Thursday, November 7, 2019

November 2019: Summer Youth Preparedness Camps, Holiday Safety Tips, and More!

Individual and community preparedness newsletter, skyline
Picture of candles with the message Think about using battery-operated flamess candles. These candles can look, smell, and feel like real candles.

Stay Safe This Holiday Season

With the holiday season upon us, many people travel to loved ones, decorate their homes and places of work, and cook a family feast! As you prepare for any upcoming events, be sure you know what to do to stay safe. Then, share ways to prepare for the holidays with your family, friends, and community.
Traveling by car? If you’re heading somewhere cold, prepare your car for winter weather and pack an emergency supply kit that includes essentials like jumper cables, a car cell phone charger, a blanket, and a map.
Cooking a big meal? Prevent home fires and keep an eye on what you fry! Many cooking fires start when frying food. Stay in your kitchen and be aware of what’s going on. If you leave the kitchen, turn off the stove.
Decorating your home? Keep all candles 12 inches away from things that can burn. Three of every five home candle fires occurred when some form of combustible material was left or came too close to the candle. Consider using battery-operated flameless candles.
Other tips for holiday and travel safety include:
  • Stay off the road during and after inclement weather. Sign up for alerts and warnings for your travel destinations.
  • Turn off holiday lights at night or when you leave the house.
  • When you shop online for holiday gifts, ensure your personal information is secure.
  • Establish and maintain communications with your family while away.
For more tips, hashtags, graphics, promotional content, Twitter, and Facebook messages to share with your networks, visit Ready.gov’s Holiday and Travel Safety Toolkit. 
Picture of students with message Develop a workplace emergency plan and be sure employees know it. #BeInformed. Ready

Business Resilience is Community Resilience

When disaster strikes, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members are important parts of their communities. They are trained and know how to help. They understand their local hazards, know how to stay safe, and can perform basic first aid, light search and rescue, and fire suppression. Even before there is an emergency, they prepare themselves and their families.
Disasters affect CERT members, too. Before you can respond to an emergency, you must ensure you are safe and that your own family is taken care of. And if you serve your community as a leader of a business, you must take care of that, too. Read more... 
Movie poster of Zombieland with message Zombies don't plan ahead. You can. Make your emergency plan.

Zombies Don’t Plan Ahead—But You Can!

There are rules to surviving Zombieland, and there are steps you can take to be prepared for an emergency or natural disaster. FEMA’s Ready Campaign and the Ad Council are joining with Sony Pictures to promote emergency preparedness through a new Public Service Advertising campaign tied to the upcoming film, Zombieland: Double Tap. Watch the video on YouTube and make a plan at Ready.gov.

Upcoming Webinars

Active Shooter Preparedness
Join FEMA on Thursday, November 14 at 12:00 PM EST for a webinar: The Active Shooter on Campus: What can we Learn? Active Shooter Preparedness for Institutes of Higher Education. This webinar will feature Lt. Paul Giardino, the President of the New Jersey College and University Public Safety Association.
Lt. Giardino will discuss lessons learned in response and planning from previous incidents. He’ll also share tips for individuals and higher education organizations.
Learn more and register here.
2018 National Household Survey Findings
Join FEMA for a two-part webinar series to learn about the findings from the 2018 National Household Survey (NHS). Part I (Wednesday, December 4 at 3:00 PM EST) will discuss the survey and provide a brief summary of findings, including demographics. Part II (Wednesday, December 11 at 3:00 PM EST) will focus on hazard-specific findings.
Learn more and register for Part I here and for Part II here.
Medical Reserve Corps Preparedness and Response
Join FEMA for this webinar that will cover how the New York City Medical Reserve Corps responds to and prepares the community for pandemics like the flu. Then, learn how other municipalities will share how they use their Medical Reserve Corps in blue sky missions. The webinar will be held Tuesday, December 10 at 12:00 PM EST.
Learn more and register here.
CERT Basic Curriculum Release
Join FEMA Tuesday, December 10 at 4:00 PM EST to learn more about the release of the updated CERT Basic Curriculum. FEMA will share the reasons for the changes, highlight best practices, and share impacts of the updated train. Participants will learn how trainers can deliver the updated training and when to order materials.
Learn more and register here.
 

Wanted: CERT Pictures

The National CERT Program Office is looking for new photos for use in upcoming CERT products. If you have high-resolution, engaging photos and are interested in appearing in these training and web documents, you can submit the photos to FEMA-Prepare@fema.dhs.gov. Please note that photos selected will require a signed photo release for all people in the photo (to be provided upon receipt).

Preparedness by the Numbers: Critical Infrastructure

November is National Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month. Major disasters can disrupt critical infrastructure and impact response and recovery. Disruptions may include electricity, supply chains, communications, public transportation, government services, and financial services. The 2018 National Household Survey (NHS) shows how the U.S. population could be affected if these services are disrupted after a disaster.
For example, the 2018 NHS found that almost one-fifth of the U.S. population would rely on public transportation for evacuation. The survey also showed that 67 percent of the population has money set aside for an emergency.
To better prepare for a disaster and reduce the potential impacts from compromised critical infrastructure, you can gather emergency supplies to last at least three days, sign up for local alerts and warnings, make contingency plans for transportation and evacuation, keep cash on hand for emergencies, and keep important documents in fireproof and/or waterproof locations or securely stored electronically.

CERT Train the Trainer and Program Manager Course Openings

There is still space available in upcoming CERT Train the Trainer and Program Manager courses at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI). These courses will run March 2-6 and June 8-12, 2020. To apply, visit training.fema.gov, contact the EMI admissions office at NETC-admissions@fema.dhs.gov, or contact your state training officer today!

FEMA Seeks Feedback for HSEEP Doctrine

FEMA is seeking feedback for the draft version of the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) doctrine. Feedback ensures that the HSEEP doctrine, the training course, and corresponding documents best meet the needs of the whole community. This second draft includes comments from the initial feedback period. FEMA is seeking feedback from state, local, tribal, territorial, and Federal partners as well as other stakeholders.
HSEEP provides a foundation for exercise planning, conduct, and evaluation. It also provides a methodology for a consistent and collaborative approach for exercise development and execution. HSEEP doctrine is flexible, scalable, adaptable, and is for use by stakeholders across the whole community. The second round of feedback began October 16, 2019 and will be accepted until November 8, 2019.
The draft HSEEP doctrine and comment matrix will be found on FEMA’s website at: https://www.fema.gov/hseep. Feedback will be accepted through 5:00 pm EDT, November 8. Please email feedback to HSEEP@fema.dhs.gov.
Campers at the FEMA Region 10 Youth Preparedness practice cribbing.

Summer Camps Turn Teens into Preparedness Leaders

Summer has come and gone, and students have already finished several months of school. But just because they were out of school, doesn’t mean they weren’t learning. This year, teens had more options than ever to learn about disaster preparedness in summer camp.
In the past few years, summer camps for disaster and emergency preparedness have grown increasingly popular. These camps weave disaster preparedness with traditional camp activities. Since many summer camps already focus on building self-sufficiency, leadership skills, and teamwork, disaster preparedness has been a natural extension. Read more... 
Picture of a house with a family standing in front of it. Check your insurance to ensure you have enough coverage. Be Informed. Ready

Check Your Insurance to Make Sure You’re Prepared

Whether you own or rent, your home and the things inside of it are probably some of your biggest expenses when recovering from a disaster. However, your homeowners or renters insurance policy may not include coverage for certain disasters. Having insurance that covers the hazards you might face can give you peace of mind and help protect what matters to you.
The first step is to check with your insurance company to understand what is covered—and what isn’t. Read more…
Disclaimer: The reader recognizes that the federal government provides links and informational data on various disaster preparedness resources and events and does not endorse any non-federal events, entities, organizations, services, or products. Please let us know about other events and services for individual and community preparedness that could be included in future newsletters by contacting 
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