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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed consolidating their grants program for fiscal year 2013. This was met with criticism in Washington DC Tuesday.  Democrats particularly questioned the proposed consolidation of 16 individual grant programs into the National Preparedness Grant Program (NPGP)  during a hearing of the House Homeland Security emergency preparedness subcommittee. There were calls for the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), port grants, transit grants and the State Homeland Security Grant Program to remain...

In “Quake catastrophe like Japan's could hit Pacific Northwest, new data show” M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com also reports on last month’s reports at the American Association for the Advancement of Science – noting that the Cascadia quake has numerous parallels with Japan’s Tōhoku disaster one year ago.

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The DHS recently released the FY 2012 guidance and application kits for seven grant programs that support the National Preparedness Goal. Grants total more than $1.3 billion, a reduction of nearly $1 billion from FY 2011 and $1.5 billion below the President Obama’s FY 2012 request. The DHS preparedness grants give priority this year to applicants in the nation’s highest-risk areas, including urban areas, with a focus on terrorism prevention. “Given the significant reduction in grant funding this year, we are maximizing limited grant dollars by setting clear priorities and focusing on the areas that face the greatest risk,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement.

- Read full report at http://urgentcomm.com/policy_and_law/news/preparedness-grants-cut-20120229/

FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs provide funding for eligible mitigation activities that reduce disaster losses and protect life and property from future disaster damages. Currently, FEMA administers the following HMA grant programs:

Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)

Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM)

Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA)

Repetitive Flood Claims (RFC)

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(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.

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It was a different type of Judgment Day and it came early on Thursday when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the 2011 Homeland Security Grants and the numbers were not pretty.  Most funding was down significantly and for others the funds were nonexistent.  The only true winners in the process were the big cities like New York that retained their full funding amounts--based on risk. See the Wall Street Journal article Some Cities Lose Funding to Prevent Terrorism

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Several major source of funds for Vashon – as distributed from FEMA to the State and then to the King County OEM have taken a major hit. Future funding is going to be tighter:

The State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP), which supports a variety of state and local endeavors, including exercises, training, planning and equipment was cut by $225 million. That’s slightly more than 26 percent of the program, leaving a 2011 budget of $725 million. FEMA asked for $1 billion for the SHSP program. ...

Susan Wolf, Linda Hamilton & Barb Cooper have been working to collect recipes for a cookbook, the sales of which will go towards providing an Explorer scholarship.  Everyone is encouraged to submit a recipe toward this great cause! Though no publishing date has yet been set, you can check with Barbara Cooper at 463-2405 for the latest information, and to reserve your copies.

As Eric Holdeman recently pointed out, federal disaster funding is all wrong in 2011:

“The Disaster Relief Fund is getting $2.65B (that's a B for billion dollars) and the Predisaster Mitigation Fund is at $50M.”

We’re catching the cows after they’ve left the barn and not heeding Ben Franklin’s advice that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” which is a 1:16 ratio – not the 1:53 ratio federal politicians have apparently settled on.

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Here’s another funding source we’ve yet to consider on Vashon, but that is likely available.

In response to direction by Congress to develop "all-hazard regional catastrophic event plans and preparedness," in 2008 FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security established the Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP), and released grants to the ten largest urban areas in the country. To implement this...

Yesterday a lightly attended hearing was held by the Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation looking at renewing funding for earthquake preparedness. Two northwesterners testified: Mr. Jim Mullen, Director, Washington State Emergency Management Division; President, National Emergency Management Association & Dr. Vicki McConnell, Oregon State Geologist and Director, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.

In 1977 Congress passed the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act (NEHRP) as a long-term earthquake risk reduction program for the United States....

At today’s Region 6 Homeland Security Council’s EMACS meeting, approximately $16K of unused funds from the FFY2009(or 2008?) Homeland Security Grant Program previously designated for Disaster Emergency Response Trailers (DERT) in King County, was re-allocated for Vashon! The trailer will primarily be used to store ADA compliant cots, blankets and pillows for use in community shelters to be set up for off-island visitors and workers unable to get home, or for residents with damaged houses.

Don Price (King...

Jim Mullen, director of the Washington State Emergency Management Division and president of the National Emergency Management Association, wrote an excellent op-ed in yesterday’s Seattle Times, citing the value in maintaining funding for disaster preparedness – which is currently under threat. Read it online at:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2014538720_guest21mullen.html

Losses from the quake, tsunami and fires will total at least $100 billion, including $20 billion in damage to residences and $40 billion in damage to infrastructure such as roads, rail and port facilities, catastrophe modeling firm Eqecat estimated.

Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated that losses covered by insurance could reach between $15 billion and $35 billion from the earthquake alone. It did not estimate losses from the tsunami or the damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.

According to AIR, the number of Japanese businesses and homeowners with earthquake insurance is relatively low, ranging between 14% to 17%. As a result, the total financial toll for the catastrophe could be considerably higher than the estimate of insured losses.

- http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/13/news/international/japan_earthquake_cost/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

Taking advantage of the Nisqually Earthquake’s ten year anniversary were several retrospectives on note from key Washington disaster officials:

WEMD Director Jim Mullen posts his notes about how close we came to an even larger disaster, impacts of tightened budgetary constraints, and a chance meeting with FEMA’s head of preparedness efforts – who just happened to be in Christchurch for the latest quake: http://blogemd.blogspot.com/2011/02/thirteen-seconds.html

Seattle Office of Emergency Management Director, Barb Graff, pulled out a recent report that gives nice detail to the accomplishments done after the Nisqually Quake in Seattle: quite a lot!

Sadly this anniversary comes at a time that funding for the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is facing significant budget cutbacks threatening many regional services.

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Although this is dated (from July 26, 2010), it is unlikely these dates will change as they have generally been used for some years. It also helps us realize how to take part most effectively in planning (and funding!) efforts for the county. It comes from Jennifer Schaal, UASI Program Manager, Washington State Emergency Management Division.

Additional information on state level grants (i.e., primarily for counties I suspect, but perhaps open to Vashon directly) can be found at: www.emd.wa.gov/grants/grants_index.shtml

January FY11 Write IJs and obtain stakeholder reviews (EMD w/optional input)     February FY11 IJs continue...     March IJs continue...   FY11 Core Group approves final project list ...

The declaration (noted at www.seattlepi.com/local/433304_emergency12.html) would presumably make affected homeowners and businesses eligible for low cost loans and other assistance.

Does anyone on Vashon know this process and how to best support locals seeking such assistance for this or any future disaster? If so, please contact me as I’m curious about this process.

www.safecomprogram.gov/NR/rdonlyres/132003E7-6C43-4E15-97D6-A2A4E5A2704F/0/GrantProgramsforSAFECOMWebsite.pdf has a huge list of grant programs – many of which we are eligible to apply for. Indeed if you see a critical need (and can properly justify it!) for funds for a key program, I suspect we can likely find funds for it…

This overview was mentioned in today’s release of the Fiscal Year 2011 SAFECOM Guidance on Emergency Communications Grants (www.safecomprogram.gov) for use...

EMACS is both the King County Emergency Management Advisory Committee and the Homeland Security Region 6 Homeland Security Council. The latest org chart lists the key players. This is also available long range on the wiki at: http://vashoneoc.org/Reference/KingCounty.aspx