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!)

Events kick off Saturday with breakfast at Sporty's (an hour early at 8:00 AM) with a procession to the venue on Sunrise Ridge where we’ll...

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

Several tribal officials have complained in recent years that when snowstorms, floods, or other emergencies have occurred in their areas, they have faced a slow response from the federal government in ways that might not happen to other communities. Lack of direct communication, poor coordination, and slow outreach have all been cited by tribal leaders as reasons for the problem.

- Full story by Rob Capriccioso on May 25 at: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/05/tribal-sovereignty-disaster-legislation-introduced/

...

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...

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.

The...

“900 security cameras feed into a central command center”

Last week, a senior DHS official examined security measures at the nation's largest ferry system; Betsy Markey, DHS's assistant secretary of intergovernmental affairs, rode aboard a ferry last Thursday in Seattle as it sailed from Colman Dock to Bainbridge Island; Markey's visit comes as a part of...

(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.

...

“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!

Sadly, if you hadn’t heard KUOW has ‘fired’ Cliff Mass over editorializing on the Weekday Show. His shows have been insightful – and even brilliant. I’m surprised KUOW thinks their audience can’t handle an occasional opinion.

...

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

...

There’re a few hot new releases from this weekend’s Hamvention over in my old home state. And I’m not referring to the sewage issue there!

The Elecraft KX3 is a new 1.5-2 pound, 10W PEP (& KXPA100 100W companion amp), 160-6 Meters, Software Defined Radio (SDR), Trail Friendly Radio (TFR, i.e., light, small, ~150 mA current) with many cool features like 8 AA batteries/internal charger & optional microphone, for ~$800. It does all modes: SSB/CW/AM/FM/DATA - including built-in PSK31 and RTTY encode/decode/display....

An article published May 11, 2011 in Knowledge@Wharton, an online resource from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School, looks at the question "what motivates individuals to listen to warnings and act" using the virtual world as a laboratory.  Robert Meyer, a Wharton marketing professor who is co-director of the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, developed an "interactive simulation to study such factors as news media reports, storm warnings and the level of concern expressed by friends and neighbors" motivate people to act before an impending disaster.

Excerpts from the article include:  "The group that was bombarded with news about very bad storms actually prepared less in the simulation that followed than the other group. 'You have a crowding out effect with disasters,' according to Meyer. 'As you have one after another, people care less about the next one.'"  "...the group that viewed a graphic showing the most likely path...

The American Red Cross (ARC) launched a newly designed website, ReadyRating.org, to help businesses, schools and other organizations better prepare for emergencies. The announcement was made at an event involving business, education and government leaders at Red Cross national headquarters in Washington DC.  Ready Rating™ is a free, self-paced, web-based membership program that helps a business or school measure...

VashonBePrepared is delighted to partner with the Vashon Island School District (VISD). We added them about a month ago to our list of key partners (see list with their logos on our home page), in recognition of their vital role in the island’s disaster preparedness and response roles.

In reality, the VISD have long been an informal partner, through their participation...

A few handy videos are available on this topic courtesy of TechSoup. While oriented to nonprofits, many of the lessons also apply to small businesses:

After the Crash: Minimize your Downtime Disaster Planning: Backup, Backup, Backup! Disaster Planning: What Organizations Need to Know to Protect Their Tech ...

Help! Can anyone figure out how to squeeze our long name into a tiny 50 by 50 pixel logo for use on our new Facebook page?! Our policies state we can’t abbreviate our name either. Hmmm.

Hundreds of people and a score of emergency agencies will participate in Snohomish County’s largest disaster drill ever. "Shake, Rattle and Roll 2011" will be held Wednesday at Arlington's municipal airport. The scenario is a 7.5 magnitude earthquake along the South Whidbey Fault, which runs through Snohomish County.

Participants include Medical Reserve Corps and community volunteers from Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, Island and Snohomish...

The King County Mass Care Workgroup is hosting the annual Mass Care Regional Forum on June 8 and you are invited! 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. Information will be provided and exchanged on planning efforts, emerging issues, resources, and channels for receiving and offering assistance during a disaster.

This year’s Forum features keynote speaker Joy Portella from Mercy Corps sharing her experience in going to Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. Presentations will include an overview of the development of a King County Disaster Behavioral Health Plan, how to apply the new Guidance on Functional Needs Support Services (FNSS) in shelters, and emerging issues and current activities in King County Emergency Management. Additionally, questions, concerns and ideas submitted by attendees will be addressed...

The USGS is trying to achieve a denser and more uniform spacing of seismographs in select urban areas to provide better measurements of ground motion during earthquakes. These measurements improve our ability to make rapid post-earthquake assessments of expected damage and contribute to the continuing development of engineering standards for construction.

To accomplish this, we developed a new type of digital seismograph that communicates its data to the USGS via the internet. The seismographs connect to a local network via WiFi and use existing broadband connections to transmit data after an earthquake. The instruments are designed to be installed in private homes, businesses, public buildings and schools with an existing broadband connection to the internet.

...

The Seattle Red Cross will conduct a free two-day Volunteer training on Saturday June 4, and Saturday June 11, 2011, from 9:00am-6:00pm. (Both days are obligatory.) The training will be held at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue, 10020 Southwest Bank Road.

According to Jeff Isaacson, Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator for American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties, people will be trained in both Mass Care and Disaster Action Team (DAT). So the classes will cover sheltering,...

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11 AM PST

In times of disaster, a trained and informed public is better prepared to protect themselves, their families, their workplace and their neighbors. This webinar will showcase several disaster training resources that are available in communities across the nation. FEMA recognizes that it takes a “whole community” approach to meet the needs of the public before, during and after a disaster. Learn how your community can train and educate its citizens to be better prepared and involved in your community’s disaster response and recovery efforts.

Join us for brief presentations by representatives from the American Red Cross, the Community Emergency Response Team program, ARRL National Association...

Glenn Thomas WB6W has refreshed the website of the Western Washington Section of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). Check it out at: http://wwa.arrl.org

Also of interest is the joint Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) of King County website: www.AresOfKingCounty.org

Everyone interested in King County Mass Care issues should plan on attending an all morning forum to be held June 8th at the King County Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) in Renton. Organizers include Jill Watson (Seattle), Dave Nichols (PHSKC), Sarah Miller (Auburn), Mike Ryan (Zone 1), Howard Ferrucci (American Red Cross), Rachel Myers (Renton) and Jan Beck (Bellevue).

The day will begin at 8 AM with an introduction to Mass Care. Resources will be available throughout the morning and a number of exciting information sharing opportunities are also under consideration in addition to a list of great speakers. Details should be published here at www.VashonEOC.com, but you can also contact Cathy Rogers as the day gets closer. Hopefully we can car pool together to this.

The Vashon Maury Island Radio Club’s May meeting will be this coming Tuesday, May 3rd. 7:00PM at Vashon Fire Station 55 in the EOC room. Our first Show & Tell "Topic - Randy Bardwell, K7RDB presents his home-brew, high tech "uber go-box" and also VMIRC Business Meeting.

- Sharon Danielson KE7HBZ, VMIRC President

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. ...

The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are pleased to share the following compilations of FEMA earthquake publications, at no cost:

Earthquake Publications for Teachers and Kids, FEMA P-710CD...

Washington State Emergency Management Association (WSEMA) will hold their annual conference at the Red Lion Hotel in Port Angeles, Washington on September 27-29, 2011. The theme for the 2011 conference is “Preparedness: It’s Not a Mystery”.

If anyone is interested in speaking, the deadline for their call for presentations is 1 Jun: contact Cheryl Bledsoe [Cheryl.Bledsoe (at) clark.wa.gov].

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.

Today there is a 300 yard isolation zone set up around the Hyundai Oakland container ship in the Port of Tacoma after a ~4:30 AM leak from a 55 gallon container of chlorobenzotrifluoride solvent. See KIRO TV’s report for details.

Might there be other chemicals...

AT&T has started selling portable cellular antennas so customers can provide their own wireless coverage in disaster-struck or remote areas. Typically cell phone companies deploy mobile trucks with larger mobile cell towers, but this gives responders control over their own deployments – albeit with fairly limited service:

The Remote Mobility Zone can handle 14 simultaneous calls, and data at less-than-broadband speeds. Coverage extends up to half a mile from the unit. The "portable cell tower" can also be mounted in a car or truck.

The...

King County OEM’s Pascal Schuback had a neat 138 character tweet today that took me well over an hour to digest:

Know the difference 2B ready RT @USGS: How much bigger is a 8.7 2A 5.8? Click "Try It Yourself" Calculator at top of http://go.usa.gov/baq

As they note on their site, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/how_much_bigger.php:

The magnitude scale is really comparing amplitudes of waves on a seismogram, not the STRENGTH (energy) of the quakes. So, a magnitude 8.7 is 794 times bigger than a 5.8 quake as measured on seismograms, but the 8.7 quake is about 23,000 times STRONGER than the 5.8! Since it is really the energy or strength that knocks down buildings, this is really the more important comparison. This means that it would take about 23,000 quakes of magnitude 5.8 to equal the energy released by one magnitude 8.7 event.

...

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.

...

The Five-Year NIMS Training Plan, originally released February 2008 is being revised. The comment period for the new National Incident Management System Training Plan ended February 22, several hundred comments have been adjudicated, and just last week the document was transmitted up to FEMA Deputy Administrator Manning,...

1) Installed latest version of the Document Repository software: Bring2mind.DMX_05.03.07_Install Release Notes for 05.03.07

Fix: Notifications not attaching document to email DMX-395

Fix: Notifications sent to all users DMX-402

Enhancement: Double check correct file transfer to storage DMX-400

Fix: WebDAV editing of entry in absolute root not possible DMX-397

New Feature: Add a script to analyze the state of the file storage rather than take immediate action DMX-396

2) Installed a photo gallery extension for the document exchange (Bring2mind.DMX.NewGallery_01.03.04_Install):

The gallery addon allows you to show DMX content as an image gallery. In the module's settings you specify where in the document tree you want the gallery to start. Folders...

Tom Miner, head of the Northwest's  sole FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Incident Support Team, riveted an overflow audience with a clear message that after a major regional disaster, federal help is very unlikely to arrive on Vashon for well over 3 days and likely 10 – or more...

Disasters can typically generate up to fifteen years worth of a community's solid waste over a few days, with the potential to overwhelm day-to-day solid waste operations and to lead to years of disruption; FEMA estimates that debris removal accounted for 27 percent of their total disaster response costs for those U.S. disasters between 2002 and 2007; prolonged problems with the management of solid waste can lead to public and environmental health issues;  slow management of solid waste can also impede economic recovery by inhibiting rebuilding activities.

-- www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/waste-management-critical-natural-disaster-recovery

Read more in Charlotte Brown, “Disaster waste management: A review article,” Waste Management...

Randy’s got the hottest (communications, not survival) go-box on Vashon – at least that I’m aware of. I don’t see any straps on it to carry it around, but otherwise it looks pretty impressive. Check it out at NineByFive.com

Also Randy has just created a new MeetUp group for W7VMI. Join up at www.meetup.com/Vashon-Radio-and-Technology-Meetup/

Five active U.S. nuclear reactors -- the Diablo Canyon Power Plant and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California; the South Texas Project near the Gulf Coast; the Waterford Steam Electric Station in Louisiana; and the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant in North Carolina -- are situated in seismic activity-prone zones.

William Leith, acting associate director for natural hazards at the US Geological Survey, said that although most nuclear plants are in the central and eastern United States, where earthquakes are rare, the USGS ranks thirty-nine states as having a high or moderate earthquake risk. USA Today notes that new studies have shown that at least twenty magnitude-9.0 earthquakes have struck off the coast of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington in the past 20,000 years, most recently in 1700, he said.

-- www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/five-us-nuclear-plants-earthquake-zones

...

National Volunteer Week is observed 10-16 April, and according to  FEMA Regional Administrator Ken Murphy, it’s all about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities.

“National Volunteer Week offers an invaluable moment in time to celebrate this nation’s volunteers, and sounds a clarion call for all of us to help strengthen our communities,” said Murphy.  “Planning for disasters means that we must plan for the Whole Community, including people of different ages and those with various access and functional needs.  It means planning for children – and not just thinking of them as small adults. It means planning for the elderly, and planning for families without access to personal transportation.  Whole Community preparedness...

At their 2010 Awards Ceremony yesterday at Camp Burton, the Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s 2010 Commissioners Award was bestowed upon VashonBePrepared. Fire Commissioners Rex Stratton, Gayle Summers, Ron Turner, David Hoffmann and Neal Phillip presented the award to General Joseph Ulatoski, Catherine and Michael Cochrane, Richard Wallace and myself on VashonBePrepared’s behalf. The award was clearly in recognition of all the volunteers...

New features are detailed at http://dotnetnuke.codeplex.com/releases/view/63026. I’ve also updated the Wiki module to 4.3.0 (alpha), and the Links module to 6.0.0 beta, and Forum module to 5.0.1. Lightbox Gallery has is a new install allowing FancyBox display of images. Unfortunately I’ve had to uninstall the effority.UserDirectory for now due to this issue, but a reinstall may solve this. To provide support for IE9, the Telerik controls have been updated to their Q1 2011 release, per Joe Brinkman’s guidance.  The wiki upgrade in particular should allow us to finally clear up those extraneous pages with funky characters – that prevented their deletion or even editing – but actually completely broke functionality for now. I anticipate the...

Courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry, and the Seattle Emergency Operations Center where a large reprint is prominently displayed, is this neat old photo.

I also have an old news clipping of Laura Snyder's that I pledge to scan and make available before too much longer. There is also a treasure of Vashon Historical photos at the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum, though I don’t know the number that pertain to disasters and preparedness, aside from a movie they scanned to DVD entitled “Billingsley’s on Vashon Island” showing another (more explosive!) Civil Defense Drill.



...

After lunch today I caught this poignant reminder of the recent Japanize triple disaster – and the world-wide support for the Japanese.

[Updated:...

Curious how...

A host of sister neighborhood preparedness groups in Seattle exist, all working under the City of Seattle OEM:     West Seattle Be Prepared (that apparently partially chose their name based on VashonBePrepared!)     Magnolia | Queen Anne | Interbay     Capital Hill Preparedness people          See Seattle Community Network for additional resources and organizations

    See http://www.facebook.com/goSCALLOPS for a regional sustainability group

This...

Cathy Wenderoth works for the Seattle Police Department as the Seattle OEM’s Volunteer Coordinator. She is now organizing Seattle’s first CERT classes.

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...

On March 30th, President Obama signed a Presidential Direction on the subject of “National Preparedness”, reflecting upon H1N1, Deepwater Horizon Christchurch and Sendai events - and lessons learned since the previous December 2003, Bush-era policy. 

Unusually, the text was released today, only the second of his six directives released to date, per...

FEMA just announced this.

http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/22726 describes a major multi-state, national exercise simulating the 1811 New Madrid earthquake – actually a series of seismic events (up to seven on the Richter Scale) from December 1811 into 1812. According to FEMA, NLE 2011 will be the first NLE to simulate a natural hazard and also uses a state-based planning process rather than federal.

From FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate comes word of a new base plan for such events, the National Exercise Program Base Plan, as updated a few weeks ago, on March 18. National standards for such exercises are coordinated through the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP).

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....

If you haven’t seen this yet, there’s a fun preparedness campaign going on in April. Even if folks aren’t part of the first 200 people to sign up and get a free crank flashlight/radio or emergency kit, everyone will be entered for the Grand Prize! Note that the campaign is for people in King and Snohomish County. Please spread the word!

April Tip of the Month:  It’s Disaster Preparedness Month in Washington. Don’t forget, at 9:45 a.m. on April 20 – it’s the state-wide “Drop, cover and hold” drill. And check out this year’s preparedness campaign:

Take the "3 to Get Ready" preparedness challenge...