Disaster Preparedness


Oregon, Washington to Issue RFP for Public Safety Network

The states expect to release their RFP within two weeks, or by around Oct. 11, and close it approximately five weeks later. There will then be a period of evaluation and possible selection of one or more vendors to advance to the next phase of the process.

Nationwide EAS Test Set for Sept. 27

This is only the third nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System; the first was conducted in November 2011 and the second was conducted in September 2016.

HHS Plans to Develop Nose Spray Treatment for Cyanide Poisoning

The agency announced a 17-month, $12.7 million agreement under which Emergent BioSolutions will develop an intranasal, stabilized form of isoamyl nitrite.

PAHO Deployed Experts Ahead of Irma

Pan American Health Organization country offices in the Caribbean took preventive measures to provide the necessary support to authorities and a team of infrastructure, engineering, and administrative specialists was prepared to support the immediate assessment and response to the impact on people located in the path of hurricane Irma.

SAMHSA's Disaster Stress Hotline Ready to Assist

The toll-free, multilingual, and confidential crisis support service is available to all residents in the United States and its territories, and they can also reach it by text -- text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

Florida National Guard to Be Ready for Hurricane Irma

The National Hurricane Center said Irma is forecast to remain a powerful category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days.

National Preparedness Month Guidance Sorely Needed This Year

With residents in much of southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana and other states working to recover from Harvey's destructive rains and wind, and a stronger hurricane churning westward toward Puerto Rico and possibly Florida, the overall theme and the four weekly themes are right on target.

New Orleans Sewer & Water Agency Gets Interim Emergency Management Team

The team is in place to provide administrative, financial, and technical guidance to the Sewerage & Water Board through Nov. 30 -- the end of the Atlantic hurricane season.



West Virginia Opts In to FirstNet to Transform Public Safety Communications

AT&T, in a public-private partnership with FirstNet, will build, operate, and maintain the network at no cost to the state for the next 25 years; the governor said it will transform the way West Virginia's fire, police, EMS, and other public safety personnel communicate and share information.

The June 23, 2016, floods in West Virginia killed 23 people and damaged homes, businesses, schools, and infrastructure, to the tune of $339.8 million in flood costs.

DHS Unit Touts New Tech to Boost Readiness for Floods

The Flood Awareness Apex applies emerging technologies to improve community resilience from flood disasters in order to reduce flood fatalities and property losses.

FEMA Awards Terrorist Attack Preparedness Funding

The recipients will receive funding specifically to develop and implement effective, sustainable, and regional approaches for enhancing preparedness for complex coordinated terrorist attacks, approaches that include these components: identifying capability gaps, developing and/or updating plans, training to implement plans and procedures, and conducting exercises to validate capabilities.

This graphic shows the NHC tropical cyclone track forecast cone and watches/warnings graphics issued for Hurricane Joaquin at 0800 EDT on Sept. 30, 2015, one day before the El Faro sank in the storm.

NTSB Issues Recommendations to Improve Mariners' Weather Information

Stemming from the agency's investigation of the 2015 El Faro sinking, the 10 recommendations aim to increase the frequency of certain advisories and alerts and improve the accuracy of hurricane and tropical cyclone forecasts.

NSC Report: No State Receives an "A" for Safety

The report says no state goes far enough to protect its residents from preventable deaths.

Environment Agency Taking Comments on Oxford Flood Remediation Plan

The Environment Agency is working with several local partners to reduce flood risks to all homes and businesses in Oxford and to major transport routes into the city.

U.S. Marine Bases Standardize Emergency Reponse

Marine Corps Maj. Mark Simmons, systems engineer for CERS and Enhanced 911 at Marine Corps Systems Command, said "CERS aggregates multiple capabilities -- E911, Computer-Aided Dispatch, incident records management, and fire station alerting -- into a single workstation, giving emergency dispatchers the ability to quickly, and more accurately, dispatch the appropriate assets where necessary in the shortest time possible."

Be Ready for Hurricane Season, Authorities Advise Coastal Residents

The Florida Department of Health already has warned Floridians to be ready and says every hurricane season should be treated as a serious threat.

CSB Releases Factual Investigative Update on Loy Lange Pressure Vessel Rupture

The incident killed four people and left another in critical condition.

NTSB Issues Reports on Four Maritime Investigations

One of the reports involves a 2016 Hudson River tugboat sinking.

Former Louisiana State Official Named Director of BSEE

Scott A. Angelle was most recently the vice chairman of the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

New Orleans Tests Hurricane Evacuation System

In 2015, the city received a $500,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration to support a full-scale simulation exercise of the city assisted evacuation plan, with special emphasis on vulnerable and special needs populations.

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