The purpose of this document is to provide general, consistent and uniform guidance to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) organization for use in conducting its business. The operating principles and guidelines presented in this document are intended to result in predictable and consistent organizational behavior. The principles and guidelines provide the foundation for repeatable business practices shared by all NWCG groups, thus eliminating the inefficiencies of each group developing its own processes. This document will be periodically reviewed and updated to ensure the guidance is always timely and relevant to the operations of the NWCG organization. This document is organized around a series of fundamental, organizational management questions and their answers regarding the NWCG organization: Who are we? What should we do? How do we do it? How do we keep things going?

The goal of the Interagency Aerial Supervision Guide (PMS 505) is to promote safe, effective, and efficient aerial supervision services in support of incident goals and objectives. Its objective is to consolidate the Interagency Leadplane Guide, Aerial Supervision Module Guide, and the Interagency Air Tactical Group Supervisors Guide into one document which will: a) State consistent interagency aerial supervision standards and procedures. b) Define the roles, responsibilities, and scope of each aerial supervision position. c) Enhance information sharing between Air Tactical Group Supervisors (ATGS), Aerial Supervision Modules (ASM), Leadplane Pilots, Airtanker Coordinators (ATCO), Air Tactical Pilots (ATP), Air Tactical Supervisors (ATS), and Helicopter Coordinators (HLCO). d) Provide a common interagency guide, which can be utilized by all members of the aerial supervision community.

This publication was equally funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which leads the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) and by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is responsible for the implementation portion of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP). This project was originally undertaken to address the need for guidance on how to build a structure that would be capable of resisting the extreme forces of both a tsunami and an earthquake. This question was driven by the fact that there are many communities along our nation's west coast that are vulnerable to a tsunami triggered by an earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone, which could potentially generate a tsunami of 20 feet in elevation or more within 20 minutes. Given their location, it would be impossible to evacuate these communities in time, which could result in a significant loss of life. This issue came into sharp relief with the December 26, 2004 Sumatra earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami. While this event resulted in a tremendous loss of life, this would have been even worse had not many people been able to take shelter in multi-story reinforced concrete buildings. Without realizing it, these survivors were among the first to demonstrate the concept of vertical evacuation from a tsunami. Many coastal communities subject to tsunami located in other parts of the country also have the same issue. In these cases, the only feasible alternative is vertical evacuation, using specially designed, constructed and designated structures built to resist both tsunami and earthquake loads. The design of such structures was the focus of the earlier work on this project, which resulted in the FEMA publication, Guidelines for Design of Structures for Vertical Evacuation from Tsunamis (FEMA P646). This is a companion publication intended to present information on how vertical evacuation design guidance can be used and encouraged at the state and local level. It is meant to help state and local government officials and interested citizens by providing them with the information they would need to address the tsunami hazard in their community, to help determine if vertical evacuation is an option they should consider, and if so, how to fund, design and build such a refuge.

This document provides program guidance and supporting information for implementation of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) exercise program. It replaces the exercise program document, Exercise Policy and Guidance for Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program Exercise (June 19, 2009 with Change 1, October 15, 2009), known as the "Blue Book." This document includes the following information in appendices: After-Action Report/Improvement Plan Processes (AAR/IP) (Appendix A), Public Information Planning for CSEPP Exercises (Appendix B), CSEPP Emergency Response Outcomes and Exercise Evaluation Guides (Appendix C), CSEPP Guide for Exercise Extent of Play Agreements (Appendix D), optional NIMS/ICS/CSEPP Exercise Structure (Appendix E), Background and Overview of CSEPP Remediation and Recovery Outcome Evaluation (Appendix F), Core Capabilities Crosswalk (Appendix G), CSEPP Exercise Program Glossary (Appendix H), Timeline Guidance and Templates (Appendix I). A federally-managed exercise program involving Federal, state, and local agencies and Army installations has been developed as part of the increased emphasis on emergency preparedness under the CSEP Program. The CSEP Program will result in improved preparedness at the remaining U.S. Army installations storing the unitary chemical stockpile and the surrounding civilian communities. The term "CSEPP Community," as used in this document, is the combined area of one military installation, surrounding local jurisdictions/agencies, and the State agencies involved in executing CSEPP for that area. Local jurisdictions are counties and cities within the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ), which encompasses the Immediate Response Zone (IRZ), Protective Action Zone (PAZ), or are designated as "host" jurisdictions. Exercises conducted by the Army and DHS/FEMA will help program managers evaluate the emergency response plans and capabilities of the CSEPP Communities. Under CSEPP, exercises managed by DHS/FEMA and the Army began in 1991. These exercises demonstrate the ability of the communities to respond to a chemical accident/incident (CAI) at an Army chemical stockpile storage site. Participation in exercises includes representatives from the Department of the Army (DA), DHS/FEMA, other Federal agencies, state and local governments, the Army installations, and civilian entities. The purpose of this document is to ensure consistency in planning and conducting the exercises and in evaluating the performance of the emergency response and emergency support personnel (often referred to as "players") in exercises. Some location-specific adaptations may be necessary to accommodate the varied response structures of the CSEPP Communities. If variances from the policy in this document are necessary, approval from the appropriate headquarter agency (DHS/FEMA or the Army) must be sought. In addition to satisfying CSEPP exercise criteria; these exercises satisfy Army regulatory requirements for exercises and the state and local government exercise requirements under the DHS/FEMA Cooperative Agreement (CA), which funds CSEPP and other emergency management activities. The CSEPP exercise approach incorporates the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) methodologies and concepts, as presented in chapter 3. The CSEPP exercise evaluation methodology is organized around a standard set of eight Emergency Response Outcomes (EROs). Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs) have been developed for each ERO (see Appendix C). Army and DHS/FEMA exercise management staff will monitor developments in other national exercise programs and will recommend review and revision of the CSEPP exercise methodology as required.

This document updates and consolidates the guidance provided in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) Planning Guidance (2008) and CSEPP Programmatic Guidance (2008) and supersedes these documents. This guidance has also been reorganized into a structure consistent with the CSEPP National Benchmarks. This document provides the basis for Federal, State, and local program managers to implement CSEPP in keeping with the Department of the Army (Army)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) CSEPP Strategic Plan. References have been made throughout this document to the following function-specific guidance documents that serve as its technical companions: Annual CSEPP Cooperative Agreement Guidance; CSEPP Exercise Policy and Guidance (December 2012), (aka The Blue Book); CSEPP Medical Resource Guide; CSEPP Public Affairs Compendium Workbook. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the statutory and programmatic history of CSEPP, the organizational roles and responsibilities, and the management structure. Chapter 2 provides a summary of the hazards and risks associated with the U.S. Army chemical weapons stockpile. Chapters 3-14 provide guidance on each of the twelve CSEPP National Benchmarks. They are intended to provide a description of the critical components of each benchmark to assist program managers at the Federal, State, and local level in assigning responsibilities and developing budgets. Appendices A and B provide a summary of the specific hazard and risk associated with the stockpiles at Blue Grass (Kentucky) and Pueblo (Colorado). Appendix C provides a glossary of the terminology that may be unfamiliar and a list of acronyms. Appendix D explains how the Policy Papers that originally guided the program have been incorporated into CSEPP Guidance.

Many people put the advocates of emergency preparedness into the "fringe lunatic" category, associating them with everything from domestic terrorists to religious fanatics. That is not a correct assumption. Emergency preparedness actually means that someone is prepared to meet all kinds of emergencies from sudden unemployment to the arrival of a hurricane. It also covers a wide variety of levels of preparation from a minimal 72 hour preparedness to those who are prepared for a full year of adversity. It isn't easy to be prepared for anything and everything a family might encounter in terms of adversity and emergencies. Being Prepared Without Being A Kook is your handbook to getting started down the emergency preparedness path without feeling like you have signed up for a crash course in how to join the fringe lunatic with easy to follow instructions on figuring out what you really need and why.

Legal governance of disaster brings both care and punishment to the upending of daily life of place-based disasters. National states use disasters to reorganize how they govern. This collection considers how law is implicated in disaster. The late modern expectation that states are to care for their population makes it particularly important to point out the limits to care-limits that appear less in the grand rhetoric than in the government reports, case-level decisionmaking, administrative rules, and criminalization that make up governing. These insightful essays feature leading scholars whose perspectives range across disasters around the world. Their findings point to reconsidering what states do in disaster, and how law enables and constrains action. The chapters are:

Introduction (Susan Sterett) 1 Uncertain Governance and Resilient Subjects in the Risk Society (Pat O'Malley) 2 Land Use Planning and Disaster: A European Perspective from Spain (Juli Ponce) 3 Law, State and the Politics of Catastrophes: A Critical Perspective on Epiphanies of Injustice and the Need for Protection (Valerio Nitrato Izzo) 4 The Comparative Jurisprudence of Wildfire Mitigation: Moral Community, Political Culture, and Policy Learning (Lloyd Burton) 5 Transboundary Impacts of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake Disaster: Focus on Legal Dilemmas in South Florida (Alka Sapat & Ann-Margaret Esnard) 6 Disaster Mythology and Availability Cascades (Lisa Grow Sun) 7 The Role of Law in Engineering "Natural" Disasters (Arthur F. McEvoy) 8 Multi-level Governance in Environmental Risk Management (Petra Hiller) 9 Internal Environmental Displacement: A Growing Challenge to the U.S. Welfare State (Michelle A. Meyer) 10 Long Term Recovery in Disaster Response and the Role of Non-Profits (Victor B. Flatt & Jeffrey J. Stys) 11 Disasters, Focusing Events, and Sociolegal Studies (Thomas A. Birkland)

The authors analyze sociological and legal issues surrounding disasters and catastrophic events in their many forms: natural, man-made, environmental, human, local, and global. The project was developed as part of the the Onati Socio-legal Series supported by the Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, and is now presented by Quid Pro Books in the "Contemporary Society Series."

This report, FEMA-351 - Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings has been developed by the SAC Joint Venture under contract to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide structural engineers with recommended criteria for evaluation of the probable performance of existing steel moment-frame buildings in future earthquakes and to provide a basis for updating and revision of evaluation and rehabilitation guidelines and standards. It is one of a series of companion publications addressing the issue of the seismic performance of steel moment-frame buildings. The set of companion publications includes: FEMA-350 - Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommended criteria, supplemental to FEMA-302 - 1997 NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings and Other Structures, for the design and construction of steel moment-frame buildings and provides alternative performance-based design criteria. FEMA-351 - Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommended methods to evaluate the probable performance of existing steel moment-frame buildings in future earthquakes and to retrofit these buildings for improved performance. FEMA-352 - Recommended Postearthquake Evaluation and Repair Criteria for Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings. This publication provides recommendations for performing postearthquake inspections to detect damage in steel moment-frame buildings following an earthquake, evaluating the damaged buildings to determine their safety in the postearthquake environment, and repairing damaged buildings. FEMA-353 - Recommended Specifications and Quality Assurance Guidelines for Steel Moment-Frame Construction for Seismic Applications. This publication provides recommended specifications for the fabrication and erection of steel moment frames for seismic applications. The recommended design criteria contained in the other companion documents are based on the material and workmanship standards contained in this document, which also includes discussion of the basis for the quality control and quality assurance criteria contained in the recommended specifications. The information contained in these recommended evaluation and upgrade criteria, hereinafter referred to as Recommended Criteria, is presented in the form of specific recommendations for design and performance evaluation procedures together with supporting commentary explaining part of the basis for these recommendations.

This manual is intended to provide guidance for engineers, architects, building officials, and property owners to design shelters and safe rooms in buildings. It presents information about the design and construction of shelters in the work place, home, or community building that will provide protection in response to manmade hazards. The information contained herein will assist in the planning and design of shelters that may be constructed outside or within dwellings or public buildings. These safe rooms will protect occupants from a variety of hazards, including debris impact, accidental or intentional explosive detonation, and the accidental or intentional release of a toxic substance into the air. Safe rooms may also be designed to protect individuals from assaults and attempted kidnapping, which requires design features to resist forced entry and ballistic impact. This covers a range of protective options, from low-cost expedient protection (what is commonly referred to as sheltering-in-place) to safe rooms ventilated and pressurized with air purified by ultra-high-efficiency filters. These safe rooms protect against toxic gases, vapors, and aerosols. The contents of this manual supplement the information provided in FEMA 361, Design and Construction Guidance for Community Shelters and FEMA 320, Taking Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House. In conjunction with FEMA 361 and FEMA 320, this publication can be used for the protection of shelters against natural disasters. This guidance focuses on safe rooms as standby systems, ones that do not provide protection on a continuous basis. To employ a standby system requires warning based on knowledge that a hazardous condition exists or is imminent. Protection is initiated as a result of warnings from civil authorities about a release of hazardous materials, visible or audible indications of a release (e.g., explosion or fire), the odor of a chemical agent, or observed symptoms of exposure in people. Although there are automatic detectors for chemical agents, such detectors are expensive and limited in the number of agents that can be reliably detected. Furthermore, at this point in time, these detectors take too long to identify the agent to be useful in making decisions in response to an attack. Similarly, an explosive vehicle or suicide bomber attack rarely provides advance warning; therefore, the shelter is most likely to be used after the fact to protect occupants until it is safe to evacuate the building. Two different types of shelters may be considered for emergency use, standalone shelters and internal shelters. A standalone shelter is a separate building (i.e., not within or attached to any other building) that is designed and constructed to withstand the range of natural and manmade hazards. An internal shelter is a specially designed and constructed room or area within or attached to a larger building that is structurally independent of the larger building and is able to withstand the range of natural and manmade hazards. Both standalone and internal shelters are intended to provide emergency refuge for occupants of commercial office buildings, school buildings, hospitals, apartment buildings, and private homes from the hazards resulting from a wide variety of extreme events. The shelters may be used during natural disasters following the warning that an explosive device may be activated, the discovery of an explosive device, or until safe evacuation is established following the detonation of an explosive device or the release of a toxic substance via an intentional aerosol attack or an industrial accident. Standalone community shelters may be constructed in neighborhoods where existing homes lack shelters. Community shelters may be intended for use by the occupants of buildings they are constructed within or near, or they may be intended for use by the residents of surrounding or nearby neighborhoods or designated areas.

When disaster strikes, will you be ready? Patrol level public safety officers rarely receive training in disaster response. This book fills that void by providing valuable information every first responder should know. Learn what to expect before, during and after a disaster and how you can better prepare. Whether you are a Police Officer, Deputy Sheriff, CSO, Security Officer or other Public Safety Officer, you need this book. Material in this book is based on the Responding to Disaster training seminar presented by Marty Augustine.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast regions and much of the Southeast, causing roughly $100 billion worth of damage in the process - the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Seven states were affected by the storm including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. In addition to these, Kentucky and Ohio were also affected due to floods on the Mississippi River. The most damage occurred in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It produced catastrophic damage -estimated at $75 billion in the New Orleans area along. For years, mitigation has proven one of the best measures for reducing damage and the costs of disasters. Across Louisiana, successful mitigation efforts are being achieved through the ongoing collaboration and cooperation between local, state and federal partners. Residents are also taking a proactive role in safeguarding lives and property. "Best Practices: Promoting Successful Mitigation in Louisiana - Post Hurricane Katrina" represents a sampling of mitigation activities resulting from lessons learned, after action reports and identified needs. The stories in this book provide insight on mitigation projects that have been executed in southern Louisiana in preparing for future disasters. The contents focus on fostering the journey in rebuilding safer and stronger and protecting life and property. It is an invaluable resource to: Communicate the importance of identifying hazard risks and ways to minimize risks; Identify mitigation ideas to show how mitigation is effective and affordable; Demonstrate how mitigation makes communities more stable and productive.

The National Mutual Aid and Resource Management Initiative supports the National Incident Management System (NIMS) by establishing a comprehensive, integrated national mutual aid and resource management system that provides the basis to type, order, and track all (Federal, State, and local) response assets. For ease of ordering and tracking, response assets need to be categorized via resource typing. Resource typing is the categorization and description of resources that are commonly exchanged in disasters via mutual aid, by capacity and/or capability. Through resource typing, disciplines examine resources and identify the capabilities of a resource's components (i.e., personnel, equipment, training). During a disaster, an emergency manager knows what capability a resource needs to have to respond efficiently and effectively. Resource typing definitions will help define resource capabilities for ease of ordering and mobilization during a disaster. As a result of the resource typing process, a resource's capability is readily defined and an emergency manager is able to effectively and efficiently request and receive resources through mutual aid during times of disaster.

This rapid visual screening procedure has been developed for use in assessing risk of terrorist attack on standard commercial buildings in urban or semi-urban areas, but it is also intended to be applicable nationwide for all conventional building types. It can be used to identify the level of risk for a single building, or the relative risk among buildings in a portfolio, community, or region as a prioritization tool for further risk management activities. The information gathered as part of this screening procedure can also be used to support and facilitate higher level assessments by expert investigators performing building-specific evaluations of threat, consequences, and vulnerability. Implementation of FEMA 452, Risk Assessment, A How-to Guide to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against Buildings, has demonstrated the need for a preliminary procedure to assess the risk of terrorist attack that is quick and simple to use. It has also shown that such a procedure needs to be usable by screeners who are knowledgeable about building systems, but not necessarily experts in anti-terrorism or structural design. This will reserve the use of experts for higher risk buildings requiring more detailed assessment when resources are limited. In this document, the concepts for rapid visual screening are combined with a risk-based procedure for manmade threats defined in FEMA 426, Reference Manual to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against Buildings, and FEMA 452, Risk Assessment, A How-to Guide to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against Buildings, from the FEMA Risk Management Series of publications. This handbook outlines a rapid visual screening procedure that quantifies the risk to a building due to a terrorist attack that is capable of causing catastrophic losses in terms of fatalities, injuries, damage, or business interruption. The primary purpose of this screening procedure is to prioritize the relative risk among a group of buildings in a portfolio or community but it can also be used to develop building-specific risk information. It is intended to be the first step in a tiered assessment process that includes successively more refined analyses when more detailed information is needed. Three generic types of terrorist threat are considered in this procedure. These include intrusion into the building, a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), and a chemical, biological or radiological (CBR) release. Quantification of relative risk is based on the methodology outlined in FEMA 426, in which risk is characterized as the product of three factors: consequences, threat, and vulnerability. In this rapid visual screening procedure, these three factors are evaluated using a Data Collection Form based on checklists and worksheets contained in FEMA 426 and FEMA 452. To make the screening procedure rapid, the assessment is limited to the most dominant features governing the overall risk to a building given a terrorist attack. In this procedure there is an emphasis on the vulnerability factor, due in part to the relatively significant level of control that the owner has with respect to this factor for a given building compared with the other two factors: threat and consequences.

This document provides State and Major Urban Area fusion center and EOC officials with guidance for coordination between fusion centers and EOCs. It outlines the roles of fusion centers and EOCs within the fusion process and provides steps by which these entities can work together to share information and intelligence on an ongoing basis. This guide supports the implementation of the Baseline Capabilities for State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers and, likewise, assists EOCs fill their missions in both steady state and active state emergency operations, as supported by the CPG 601: Design and Management of Emergency Operations Centers. This CPG provides guidance on the broad capability requirements of an EOC. Fusion centers and emergency operations centers (EOCs) should become familiar with each others' roles and capabilities to facilitate successful interfacing and cooperation between them. In addition, it is imperative that the two develop a solid relationship in order to effectively work together to achieve their respective objectives. The relationships forged between these two entities will allow them to have continuous, meaningful contacts, which will enhance their ability to share information and intelligence regardless of the activation status of the EOC. Mutual trust and respect must guide interagency collaboration policies and protocols, allowing for effective and consistent collaboration during the steady state or during an emergency. Comprehensive Planning Guide (CPG) 502 focuses on this critical partnership and the exchange of information between these entities. Effective prevention, protection, response and recovery efforts depend on the ability of all levels and sectors of government, as well as the private sector, to collect, analyze, disseminate and use homeland security- and crime-related information and intelligence. In support of this, the National Strategy for Information Sharing calls for a national information sharing capability through the establishment of a national integrated network of fusion centers. To facilitate the development of a national fusion center capability, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Preparedness Directorate (NPD) and the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) have partnered to develop the Fusion Process Technical Assistance Program. The Fusion Process Technical Assistance Program has also been developed to directly support the implementation of the Fusion Center Guidelines and the Baseline Capabilities for State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers. In constructing the Fusion Center Guidelines, Global engaged diverse representation from the public and private sectors, melding emergency management and law enforcement expertise. The process of creating guidance for the operation of fusion centers has evolved through the development of the Baseline Capabilities for State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers. This document identifies the baseline capabilities for fusion centers and the operational standards necessary to achieve each of the capabilities. The sustained Federal partnership with State and major urban area fusion centers is critical to the safety of the nation. The baseline capabilities recommend developing processes that govern official outreach with leaders and policymakers, the public sector, the media and citizens. These capabilities also recommend development of a plan to promote awareness of the fusion center's purpose, mission and functions which, in turn, enhances partnership with the EOC), as well as ensure a common understanding of roles and responsibilities.

If you've been told it's too late to start prepping ... If you've been told it's too expensive to start prepping ... If you think most prepping guides are too complicated ... If you have little ones, not just yourself to think of ... If you think most preppers seem, well-a little obsessive ... THIS is the prepping guide for you PREPPER PARENTS is a brief, easy-to-understand guide designed to walk you through preparedness for everything from short-term natural disasters to long-term economic collapse. This guide uses flagged action items as well as common sense tips to help you decide on a plan for you and your family. You'll see checklists to follow for getting a bug-out bag stocked on a budget, defense, heat and shelter, medical and dental supplies, personal hygiene, finance and bartering and much more Chapters on food and water will teach you quickly how to achieve a clean, drinkable water supply and which food items taste best, carry lightest and store longest. Filled with special ideas for parents with children, this guide is your starting place for common sense readiness.

In the early morning hours of August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew struck south Florida with high winds and heavy rains. Andrew destroyed tens of thousands of homes and left 180,000 people homeless. The resulting property damage totaled over 30 billion dollars. The widespread destruction caused by Andrew was due primarily to high winds. However, flood waters contributed to the damage in low-lying coastal areas of central and southern Miami-Dade County. In the repair and reconstruction efforts that followed Hurricane Andrew, owners of damaged houses had opportunities to modify their houses to protect them from future flood damage. One effective method of protecting a house from flooding is elevating the habitable areas of the house above the flood level. Almost all single-family homes in Miami-Dade County are constructed with reinforced masonry block walls on a slab-on-grade foundation. Houses of this type are the most difficult to elevate for flood protection. This publication describes how homeowners in Miami-Dade County elevat-ed their damaged slab-on-grade masonry houses following the devastating effects of Hurricane Andrew. Chapter 2 of this publication explains how the Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency (FEMA) provided technical and regulatory guidance to Miami-Dade County homeowners concerning alternative house elevation techniques. Chapter 3 presents an overview of three common techniques appropriate for a variety of houses on different types of foundations. Chapter 4 uses eight illustrated case studies to demonstrate how Miami- Dade County homeowners used the three techniques to elevate their slab-on-grade houses. The benefits of elevating a floodprone house are summarized in Chapter 5.

A NO-NONSENSE EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND GUIDE ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR, AND SURVIVE, AN URBAN DISASTER. We live in a very dangerous and unpredictable world. All it takes is one natural or manmade crisis to seriously disrupt the fragile infrastructure that supports our modern way-of-life. Whether it's a storm, a terrorist attack, an economic meltdown, or a pandemic, you need to be prepared. During any major crisis there will be two groups of people, the prepared, and the unprepared. After a few days without food, water, medical attention, or vital public services the world around you will begin to look dramatically different than anything you could ever have imagined. Staying safe and avoiding the chaos will require thoughtful preparations and advance planning. In this book, you get: A Step-by-step guide to help you prepare to survive an urban disaster. A simple and easy-to-understand approach to help you plan for a potential crisis. Strategies to help you secure the core survival elements - food, water, first aid, security and sanitation. Tips on when to stay put, and when to get out. Tactics to keep you and your family stay safe during a crisis. Extensive shopping lists for survival products and supplies. When the moment comes you will either be prepared, or you won't; the choice is yours.

This book is intended to acquaint the public with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Despite the highly technical nature of the Program, there has been a deliberate effort to minimize the use of technical terms. This publication is designed for readers who do not need a detailed history or refined technical or legal explanations, but who do need a basic understanding of the Program and the answers to some frequently asked questions. Readers who need legal definitions should refer to the Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP) and to NFIP and related regulations. The information provided herein is as current as possible, but changes in the NFIP are made periodically. Readers can obtain the most up-to-date insurance data by using the contact information at the back of the book. The NFIP is a Federal program created by Congress to mitigate future flood losses nationwide through sound, community-enforced building and zoning ordinances and to provide access to affordable, federally backed flood insurance protection for property owners. The NFIP is designed to provide an insurance alternative to disaster assistance to meet the escalating costs of repairing damage to buildings and their contents caused by floods. Participation in the NFIP is based on an agreement between local communities and the Federal Government that states that if a community will adopt and enforce a floodplain management ordinance to reduce future flood risks to new construction in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), the Federal Government will make flood insurance available within the community as a financial protection against flood losses. For decades, the national response to flood disasters was generally limited to constructing flood-control works such as dams, levees, seawalls, and the like, and providing disaster relief to flood victims. This approach, however, did not reduce losses, nor did it discourage unwise development. In some instances, it may have actually encouraged additional development. To compound the problem, due to its high risk and seasonal nature, insurance companies were not able to provide affordable flood insurance coverage. In light of mounting flood losses and escalating costs of disaster relief to the taxpayers, the U.S. Congress created the NFIP. The intent was to reduce future flood damage through community floodplain management ordinances, and provide protection for property owners against potential losses through an insurance mechanism that requires a premium to be paid for the protection.

Beverly Bell, an activist and award-winning writer, has dedicated her life to working for democracy, women's rights, and economic justice in Haiti and elsewhere. Since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake of January 12, 2010, that struck the island nation, killing more than a quarter-million people and leaving another two million Haitians homeless, Bell has spent much of her time in Haiti. Her new book, Fault Lines, is a searing account of the first year after the earthquake. Bell explores how strong communities and an age-old gift culture have helped Haitians survive in the wake of an unimaginable disaster, one that only compounded the preexisting social and economic distress of their society. The book examines the history that caused such astronomical destruction. It also draws in theories of resistance and social movements to scrutinize grassroots organizing for a more just and equitable country.

Fault Lines offers rich perspectives rarely seen outside Haiti. Readers accompany the author through displaced persons camps, shantytowns, and rural villages, where they get a view that defies the stereotype of Haiti as a lost nation of victims. Street journals impart the author's intimate knowledge of the country, which spans thirty-five years. Fault Lines also combines excerpts of more than one hundred interviews with Haitians, historical and political analysis, and investigative journalism. Fault Lines includes twelve photos from the year following the 2010 earthquake. Bell also investigates and critiques U.S. foreign policy, emergency aid, standard development approaches, the role of nongovernmental organizations, and disaster capitalism. Woven through the text are comparisons to the crisis and cultural resistance in Bell's home city of New Orleans, when the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Ultimately a tale of hope, Fault Lines will give readers a new understanding of daily life, structural challenges, and collective dreams in one of the world s most complex countries."

Few natural disasters come bigger than the 2004 tsunami. It left a trail of destruction from one side of the Indian Ocean to the other. Hardest hit was Aceh in Indonesia's west where the tsunami killed almost a quarter of a million people and left half million homeless as it smashed into a strip of coastline 800 kilometres long and several kilometres wide. The global community rallied to help in the largest military deployment since World War II. It then spent billions rebuilding Aceh in one of the most challenging reconstruction programs of its kind. "Tsunami Chronicles: Adventures in Disaster Management"tells the inside story of recovery. Written by the Indonesian Government's senior advisor for tsunami recovery, Bill Nicol, it lays bare the tectonic political and managerial forces that swept along the rebuilding program with no less force than the tsunami itself. This is a powerful, first-hand narrative from a highly experienced journalist, author and consultant who played a pivotal role in the recovery operations. A series of six books in one book, "Tsunami Chronicles" offers rare and unique insights that will annoy some, anger a few, excite others and inspire many. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in international development and disaster recovery-humanitarian volunteers, aid workers, consultants, engineers, agency staff, institutional managers, policy makers and political leaders-as well as academics, students of management, business leaders and the general public.

Are you prepared to survive in a shelter-in-place emergency situation?
Well, are you? If you are, pat yourself on the back. You're a step ahead of most people. The average citizen turns a blind eye to disaster preparedness and is largely unprepared to handle all but the most minor of emergency situations.
Do you really want to take a chance that could cost you and your family your lives?
The first thing most victims say is, "I never thought it would happen to me." Don't be caught unprepared when an emergency strikes that forces you to take refuge in your own home. The time to get ready for a crisis situation is now. Wait until the last minute and you'll be forced to pay top dollar for food, water and supplies, if you can find them at all. If not, you'll be forced to scavenge for scraps or beg for help, along with hundreds of thousands of others who couldn't be bothered to prepare.
The following topics are covered in this helpful and easy to read book: What hunkering down is and why it's preferred over bugging out.The disasters you should start prepping for.The most common type of disaster. HINT: It's the one people are least prepared for.Bugging out vs. bugging in.The meaning of normalcy bias and how it can get you killed.Questions you need to ask yourself in an emergency situation that will help you determine the best course of action.The 5 plans you need in order to survive.Building a Get Home Bag that will give you the best chance of making it home if a disaster occurs while you're away.How long should you prepare to survive on your own?Shelter: Don't make any assumptions.Shutting down utilities.Water . . . Must have water.How to keep from freezing to death when the power is out.How not to starve to death.Staying clean when there's no running water.How to handle first aid emergencies when there is no professional medical care available.How to stay safe when you can't call the cops.How stockpiling alcohol and tobacco might save your life.Why you might not want to run a generator. HINT: There's a better option.Sealing yourself in to protect your family from chemicals and radiation.The attack that could render all electronic equipment useless and how to protect your equipment.How to communicate when the phones stop working.Appendix #1: A list of supplies you'll need.Appendix #2: Survival skills you're going to need to learn (if you don't already have them).Appendix #3: Step-by-step guide to getting prepped.

Beverly Bell, an activist and award-winning writer, has dedicated her life to working for democracy, women's rights, and economic justice in Haiti and elsewhere. Since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake of January 12, 2010, that struck the island nation, killing more than a quarter-million people and leaving another two million Haitians homeless, Bell has spent much of her time in Haiti. Her new book, Fault Lines, is a searing account of the first year after the earthquake. Bell explores how strong communities and an age-old gift culture have helped Haitians survive in the wake of an unimaginable disaster, one that only compounded the preexisting social and economic distress of their society. The book examines the history that caused such astronomical destruction. It also draws in theories of resistance and social movements to scrutinize grassroots organizing for a more just and equitable country.

Fault Lines offers rich perspectives rarely seen outside Haiti. Readers accompany the author through displaced persons camps, shantytowns, and rural villages, where they get a view that defies the stereotype of Haiti as a lost nation of victims. Street journals impart the author's intimate knowledge of the country, which spans thirty-five years. Fault Lines also combines excerpts of more than one hundred interviews with Haitians, historical and political analysis, and investigative journalism. Fault Lines includes twelve photos from the year following the 2010 earthquake. Bell also investigates and critiques U.S. foreign policy, emergency aid, standard development approaches, the role of nongovernmental organizations, and disaster capitalism. Woven through the text are comparisons to the crisis and cultural resistance in Bell's home city of New Orleans, when the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Ultimately a tale of hope, Fault Lines will give readers a new understanding of daily life, structural challenges, and collective dreams in one of the world s most complex countries."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, works to reduce the ever-increasing cost that disasters inflict on the nation. Preventing losses before they occur by designing and constructing buildings and their components to withstand anticipated forces from various hazards is one of the key components of mitigation and is one of the most effective ways of reducing the cost of future disasters. The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is the federal program established to address the nation's earthquake threat. NEHRP seeks to resolve two basic issues: how will earthquakes affect us and how do we best apply our resources to reduce their impact on our nation. The program was established by Congress under the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-124) and was the result of years of examination of the earthquake hazard and possible mitigation measures. Under the NEHRP, FEMA is responsible for supporting program implementation activities, including the development, publication, and dissemination of technical design and construction guidance documents. Generally, there has not been much technical guidance addressing residential buildings unless they are located in areas of high seismicity or exceed a certain size or height. This is because most residential buildings were thought to perform fairly well in earthquakes due to their low mass and simple construction. While buildings may not normally experience catastrophic collapse, they can still suffer significant amounts of damage, rendering them uninhabitable. This is especially true when construction techniques are less than adequate. What is particularly important from FEMA's point of view is that, given the sheer number of this type of building, even minor damage represents a significant loss potential and temporary housing demand that will need to be addressed after an earthquake by all levels of government. This guide provides information on current best practices for earthquake-resistant house design and construction for use by builders, designers, code enforcement personnel, and potential homeowners. It incorporates lessons learned from the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge earthquakes as well as knowledge gained from the FEMA-funded CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project. It also introduces and explains the effects of earthquake loads on one- and two-family detached houses and identifies the requirements of the 2003 International Residential Code (IRC) intended to resist these loads. The stated purpose of the IRC is to provide: ..". minimum requirements to safeguard the public safety, health, and general welfare, through affordability, structural strength, means of egress facilities, stability, sanitation, light and ventilation, energy conservation and safety to life and property from fire and other hazards attributed to the built environment." Because the building code requirements are minimums, a house and its contents still may be damaged in an earthquake even if it was designed and built to comply with the code. Research has shown, however, that earthquake damage to a house can be reduced for a relatively small increase in construction cost. This guide identifies above-code techniques for improving earthquake performance and presents an estimate of their cost. Note that the information presented in this guide is not intended to replace the IRC or any applicable state or local building code, and the reader is urged to consult with the local building department before applying any of the guidance presented in this document. The information presented in this guide applies only to one- and two-family detached houses constructed using the nonengineered prescriptive construction provisions of the IRC. Applicable IRC limits on building configuration and construction are described.

This volume of selected readings and the handbook it accompanies have been developed to provide participants in the building process at the local, state, and regional levels with the information they need to adequately address the potential effects on their communities of using new or improved seismic safety design provisions in the development of regulations for new buildings. It represents one product of an ongoing program conducted by the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A brief description of this program is presented below so that readers of the handbook and these selected readings can approach their use with a fuller understanding of their purpose and limitations. In the chapters included in the handbook: The potential impacts identified by the committee are described. Information sources and data bases that may be able to provide communities with general as well as specific information and guidance are listed. General terms related to earthquakes are defined and the modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) scale and the Richter magnitude scale are described. In this accompanying volume of selected readings, the committee has assembled a series of papers that address various aspects of the seismic safety issue. A number of these papers were prepared specifically for the BSSC study and several were presented at the BSSC committee meetings with building process participants. Several other papers were originally presented at a 1984 FEMA workshop but were not published. Included are: An estimate of the impact of the NEHRP Recommended Provisions on design and construction costs developed for the BSSC study; Descriptions of the seismic hazard in various areas of the United States developed for the BSSC study; Explanations of seismic safety codes; Descriptions of current seismic hazard mitigation practices and programs; A description of recent seismic safety policy research developed for the BSSC study; A summary of the BSSC committee meetings with building process participants in Charleston, Memphis, St. Louis, and Seattle; A relatively extensive set of references.

The 2011 Coastal Construction Manual, Fourth Edition (FEMA P-55), is a two-volume publication that provides a comprehensive approach to planning, siting, designing, constructing, and maintaining homes in the coastal environment. Volume I of the Coastal Construction Manual provides information about hazard identification, siting decisions, regulatory requirements, economic implications, and risk management. The primary audience for Volume I is design professionals, officials, and those involved in the decision-making process. Volume II contains in-depth descriptions of design, construction, and maintenance practices that, when followed, will increase the durability of residential buildings in the harsh coastal environment and reduce economic losses associated with coastal natural disasters. The primary audience for Volume II is the design professional who is familiar with building codes and standards and has a basic understanding of engineering principles. Volume II is not a standalone reference for designing homes in the coastal environment. The designer should have access to and be familiar with the building codes and standards that are discussed in Volume II and listed in the reference section at the end of each chapter. The designer should also have access to the building codes and standards that have been adopted by the local jurisdiction if they differ from the standards and codes that are cited in Volume II. If the local jurisdiction having authority has not adopted a building code, the most recent code should be used. Engineering judgment is sometimes necessary, but designers should not make decisions that will result in a design that does not meet locally adopted building codes. The topics that are covered in Volume II are as follows: Chapter 7 - Introduction to the design process, minimum design requirements, losses from natural hazards in coastal areas, cost and insurance implications of design and construction decisions, sustainable design, and inspections; Chapter 8 - Site-specific loads, including from snow, flooding, tsunamis, high winds, tornadoes, seismic events, and combinations of loads. Example problems are provided to illustrate the application of design load provisions of ASCE 7-10, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures; Chapter 9 - Load paths, structural connections, structural failure modes, breakaway walls, building materials, and appurtenances; Chapter 10 - Foundations, including design criteria, requirements and recommendations, style selection (e.g., open, closed), pile capacity in soil, and installation; Chapter 11 - Building envelope, including floors in elevated buildings, exterior doors, windows and skylights, non-loading-bearing walls, exterior wall coverings, soffits, roof systems, and attic vents. Chapter 12 - Installing mechanical equipment and utilities; Chapter 13 - Construction, including the foundation, structural frame, and building envelope. Common construction mistakes, material selection and durability, and techniques for improving resistance to decay and corrosion are also discussed; Chapter 14 - Maintenance of new and existing buildings, including preventing damage from corrosion, moisture, weathering, and termites; building elements that require frequent maintenance; and hazard-specific maintenance techniques; Chapter 15 - Evaluating existing buildings for the need for and feasibility of retrofitting for wildfire, seismic, flood, and wind hazards and implementing the retrofitting. Wind retrofit packages that can be implemented during routine maintenance are also discussed (e.g., replacing roof shingles.