From A.W.A.R.E

AWARE has just received an invitation to the upcoming Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) Town Hall being held on Tuesday, May 22, in conjunction with the 6th Annual National Homeland Security Conference in Columbus, Ohio.

The CMAS Town Hall will provide alert and warnings stakeholders with a timely opportunity to help shape current and future planning of CMAS Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation (RDT&E).  With a strong focus on mobile communications, Conference participants will also collaborate with colleagues nationwide to inform guidance for integrating CMAS and increasing the market penetration of CMAS-capable devices.

Read more @ awareforum.org

To: Emergency Managers

From: Martha Braddock, Policy Advisor
U.S. Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM-USA)

Subject: FY 2013 DHS Appropriations Bill—House Draft

Date: May 8, 2012

This morning (May 8th) the House Appropriations Committee released the draft of the FY 2013 Appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The Subcommittee on Homeland Security will mark up the bill Wednesday morning. Full Appropriations Committee markup is expected next week.

A copy of this memo including the Committee press release is attached in case the format is not stable. The complete text of the FY 2013 Subcommittee Draft Homeland Security Appropriations bill is available at– http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/BILLS-112HR-SC-AP-FY13-Homeland.pdf. (more…)

Disaster preparedness and response training took a step forward last week with the official opening of the first hospital-based training center west of the Mississippi River.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Intermountain Center for Disaster Preparedness located at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City will provide training for first responders and health care providers in a working environment.

Read more @ homelandsecuritynewswire.com

Even if your company has not been affected by tornados, tsunami waves, or wildfires, all employers need to be prepared for the mayhem that natural disasters cause. In a new report, “Eight Steps Employers Should Take to Prepare Their Workplace for a Natural Disaster,” Waukesha, Wisconsin-based Empathia offers specific tips to improve workplace disaster recovery and readiness plans.

“It’s a mistake to think natural disasters can’t happen to you,” says Joseph J. DesPlaines, an enterprise risk management expert at Empathia and author of the paper. “The end result of natural disasters can be devastating, both in terms of how a blackout or unsafe building can impact the workplace, as well as the emotional toll of the disaster on employees. Don’t wait until a disaster strikes to start preparing your emergency response.”

Empathia notes that over the past ten years, in the wake of several large-scale man-made and natural disasters, many organizations have vastly improved their disaster recovery and readiness plans. Recent incidents, such as the East Coast earthquake and hurricane, have provided lessons for risk management professionals that improvement of disaster recovery and readiness plans is needed.

Read more @ homelandsecuritynewswire.com

While the nation has made strides in preparing for a wide range of potential disasters, state and local officials said they feel least prepared for an emerging threat: a cyber attack.

Cybersecurity “was the single core capability where states had made the least amount of overall progress,” according to the annual National Preparedness Report released Thursday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. Less than half of state and local officials thought their cybersecurity was sufficient, according to the survey. In particular, about two-thirds said they had not updated their cybersecurity plans in the last two years.

The report, commissioned by President Barack Obama’s administration, assessed how prepared the nation would be in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. It surveyed government agencies, companies, nonprofit groups, faith-based organizations, communities and individuals.

Read more @ huffingtonpost.com