Training & Events
Examining and addressing COVID-19 racial disparities in Detroit (Brookings) COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted Black communities. In fact, Black Americans are 2.3 times more likely than white Americans to die from the virus. Black residents of Detroit, Mich., have been hit especially hard. In Detroit, Black people represent 76% of known COVID-19 diagnoses by race and 87% of deaths. In a forthcoming paper entitled “Examining and addressing COVID-19 racial disparities in Detroit,” Brookings researchers address the staggeringly large racial gap in COVID-19 infections in the city.
- Tuesday, March 2, 2021, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST
Prior announcements:
NEMA Webinar Series Presents: Emergency Management Virtual Learning Lab (NEMA) NEMA will host the webinar series which will include two webinars and one social event each week during the month of March. The topics have been chosen by NEMA Associate Member Sponsors and we are deeply gratified to have such experience and expertise to draw from during these remarkable times. These webinars will be held during March from 2:00 to 3:30 pm eastern time.
Flood Resilience in the Year Ahead: Opportunities for the New Congress (Pew Trusts) In recent years, the country has witnessed unprecedented hurricanes and inland flooding. As another spring flooding season approaches policy opportunities exist for the new Congress to ensure our communities and the roads, hospitals, schools, and other critical lifeline infrastructure they depend on can withstand future floods. The Pew Charitable Trusts and The BuildStrong Coalition for a discussion on ways the 117th Congress can better support state and local efforts to address growing flood risk posed by the increasing severity and frequency of disasters and climate impacts.
· Friday, March 5, 11am- Noon ET
Resources
Mapping Climate Risks by County and Community (American Communities Project) The American Communities Project (ACP) has leveraged data from Four Twenty Seven, a physical climate risk data firm and affiliate of Moody’s, to understand how the risks manifest by ACP type — and where populations and infrastructure may be especially vulnerable. Four Twenty Seven analyzes several physical risks to the U.S. landscape, including sea level rise; hurricanes; extreme rainfall; water stress; and heat stress, characterized by higher temperatures. Many of Four Twenty Seven’s projections through 2040 show the risks are regional, as illustrated in maps below. The ACP has further parse the degree to which high risks differ by 15 different ACP types.
Strategies for Emergency Evacuation and Sheltering during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Nat. Academies of Science) The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the nature of emergency operations in response to natural hazards. In the context of the pandemic, fundamental shifts in preparedness planning are needed to ensure health, safety, and smooth operations during emergencies. This guidance, produced by the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) of the National Academies, explores how research on evacuation behavior, social responses to disaster, and risk communication can be applied to emergency management in the era of COVID-19. SEAN identifies strategies for updating evacuation plans, sheltering operations, and risk communication practices in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Click on the links below to learn more.
Ready Responder Resources Ensure Peace Of Mind When Disaster Strikes (FEMA/Fire Admin) Ready.gov’s webpage Ready Responder offers resources and guides for both firefighters and law enforcement to help them be prepared when disasters occur. The Ready Responder Toolkit is designed to provide emergency response agencies with a series of planning tools to help prepare their personnel and their families for emergencies.
“Smart grid” interoperability standards from NIST may benefit future emergency services (FEMA) Just as southern states are recovering from the power blackouts caused by winter storms, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released Version 4.0 of its Smart Grid Framework, a roadmap to strengthen the resilience of the nation’s power infrastructure through use of interoperability standards. The Emergency Services Sector may benefit from the capabilities generated by “smart grid” interoperability.
The Cost of Climate: America’s Growing Flood Risk” (First St. Foundation) New research from First Street Foundation analyzes the economic impact of underestimated flood risk to properties throughout the United States. Current understandings of expected flood risk and its potential damage continue to underestimate the full extent of flood risk in many parts of the country. This is problematic as these understandings of flood risk are used to price insurance premiums in the market by estimating property-level average annual loss (AAL).
DHS Announces Funding Opportunity For $1.87 Billion In Preparedness Grants (FEMA) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) FY2021 grant funding focuses on terror attacks and major disasters: As the threats we face evolve, so too must the grant programs intended to prepare communities for those threats. To that end, DHS has identified five critical priority areas for attention in the FY2021 grant cycle: cybersecurity, soft targets and crowded places, intelligence and information sharing, domestic violent extremism, and emerging threats. The allocations for FY2021 include both competitive and non-competitive awards.
Non-competitive grants include:
• State Homeland Security Program (SHSP).
• Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).
• Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Program.
• Intercity Passenger Rail (IPR) Program – Amtrak.
Competitive grants include:
• Operation Stonegarden.
• Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program.
• Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
• Port Security Grant Program.
• Transit Security Grant Program.
• Intercity Bus Security Grant Program.
Articles
All-Hazards:
· Many Rural Texas Counties Currently Left Out Of Federal Disaster Aid Eligibility For Winter Storm (Texas Tribune)
· Most of Texas Deep Freeze $90 Billion in Losses Avoidable, Modeler Says (Ins Journal)
· Post-Wildfire Landslides Becoming More Frequent In Southern California (Phys.org)
· The Disasters Keep Coming But Not The Funds For FEMA (The Hill)
· Natural Hazards Have Unnatural Impacts—What More Can Science Do? (AGU Eos)
· Juneau Officials Recommend Residential Evacuations, Warning Of Dangerous ‘Historic Avalanches’ (Anchorage Daily News)
· We’re Less Than 100 Days From the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season – Here Are This Year’s Names (Weather.com)
Resilience:
· Climate Threats Could Mean Big Jumps in Insurance Costs This Year (NYTimes) and Flood Risk Is Growing For US Homeowners Due To Climate Change. Current Insurance Rates Greatly Underestimate The Threat, A New Report Finds (CNN)
· Wind Power Didn’t Cause The Texas Blackouts. But It Wasn’t Just Fossil Fuels, Either (LA Times)
Public Health / Biosurveillance:
· Unscathed: These Alaska villages are reaching herd immunity — without a single case of COVID-19 (AK NPR)
Critical Infrastructure & Cyber:
· Feds Up Share of FEMA Grants That Must Be Spent on Cybersecurity (Rt. Fifty)
· Biden Orders Review to Bolster Supply Chain Resiliency (HS Newswire)
· A Looming Crisis for Local U.S. Water Systems? (HS Newswire)
· What Went Wrong with Texas’ Power Grid? (HS Newswire) and Texas’ Power Grid Was 4 Minutes And 37 Seconds Away From Collapsing. Here’s How It Happened (NPR –Austin TX)
· Public Employees’ Use of Personal Phones, Tablets Puts Local Governments at Risk (Rt. Fifty)
· U.S. Energy Regulator to Examine Climate Change’s Threat to Power Reliability (US News)
Innovations & Interconnections:
· Fleets of Radar Satellites Are Measuring Movements on Earth Like Never Before (Science)
· Science at a crossroads: Where to next? (Pew Trusts / Trend magazine)
From Brassville to... (working title) 