**May 31, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) EMER.MGMT. & HOMELAND SECURITY/DEFENSE HIGHER EDUCATION
CONFERENCE, JUNE 6-8, 2006:

Continued with agenda changes (EMI Admin Support is loving this) \--
received news from FEMA HQ that two FEMA Federal Coordinating Officers
have been found to replace the two we just recently lost from the
agenda. Lost the moderator for the FEMA FCO panel as well and now
investigating a replacement. NETC Admin Support notes that 260
applications have been processed. Working with security to try to
arrange VIP treatment for several VIP\'s who are scheduled to attend
(knock on wood) so that, hopefully, they will not be told to park in the
back 40 and hike over to the auditorium.

\(2\) HAZARD MAPPING AND MODELING COURSE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT:

Received for review from Dr. John Pine, Director of the Disaster Science
and Management Program at Louisiana State University, 1st draft of
Session 11, \"Supporting Emergency Response Operations Using GIS and
Modeling.\"

\(3\) HOMELAND SECURITY:

Ullman, Harlan. \"Rethinking Homeland Security II.\" Washington Times
(Op-Ed), May 31, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060530-095101-5551r.htm]{.underline}](http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060530-095101-5551r.htm)

\(4\) KATRINA:

Robinson, Eugene. \"The Catastrophe Wasn\'t Katrina.\" Washington Post,
May 30, 2006. Accessed at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/29/AR2006052900733.html/>

\(5\) PREPAREDNESS:

Barry, Dave. \"A Tip For The Hurricane Season: Try To Have Some Kind Of
Clue.\" Miami Herald, May 28, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/14686260.htm]{.underline}](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/14686260.htm)

\[Note: Humorous \-- thanks to Feedblitz.com for this item.\]

Duncan, Jeff. \"Stay? Next Hurricane, Some Plan To Hold Their Ground.\"
New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 30, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1148969359194770.xml&coll=1]{.underline}](http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1148969359194770.xml&coll=1)

Eggler, Bruce. \"Evacuate, Leave, Get Out. Confused?\" New Orleans
Times-Picayune, May 30, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1148882698151830.xml]{.underline}](http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1148882698151830.xml)

Goodnough, Abby. \"As Hurricane Season Looms, States Aim To Scare.\" New
York Times, May 31, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/us/31prepare.html]{.underline}](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/us/31prepare.html)

\[Excerpt: Article notes that \"To persuade residents to heed evacuation
orders, the Florida Division of Emergency Management is broadcasting
public service announcements with recordings of 911 calls placed during
Hurricane Ivan in 2004\.... the main strategy, it seems, is to scare the
multitudes of people who emergency officials say remain blasé even after
last year\'s record-breaking storm season.\" Quotes the Florida Division
of Emergency Management Director, Craig Fugate, to the effect, \"We\'re
going to use a sledgehammer.\"\]

\[Note on Goodnough article: It would be very interesting to see
research on the effectiveness of this campaign. In one of my previous
FEMA careers I developed and managed for several years the FEMA Family
Disaster Preparedness Program. I quickly found out that what one thinks
would work in getting people to do the kind of disaster preparedness
things you think they ought to do, is frequently wrong. For example,
disaster research fairly clearly indicated that showing citizens slide
presentations with images of disaster damage, with the thought that
these images would move them to change their behavior, did not work and
sometimes did just the opposite \-- closed peoples minds to preparedness
\-- some stating that this was just too much, too big, something they
could not handle or didn\'t want to think about. On the other hand, the
technique of showing citizens slide presentations of other citizens
doing the right things \-- putting a disaster supply kit together,
talking to the family about disaster preparedness, etc. \-- was fairly
successful, indeed spurring on significant percentages of citizens to
\"do the right thing.\" If I recall from the research literature
correctly, when people who had changed their behavior were questioned as
to why they took whatever disaster preparedness step they had taken they
responded that the idea they took aware from the presentation was that
\"Hey, I can do that.\" I recognize that watching a slide presentation
\-- wherein the research is fairly clear that it is not a good idea to
show disaster damage images (certainly not many) \-- may well not be
comparable to playing audio PSA\'s of frantic sounding 911 calls. Thus,
the thought that this technique needs effectiveness verification before
it becomes widely employed. If a reader is aware of such social science
research that already exists I would be obliged to hear of it. BWB\]

Henderson, Russ. \"Language Gap Increases Hurricane Danger.\" Mobile
Press-Register, May 30, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1148894274263030.xml&coll=3]{.underline}](http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1148894274263030.xml&coll=3)

\[Note: Don\'t know how many times I\'ve seen such articles \-- a highly
vulnerable population left out of the loop. Too many emergency managers
taking utilitarian, biggest bang for the too-limited buck approach \--
translating to messages reaching middle-class home owners \-- as opposed
to foreign language groups and poverty stricken, and others in more
vulnerable circumstances. Another reason to once again strongly
encourage college faculty to use or draw upon the EM HiEd Project course
\"A Social Vulnerability Approach to Disasters\" course \-- accessible
at:
[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/completeCourses.asp]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/completeCourses.asp)
\-- just scroll down to course title and click.\]

New Orleans Times-Picayune (Editorial). \"A Dry Run,\" May 30, 2006.
Accessed at:
[[http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1148969407194770.xml&coll=1]{.underline}](http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1148969407194770.xml&coll=1)

New Orleans Times-Picayune. \"The Semantics of Evacuation.\" May 31,
2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-3/114905541962970.xml]{.underline}](http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-3/114905541962970.xml)

Weber, Paul J. \"Experts Say Evacuations Remain Challenging.\"
Associated Press, May 26, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060527/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_evacuations;\_ylt=ArcYiFiV0RGZdFHzKSiJlWZvzwcF;\_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA]{.underline}](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060527/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_evacuations;_ylt=ArcYiFiV0RGZdFHzKSiJlWZvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA)\--

\(6\) READING MATERIALS RECEIVED:

Anderson, David. The Infidels. Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2005, 248
pages.

\"Homeland Protection Professional\" (Coordinating Domestic
Preparedness). Published 10 times a year by A.J. Parrino & Associates
Ltd. For information go to:
[[http://wwwhppmag.com]{.underline}](http://wwwhppmag.com/) \-- Received
May 2006 edition \-- includes articles on:

\"Dirty Bombs, Practical Plans\"

\"Breathing Difficulties\"

\"Satellite Communications, Part 2, Birds Above The Storm\"

\"Fingerprints and More\" (about biometric tools)

B. Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, N-430

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

\(301\) 447-1262, voice

\(301\) 447-1598, fax

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)

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