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September is National Preparedness Month (NPM). All across the country, federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, community organizations, and members of the private sector have embraced NPM and America's PrepareAthon! by planning events that will help their community be more prepared. You can take the lead in planning an activity for National PrepareAthon! Day in your organization or community. The America's PrepareAthon! website has many resources available to help plan a successful event.
Congressional Support for National Preparedness Month
FEMA appreciates the support of the Members of Congress who are serving as 2015 co-sponsors for National Preparedness Month. Throughout September, the External Affairs Bulletin will feature statements from these members.
“This year we
recognize the 14th anniversary of September 11, 2001, which forever changed our
national perception of security, and the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
which devastated the Gulf Coast. Both
these incidents taught us the true resilience of the American people. North Dakotans have also experienced
significant events in the last decade from floods, wildfires, tornadoes, and
HazMat incidents. All these events have
taught us as Americans the importance of being prepared in the face of
adversity. So whether you’re an
individual, a business, a city, or a state, we urge you to have a robust
emergency plan in place, and consider those actions you can take to enhance the
preparedness of your family and community. Only through preparedness can we effectively respond to disasters and
ensure the health and safety of our citizens. Preparedness saves lives, property and months, even years, of hardship.”
Senator John Hoeven,
Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Homeland Security
“Over the past several years, we have
seen an increase in the number of natural disasters in the United States—from Hurricane
Irene and Super-Storm Sandy on the East Coast to tornadoes and flooding in the
Midwest, including my home state of Wisconsin. There has also been an increase
in wildfires in the West during the 2015 fire season, causing many states to
exhaust their resources. National Preparedness Month
is a time to raise awareness about ways we can all better prepare for these
occurrences. It is also a time to highlight
critical Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance programs that states
and localities can take advantage of, including the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Flood
Mitigation Assistance program (FMA) and the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG). Both HMGP and FMA have helped communities in
western Wisconsin plan and prepare for floods and AFG has helped fire departments and
nonaffiliated Emergency Management Service organizations throughout Wisconsin
to meet their emergency response needs. In
my role as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee
on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management, I am exploring ways to
make improvements to these programs and other disaster preparedness efforts to
ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect the public from natural
disasters.”
Senator Tammy Baldwin, Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security and
Government Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency
Management
“Every year, natural disasters like earthquakes, wildfires,
and hurricanes wreak havoc on our communities, putting people in jeopardy and
costing millions in damages. These events can happen anywhere, at any time, and
often with very little warning. It is vital that we equip our citizens and our
communities with the information and resources they need to prepare for these
emergencies to keep themselves and their families safe. This month,
during National Preparedness Month, I encourage everyone to make a plan to for
what they and their family will do in the event of a natural disaster and
encourage their friends to do the same. Preparation will save lives, reduces injuries, and minimize
infrastructure damage.”
Representative Peter A. DeFazio,
Ranking Member, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
“This
year marks the 10th anniversary of the devastation of hurricane
Katrina and ten years later, New Orleans is still struggling to fully recover.
We, as a nation, must do everything we can to ensure that we are prepared to
respond to and mitigate the impact of natural and man-made disasters. I’ve seen
firsthand the aftermath of these storms and a lack of preparation only
exacerbates already horrific situations and suffering experienced by families,
businesses, and communities. As we continue the important work of
mobilizing, collaborating, and raising awareness this National Preparedness Month, it is critical that all Americans participate and recognize the
importance of being ready for any possible scenario. We all have a role to play
in ensuring communities in every corner of our nation are prepared when
disaster strikes.”
Representative Maxine Waters, Ranking Member, Committee
on Financial Services
National Preparedness
Month serves as a reminder that we all must take action to prepare, now and
throughout the year, for the types of emergencies that could affect us where we
live, work, and also where we visit. FEMA's Emergency Management Institute
(EMI) is the emergency management community’s flagship training institution that provides training to federal,
state, local, tribal, territorial, volunteer, public, and private sector
officials to strengthen emergency management core competencies for
professional, career-long training.
EMI’s Curriculum
Standards and Instructional Technology Branch manages the Independent Study
Program (ISP), which offers free training to the nation’s emergency management
community and to the general public. It serves as an alternative means to
deliver valuable training to professionals and to the volunteer emergency
management community. It helps to improve public awareness and to promote
disaster preparedness to the public. The ISP offers 200 training courses,
including courses on preparedness for hurricanes and other disasters, that can
help prepare emergency managers and the public for the hazards identified
during National Preparedness Month:
IS-271.A Anticipating Hazardous Weather and Community
Risk, 2nd Edition
This course provides
background information about weather, natural hazards, and preparedness for
emergency managers and community partners. It offers web-based content
based on the multi-day Hazardous Weather and Flood Preparedness course offered
by FEMA and the National Weather Service. The training includes weather basics,
weather forecasting, threat analysis and hazard planning, and warning
information.
IS-324.A Community Hurricane Preparedness
This course provides
basic information to people about how hurricanes form; the hazards they pose,
how the National Weather Service forecasts future hurricane behavior; and what
tools and guiding principles can help emergency managers prepare their
communities.
IS-909
Community Preparedness: Implementing Simple Activities for Everyone
Community members are
important in the nation’s preparedness and resilience. This course
presents a model program for community preparedness. It includes 16
preparedness modules ranging from 20 to 90 minutes that can be delivered to
community groups in English and in Spanish. It provides information on
developing a communications plan, creating a low-cost disaster kit,
establishing a support network, planning for and practicing an evacuation, and
planning for recovery from a disaster.
To get a complete
listing of courses, visit www.training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.aspx.
All are offered free of charge to those who enroll. For more information on
National Preparedness Month, visit www.ready.gov/september.
The Mississippi Coastal Hazard Outreach Strategy Team (C-HOST),
comprised of local floodplain managers and other agency representatives,
partnered with FEMA this summer in a
High Water Mark Initiative. The community-based awareness initiative focuses on
increasing consciousness about flood risk and encourages communities to take
actions to mitigate that risk. Through the initiative, eight C-HOST communities
identified 18 high-traffic locations along the Gulf Coast to post signs and
markers that reflect the height of flood waters during the area’s historic
storms.
The signs provide a brief narrative about the devastation to the
coast due to the storm surge and resulting floodwaters, and provide a map to
the locations of the other high water mark signs. Each sign is accompanied by
markers to give passersby a visual reminder of just how high the flood waters
rose. The red marker represents the water level due to Hurricane Katrina, the
blue marker represents the water level due to Hurricane Camille, and the black
marker represents the base flood elevation. The signs and markers were
installed the week prior to the 10-year commemoration of Hurricane Katrina.
Today, the Mississippi Gulf Coast boasts 62 miles of scenic
shorelines and beautiful wildlife, but in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina made
landfall on the United States Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane sweeping
across 400 miles. Storm surge caused much of the widespread devastation to
Mississippi communities. During the recovery effort, FEMA worked side-by-side
with federal, state, and local partners to help rebuild those communities.
Ten
years later, the desire to rebuild the Gulf Coast as a resilient community is
stronger than ever. Each of the eight participating C-HOST communities plans to
continue outreach efforts to increase awareness about the dangers of storm
surge by providing information to realtors, insurance agencies, and property
owners. The campaign is intended to encourage citizens to take actions today
that will reduce their likelihood of loss during future flooding events.
The High Water Mark Initiative is an outreach strategy developed
by FEMA and eight other Federal agencies and is customized for the Mississippi
Gulf Coast. For more information regarding the High Water Mark initiative, visit www.fema.gov/high-water-mark-initiative.
A High Water Mark in Biloxi, Mississippi
FEMA is seeking comments from state, local, and tribal
emergency management practitioners on the draft FEMA Damage Assessment Operating Manual. The manual establishes
national damage assessment standards developed from historic lessons learned
and best-practices already in use by local, state, tribal and federal emergency
management agencies.
The
draft manual is posted in the FEMA
library. Comments should be added to the comment matrix and
submitted to Mr. Ryan Buras, Senior Program Advisor, Public Assistance, Recovery
Directorate, no later than November 14, 2015. FEMA requests comments on the manual
be sent either via email to PDAmanual@fema.dhs.gov or mail to Mr. Ryan Buras, Senior Program Advisor,
Public Assistance, Recovery Directorate, FEMA, 500 C Street, SW, Mail Stop
3163, Washington, DC 20472.
The
FEMA Damage Assessment Operating Manual
is built using a framework that encourages local information collection, state
or tribal verification and federal validation. This document better highlights
and provides guidance to state, tribal, and local governments on their role in
the assessment. This version of the PDA manual also clarifies the types of
damage that will qualify under the descriptors of destroyed, major damage,
minor damage, or affected.
The
Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) published a policy
clarification, which provides assurance that obligations approved prior to the
12 month Hazard
Mitigation Grants Program ceiling will not be de-obligated if subsequent
ceiling values are less than the obligated amount. The memo clarifies restrictions to early funding and identifies
whose approval is required.
For questions or concerns, please contact Franki Coons by e-mail at Franki.Coons@fema.dhs.gov or phone
at (202) 646-3079.
FEMA will be holding the next
National Advisory Council (NAC) public meeting at Gallaudet University’s
Kellogg Conference Center at 800 Florida Ave NE, Washington, DC, 20002, from September
16-18, 2015. During the meeting, the NAC will
meet with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Deputy Administrator Joe Nimmich,
and senior leadership to receive program briefings, and discuss the progress
and potential recommendations of its three subcommittees: Preparedness and
Protection, Response and Recovery, and Federal Insurance and Mitigation. The
full agenda can be found on the FEMA NAC website at www.fema.gov/national-advisory-council.
There will also be remarks from Dr.
Carol Erting, Provost of Gallaudet University, and Chris Geldart, Director of
the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency
(DC HSEMA). More information about those who will present updates at the meeting can be found in the Federal Register.
Members of the public are invited
to provide public comments after the subcommittee report- outs between 3:30
p.m. to 3:45 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 17, 2015. Directions on how to
submit public comments can be found on the NAC
webpage. 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,
please contact the Office of the NAC by email at FEMA-NAC@fema.dhs.gov.
More information on the
NAC is available at www.fema.gov/national-advisory-council.
FEMA
is working together with state and tribal emergency managers and state
broadcasters, to conduct a statewide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS)
in six New England states. The test, expected to last approximately one minute,
is scheduled for Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 2:20 p.m. EDT.
The test in Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island will verify that participating radio, TV, and
cable systems can receive a National Periodic Test (NPT) code message
from the FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and broadcast
the test message. The
test message will be the same as previous EAS test messages, with the word “national”
added to the message: “This is a national test
of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test..." The
test is designed to occur during the state’s regular monthly EAS test conducted by state officials and broadcasters in the six New
England states. It is intended to have limited
impact on the public, with only minor disruptions in radio and TV shows.
The test requires that radio
and television stations make a minor configuration change to their station
EAS equipment to receive and process the National Periodic Test (NPT) code
message. Participation in the September 16 test is
completely voluntary for radio and TV stations and cable operators. There
is no Federal Communications Commission liability for stations that choose not
to participate.
This is a cooperative
effort to ensure that communication channels are available, working and ready
to deliver alerts and warnings to the public when an emergency occurs in the six states. It is
also possible the EAS test could be heard or seen in upper New York state, as
some stations in New England can be received across the New York border.
For more information on IPAWS please
visit www.fema.gov/ipaws.
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