Did anyone receive this email earlier this week? I hear everyone talking around this issue so I'm sending it again. Obviously, the last couple of paragraphs were written before the discussion on how we should help began.
RIM Disaster Management should fall under what's called the Incident Command System. The U S Fire Service created Incident Command in order to coordinate the diverse fire fighting units which are usually called in when a major fire breaks out in the West. Other agencies have successfully adopted and adapted the Incident Command System to their needs. It can be adapted for use at a minor oil spill or a major natural or man-made disaster.
I think that FEMA used the Incident Command System until they were moved to Homeland Security. I don't think that Homeland Security uses Incident Command. Given the response to Hurricane Katrina, I have to believe they don't even know it exists. After a few days, FEMA must have insisted that the Incident Command System be used because help finally began arriving.
The Department of the Navy has an Urgent Response Team and the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic has a Spill Response Team for oil spills. We patterned our structures on the U S Coast Guard which uses the Incident Command System more effectively than anyone else. I am the Documentation Unit Leader for both the Urgent Response and Spill Response Command Systems. I learned my job from the "Master" Documentation Unit Leader who works for the U S Coast Guard. I was lucky enough to work for him at the Republican National Convention, U S Coast Guard Security. I got to see a professional, highly trained group of individuals come together and work as one entity. Think about how many security forces had to coordinate their activities at the New York Convention and you begin to get an idea of the scope of the work. It was awesome to behold.
Within in the Incident Command System Structure there is room for an organization like ALA, SLA, ARMA or NARA to join the Command System and be part of the disaster response and cleanup. The American Medical Vetenarians Association is part of FEMA disaster response, why not us?
Our professional organizations should take note and start finding out how we can help by joining the Incident Command System or whatever FEMA calls it. Don't think Homeland Security has gotten the message.
Bonnie Capito
Librarian and Certified Records Manager
NAVFAC Atlantic Environmental
6506 Hampton Blvd.
Norfolk, VA 23508-1278
757-322-4785
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Maarja Krusten
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 14:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: RAINdrip: If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail...
Steve and List members,
You mentioned you're on the regional emergency operations team. Your post also included a reference to "fleets of school buses." I've read reports that part of the problem with Katrina was that many of the school bus drivers in NO had evacuated along with their families or apparently had otherwise fled. I haven't heard if the city had contingency plans for that happening--that is, qualified, authorized replacement drivers ready to step in to replace the regular drivers. I did see the story about the young 20 year old man who simply commandeered a school bus and drove a bunch of people to Houston.
On a personal note, I'm very interested in the issue of how a densely populated urban area evacuates people who don't have cars. I live in the Washington, DC suburbs (in north Arlington, VA) and I do not own a car! Natch, I sometimes make plans to ride to places with my boyfriend or other friends but those are planned outings, unrelated to sudden crises. When there was an hour long delay one morning on the subway, and taxis and buses were in short supply, I actually walked to work from Rosslyn in Northern Virginia to my office near Judiciary Square in DC. Took me almost an hour and a half on a nice spring morning, but I'm lucky I'm in good shape for age 54, LOL.
Obviously, a mandatory evacuation would be much more chaotic than anything triggered by a major subway disruption. (Anybody ever seen DC during a regular rush hour, yikes?)
Another area previously affected by "an event," which has a high number of people who rely on public transportation rather than cars, is New York city.
I've read that DC is giving more thought to evacuation issues for people without cars in the wake of Katrina. Well, it should! But I haven't heard any discussion of liability issues.
I read the article at
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050913/ts_latimes/saveyourself. Having just read that you're on the emergency operations team, I was wondering how your jurisdiction and others are handling liability issues and contingency planning related to transport of people who cannot drive themselves out of an affected area. The LA Times article mentions legislation that attempted to address that in Louisiana but failed.
Maarja
>>> [log in to unmask] 9/14/2005 12:37 PM >>>
Pretty good article Larry, lots of good points and recommendations. I
am on the regional emergency operations team here, and we have regularly
scheduled training and drills at the EOC.
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