ESM Research

I’ve got a ’series’ on key journals in the field in my future, but while I was ruminating on that topic, I came across this resource, which I’d rather forgotten about:

Looking for a good definition of “Business Continuity” for your paper? What is the difference between an EOC and an ECC? What is a Drop Ship? This searchable, browsable glossary of brief, practitioner-focused definitions is a useful tool, especially in a field full of acronyms, initialisms and abbreviations.

Having said that, however, the list and definitions are not comprehensive. A great, under-utilized resource is the “Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary“, available to the U of R community through Boatwright Library. Oxford Reference also has a number of good definitions within the Oxford Reference Online suite of dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks. As an added bonus, these are scholarly and updated frequently.

I know I’ve written about Open CRS before, and here’s yet another example of a timely, comprehensive report which only the CRS could write.

Federal Evacuation Policy: Issues for Congress

April 29, 2010

Download Locations

• Open CRS (User submitted)

Summary

When government officials become aware of an impending disaster, they may take steps to protect citizens before the incident occurs. Evacuation of the geographic area that may be affected is one option to ensure public safety. If implemented properly, evacuation can be an effective strategy for saving lives. Evacuations and decisions to evacuate, however, can also entail complex factors and elevated risks. Decisions to evacuate may require officials to balance potentially costly, hazardous, or unnecessary evacuations against the possibility of loss of life due to a delayed order to evacuate. Some observers of evacuations, notably those from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, claim evacuations pose unique challenges to certain segments of society. From their perspective, special-needs populations, the transit-dependent, and individuals with pets faced particular hardships associated with the storm. This, they claim, is because some evacuation plans, and the way in which they were carried out, appeared to inadequately address their unique circumstances or needs. In responding to these challenges, then-Senator Obama introduced S. 1685 in the 109th Congress, which would have directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that each state provided detailed and comprehensive information regarding its pre-disaster and post-disaster plans for the evacuation of individuals with special needs in emergencies. President Barack Obama indicated during his campaign that he would continue to pursue similar evacuation polices. Another facet of evacuation is sheltering displaced individuals. For short-term sheltering, federally provided resources include food, water, cots, and essential toiletries. When displaced individuals need long-term sheltering, federal policy provides financial assistance for alternative accommodations such as apartments, motels and hotels, recreational vehicles, and modular units. While federal law provides for certain aspects of civilian emergency evacuation, evacuation policy generally is established and enforced by state and local officials. In recent years, Members of Congress have focused, in part, on policy options that addressed issues of equity during evacuations as well as attempts to integrate federal, state, and local evacuation efforts more fully. This report discusses federal evacuation policy and analyzes potential lessons learned from the evacuations of individuals in response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. Several issue areas that might arise concerning potential lawmaking and oversight on evacuation policy are also highlighted. This report will be updated as significant legislative or administrative changes occur.

Some other reports that might be of interest:

Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response: The – Open CRS …

In response to concerns over the adequacy of firefighter staffing, the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Act–popularly called the “SAFER …
opencrs.com/document/RL33375/

Pandemic Influenza: An Analysis of State Preparedness and Response …

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat – Quick View
by SA Lister – 2007 – Cited by 2 – Related articles
preparedness, see CRS Report RL31719, An Overview of the U.S. Public Health System in …. analyze state pandemic preparedness and response plans. …
opencrs.com/document/RL34190/2007-09-24/download/1006/

Oil Spills in US Coastal Waters – Open CRS – CRS Reports for the …

During the past two decades, while U.S. oil imports and consumption have steadily risen, oil spill incidents and the volume of oil spilled have not followed …
opencrs.com/document/RL33705/

Heering, Peter, Oliver Hochadel, and David J. Rhees. eds. Playing with Fire: Histories of the Lightning Rod. Vol. 99. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2009. [Boatwright Circulating Books TH 9061 .P58 2009]

I couldn’t resist grabbing this intriguing volume of essays off the New Books shelf last year, and the deeper I delved into it the happier I was that I had grabbed it. Published by the American Philosophical Society (founded by Benjamin Franklin before he invented the lightning rod), this collection of scholarly essays is the outgrowth of a 2002 conference on the history of the lightning rod. As hard as it may be for us ‘moderns’ to believe, the widespread use of the lightning rod was resisted for many years, and not until atmospheric and meteorological science developed more fully were rods used extensively. This book details the social, political and scientific reasons for the adoption of the technology in a series of 13 essays written by an international cast of scholars.

This collection’s amazing breadth (in a work of less than 300 pages) means it is a must-read for anyone interested in what we would call “Preparedness”. Simon Schaffer, of Cambridge University, sums it up this way:

“The contributors explore the shifts in design, experiment and theory to which work on atmospheric electricity, telegraphy, and power generation was subjected. They explore major themes that remain of pressing contemporary interest: the conflicted character of scientific expertise; the management of risk and environmental threats; the relation between the public and specialist authorities; and the use of technology to manage a changing and often dangerous world.”

A quick glance at some of the essay titles supports this assessment: “Public Opinion, Local Authorities and the Reformation of Meteorology in Eighteenth Century Italy”;  “Lightning Rods and the Commodification of Risk in Nineteenth Century America”; “A Modern Assessment of Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rods” (in which the author finds that rods which are rounded on their tips protect better than Franklin’s beloved pointed rods). Extensive notes follow each essay and a detailed and well-designed index at the end of the book increase its usefulness to the scholar and researcher. All in all, highly recommended.

Great article from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) on how global businesses such as Marriot and FedEx dealt with the recent flu pandemic, and what lessons they learned from their experiences. Their main website offers news, business planning documents and links to journal articles, government and NGO resources and CIDRAP project informations. One of the most interesting to me was something called “Promising Practices: Pandemic Influenza Tools”.

Practices are listed by state, and are accessible from a color-coded US States map. Virginia, for example, is evidently something of a leader in this particular arena of public health, with 14 “practices” ranging from Norfolk’s novel program to link free H1N1 vaccinations for children in daycare with a free day at the zoo to the State Board of Election’s efforts to keep voters from spreading the flu during the November election. (I did use the hand sanitizer at our polling place, if I remember correctly…)

The Learning Resource Center (aka “the library”) at the U.S. Fire Administration has a treasure trove of research tools for disaster scientists and emergency services managers. (More to come, I promise!) I couldn’t resist giving a sneak peek of one of their tools I was able to make immediate use of.

Significant Disasters/Fires/Incidents

In five different topic areas (Earthquakes, Fires, Hurricanes, Terrorist Incidents and ‘Other Disasters‘), links are given to US Fire Administration LRC items on a given topic. For instance, the Hurricanes page lists 11 hurricanes, covering the span of this century, and links to a number of journal articles, proceedings, reports, government documents and books on each individual storm. Many of the journal articles are not indexed elsewhere, or are indexed only in highly specialized databases, so having the citations collected together like this makes searching a breeze.* The topics, while not entirely comprehensive for every US disaster (and certainly not for international ones!), are specific enough to be truly useful.

Check it out, and look for more information on the US Fire Administration library’s resources in a future post.

*(Sorry for the lame hurricane pun. I couldn’t help myself!)

The back cover of this new book from CRC Press claims it contains, “All the Essential Information Needed to Build an Effective Response.” As the book weighs in at just more than 250 pages (inclusive of index and notes), I was a tad skeptical. However…

In 9 brief chapters and an epilogue, experts from fields as diverse as public health, homeland security and veterinary medicine give overviews of the history, clinical aspects, local and federal responses, and even business continuity and ‘fatality management’ planning. Packed with references, tables and even pictures, the book could serve as a textbook (the preface actually contains a list of “Primary Learning Objectives”) or a reference for emergency managers, planners or public health professionals. While technically grounded, the authors manages to keep the book readable even for the generalist.

This just in, courtesy of Open CRS:

http://opencrs.com/document/R40859/2009-10-14/download/1013/

Effective emergency response is dependent on wireless communications. To minimize communications failures during and after a crisis requires ongoing improvements in emergency communications capacity and capability. The availability of radio frequency spectrum is considered essential to developing a modern, interoperable communications network for public safety. Equally critical is building the radio network to use this spectrum. Opinions diverge, however, on such issues as how much spectrum should be made available for the network, who should own it, who should build it, who should operate it, who should be allowed to use it, and how it might be paid for. As a consequence, nascent planning for a national network is incomplete and some state and local network plans have been delayed. To resolve the debate and move the planning process forward, Congress may decide to pursue oversight or change existing law. Actions proposed to Congress include (1) authorizing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reassign spectrum and (2) changing requirements for the use of spectrum auction proceeds. In particular, legislation in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-171), as amended, might be modified. This law mandated the termination of analog television broadcasting and the release of those channels for other uses, including public safety. The act identified the frequencies from the analog television channels that were to be auctioned by the FCC. It also created a trust fund that set aside part of the auction proceeds for a number of programs, with the balance destined for the U.S. Treasury. Among the programs receiving funds from the trust fund was a billion-dollar program for grants to public safety, the Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grant program. Under the law, states have until FY2010 to draw down these funds. Bills that would extend the deadline to the end of FY2012 have been introduced in the House and Senate. Alternative proposals on how to assign spectrum for public safety use have been presented to the FCC and to Congress. To build the needed network requires coordination at many levels: developing the network concept, identifying a governance structure that assures the network is built and maintained, and funding capital and operating costs. Many believe that empowering leadership and identifying funding sources should ideally be resolved before the final decision is reached about spectrum allocation. There is an opportunity for two transformative changes in policy: for public safety communications and for spectrum management. As old technologies give way to mobile Internet access, changes in spectrum management are required to accommodate new wireless technologies. For the public safety community to incorporate these new technologies into emergency communications would require a change in stakeholders’ planning goals. The interaction between spectrum policy and homeland security policy might be changed through the planning and execution of an interoperable network for public safety. Congress has recognized the value of using Internet protocols for IP-based networks for 911 communications, by supporting the transition of out-dated 911 systems to IP-based technologies. Congress has not previously considered giving the same attention to the adoption of IP-based technologies for public safety radio communications. Congress might provide leadership and resources that can bring a nationwide, interoperable network for public safety from concept to reality.

Open CRS, a project of the Center for Democracy & Technology,  attempts to pull together all available Congressional Research Service Reports in one easily accessible website. Lots of great information here.

We seem to be on a roll here, with open-source publishing and web 2.0 technologies being co-opted by “authoritative” sources. This latest case connects Healthmap.org, with the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Working together, they have developed an interactive map charting H1N1 cases and deaths as reported by the media. Although they have stopped tracking reports from “official” sources such as the CDC and WHO, hovering over any incident shows the media link, even when the report is not in English, so you can check the authority of the report yourself.

One of the most interesting features is the ability to track the progression of the virus, on a date range and map level that you specify. There is also a listing of the most current H1N1 news.

Here’s a bright spot in the increasingly depressing ‘jobs and payroll‘ numbers, from CNN and CareerBuilder.com:

“Seven Emerging Job Poised for Growth”

5. Emergency management

Since the September11 terrorist attacks, jobs in the anti-terrorism field have grown. The required skills for positions in the anti-terrorism field are demanding, but a more attainable (yet still in-demand) career option is in emergency planning.

Not only do emergency planners prepare and plan for terrorist attacks, they also train and prepare for responses and procedures for other disasters such as fires, floods, hostage situations or pandemics.

Industry umbrella: Management, business and financial operations
Job growth: 7 – 13 percent
Salary: $48,386

(Strangely enough, no library jobs make the list – is Google Books to blame?)