. and May 13 from 8:00 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. ET located
at 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, Virginia, 20192.
A public comment period
will be held during on May 12 from 5:15 – 5:45 p.m. ET and May 13 from 3:15
– 3:45 p.m. ET. Those interested in speaking during the public comment
period must contact FEMA by email at FEMA-TMAC@fema.dhs.gov
or by calling 202-646-3432 to register as a speaker by May 7, 2015. Those not
attending and who wish to submit written comments can do so in the following ways:
- Online at the Federal eRulemaking Portal
- Email to FEMA-RULES@fema.dhs.gov and cc: FEMA-TMAC@fema.dhs.gov
- Mail to Regulatory
Affairs Division, Office of Chief Counsel, FEMA, 500 C St SW, Room 8NE,
Washington, DC 20472-3100.
All submissions received
must include the words “Federal Emergency Management Agency” and docket number,
FEMA-2014-0022. Comments received will be posted without alteration at www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided.
For those planning to
attend in person and for additional information on facilities or services for
individuals with disabilities or to request special assistance at the meeting,
contact FEMA at FEMA-TMAC@fema.dhs.gov. Attendees must contact
FEMA and register by May 7, 2015. More information on the TMAC meeting is available online
and at www.fema.gov/TMAC.
Secretary of Homeland
Security Jeh Johnson announced the release of Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Notices of
Funding Opportunity for DHS preparedness grant programs totaling more than $1.6
billion. The grant programs provide funding to state, local, tribal and
territorial governments, as well as transportation authorities, nonprofit
organizations, and the private sector, to improve the nation’s readiness in
preventing, protecting against, responding to, recovering from and mitigating
terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies. The grants
reflect the Department’s focus on implementation of an all-of-nation, whole-community
approach to the building, sustainment, and delivery of those core capabilities
essential to achieving a secure and resilient nation.
All preparedness grant
applications – excluding Emergency Management Performance Grant and Fire Grant programs – are due no later than May 19,
2015. Final submissions must be made through the
Non-Disaster Grants system located at https://portal.fema.gov.
More information on the
2015 grant guidance is available online.
Final submissions must be made through the Non-Disaster Grants system
located at https://portal.fema.gov. Further information
on DHS’s preparedness grant programs is available at www.dhs.gov and www.fema.gov/grants.
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