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FEMA and its partners released the
2015 National Preparedness Report (NPR). The NPR is an annual
status report summarizing the nation's progress toward reaching the 2011 National
Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation. The 2015 NPR
places particular emphasis on highlighting preparedness progress in
implementing the National Planning Frameworks, which describe
how the whole community works together to achieve the Goal.
The report was developed to meet the requirements of
Presidential Policy Directive 8/PPD-8: National Preparedness. PPD-8 is
aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of the United States through
systematic preparation for the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk
to the security of the Nation. The NPR also addresses several reporting
requirements from the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006
(PKEMRA), including components of the Federal Preparedness Report and State
Preparedness Report (SPR).
The
NPR presents a national perspective, highlighting the contributions to
preparedness made by the whole community—namely, federal, state, local, tribal,
and territorial governments, the private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based organizations,
communities, and individuals. The report integrates data from the annual
Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) process and State
Preparedness Reports (SPR) from the 56 states and territories. The NPR also
highlights tribal preparedness progress and includes a case study of the first
tribal implementation of the National Disaster Recovery Framework. FEMA also conducted
research to identify any recent independent evaluations, surveys, and other
data related to the core capabilities.
FEMA announced $180 million
in funding available through two Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant
programs: Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM).
These two grant programs assist state, local, tribal, and territorial
governments in strengthening our nation’s ability to reduce the potential cost of natural disasters to communities
and their citizens.
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 FMA grants will continue to focus on reducing or eliminating claims
under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) with a focus on mitigation planning and the mitigation of severe
repetitive loss properties. The FY 2015 PDM grants will
continue to focus on implementing a sustained pre-disaster natural hazard
mitigation program and provide the grant funding set aside as required in the
Stafford Act to states and tribes to support overall mitigation planning and
projects.
Both HMA FY 2015 Funding Opportunity Announcements can be
found at www.grants.gov. Eligible applicants must apply for funding through
the Mitigation eGrants system on the FEMA Grants Portal accessible at https://portal.fema.gov. All applications must be submitted no
later than 3 p.m. EDT on August 28,
2015.
FEMA's HMA grant programs
provide states, tribes, territories, and local governments funding for eligible
mitigation activities to strengthen our nation’s ability to reduce disaster
losses and protect life and property from future disaster damages. Further
information on these grant programs is available at www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-assistance.
On January 30, the
President issued an Executive Order, “Establishing a Federal Flood Risk
Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering
Stakeholder Input.” Future federal investments in and affecting floodplains will
be required to meet the level of resilience established in the Standard This
includes projects where federal funds are used to build new structures and
facilities or to rebuild those that have been damaged. These projects make sure
that buildings are constructed to withstand the impacts of flooding, improve
the resilience of communities, and protect federal investments.
This Standard requires
agencies to consider the best available, actionable science of both current and
future risk when taxpayer dollars are used to build or rebuild in floodplains.
On average, more people die annually from flooding than any other natural
hazard. Further, the costs borne by the federal government are more than any
other hazard. Water-related disasters account for approximately 85 percent of all
disaster declarations.
The fact sheet
clarifies the requirements of the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard as it
relates to FEMA programs. FEMA looks forward to continuing to work
together to reduce flood risk, increase resilience, cut future economic losses,
and potentially save lives.
FEMA’s Emergency Management
Institute (EMI) delivered its cybersecurity focused Virtual Tabletop Exercise
Program (VTTXs) training on May 5-7, 2015. EMI worked with the Department of Homeland
Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center and the
National Cyber Exercise and Planning Program to facilitate a multimedia exercise that focused on increased cybersecurity
awareness, current and future cyber planning efforts, and the review and
refinement of cyber-related plans.
The
VTTX brought together more than 230 federal, state, local, tribal, and
territorial government representatives, as well as specialists from information
technology, emergency management, the National Guard, and private industry. Participants examined cybersecurity
information sharing, escalation criteria, and related course of action, while
examining cybersecurity incident management structures. Players participated
in training modules that included planning, identifying, protecting,
detecting, and responding to an attack on vendor data. The tabletop exercise enabled participating
organizations to identify areas of concern and possible resolutions, and
facilitated inter-department/agency cooperation that will be valuable in building
relationships for handling future cyber incidents.
EMI will conduct VTTX programs between June
and September 2015 on a variety of subjects:
- July 7-9: Long-term Power Outage
- July 28-30: Psychology of Disaster: Long-term Mental Health Recovery
- August 25-27: Building Collapse Focused
- September 1-3: Public Health Infectious Disease (written and hosted by the CDC)
These
VTTX programs are designed for a community based group of at least ten or more personnel from state, local, tribal, or territorial emergency management organizations with
representatives from other disciplines such as public safety, public works,
public health, health care, government, administrative, communications,
military, private sector, non-governmental, and other whole community
partners. Participants must have an appropriate site
equipped with video teleconference capability that can access FEMA. A complete listing of all the 2015 VVTX dates and scenarios can be found online.
To apply for a VTTX event, submit an email request to participate in the
exercise to Doug Kahn at douglas.kahn@fema.dhs.gov or call
301-447-7645. The deadline for applying to participate in a VTTX is four
weeks prior to the start date.
The RadResponder Network successfully conducted the third nationwide radiological
data management drill, co-sponsored by Southern States Energy Board to support
the Southern Mutual Radiation Assistance Plan, on May 19, 2015. Although focused on the southern
region of the United States, RadResponder users from 29 states participated in
the drill. Throughout the daylong drill
participants gathered actual background radiation measurements from across the
country. More than 13,000 data points were collected and
shared in real time. This nationwide drill
demonstrated the effectiveness of the network’s new user interface, which leveraged advancement in data management technology and was rolled out in April 2015.
The
RadResponder Network is currently being used by nearly 3,000 responder across 840
unique organizations for training, exercises, and real world emergency
operations. It is the national standard and whole community solution for the management of radiological data. Through using RadResponder, emergency management personnel responding to a
radiological incident have an increased ability to rapidly characterize an
event and subsequently implement life-saving operations. RadResponder enables a
networked approach to the management of radiological data, the tracking of
specialized personnel and equipment and the establishing of interagency
partnerships.
All government organizations can use the free RadResponder Network system in managing radiological and nuclear emergencies. For more information
regarding the May 19 drill or general inquiries, please email sean.crawford@fema.dhs.gov or support@radresponder.net.
NOAA’s
(National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration) Climate Prediction Center released the 2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook. They predict a below-normal season, but emphasize that below-normal seasons can still produce catastrophic impact to communities. NOAA
will issue an updated outlook for the Atlantic hurricane season in early
August, just prior to the historical peak of the season.
NOAA
also issued its outlook for the Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific basins. For
the Eastern
Pacific hurricane basin, NOAA’s 2015 outlook is for a 70 percent chance of
an above-normal hurricane season. For the Central
Pacific hurricane basin, NOAA’s outlook is for a 70 percent chance of an
above-normal season.
FEMA encourages everyone
to prepare now and know what do before, during, and after a hurricane makes
landfall. Being prepared helps build stronger, safer and more resilient
communities. Practicing what to do in an emergency in advance of the event
could make a difference in the ability to take immediate and informed action,
which, in turn, enables a quicker recovery. More information about
preparing for hurricanes can be found at www.ready.gov/hurricanes.
As part of a National
Engagement Period, drafts of the National Planning Frameworks containing
proposed updates are posted online for
review and feedback. This is a draft document and FEMA feels it is
important to seek stakeholder input at this critical juncture. This update of
the National Planning Frameworks focuses on discrete, critical content
revisions, and confirming edits as a result of comments received on the
National Preparedness Goal. Additional changes in the attached draft are the
result of the lessons learned from implementing the Frameworks and recent
events, as well as the findings of the National Preparedness Report.
To ensure all
feedback is properly handled, reviewers are asked to use the provided feedback
submission form to submit feedback and recommendations. Please provide any
comments and recommendations, using the submission form, to PPD8-Engagement@fema.dhs.gov by June 3 at
5 p.m. ET. For more information on national preparedness efforts, please
visit www.fema.gov/national-preparedness.
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