FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) announces the application period for the National Emergency Management Advanced Academy, the National Emergency Management Executive Academy, and the Master Public Information Officer Program. The application period ends June 1 and applicants will be notified in late summer of their selection status. Download the application packets from the FEMA website.
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IAEM opens application period for EMvision Talks
The IAEM EMvision Talks call for speakers is now open through May 7. These talks provide a forum for people to share a personal connection to an idea, experience, or passion related to emergency management, leadership, communication, community engagement, or other related topics. Talks are limited to seven minutes and will be held live on the plenary stage on Oct. 19, 2021, at the IAEM 2021 Annual Conference, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. To apply, submit a biography and an abstract. Review the Speaker Guidance for more information.
NIMS Alert 09-21: FEMA Releases Updates to Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool
FEMA released updates to the Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool. The updates include the most current census tract demographic data, estimated annualized frequency of 15 hazards by county and new data layers on National Flood Insurance Program policy penetration rates.
This update also includes new symbology legends, revised navigation tabs and data display tools that simplify the analysis of community resilience indicators.
The Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool is a geographic information system webmap tool. The tool allows users to combine layers of community resilience indicators, infrastructure locations and hazard data to visualize, prioritize and implement strategies for planning in community outreach, resilience, response and recovery.
This update includes the latest census data from the American Community Survey five-year data from 2015-2019, including tribal census data and a new data layer on broadband internet access data. In addition, FEMA added data on National Flood Insurance Program penetration rates for residential buildings in special flood hazard areas.
The resilience tool now includes county-level estimates of how often hazards are likely to occur per year for 15 natural hazards, which are drawn from FEMA’s National Risk Index analysis. Through FEMA’s collaboration with the National Weather Service, the Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool maintains real-time weather, watches and warnings data. The tool also includes historic hazard data on tornadoes and hurricanes, which is drawn from the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data Open datasets.
The Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool is publicly available at FEMA.gov. This website also includes supporting documents on the tool, including a user guide, a summary list of resilience analysis and planning data layers and sources, a summary of community resilience indicators research and video how-to guides to demonstrate functions and tools.
OSHA to increase COVID-19 protections for EMS and other workers
On Jan. 21, President Biden signed an Executive Order directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop additional programs to protect American workers from COVID-19. The National Emphasis Program (NEP) increases protections for EMS and other workers against contracting COVID-19 and will enhance COVID-19 related training and enforcement activities.
OSHA will update the Interim Enforcement Response Plan to prioritize on-site workplace inspections.The NEP includes plans to ensure that workers are protected from retaliation. States with an OSHA-approved state plan have 60 days to notify OSHA if they already have the equivalent to an NEP plan or will adopt the federal plan.
University of Delaware New Hybrid M.S. in Disaster Science and Management
This program will become a hybrid Master’s degree program in Fall 2021. This course will be more convenient for working professionals with weekend in-person session, blended distance-learning curriculum, and a full cohort experience. The university will be accepting application until August 1, 2021.
Complete details are available at: https://www.bidenschool.udel.edu/masters-programs/academic-programs/m-s-in-disaster-science-management?fbclid=IwAR3eL3RiMQIz7RmRFHQBQ3x24HTu6ixDEMCOSa3vP0Ws1Wu2_ae57aGpPFE
FDA recommends transition from use of decontaminated disposable respirators
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that health care personnel and facilities transition away from crisis capacity conservation strategies, such as decontaminating disposable respirators for reuse.
Based on the available domestic supply of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-approved respirators, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe there are enough respirators to transition away from use of decontamination and bioburden reduction systems.
DHS S&T seeks feedback on radiological recovery logistics tool
DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s (DHS S&T) National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) is developing a tool that matches equipment with response and recovery objectives for radiological and nuclear incidents. Research was conducted to understand how to leverage existing municipal and public works equipment for critical response objectives such as surveying and monitoring contaminated areas, decontaminating critical infrastructure, and conducting waste management. NUSTL is seeking feedback on the Radiological Recovery Logistics Tool, which organizes the data from this research, to improve the tool’s applicability and operational use. Specific feedback is sought from SLTT emergency managers and first responders with knowledge and expertise in the resource management process within their jurisdictions. If you are a planning section chief, a logistics section chief, or someone that engages in the emergency logistics process, please reach out to Orly Amir to help with this project.
IAEM opens 2021 Awards Program — nominations due May 31
The 2021 IAEM Awards Nomination Period opened Apr. 9, and will run through 11:59 p.m. EDT, May 31. This is an opportunity to recognize the best emergency management programs and individuals for 2020 accomplishments. This year, IAEM launched the first ever online submission portal for the Awards Program, making this process even easier. The awards have a variety of categories spanning global and U.S. emergency managers, students, uniformed services, and volunteer organizations. Learn more about the program on IAEM website. Do you want to nominate a worthy colleague, student, or program but not sure how to start the process? IAEM is hosting a webinar on Apr. 20 to review the program, application process, and answer questions. The past year was a difficult one, but emergency managers put in the long hours to ensure that communities stayed safe and protected throughout the pandemic and natural disasters. Give them the honor and recognition they deserve by nominating them for an IAEM Award.
CISA launches CISA Securing Public Gatherings website
This week, CISA launched the CISA Securing Public Gatherings website, www.cisa.gov/securing-public-gatherings. The website features security resources related to public gatherings and crowded places for all stakeholders. The new website is a key resource for connecting organizations of all types and sizes to CISA products to mitigate risk and promote resilience. This format offers a flexible, user-friendly experience and enables more frequent updates to the website, providing stakeholders with the most up-to-date content, products, and information CISA has to offer. This website provides security resources that address a variety of threat vectors impacting public gatherings and crowded places. All CISA products posted on the website are categorized by audience and topic area with clickable icons to help users easily navigate to the most relevant information.
Researcher seeks input from emergency managers on study that will improve understanding of heat wave events
Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Alabama are conducting research into heat waves spatial patterns. The study is titled “Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Heat Waves Across the United States” and it is funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal of the project is to get a better understanding of these deadly events and help improve the ability to predict and model their impacts. Part of the research includes a short survey to gather more in-depth information on how heat waves are defined by state climatologists, forecasters, and emergency managers. The information provided on heat wave definitions will remain confidential and names will not be associated with responses. Emergency managers may help by taking the survey now.
