Busy morning yesterday and today. Lots of preparation going on for Hurricane Harvey.
So many hard-working Emergency Management pros from FEMA are working the magic to support those in the path of Hurricane Harvey with coordination of resources for deployment.
Reporting from FEMA HQ…
Lots to learn today with deep discussions on integration with various local, county, state, and Federal officials.
It’s acronym galore!
If you were wondering, that flow chart above makes perfect sense to me.
Morning was also spent on a huge discussion on deployment preparedness.
Trust me, I definitely got that part down.
Long day ahead tomorrow too including meetings with City of Columbus officials.
I’ll be out of the office this week. .
DHS/FEMA Mission Readiness deployment all week with my DC peeps from HQ.
Alohas from Alabama!
For those that wanted to know, here’s my disaster deployment stuff ready to go.
Backpack: 511Tactical RUSH 24-hour.
Rollerboard: Travel Pro MaxLite-3
Pelican case(s): 1510 Pelican cases (both admissible as carry on luggage on any domestic airline)
Large rolling duffel: Columbia Storm Chaser. Normally, I put the boots in the outside boot pocket of the large duffel, but I wanted to give you some size context.
Hope this helps out.
Looks like I’m deploying out for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on July 11th.
You know me, I’m just proud to represent!
July is here. OMG. It’s crunch time!
First week I’ll be in Cleveland for a few planning meetings and off to Chicago for my favorite ER MD’s retirement party.
Second week I’ll be deployed with DHS/FEMA for External Affairs.
Third week is the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland where I’ll be supporting our all-hazards public safety professionals.
Fourth week I’ll head down to Missouri to teach some social media in Region-7 baby! Indeed no rest for the weary.
With the RNC in Cleveland, July will be an incredibly challenging month for all public safety peeps.
August was quite the month of new stuff, and in true form, September will be just as exciting.
I am sure know that September is my most favorite month right? September is National Preparedness month where I’ll be featuring a whole bunch of different preparedness plans and you can participate and better prepare you and your family for disasters or emergencies. All of it…totally free!
But for the rest of the month, here’s the plan:
First week: I’ll be presenting at the Nebraska Infrastructure Protection Conference on Social Media intelligence and disasters. On day-2 of the conference, I’ll be giving the my national keynote presentation: Task Force Deployment to St. Bernard Parish Louisiana – Lower 9th Ward. Region-7 boom!
Second week: I’ll be presenting at the State of Kentucky Governor’s Emergency Management Workshop rolling out the brand new G-270.4 Recovery from Disaster course. Two days of critical recovery classes in Region-4…with me!
Third week: I’ll be in Columbus doing some Mass Fatality TtT classes with Ohio EMA and then delivering another Social Media course to Franklin County EMA. Back in Region-5.
Fourth week: We have the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s PIO Symposium (Friday September 25th, 2015) in Columbus.
And the Fifth week: I just might have some time to do some paperwork. Sigh.
This will be a tough first few weeks, but looking forward to the various regions.
And remember: Make your emergency plan today.
It was great to spend some time with Ohio EMA leadership yesterday.
Discussion on community resilience, task force deployments, Presidential Declarations, key initiatives, outreach, training, EMAC deployments, stakeholder engagement, public information officer, Emergency Management visibility, social media, Public Assistance, SBA loans, documentation and reimbursements, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Public and Private partnerships…heck-we even touched on the buzz words for 2015: Climate change and Cyber.
For sure, lots of notes!
It is so great to hear OEMA Executive Director Sima Merick passionate about all facets of Emergency Management.
Also got a chance to hang with my Ohio EMA Training and Education peeps Lisa and Susan too. Solid discussion about the upcoming Mass Fatalities course (G-386), PIO Courses (G-290), JIC/JIS Courses (G-291), Intermediate Incident Command courses (ICS-300), and the Recovery from Disasters Course (G-270.4).
Lots of good free stuff upcoming from Ohio EMA!
BTW-If you did a double take on that first picture, yes sir Sur, #AlohaFridays are made for an Aloha shirt. Period. Also a historical note, Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959.
Don’t worry peeps, look closely as I had my Ohio pin on.
Have a great weekend!
I was honored to teach at the 2015 International Disaster Conference & Expo (IDCE) in New Orleans.
My first return to Louisiana since being deployed down here for Hurricane Katrina/Rita in 2005.
Happy Mardi Gras y’all!
I predict, these things will become more prolific…
Solid idea, low-cost, high visibility, easy deployment, and most importantly, an incredible resource during a disaster.
Imagine the possibilities…
@rusnivek
Where is @rusnivek? 