Six months after an earthquake shook the East Coast, its lessons still reverberate through the emergency management, engineering and geological communities.

The magnitude-5.8 quake, centered in the tiny town of Mineral, Va., demonstrated that earthquakes aren’t just a West Coast threat. Big quakes had hit the East Coast before but not recently nor with the frequency or ferocity of those in California.

But the Aug. 23 quake was felt by more people than any other in American history, said Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Her agency estimates that one-third of the U.S. population — in 3,400 ZIP codes from Georgia to New York— felt the quake.

Read more @ www.usatoday.com

From the FEMA Blog posted by: Tim Manning, Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness

One year ago, a deadly earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, killing over a hundred people. I was in Christchurch when the earthquake struck and I can still recall that day vividly. On Wednesday, Feb. 22, I will participate at a commemoration ceremony at the New Zealand Embassy here in Washington D.C. In addition, I would like to share some of what I experienced by linking to a post of my personal accounts from the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand’s blog.

Read more @ blog.fema.gov

From Kim Stephens @ iDisaster 2.0

I want to bring attention today to a fantastic resource. This is not a blog post per se, but rather a link to GovDelivery’s Social Media Visionary Kit. The “kit” includes video’s of presentations  from Adam Connor, Steve Ressler, and David Kirkpatrick. Adam is the Associate Manager of Public Policy for Facebook and he provides 10 great tips for using social media for government. He addresses many topics including the “L” word–liability. The other two videos are from Steve Ressler, the co-founder of GovLoop and David Kirkpatrick, the author of “The Facebook Effect”.

Here is another article about the 10 tips Mr. Connor addresses: “Facebook’s Top 10 for Government“. My favorite tip is actually a resource list for government agencies.

Read more @ iDisaster 2.0

The Houston Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Initiative (RCPI) and the Houston Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) hosted a planning seminar with the focus of incorporating the unique requirements of individuals with functional and access needs in all areas of emergency planning.

Bringing leaders together from emergency management and disability communities, this event focused on building partnerships, increasing resilience, and identifying Functional Needs Support Services (FNSS) best practices. The group also reviewed the Texas FNSS tool kit, a document designed to assist emergency planners in understanding the requirements related to sheltering and serving those who have access and functional needs. Attendees and speakers included local advocacy groups, non-profit organizations, and local and state emergency officials.

Read more @ houston.cbslocal.com

The Baltimore region — including Howard County — will receive about half as much federal funding from a key emergency preparedness grant program in fiscal year 2012 as it did in fiscal year 2011, according to budget figures released Feb. 17 by the Department of Homeland Security, which grants the funds.

As one of 31 cities to receive funding through the department’s Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) program, Baltimore will receive about $4.1 million in 2012, compared to the $7.8 million it received in 2011.

For local emergency officials, the announcement was welcome news.

Read more @ www.baltimoresun.com