Insights

Planet Earth Doesn't Know How To Make It Any Clearer It Wants Everyone To Leave

• John Cornelison
• 6/4/11

• Tags

  Weather , Humor , Emotions

Flights of fancy (and a bit of vulgarity) continue over in the editorial offices of the Onion as they present their take on recent disasters: a personified Earth is tired of humans’ presence.

Ready Business PSAs Urge Small Businesses To Prepare for Emergencies

• John Cornelison
• 6/3/11

• Tags

  Red cross , Business continuity , Preparedness , Fema

Up to forty percent of businesses affected by a natural or man-made major disaster never reopen

King County Mass Care Regional Forum Agenda Announced

• John Cornelison
• 6/2/11

• Tags

  Regional , Shelters , Kcoem , Events , Vepc , Red cross

The goal of this free forum is to bring together government, non-profit, faith-based and other partners who would have a role in Mass Care (shelter, feeding, distribution of emergency supplies, etc.) for disasters in King County. The Forum is hosted by the King County Mass Care Workgroup.

Pacific Northwest Geodetic Array Quantifies Earthquakes

• John Cornelison
• 5/31/11

• Tags

  Earthquakes , Study , Software , Regional

Scientists now can track the minuscule motions of shifting plates as they happen, thanks to an expanded network of GPS sensors that covers the region like a blanket and beams back data almost instantly.

Greenhouse Emissions Hit Record Level & Germany Ends Nukes

• John Cornelison
• 5/31/11

Carbon emissions from energy use reached a record level last year, up 5% from the previous record in 2008, the International Energy Agency said.

Vashon Maury Island Radio Club celebrates “Amateur Radio Week” with Field Day

• John Cornelison
• 5/28/11

• Tags

  Vashon , Volunteers , Emcomm , Wa , Vmirc , Arrl , Events

Vashon Maury Island Radio Club will celebrate Washington’s Amateur Radio Week on Vashon with our own Field Day. (We’ll actually be over achievers by holding a two day event, on June 24 & 25!)

Tribal Sovereignty Disaster Legislation Introduced

• John Cornelison
• 5/26/11

Federal support is growing for tribes to have increased resources and lines of communication with the federal government when natural and other disasters strike.

Cash is Best

• John Cornelison
• 5/26/11

A second disaster threatens to overtake Joplin MO by way of a tidal wave of unsolicited goods (things like clothing, miscellaneous household items, mixed or perishable foodstuffs, diapers...) and volunteers who just show up to help.  Critical resources are being redirected from the important work of response and relief to managing what has become a crush of unneeded donated items.  Social networking sites are promoting collection drives while radio stations, small and large businesses, business and fraternal organizations and churches around the country fill semis with items that threaten to crowd warehouses and overwhelm distribution channels in the impacted area. 

Enhanced Alerting on the Way

• John Cornelison
• 5/26/11

• Tags

  Kcoem , Fema , Software , Vashon

Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) is a new public safety system, announced May 10th, to send free text alerts to cell phones. Geographically-targeted Presidential, emergency and AMBER alerts will use unique vibrations and tones to send alerts of imminent threats to safety. PLAN complements the existing Emergency Alert System (prior to 1998 known as the Emergency Broadcast System) and will be implemented by the FCC and FEMA. While the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) Is apparently voluntary, the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act requires those wireless carriers to activate PLAN technology by April 2012.  AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have pledged earlier support.

“If You See Something, Say Something” Campaign-- The Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative

• John Cornelison
• 5/26/11

“900 security cameras feed into a central command center”

DHS Announces Grant Guidance for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Preparedness Grants

• John Cornelison
• 5/25/11

• Tags

  Fema , Funding

(May 19) Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced the release of FY 2011 grant guidance and application kits for 12 DHS grant programs totaling $2.1 billion to assist states, urban areas, tribal and territorial governments, non-profit agencies, and the private sector in strengthening our nation's ability to prevent, protect, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies. In FY 2011, DHS grants were reduced by $780 million from the FY 2010 enacted level, nearly a quarter of FY 2010 DHS grant funding.  Read the full announcement here.

Global warming to bring MORE low clouds during the spring to Puget Sound

• John Cornelison
• 5/24/11

“According to the regional climate simulations being done by my group and others at the UW, global warming will bring MORE low clouds during the spring around here.” – Cliff Mass in his June Gloom and KUOW Weekday blog. While he thinks most people will like the hotter summers also forecast - I’m not so sure I like that!