Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Washington Wringer

The Washington Wringer

Republicans Praise FEMA Changes Under Obama

Republicans Praise FEMA Changes Under Obama

Using Twitter, Facebook To Fight The Flood - wcco.com

Using Twitter, Facebook To Fight The Flood - wcco.com

FEMA's Craig Fugate Says Mitigation Language, Roles Must Be Redefined

FEMA's Craig Fugate Says Mitigation Language, Roles Must Be Redefined

Emergency Managers and First Responders Use Twitter and Facebook to Update Communities

Emergency Managers and First Responders Use Twitter and Facebook to Update Communities

Enlisting Volunteers

"Many agencies have developed relationships with ham radio operators, appreciating the part they play in emergency management. As volunteers, ham radio operators provide free help when most needed. Their equipment works when other communications fail, and most operators are licensed so agencies can identify who’s reporting. Ham radio operators are informed of the agency’s priorities and needs and are included in drills and emergency management plans. Agencies should embrace Web 2.0 communications in the same model currently used with ham radio operators.

The first step in instituting these changes should be to identify volunteers to monitor the Internet for you. These volunteers should be familiar with the latest technology, be able to work from anywhere, and have an Internet connection and a way to reach you with critical updates. Some likely candidates are: ham radio operators, criminal justice students, wives or adult children of officers/deputies/firefighters, Volunteers in Policing, Community Emergency Response Teams or community members. If you do background checks on your ham radio operators, follow suit with this group.

Volunteers should be trained properly and invited to join emergency drills. Be sure to educate them on Internet privacy laws as well as specifying the types of concerns you want to be informed about. Don’t limit the monitoring to emergency response; by following Internet chatter about other topics (construction, elections, rumors, videos, etc.) you and your staff will get to know the community better. Stress the importance of deriving accurate information in the absence of available emergency responder personnel to verify an event."