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As part of America's PrepareAthon!, activities around the country will take place to encourage everyone to be smart, take part, and prepare.
- On April 16, Utah will participate in the Great ShakeOut as their statewide action for America's PrepareAthon!. The Utah ShakeOut event draws close to one million participants from the whole
community, and FEMA Region VIII is working with Be Ready Utah to identify
larger drills and events to showcase in the media. The event will include
“Drop, Cover, Hold On” drills taking place all across Utah, as well as a Preparedness
Fair.
- Four
events in April and May are getting residents of Elko, Nevada, ready for emergencies. Some
actions include training high school students and nurses at the local college
and helping elementary school students build emergency kits in Spring
Creek. Additionally, the local CERT in
partnership with the American Red Cross will be presenting the Pillow Case
Project to 50 Cub Scouts. In June, first responders, schools, the hospital, and community
members will exercise their response to a large earthquake.
FEMA
launched a new feature for its free app that will enable users to receive
weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations
across the nation. This new feature allows users to receive alerts on severe
weather happening anywhere they select in the country, even if the phone is not
located in the area, making it easy to follow severe weather that may be
threatening family and friends.
The
new weather alert feature adds to existing features in the app to help
Americans through emergencies. In addition to this upgrade, the app also
provides a customizable checklist of emergency supplies, maps of open shelters
and Disaster Recovery Centers, and tips on how to survive natural and manmade
disasters. The FEMA app also offers a “Disaster Reporter” feature, where users
can upload and share photos of disaster damage.
The
latest version of the FEMA app is available for free in the App Store for Apple
devices and Google Play for Android devices. Users who already have the
app downloaded on their smartphones should download the latest update for the
new alerts feature to take effect.
To learn more about the FEMA app, visit The FEMA
App: Helping Your Family Weather the Storm.
FEMA's Careers page, a resource for those who are interested in joining the FEMA mission, has a new site design and interface. The redesigned page includes information on working at FEMA, job opportunities, the application process, and how to check an application's status. For more information, visit www.careers.fema.gov.
FEMA's Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD) is hosting a webinar on emergency preparedness for the entire
family, presented by four women who have one title in common—mother. These
mothers and well-known bloggers will offer tips, actions and insights on how to
get your family prepared for disasters. Join the conversation via webinar on
Thursday, April 16 at 2 p.m. EDT. Those interested in participating can register for the webinar online. Closed captioning will be offered.
FEMA is coordinating
a whole community effort to refresh the first edition of the National
Preparedness Goal (the Goal). As called for under Presidential Policy Directive
8: National Preparedness (PPD-8), the National Preparedness Goal sets the
vision for preparedness, “a secure and resilient Nation with the
capabilities required across the whole community to prevent, protect against,
mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats and hazards that pose the
greatest risk,” and identifies the core capabilities
necessary to achieve the Goal.
FEMA requests
feedback on the first edition of the National Preparedness Goal. The comment
period closes Thursday,
April 16, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. EDT.
Please visit www.fema.gov/ppd8 to review proposed updates to the
Goal, and download the feedback matrix. All comments should be submitted via
email to PPD8-Engagement@fema.dhs.gov using the provided matrix.
The Fire Prevention and
Safety (FP&S) Grants are part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG)
and support projects that enhance the safety of the public and firefighters
from fire and related hazards. The FY 2014 Fire
Prevention & Safety (FP&S) application period is open until April
17, 2015 at 5 p.m. EDT.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate announced the release of the FY 2015 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the
Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Program. The FY 2015 EMPG Program
provides over $350 million to assist state, local, tribal, and
territorial governments in preparing for all hazards, as authorized by the
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The notice of funding opportunity can be found at www.grants.gov.
EMPG applications are due no later than April 24, 2015. Final submissions
must be made through the Non-Disaster (ND) Grants system located at https://portal.fema.gov.
FEMA recently posted three
Office of Response and Recovery Senior Executive Service opportunities on USAJobs: Director, National Disaster Recovery Planning, Office of Federal Disaster Coordination; Assistant Administrator, Response Directorate; Deputy Assistant Administrator, Recovery Directorate. To review the posting and complete an application, please visit www.usajobs.gov. The deadline to apply is April 24, 2015.
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 May 6,
2015. Questions may be submitted to FEMA-FFRMS@fema.dhs.gov.
The likelihood family pets will survive a disaster such as a flood or
tornado depends largely on proper emergency planning. In
support of America’s
PrepareAthon!, FEMA Region III is hosting a
#Petpared Challenge to prepare pets
for emergencies. Take action and join in now through May 8, 2015. Take a picture (or a selfie) of a #petpared pet
and share it on Twitter or Instagram using hashtag #Petpared to help
spread the word.
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.
The Emergency Management
Performance Grant (EMPG) applications, announced on March 25, 2015, are due no
later than April 24, 2015. All other preparedness grant
applications – excluding 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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