Emergencity :: August 2008
The Times-Picayune:
The Times-Pic has a good Hurricane Center set up on their homepage. I'll keep an eye out for some additional good information sources. Red Cross is encouraging registration in the Safe and Well program for residents and those who have loved ones in the potentially affected areas.
Warning that Hurricane Gustav is the "mother of all storms," Mayor Ray Nagin late Saturday ordered a mandatory evacuation of the West Bank of New Orleans for 8 a.m. Sunday and the east bank for noon. "We want 100 percent evacuation," Nagin said. "It has the potential to impact every area of this metropolitan area."
The Times-Pic has a good Hurricane Center set up on their homepage. I'll keep an eye out for some additional good information sources. Red Cross is encouraging registration in the Safe and Well program for residents and those who have loved ones in the potentially affected areas.
General Russel Honoré, who headed the U.S. military’s response to Hurricane Katrina, offers blunt advice on surviving organizational disaster.
The role of the leader is to quickly establish a priority of work, maintain it, and adjust it as the situation changes. And then while you focus on that priority, look for some low-hanging fruit -- it shows some degree of progress. You also do what you can to take care of the people -- show some compassion. But get the quick wins. Every crisis has its own personality, so you have to work fast to establish the priorities.
You're constantly learning, and you never have full situation awareness, I can tell you that. You never have full situational awareness, never. And if you think you know everything that's going on, even in your own house, you don't -- nor should you. It would probably drive you crazy.
I'm very pleased to announce that Maxwell Taylor Kennedy has joined our team. Max is an accomplished author, historian and research fellow. His first book about his father, MAKE GENTLE THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD: The Vision of Robert Kennedy, was a national bestseller.
When Max and I first talked about Emergencity, he innately and immediately grokked our vision and the impact we can have on communities across the United States and even globally. His deep understanding of the enmeshed roles of the government and the private sector is playing a pivotal role in our platform and business development.
You can read more about Max on the About Us page.
-Tyler
When Max and I first talked about Emergencity, he innately and immediately grokked our vision and the impact we can have on communities across the United States and even globally. His deep understanding of the enmeshed roles of the government and the private sector is playing a pivotal role in our platform and business development.
You can read more about Max on the About Us page.
-Tyler
Very interesting "Emergency Preparedness and Response Program" from the LA County Department of Public Health, appearing on buses in LA County. Note the "10 Essential Items" that should be part of anyone's disaster preparedness kit. There does, however, appear to be only a token nod to Latinos who comprise 40% of the county, and for many of whom Spanish is the primary language. We need everyone to be prepared if we want truly resilient communities. (photo submission Jason Womack)
Coach Ron Tunick, host of "The Business of Life" on KKZZ AM-1140 here in Ventura County, was kind enough to have me on his show for 1/2 an hour to talk about Emergencity. Check out the podcast here (skip ahead to 29:00 for my segment).
Coach Ron told me on air that he was feeling an earthquake coming in his gut, and asked if he could call me on my cell phone when it happened. Sure enough, the next morning, a 5.4 earthquake hit Chino Hills, and as I was driving back from a meeting in Santa Barbara, Coach Ron gave me a call and said he should be playing the lottery.
- Tyler
Coach Ron told me on air that he was feeling an earthquake coming in his gut, and asked if he could call me on my cell phone when it happened. Sure enough, the next morning, a 5.4 earthquake hit Chino Hills, and as I was driving back from a meeting in Santa Barbara, Coach Ron gave me a call and said he should be playing the lottery.
- Tyler
Twitter is increasingly being used to get the jump on mainstream media and to circumvent jammed cell phone networks using it's short, 140 character text messages. My concern is that Twitter needs to show better scalability, with many frequent outages over the last few months, in order to be relied on as a disaster communications platform. Regardless, Twitter has been adopted not just by the technologically literate, but media, NGO's and agencies such as the Red Cross, LAPD and KPBS San Diego. Emergency professionals at the federal level have taken notice and keep an eye on this type of new technology usage.
In one instance Tuesday, a woman finishing a medical exam used her cell phone to tap out a message on Twitter about her experiences during the LA quake, CNET reported. Wireless phone providers suggest text messages can often avoid delays caused by a crush of traffic from thousands of cell phone users attempting to make calls during emergencies.
