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Yesterday, FEMA released the Ready Campaign's 2020 Preparedness Calendar, which is a critical component of FEMA’s commitment to building a culture of preparedness since informed, alert communities enhance national safety and resilience.
The Ready Preparedness Calendar identifies preparedness activities and associated educational materials and toolkits; promotes the resources necessary for stakeholders to customize emergency preparedness campaigns and messaging to raise awareness; and provides tips for emergency preparedness.
As Ready partners play a critical role in increasing awareness by spreading the word about emergency preparedness, please download and share the calendar in English and in Spanish.
 To view the rest of the 2020 Preparedness Calendar, visit Ready.gov/calendar.
Last week, members of FEMA's National Advisory Council presented a report to Acting Administrator Pete Gaynor outlining actions the agency can take to address key issues facing the field of emergency management.
In December 2018, former Administrator Brock Long charged the council with reviewing four issues: financial preparedness, closing the insurance gap, increasing codes and standards use, and the Building Resilient Infrastructure in Communities grant program. The council also took on additional issues facing marginalized, tribal, rural and small communities, as well as more immediate issues for FEMA to address.
The council passed 31 recommendations, identified in the “November 2019 Report to the Administrator” to include input from a broad range of stakeholders including community partners and experts in insurance and risk as well as mitigation and finance.
FEMA is working to address several of recommendations in the report. For more information on the NAC and to review the 2019 report, visit the FEMA website.
The National Advisory Council advises FEMA Administrator on all aspects of emergency management to ensure input from and coordination with state, local and tribal governments and the private sector on federal plans, programs and strategies for all hazards.
Exercises help communities better prepare for disasters and emergencies. FEMA is committed to providing exercise design and delivery assistance, tools and resources, enhanced coordination, and the ability to directly influence and inform policy, resource allocation, and preparedness programs.
To learn about available exercise design assistance and the benefits of participating in the National Exercise Program, FEMA is hosting 60-minute webinars:
- 10 a.m. ET, Jan. 8, 2020
- 1 p.m. ET, Jan. 17, 2020
To Participate:
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Via FEMA Teleconference: 1-800-320-4330, participant passcode: 559550.
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FEMA Adobe Connect: Sign in as a “Guest”.
For more information or to nominate your exercise to be a part of the upcoming cycle, visit FEMA's National Exercise Program website or send an email to nep@fema.dhs.gov.
The National Exercise Program is a two-year cycle of exercises conducted across the nation to examine and validate capabilities in all preparedness mission areas: protection, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery. It is the primary exercise mechanism for measuring preparedness, evaluating national readiness, and providing support to exercises.
Today, FEMA released the “National Incident Management System Guide for Coaches and Evaluators,” providing processes, procedures, and tools to assist with developing and maintaining coaching and evaluating programs as part of the qualification process.
Additionally, FEMA released drafts of six Job Titles/Position Qualifications and Resource Typing Definitions documents related to Post-Building Safety that enhance interoperability and the effectiveness of mutual aid for public feedback. Today’s release includes:
- Post-Disaster Building Safety Evaluation Team;
- Post-Disaster Building Safety Evaluator;
- Post-Disaster Building Safety Evaluation Strike Team Leader;
- Post-Disaster Building Safety Evaluation Team Technical Supervisor;
- Post-Disaster Complex Structural Condition Evaluator; and
- Post-Disaster Complex Architectural Systems Condition Evaluator.
The “National Incident Management System Guide for Coaches and Evaluators” is available on the FEMA website.
The National Engagement period for the Post-Disaster Building Safety documents concludes at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 17, 2020. To access the documents, visit the FEMA website.
As part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) 2017 update, FEMA is releasing four refreshed courses in the Incident Command System (ICS) All-Hazards Position Specific (AHPS) Curriculum:
- E/L0973, NIMS ICS AHPS Finance/Administration Section Chief
- E/L0975, NIMS ICS AHPS Finance/Administration Unit Leader
FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) will host a webinar series highlighting the changes in the courses, instructor requirements, and future course releases. All times are Eastern and each webinar has the same content:
- 3 p.m. Dec. 17
- 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Dec. 19
How to Participate:
NOTE: Please sign in as a guest using the following format:
Last Name, First Name, ST (example: Patrick, Robert, NJ)
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FEMA Teleconference: 800-320-4330, PIN 884976#
There is no FEMA requirement to take the revised version if you completed a previous version. However, because the revised courses contain new information based on the 2017 revised NIMS Document, you may find it informative to review the new version.
FEMA Seeks Input on Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101
FEMA is accepting input for the update of “Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101: Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans.” This document provides guidance for developing emergency operations plans.
The last in a series of 60-minute virtual listening sessions will be hosted on Dec. 18 to provide a brief background on the guide, as well as to gather thoughts and recommendations on how to improve it.
The comment period will end Jan. 14, 2020. To review the document and learn more about the virtual listening sessions, please visit the FEMA website.
On this episode of the FEMA podcast, listen to a discussion with FEMA's National Advisor on Children and Disasters Lauralee Koziol. Learn more about how you and your children can prepare for, and be ready to recover from, natural 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.
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, Office of External Affairs
Jeremy Greenberg, Deputy Director (Acting), Office of External Affairs
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