The IAEM Conference Committee will be issuing the Call for Speakers for the IAEM 62nd Annual Conference on Monday, Dec. 16th. The Call for Speakers will be open until Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Review the 2014 speaker resources now. The IAEM 62nd Annual Conference will be held in San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 14 -19, 2014.
The IAEM-Global Student Council has posted photos from the IAEM 61st Annual Conference & EMEX 2013. These photos are available to all attendees and members to purchase as a part of GSC's fundraising initiative to help support students programs throughout the year, including the IAEM 62nd Annual Conference in San Antonio. They are posted on Hybrid Intuition Media's SmugMug page, and 100% of all proceeds will be donated to the Global Student Council. This process will be transparent as the site allows us to track all donations and a transfer of funds will take place each quarter throughout the year.
New rules upgrading the EU's civil protection mechanism, which coordinates the EU's response to natural and man-made disasters such as earthquakes, oil spills or forest fires, were backed by MEPs. The deal, agreed with EU governments, provides more funding, streamlines the pooling of assets such as rescue teams and aircraft and makes it easier to intervene outside the EU.
Later this month, 17 robots will show off their skills at the DARPA Robotics Challenge trials to try to convince the judges that they're are the toughest and cleverest androids of the bunch. The challenge, prompted by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, aims to fast-track the development of robots that can respond in a natural or man-made disaster.
The Department of Homeland Security announced that Monsignor John Brown, Walgreens Drugstores, and the New York Mets have been awarded the 2013 Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience, recognizing their contributions to their communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Complete details are available here.
Your colleagues have already read this and started sending in their products. What has your federal, military, state regional, county, municipal or other governmental entity produced this year as a communication project? Have you done something innovative in your community to reach out? Now is the time to be recognized for the communications you are doing. The National Association of Government Communicators has issued their Call for Entries in the Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Awards Competition. Enter as many categories as your choose — the number of opportunities to share your best work, innovation, creativity and use of technology may surprise you. There are more than 40 categories with a vast range of opportunities for you to showcase your work. A few of the categories are: publications, media relations, photography, graphic design, video, electronic communications, social media, and branding/rebranding. The deadline is Jan. 10, 2014. Learn more on the NAGC website.
March 14 — Ceektowaga, N.Y.
A minimum of 10 registrants is required for the Prep Course offerings to proceed. Register online. To discuss opportunities to have the CEM®/AEM℠ Prep Course scheduled in your area, contact, CEM Administrator Kate McClimans.
Changes to the education requirement for Canadian CEM® applicants will be implemented on July 1, 2014. Details will be circulated in the months to come. In the meantime, Canadian candidates can continue to submit CEM® applications using the current degree waiver (substitute two years of additional experience in a disaster/emergency position for each year of college credit lacking) until June 30, 2014.
FEMA is in the process of developing its 2014-2018 FEMA Strategic Plan. This plan will be built around five strategic priorities and two strategic imperatives to advance the way the agency approaches response, recovery, preparedness, protection, and mitigation. FEMA will hold a webinar on Dec. 19, 3:00-4:30 p.m., to discuss agency planning with stakeholders. FEMA partners are encouraged to join this webinar by using the dial-in number and link below.
Dial-in Number: 1-888-219-1217, Passcode: 7395335. If you wish to access conference captioning during the call, please click here.
Adobe Connect Link: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/femastrategicplan. Select "Enter as a Guest." Be sure to test your Adobe Connect connection prior to the meeting by clicking here.
Online Collaboration: FEMA is also encouraging partners to join in the public discussion made available through the online collaboration forum at fema.ideascale.com.
From gearing up for the zombie apocalypse to a flash mob encouraging readiness, promoting public preparedness has taken numerous creative forms. And now emergency managers in Virginia are getting vocal — by turning popular songs into catchy messages about what to include in an emergency kit and other useful information.
Natural disaster relief: How does psychological distance affect donations?
When natural disasters occur, news reports can tug on our hearts and influence how we react to relief efforts. According to a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers are more likely to make a financial donation when there is a sense of immediate urgency and when the act of donating makes them feel good.
Since typhoon Haiyan ravaged the Philippines last month, some predictable patterns of disaster news coverage have begun to emerge — including evidence of a sometimes contentious relationship between the press and aid organizations. On PLOS TGH, Columbia University's Chris Tedeschi explores.
Natural disasters affect millions of lives each year and bring humanity together around a common goal of helping the victims and supporting reconstruction. The Asian tsunami of 2004, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, or the deadly foods in Pakistan later that year are just a few examples of tragic events that triggered the outpouring of donations to relief efforts. Yet, all too often this well-intended generosity fails to translate into commensurate results on the ground.
One month after Typhoon Haiyan tore through six Philippine islands, the death toll stands at 5,924 and 1,779 people are still missing, according to government figures. More than 12 million people have been affected by the monster typhoon that left behind catastrophic scenes of destruction and despair when it made landfall on November 8, the government said. It left entire communities without immediate access to food and medical care.
The United Nations is investigating reports that aid has yet to reach remote parts of the Philippines a month after a devastating typhoon, the U.N. humanitarian chief said on Monday. Valerie Amos, U.N. Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said she had expected that aid had been delivered by helicopter to survivors in even the most remote outlying islands following the disaster.
Natural disasters in the United States, such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires, are becoming more common and more costly, both in dollar terms and in terms of lives lost. And while 2013 did not surpass 2012 in the number of these events, the cyclical nature of disastrous events does not indicate that 2014 will be an even milder year. Research firm CoreLogic Inc. published its review of the past year's natural disasters and its analysis of the risks going into next year.