CIP
Update
January 13, 2006
This newsletter is for cities, counties and communities involved
in public-private partnerships for joint emergency preparedness, planning and
prevention.
Please go to www.cip.msu.edu for more information
about the program.
Participating
Communities
Allentown, PA /
Annapolis, MD / Bethlehem, PA / Brooklyn, OH / Carroll County, MD / Casa Grande, AZ / Clark County, NV / Evansville, IN / Hoover, AL / Marquette County, MI /
Milwaukee, WI / Monroe County, MI /
Northampton County, PA / Oakland County, MI / Perkiomen
Valley, PA /
Redmond, WA
/ Racine, WI / Richmond, VA / Rockville, MD / Sandy City, UT
We are currently working with 20
communities and will work with another
24 cities, counties or communities over the next couple of years. Of the 24 available CIP Programs, we are in contact with 10 communities.
Is there a
location in the nation that you think may be interested in building a public-private partnership for
joint emergency preparedness?
CIP
Staff Attends CERT Train-the-Trainer
Brit
Weber, Dave LaRowe and Susan Gade,
CIP staff attended this worthwhile program put on by the Michigan Citizen Corps
and the Combined Regional Emergency Services Training Center (CREST) in,
We encourage you to place CERT training on your agenda for
discussion. For more about CERT and other programs by the Citizen Corps,
please go to http://www.citizencorps.gov.
What to Start
With at Community CIP Meetings
The CIP staff
occasionally gets calls asking, “What topics should we discuss at our
meetings?” There are a multitude of ideas in emergency preparedness,
mitigation, response and recovery, yet the goal of creating a public-private
partnership should be an integral part of these meetings.
You
can always start a meeting with the question, “What can we do to help you
succeed in your business?” This is an open-ended question and
should be balanced with emergency preparedness in mind. The more of an
effort by the public sector to know the business community, the more
improvements in joint communication, level of trust, understanding, and
cooperation will occur between the sectors.
The
next question would be, “What do you need public sector to mitigate
disasters?” In one community we worked with this question was asked twice
of a public health professional who later shared with the CIP staff that she
was surprised. Why? Because that question is seldom asked and she
wasn’t used to being asked by a business executive what the health department
needed. She found it to be a pleasant experience.
Therefore,
do you know what is needed in your community? If not, start with the
basic questions and you will quickly move to the relevant issues.
The Disaster
Hits and FEMA is in Town!
During a recent
emergency management state conference, one of the presenters shared her city’s
experience with a flood, which caused extensive infrastructure damage,
evacuation, destroyed homes and human distress. In January 2005 flooding
caused over $180 million dollars of damage to
Recovery
within the emergency management cycle of preparedness, mitigation, and response
is an area that the CIP staff suggests that requires more communication, more
planning and more work.
The
presenters from St. George discussed the response and recovery phases and the
lessons learned. Here are some of the comments:
·
Set
up a process to track volunteers.
·
Create
a list of contractors and companies who are willing to help.
·
Get
volunteers into the EOC right away when the disaster strikes.
·
Activate
community response organizations, such as CERT, VIPS, etc.
·
Contact
businesses asking them if they would donate or volunteer.
·
Take
pictures of the damage before and after.
·
Create
aerial maps of the damage areas before and after.
·
When
FEMA first arrives, they need to know where the damage is, what was damaged and estimated cost to repair or replace.
·
FEMA
and other agencies will arrive – learn their roles and what they need
from you ASAP.
·
FEMA
will pay to restore facilities to pre-disaster condition, even if the
dimensions required to re-build have changed.
·
FEMA
will review your jurisdiction’s policies, plans, and procedures and will follow
them exactly.
·
Research
FEMA’s Public Assistance Guidelines at www.fema.gov/rrr/pa
- start this when the EOC is activated (Brklacich,
2006).
An
audience member asked the presenters what they would have done differently;
knowing everything they went through. Deanna Brklacich
stated they would have been better prepared in the area of finances and stayed
up to date on disaster seminars! They had a wealth of information they
shared with others and Deanna can be contacted at Deanna.Brklacich@sgcity.org.
Business
Continuity
What is business continuity planning
(BCP) and how can it help you as a business person or as governmental
employee?
Note:
The following has been extracted from the NFPA1600 Standard on
Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs 2004 Edition at http://www.nfpa.org/PDF/nfpa1600.pdf?src=nfpa.
An
excellent resource that public and private sectors can use for critical
incident management is NFPA 1600 – Standard of Disaster/Emergency Management
and Business Continuity Programs 2004 Edition. This guide for both
sectors provides the standard, along with explanatory materials and
resources. Sub-section 3.3.1 defines business continuity programs as, “an
ongoing process supported by senior management and funded to ensure that the
necessary steps are taken to identify the impact of potential losses, maintain
viable recovery strategies and recovery plans, and ensure continuity of
services through personnel training, plan testing, and maintenance.” (NFPA1600, sub-section 3.3.1, page 1600-4).
Business
continuity provides a process for recovering from critical incidents, and when
determining risks to your business processes and resources it creates a plan of
action. BCP in the private sector typically includes bringing
infrastructure and individuals back to pre-disaster conditions, including
implementation of mitigation measures to facilitate short and long-term
recovery. Business continuity incorporates both the initial activities
to respond to a disaster/emergency situation and the restoration of the
business and its functions to pre-disaster levels. Areas to consider
include succession planning, line of authority, emergency action steps, primary
and alternate emergency operation centers, alternate operating facilities,
vital records, and the protection of resources, facilities, and personnel
(NFPA1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity
Programs, 2004).
Business continuity? Bottom line – reduce risk!
You
Want Federal Money – Must be Risk Based
According
to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, “The department is investing
federal funding into our communities facing the greatest risk and demonstrating
the greatest need in order to receive the highest return in our nation’s
security.” Secretary Chertoff announced a total
of $765 million in direct funding for high threat
urban areas as part of the fiscal year 2006 Urban Areas Security Initiative
(UASI). UASI provides resources for the unique equipment, training,
planning, and exercise needs of select high threat urban areas. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security website, 2006).
It is our understanding that communities who could be eligible to
tap into federal and state homeland security dollars should articulate their
needs based on the “risks” to their community. Look for more information
to be released from governmental authorities on risk-based justification.
Furthering Your
Education
The School of Criminal Justice at
The Master of Science degree program information can be
obtained at:
http://www.cj.msu.edu/~academic/masters.html. Select the “Internet” link and/or the items listed under the
Internet icon.
Information on certificate programs
can be obtained at:
·
Homeland
Security Studies http://www.homelandsecurity.msu.edu/
·
Criminal
Justice - Security Focus http://www.cj.msu.edu/~academic/certprograms.htm
·
Criminal
Justice – Int’l Focus http://www.cj.msu.edu/~academic/certprograms.htm
·
Judicial
Administration http://judicialadministration.msu.edu
·
Law
Enforcement Intelligence http://intellprogram.msu.edu
Details on the MS degrees and certificate program costs can
be found at: http://ctlr.msu.edu/studrec/On-line_Prog_Fees.htm.
Additional information can be obtained by contacting the Administrative
Assistant, Peg Kowalk at (517) 353-5272 or by email kowalkm@msu.edu.
Recent
Postings to CIP Information Exchange Website
To enter the
"CIP Information
Exchange" website, please go to https://angel.msu.edu and enter your user/password ID (or use msu.msu@angel in
the User/NetID and "partnership" as the
password to log in). Click on CIP, which goes to the main menu.
Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all
Communities" are just a few of the following postings:
·
“Hurricane
Response Shows Gaps in Public-Private Coordination”
·
“Fun
Video Simulations Helping Train Emergency Workers”
·
“Business
Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist”
·
“Experts
Wonder Why Disaster Warnings Don’t Work”
There are numerous other resources located on the website.
To locate a specific topic, use the "search" function, which can be
found on the main menu page on the right-hand side in the green task bar.
Starting
a CIP Program
Feel free to make
a referral to the MSU staff about possibly starting a CIP Program elsewhere in
the
Past
Newsletters
If you are interested in
viewing past CIP Update
newsletters, please go to www.cip.msu.edu and select “Newsletters”
from the main menu.
Closing
If you have any topics
and/or ideas for a future CIP Update newsletter, please
contact Brit Weber at weberbr@msu.edu or (517) 355-2227 or
other MSU staff members. About every
three weeks you will receive this newsletter via email. If you no longer
want to be on this list, please reply to this email.
Sources
National Fire Protection Association. (2004).
NFPA1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and
Business Continuity Programs.
Retrieved on January 13, 2006 from http://www.nfpa.org/PDF/nfpa1600.pdf?src=nfpa.
Retrieved on January 13, 2006
from http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic.
Brklacich, Deanna. (2006).
City of
PowerPoint presentation on January
6, 2006,
Tueller, Rachael. (January 10, 2006). Municipalities
remain in recovery mode.
The Spectrum online newspaper. Retrieved on January 11, 2006
from http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060110/NEWS01/601100311/1002&template=printart
Brit Weber
Work: (517) 355-2227
Cell: (517) 206-1640
weberbr@msu.edu
Visit our website: http://www.cip.msu.edu