Busy Saturday as we close out the Disaster Recovery Center in Sargent.
Additionally, our Mitigation Team working the magic to help many disaster survivors rebuild their homes so that they are more resilient.
Late afternoon meetings with the DIV/SUP and operational updates too. Glad to be able to support our partners.
Most definitely a busy Saturday as we continue the statewide recovery effort. Proud to serve.
Aloha Friday is here so that means we have lotsa lotsa…meetings.
Charles-gimme a smile!
Planning meetings, Command and General Staff meetings, and of course…External Affairs can support the plan. (Also, glad to hear that Operations can execute the plan!)
So what really happens? What kind of things are we doing? On a Friday? LOTS!
Yeah, that’s 8-hours. All of that in the Joint Field Office in the Joint Information Center.
Some may have the misconception that all we as PIOs is talk to the media, pretty face for the camera, and that’s it. NOPE. Hard-working truly dedicated PIOs have very little free time during any operational period.
Just glad to share a bit of the behind the scenes efforts.
Happy #AlohaFriday peeps!
FCO – from acting EAO – passing command back to EAO Zuni!
Phew, no one dead under my watch.
More importantly, aside from Zuni assuming command and a briefing with the staff, the change of command has to be formal. While easy just to say F2F that someone else is assuming command, I would also make sure that is documented in the IAP and other formal forms of communications. I opted for the IAP, F2F, and then follow up with an email outlining date/time of formal change of command. See, all the stuff we talk about in our ICS classes – I actually do in the field because they do make a difference.
Besides, being informal leads to being sloppy…esp in a formal liability setting.
<Now back to the regularly scheduled programming PIOing!>
We continue to do the work in Sargent as we field more new registrations for disaster assistance.
Our field pros are out doing door-to-door assessments throughout countless communities.
“Statewide, we have over 6,800 applicants for disaster assistance. FEMA has awarded nearly $26 million to applicants from the FEMA Individual & Household Program.” – FEMA PIO Kevin Sur
and
“Just within the last 2 weeks, our Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams have completed over 2,500 home assessments in some of the hardest hit areas in multiple counties.” – FEMA PIO Kevin Sur
Whoa. Those are staggering numbers.
Firing on all cylinders, we are full strength as we push on through this recovery operation.
Wednesday is the official opening of our Disaster Recovery Center in Sargent (Custer County). This includes the onboarding of our new FEMA Corps Gulf-5 team. We got a 3.5 hour drive to get to the site so let’s roll!
As usual, we have our FEMA Individual Assistance and Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams and FEMA Mitigation Teams onsite to help out anyone who has questions or wants to update their records.
Additionally, we partner with the Small business Administration, to provide added services for survivors.
We are fortunate to have Nebraska Strong to help with survivors needs and can provide an added listening ear for mental health.
You see, a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is more than just taking information and getting people registered. We look at our efforts as the all-Hazards response to community recovery.
And not just hanging out, we popped a quick interview with the Sargent Leader reporter Lawrence.
Glad to showcase some PIO skills to our Gulf-5 team as we conducted the interview in the DRC.
Excited to spend more time with our FEMA Corps Gulf-5 team as they integrate into our response/recovery planning.
Proud to have this outstanding bunch with us in External Affairs – I look forward to working with you in FEMA!
Reporting live from the heart of the state….
Tuesday is here and we gotta hit the ground running.
Glad to see a few of our staff back from Puerto Rico as they demob from the Hurricane Dorian response.
Our Operations Section Chief brought some bright eyed new crew from FEMA Corps to External Affairs.
Love to see some new talent on our side as we beef up our numbers!
Midday, I was privileged to see a few new FEMA hires take the stage with our FCO.
All from various backgrounds, that is truly what makes our organization unique.
Welcome to the team peeps!
No time for rest because we gotta staff an interview. Phoner!
And Danielle wants a headshot…so I sent her this one.
But apparently, she wanted one that I was smiling. Ummmmmm, I was smiling – THAT IS HOW I SMILE!
So I hope this one was good enough.
Jeez these MMJs.
And for those that were wondering, here’s her story.
Busy Tuesday. Tomorrow we hit up our new Disaster Recovery Center in Custer county. Third straight week of DRC action to serve all survivors statewide.
No rest for the weary!
Still deployed here.
I have always said that the response phase is easy…but disaster recovery is the hardest part.
However, we are all closely watching hurricane Dorian.
Don’t forget, September starts National Preparedness Month. I know many of you are chomping at the bit to try out your preparedness kits…
Don’t you have off on Saturday?!? NOPE.
Disasters don’t take weekends off…nor do we.
After the morning brief, I headed back out in the field to Buffalo County to staff part-2 of the package with NTV (ABC affiliate) and KFXL (Fox Affiliate) Brandon Cortes on our ongoing recovery efforts at the Disaster Recovery Center.
Soooooo, this story will include our FEMA’s Individual Assistance Task Force Leader Ellershaw…
…and SBA Cynthia Crowell…
…and our FEMA Mitigation Teams….
…and of course, your favorite acting External Affairs Officer / Public Information Officer!
Special thanks to NTV (ABC Affiliate) and KFXL (Fox Affiliate) Reporter Brandon Cortes on today’s interview.
Great to work with people who live in the community and are dedicated to the serving fellow citizens.
Reporting live from our last day here in Kearney in Buffalo County…
Morning start w/ our National Ops call and the FCO standup. NWS and our HQ folks working the magic for those in the path of Dorian.
However, this time, we had to really look at how we are staffed because of the increased demands for the response to the Cat-5 Hurricane Dorian.
Our FCO then requesting a follow up staffing plan for ongoing O-periods…basically he wanted to know who was getting redeployed to the hurricane so he can quickly assess his options of staff and move to fill others to compensate. This is the perfect example of prioritization and allocation of resources. EXACTLY what we talk about in class.
Since we are collaborating on the disaster declaration for the Ponca Tribe, our own External Affairs Jay from Region X is the expert on Tribal Relations.
Fresh from the Tribal Council meeting at Haskell University, Special thanks to Jay for teaching today’s training to our staff at the FEMA Joint Field Office.
After a quick huddle w/ my EA staff on our weekend plans, updates, and rally call, I had to head to Buffalo County to staff part-1 of an interview w/ NTV Brandon Cortes featuring Community Leader and long-time humanitarian citizen Paul Younes.
Glad to get him the feature in the story as his dedication to his employees during the floods as well as his generosity for recuperation efforts is astounding.
Looking forward to Brandon’s story about this community hero.
Welcome to the day of a gajillion meetings!
We started out with the National Ops call and then went right on into the FCO’s stand up.
Next up was the Ops meeting for our current disaster as well as the Tribal disaster action plan. I was fortunate to play the role this week. 😳
Yep, I am the acting External Affairs Officer for this disaster.
I better not screw this up.
And for those wondering if the PSC really does go around the room an ask every Chief and Command and General Staff if they can support the plan. Here’s your proof.
See, the video isn’t too far off.
EA turned it’s attention to the FEMA All-Hands meeting w/ our 260 employees.
Our FEMA EA Plans & Products Manager Tarisha got recognized by the FCO for her exemplary work for this disaster and beyond. Proud of you Tarisha!
Then off to another planning meeting.
See, the planning P does exist and abiding by the process, you can identify other issues and allocate the right resources to combat the issue.
Whew, busy day!
Full day as I attend the morning rounds of meetings as the acting External Affairs Officer. National Ops briefing, FCO standup, and then briefing our staff with ongoing activities for the week.
External Affairs can support the plan.
Resources are ready…so let’s execute the plan!
Jumping on to another flood conference call with our local partners to ensure our coordinated efforts are working. While not exciting stuff, you have to understand that this kind of coordination calls are mission critical as we move the operations along. These relationships is what makes Emergency Management magical as we continue to concrete our position as the coordinating entity in any emergency or disaster.
But back out to Branch II Division-J!
Windshield time as we open another Disaster Recovery Center in Buffalo County.
These Disaster Recovery Centers allows us to have face-to-face conversations with disaster survivors. We can get them registered, update their records, etc….all sorts of things. Thank goodness for our stellar DSA Teams as they support the role of the MRIC here in Buffalo County. Special thanks to Patricia Windward who just received the FCO’s award for going above and beyond the call of duty for our efforts here in this disaster.
We are also fortunate to have our Mitigation teams out as well helping to inform survivors to rebuild stronger and provide assistance in building a more resilient structure.
Again, we have so many facets of the DRC.
The location of this one is in a mall so it’s nice for our staff to utilize a place that everyone has easy access and is already established.
Looks like it’s going to be a long day covering External Affairs Officer stuff as well as statewide PIO stuff.
Reporting live from the field…
Where is @rusnivek? 