Monthly Updates - December 2007

In This Issue

• ICC Monthly Highlights
• ICC Monthly Updates
• Recently Released Resources
• Upcoming Events
• About the ICC

Category of Links

www.disabilitypreparedness.gov
www.dhs.gov/disabilitypreparednessicc

Contact Us

disability.preparedness@dhs.gov

ICC Monthly Highlights

DHS CRCL Provides Subject Matter Expertise to the 2nd National Congress on Secure Communities

On December 17th and 18th, CRCL staff served on a panel of subject matter experts at the 2nd National Congress for Secure Communities. The mission of the National Congress is to identify corporate and community best practices that can be demonstrated through public/private partnerships. These partnerships stimulate ideas to be shared between America's local government and community leaders on how to harness and leverage their community resources to prepare for and respond during the first 72 hours of a crisis. Delegates to the Congress included corporate, community, academic, law enforcement, fire and rescue, medical, faith-based organizations, as well as local, tribal, and state government leaders from across the country. CRCL representatives contributed to the discussion by offering insight with regard to the inclusion of special needs populations in emergency planning and response.

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ICC Monthly Updates

US Department of Homeland Security

DHS CRCL Participates in TOPOFF 4 Long Term Planning Tabletop Exercise

On December 4th and 5th, 2007, CRCL staff and the FEMA Disability Coordinator participated in the TOPOFF 4 Long Term Recovery (LTR) Table Top Exercise (TTX). This exercise was a mock summit that brought together leaders from government, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations to discuss key technical, operational, and policy challenges surrounding recovery from the detonation of a Radiological Dispersion Device (RDD). CRCL's participation contributed to the integration of special needs considerations throughout the exercise. Resulting recommendations, particularly in the area of economic assistance, specifically cited special needs considerations.

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U.S. Department of Labor

TICC Workplace Subcommittee

On December 13th, a meeting of the ICC Workplace Subcommittee was held at the Department of Labor. This was a working meeting to discuss addendum regarding the issue of stairwell usage in emergencies and evacuation to the Framework of Emergency Preparedness Guidelines for Federal Agencies. Participants reviewed a compilation of "critical questions" on this topic to guide the discussion. Additional dialogue focused on potential future projects and goals of the Subcommittee.

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U.S. Department of Transportation

United We Ride: Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility

A meeting of the United We Ride Coordinating Council for Access and Mobility (CCAM) was held on December 13, 2007. The agenda included updates by the following working groups: Education and Technical Assistance; Research and Demonstration; Emergency Preparedness; and Policy. Discussion of the policy vetting process also occurred.

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Recently Released Resources

Hospitals Safe from Disaster

This brochure from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction is part of the World Campaign for Disaster Reduction 2008-2009. The goals of the Campaign on Hospitals Safe from Disaster are to (1) protect the lives of patients and health workers by ensuring the structural resilience of health facilities; (2) make sure health facilities and health services are able to function in the aftermath of emergencies and disasters; and (3) improve the risk reduction capacity of health workers and institutions. The brochure can be accessed at: http://www.unisdr.org/eng/public_aware/world_camp/2008-2009/pdf/wdrc-2008-2009-brochure.pdf.

Call for Papers: Humanity & Society Special Issue

Humanity & Society invites submissions for a special issue dedicated to the study of the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina-related evacuation for both evacuees and service providers both in New Orleans and in the cities where many evacuees have remained.

This special issue, titled "Civil Society and the State: Katrina Evacuees and Services," will explore the ways in which Katrina evacuees interacted with service agencies, both public and non-governmental, and the nature and outcome of their experiences. Topics include but not limited to:

• The process by which Katrina evacuees did and did not receive help at various points both at the time of the storm and after their evacuation
• Governmental and non-governmental policies and the ramifications for a major disaster
• Local responses to both short-term and long-term needs of evacuees
• The ways in which gender, race, and class interacted with evacuation and resettlement experiences and with residence in host communities
• The experiences of evacuees with public agencies including schools, health departments, and the criminal justice system
• The ways in which the Katrina experiences compare with other disasters, both domestic and international

Manuscripts should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages of text, plus notes and references, and should follow the "Notice to Contributors" guidelines supplied at http://www.humanistsociology.org. Address queries to Laura Lein at lein@mail.utexas.edu.

Deadline for submission is January 2, 2008.

NCD Bulletin, November Edition released: Emergency Preparedness and Inclusion of People with Disabilities

The Bulletin, which is free of charge and at NCD’s award-winning Web site (www.ncd.gov), brings you the latest issues and news affecting people with disabilities. Below is an excerpt from NCD’s November Bulletin:

NCD Conducts Boston Meeting
NCD conducted its fall quarterly meeting November 29 – December 1 in Boston, MA. The meeting started with a welcome from Boston's commissioner of disability, Stephen Spinetto, and comments by Myra Berloff, director, Massachusetts Office on Disability.

NCD conducted a panel discussion on emergency preparedness. Speakers included Pat Pound, NCD vice chair; Marcia Brooks, The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH; Sharon Gamache and Lisa Braxton, The Center for High-Risk Outreach, National Fire Protection Association; and Myra Berloff, Massachusetts Office on Disability.

In 2003, NCD committed itself to evaluating government's developing role in the areas of homeland security, emergency preparedness, and disaster relief. This commitment occurred, in large measure, as a result of the man-made terrorist events of September 11, 2001, and the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. NCD's first evaluation findings were issued in April 2005 in the report, Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning. (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/saving_lives.htm).

Under the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5441) signed by President Bush on October 4, 2006, NCD was assigned key responsibilities for disability-related issues in homeland security.

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Upcoming Events

January 8–9, 2008
Disability and Special Needs Technical Assistance Conference
(Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery)
Washington, DC
This conference will provide technical assistance on various aspects of emergency management planning and response for people with disabilities and other special needs. This conference will bring together Federal, State, and local experts to discuss day-to-day challenges in planning for these populations. New concepts currently used or being developed to address disability and special needs planning in their jurisdictions will be introduced. For more information, please visit: http://www.governmenthorizons.org/emergency-preparedness-and-response08.htm.

January 16, 2008
2008 Pacific Preparedness Conference: Capacity Building to Address Vulnerable
Honolulu, HI
The 2008 Pacific Preparedness Conference: Capacity Building to Address Vulnerable Populations is a skills-building conference designed to assist a wide range of health professionals, first responders, and emergency managers in better preparing for the needs of special needs populations during a disaster. The conference consists of four concurrent tracks culminating in a tabletop exercise that incorporates the lessons learned from each of the tracks. For more information, please visit: http://www.emprints.hawaii.edu/conferences.html.

January 24, 2008
The Inland Empire: Towards a More Humane Metropolis
Riverside, California
Hosted by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, speakers and panelists from Southern California and elsewhere will examine some of the environmental and social challenges confronting the Riverside-San Bernardino region, one of the fastest growing and most hazardous metropolitan areas in the United States. This meeting is the second regional workshop based on The Humane Metropolis: People and Nature in the 21st Century City, a series that began in Pittsburgh in 2007 and tentatively will continue in Baltimore later in 2008. For more information please visit: www.humanemetropolis.org.

January 31–February 3, 2008
Emergency Medicine Learning and Resource Center
The 29th Annual International Disaster Management Conference
Orlando, FL
The conference is designed to meet the educational needs of all persons and agencies involved with emergency preparedness, response, and disaster recovery. All persons and agencies involved with emergency preparedness, management, and response are invited to attend. For more information, please visit: www.emlrc.org/disaster2008.htm.

February 3 - 5, 2008
Second National Emergency Management Summit
Washington, D.C. *NOTE CORRECTION:
The second National Emergency Management Summit will be held on February 3-5, 2008 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. The Emergency Management Summit focuses on Medical preparedness and response to disasters, epidemics and terrorism. Forum topics include Planning Tools You Can Use To Meet The Needs Of Individuals With Disabilities In An Emergency: What To Do, What Not To Do, And What Difference Does It Make?; How Healthcare Providers and Plans Can Work with FEMA to Make Emergency Response Successful; and Special Populations: Preparing Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities For Public Health Emergencies. The keynote speaker will be David Nabarro, MD, Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations System Senior Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza.

*In the November Update, this conference was billed as a National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) conference. This is not a NEMA sponsored conference.

For more information please visit: www.emergencymanagementsummit.com.

March 11-14, 2008
VEMC Conference
Hampton, Virginia
The 2008 Virginia Emergency Management Conference (VEMC) "It Can Happen Here", will be held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center on March 11th through the 14th. The tentative key note speaker for this year is current chairman of the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Association-IV and former director of the National Hurricane Center, Max Mayfield. Some provisional workshop topics are crisis management for schools, water system disruptions and rural/agricultural drought issues (tabletop exercise), and Minnesota bridge collapse debris management. For more information please visit: http://www.vdem.state.va.us/.

March 13–14, 2008
Crossing Borders Emergency Preparedness Conference
Buffalo Niagara Convention Center
Buffalo, NY 14202
Regional, national, and international experts will come together during the 2008 Crossing Borders Emergency Preparedness Conference to provide critical information about bi-national measures being taken to plan, prepare and protect the Western New York and Southern Ontario Regions in the event of natural and man-made disasters. The conference includes a session on Reaching Vulnerable Populations: Communicating in the Presence of Risk. For more information, please contact the office of Border Community SERVICE at (716) 286-8010 or Nancy Brennan Blundell via email at nbb@niagara.edu or visit http://www.semo.state.ny.us/uploads/2008_Crossing_Borders.pdf.

April 1–2, 2008
Partners in Emergency Preparedness
Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center
Tacoma, WA 98402
The Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference is the largest and most successful regional emergency preparedness conference in the Pacific Northwest. Partners in Emergency Preparedness annually hosts over 500 people representing business, schools, government, the nonprofit sector, emergency management professionals, and volunteer organizations. The Partners Conference attracts top-notch speakers with expertise that includes earthquake research, contingency planning, school preparedness, technology, news media, and public health. Speakers and exhibitors provide cutting-edge information on subjects such as business continuity planning, school safety, public health preparedness, homeland security, and public information. For more information, please visit: http://capps.wsu.edu/conferences/emergencyprep/.

Annual Hazards Research and Applications Workshop
July 12-15, 2008
Broomfield, Colorado, USA
Omni Interlocken Resort
Boulder, Colorado.
The Natural Hazards Center invites proposals for session topics for the 2008 Annual Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. The annual workshop is designed to bring members of the research and applications communities together for face-to-face networking and discussion of cutting-edge issues related to hazards and disasters and society's efforts to deal with them. For more information, please visit: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/workshop/current.html.

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Join the ICC Listserv!

The Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities (ICC) has created a listserv. Please join our listserv to receive the ICC's Monthly Updates and Quarterly Newsletter, Emergency Preparedness NOW, and access other information pertinent to emergency preparedness and individuals with disabilities.

To join please visit http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/archives/icc-dispreppubs-l.html or go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/ and click "Online Mailing List Archives," then select "ICC-DISPREPPUBS-L" and complete the subscription form. For more information about the ICC please visit www.disabilitypreparedness.gov.

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About the Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties oversees the implementation of Executive Order 13347, Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness, which was signed by President Bush in July 2004. This Executive Order is designed to ensure the safety and security of individuals with disabilities in all-hazard emergency and disaster situations. To this end, the Executive Order created an Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC) on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities. The ICC is comprised of senior leadership from more than 20 Federal departments and agencies. Its mission is to ensure that people with disabilities and their specific needs are fully integrated into all aspects of our nation's emergency management system; including mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The Secretary of Homeland Security is the Chair of the ICC, and he has delegated that role to Mr. Daniel Sutherland, the DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The Council has concentrated its work in eight major areas:

1. Emergency Communications;
2. Emergency Preparedness in the Workplace;
3. Emergency Transportation;
4. Health;
5. Private Sector Coordination;
6. Research;
7. State, Local and Tribal Government Coordination; and
8. Technical Assistance and Outreach.

For more information about the ICC please visit http://www.disabilitypreparedness.gov.

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