Every municipal department head, in addition to lead staff, should take at minimum basic FEMA and NIMS disaster training courses. “Make it a priority, because if local agencies don’t invest in it now they’re going to pay for it on game day,” says Roger Jolliff,emergency manager for the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Area Emergency Management Agency. Below… Read more
In many localities, disaster planning is confined to emergency management. To improve the effectiveness of disaster planning, it’s important that all municipal departments engage in disaster plans with emergency management and develop a department specific . IBTS spoke with Roger Jolliff, director of the Tulsa, Oklahoma Emergency Management Agency, about best practices he’s developed… Read more
This document provides a brief explanation of the FEMA disaster declaration process, including an outline of the steps a governor must take to request a declaration, types of disaster declarations and the assistance programs that can be activated once a declaration has been made by the president. FEMA Fact Sheet: Disaster Declaration Process
During a weather-induced long-term power outage, communications with utility companies often present one of the biggest challenges for local leaders, emergency management and other municipal agencies involved in disaster response and recovery. Use these tips to build and maintain a relationship with your local utility that allows for an open flow of information at all… Read more
Wildfires are long, drawn-out events that often require localities to ask for state assistance to get key messages out to the public, manage and monitor social media and keep up with the demands of local media. Use these tips from subject matter experts in Washington and California, who frequently deal with wildfires, to think through frequently… Read more
On March 22, 2014, groundwater saturation triggered a 4,400-foot-wide landslide near the town of Oso, Washington. Considered the largest and most destructive landslide in U.S. history, the event caused 43 fatalities, swallowed 49 homes and shut-down a portion of State Route 530 – giving the catastrophe its official name, the SR 530 Landslide. Search and… Read more
This report presents lessons learned and recommendations derived by the SR 530 Landslide Commission from a review of existing reports and presentations, and from a broad range of people, each with a unique perspective on the incident and events which followed. Preparedness for future catastrophic or unimaginable disasters depends largely on the lessons learned from… Read more
Although it’s impossible to predict how many residents will be displaced and what housing stock will be available to provide temporary living arrangements for these residents after a natural disaster, these tips can help your locality maximize the resources that are available to get residents on the fastest track to permanent housing. Work on… Read more
Planning for temporary housing assistance can be one of the most difficult aspects of preparing for a natural disaster due to the unpredictability of a storm’s impact on a locality’s housing stock. Likewise, each community has unique risks and resources when it comes to temporary housing — there is no “one-sized-fits-all” approach. Local, state… Read more
Using interviews with officials from North Carolina counties with established registries, this paper identifies key features of registries, considers challenges and offers tools for other counties to use in the development of special needs registries based on the experiences of their peers. Safe from the Storm: Tools for Establishing Special Needs Registries in North… Read more
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