FEMA Bulletin Week of Dec. 17, 2018

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FEMA BULLETIN

December 17, 2018

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In this Edition:

Important Dates & Deadlines 

Dec. 21

Deadline to submit Fire Prevention & Safety Grant applications

FEMA Launches Website to Track Supplemental Disaster Funding

FEMA, working in coordination with the Recovery Support Function Leadership (RSFLG), developed an innovative website to display and track federal interagency supplemental disaster funding for the 2017 hurricanes and 2017 California wildfires. The website is intended to provide spending transparency to the public for these appropriated funds.  More than 20 federal departments and agencies comprise the RSFLG. 

 

The RSFLG PMO Supplemental Funding Website was launched on Nov. 19 and includes the following capabilities:

 

• The Spending Explorer tab illustrates the money agencies receive for specific purposes.

 

• The State Profiles tab presents tables and visualizations of spending within the states and territories affected by the 2017 hurricanes and California wildfires. The Historical Disaster Data link explores historic federal disaster declarations, including breakdowns by county, disaster type, disaster frequency, and total disaster cost.

 

• Through the Funding in Action tab, visitors can see stories of how the federal departments and agencies use funds to help affected communities recover from disaster.

 

Supplemental funding data on the website will be updated monthly as reported from all federal departments and agencies who receive disaster supplemental funds.


FEMA Partners with Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education®

FEMA and the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education® (AFCPE®) announced a joint partnership in November to help improve financial preparedness of individuals and families before a natural disaster.

 

To help move the nation towards a culture of financial preparedness, the two organizations will work together to develop training, resources, and tools for financial professionals that will help them prepare their clients for emergencies and disasters.  These resources help encourage people to financially prepare for disasters by saving for emergencies, maintaining adequate insurance for potential hazards, safeguarding critical documents, and more. 

 

Once completed, the training will be available to financial professionals throughout the country. The goal is to educate and help prepare individuals and families who may not otherwise have access to this type of information.

 

For more information about financial preparedness, go to https://www.ready.gov/financial-preparedness where you will find the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK), a joint publication from Operation Hope and FEMA that provides tips on how to reduce the financial impact of disasters. 

 

Visit the AFCPE® guest blog: We Meet You Where You Are: Disaster Preparedness

Visit the FEMA guest blog: Resilience Starts with Financial Preparedness


FEMA Seeks Feedback on Supply Chain Resilience Guide

FEMA is seeking feedback on the draft document Supply Chain Resilience Guide. Feedback and recommendations received will help ensure the final version of the guide is an effective resource for emergency managers across the nation.

 

 

Feedback helps FEMA consistently take lessons learned from past disasters to position the agency and the whole community to be better prepared for disasters. This helps fortify FEMA’s Strategic Goal to Ready the Nation for Catastrophic Disasters by improving state, local, tribal, and territorial government abilities to provide life-saving and life-sustaining commodities from all available sources.

 

 

Each day, individuals and families routinely receive critical goods and services such as water, food, pharmaceuticals, medical goods, power, and fuel from healthy, functioning supply chains. However, in times of disaster, even supply chains that were previously functioning well can experience significant disruption, generating acute life-safety challenges and quickly turning a disaster into a catastrophe. Supply chains that effectively adapt to disasters, disruptions, and fluctuating needs greatly benefit the community and can reduce the need for a larger response and recovery operation.

 

 

The Supply Chain Resilience Guide provides emergency managers with recommendations on how to analyze local supply chains and enhance supply chain resilience using a five-phased approach. The guide also identifies how emergency managers can use information from the supply chain resilience process to inform development or refinement of logistics plans or annexes, following the six-step process described in Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101: Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans.

 

 

While the private sector operates and maintains the majority of supply chains, emergency managers can play a critical role in enhancing supply chain resilience by fostering greater awareness and collaboration among key supply chain players and promoting actions to enhance supply chain resilience. They must also be aware of supply chain vulnerabilities and potential impacts to the community, so they can develop effective emergency response plans and operate efficiently in times of disaster.

 

 

When reviewing the document, consider:

 

 

• Identifying areas that may be confusing and need revision.

• Providing success stories or best practices associated with the supply chain resilience efforts, particularly those involving public-private sector collaboration.

• Identifying additional job aides, training opportunities, or resources for inclusion in the document.

 

The National Engagement Period will conclude on Jan. 17, 2019. To review the draft document, visit https://www.fema.gov/national-planning-frameworks.


FEMA Building Science Releases New and Updated Safe Room Fact Sheets

FEMA recently updated and released two fact sheets about tornado safe rooms. The updated Residential Tornado Safe Room Doors fact sheet provides information regarding selecting an adequate safe room door assembly. The information reflects the changes made to ICC/NSSA Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters (ICC® 500) from the first to second edition.

 

A new fact sheet, Community Tornado Safe Room Doors: Installation and Maintenance, provides information about the selection, installation and maintenance of safe room door assemblies for community safe rooms. The fact sheet covers what should be checked and how often, as well as several solutions related to the maintenance of safe room door assemblies. Safe room door assemblies are one of the most important components of a safe room because they must provide the same level of protection as the walls and roof, yet also remain functional for quick access.  

 

For any questions or to learn more about available safe room resources, contact FEMA’s Safe Room Helpline by calling 866-927-2104 or emailing at Saferoom@fema.dhs.gov.


FEMA Podcast Episode 29: Faith and Community Partners

On this episode, Kevin Smith, director of the DHS Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives joins the FEMA podcast for a conversation on how FEMA partners with faith and community-based groups before, during and after disasters. The discussion focuses on how FEMA is looking to its nongovernmental partners to help shape a national culture of preparedness, but also to help make America more resilient in the face of disasters.

 

The FEMA Podcast is an audio program series available to anyone interested in learning more about the Agency, hearing about innovation in the field of emergency management, and listening to stories about communities and individuals recovering after disasters.


Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays

 

On behalf of the Office of External Affairs, thank you for your partnership over the past year.  We look forward to continuing our work together in 2019 to create a culture of preparedness, ready the nation for catastrophic events, and reduce the complexity of FEMA programs.  The next edition of the FEMA Bulletin will be issued Jan. 8th. 

Happy Holidays,

Jessi Nalepa, Director of the Office of External Affairs
Alexandra Travis, Deputy Director of the Office of External Affairs