Resources

Ready New York: Reduce Your Risk

Ready New York: Reduce Your Risk outlines steps New York City property owners can take to prepare through — cost-effective and sustained actions taken to reduce the long-term risk to human life or property from hazards. The guide covers preparation for all types of perils that can impact New York City and identifies additional resources.… Read more

Ready NY Worksheet: Plan to Stay in Business — Key Business Functions

Download this fillable PDF, created by Ready New York, to identify essential business functions, contacts and resources that will allow your business to stay open during a disaster or quickly reopen after the incident recedes.   Ready NY Template: Plan to Stay in Business — Key Business Functions (PDF)   *PDF provided created by Ready New… Read more

FEMA: Tips for Managing Media Areas

At the scene of an incident, the news media’s most basic needs are access to information and images. Use these tips from FEMA to help anticipate what the media will want and to setup a media staging area that enhances communications to help guide information flow between the public information officer (PIO) and the media.  … Read more

FEMA Training: Public Information Officer Awareness

This course covers basic information about the role of a State or local Public Information Officer. The goal of this awareness course is to provide an orientation to the public information function and the role of the Public Information Officer (PIO) in the public safety/emergency management environment. Use this link to take the interactive web-based… Read more

Tips: Planning for Public Communications and Outreach

  Communicating with the public is one of the most important aspects of disaster response and recovery planning, yet in the wake of disaster public communications often get overlooked for the sake of getting other essential tasks completed. Make sure you have enough Public Information Officers (PIO) trained and on hand to keep residents and… Read more

Tips for Local Leaders Speaking to the Local Media

Local elected and appointed officials play a key role in keeping citizens informed and building confidence in the community’s ability to recover and build back stronger. Work with incident command’s chief Public Information Officer (PIO) and use these tips to maximize the effectiveness of your messages to impacted residents. Communicate the efforts that are being… Read more

Tips for Public Information Officers: Preparing for Effective Local Media Communications

One of the public information officer’s (PIO) essential functions is to handle media requests and communications, preventing them from distracting the incident commander. Use these tips to prepare for and respond effectively to the media. Have media contact lists. Develop a media contact list with after-business hours contact information, email addresses and websites. Have multiple,… Read more

FEMA Regional Offices, NFIP State Coordinating Agencies and State Hazard Mitigation Offices

Use this document from FEMA to find contact information for your regional FEMA Office, NFIP State Coordinating Agency and State Hazard Mitigation Office. Reach out to your contacts before a disaster hits; the first time you exchange business cards should not be during a disaster.   FEMA Regional Offices, NFIP State Coordinating Agencies and State… Read more

Tips: Best Practices for Using Social Media During Natural Disasters

  Social media is typically the most immediate way to reach large numbers of constituents at one time — Public Information Officers (PIOs) and emergency managers can post messages from the field as the situation unfolds, or direct staff at the to quickly send out messages via Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and other available platforms. Use… Read more

FEMA Go Kit Checklist for Public Information Officers

A Go Kit is a mobile response kit that allows public information officers (PIOs) to function in the event that they are working at a remote or off-site location. The individual serving as incident command’s PIO can use this FEMA Go Kit checklist before a disaster hits to ensure they are prepared with the essential materials needed… Read more