**January 23, 2007 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) DISASTER OPERATIONS PLANNING COLLEGE COURSE DEVELOPMENT

INVESTIGATION:

Received from Dr. John Pine, head of the Disaster Science Program at
Louisiana State University, a paper on the results into his
investigation amongst the administrators of emergency management
programs at the upper division and graduate level, on their perceptions
of the need for the contract development by the FEMA Emergency
Management Higher Education Project, of a college course on Disaster
Operations Planning. The results were positive.

Have forwarded Dr. Pine\'s paper to the EMI Webmaster to upload to the
EM HiEd Project website \-- Free College Courses section \-- Courses
Contemplated subsection \-- where it should be accessible shortly.

The FEMA EM HiEd Project has received funding sufficient to develop one
college course in FY 2007. The topic of Disaster Operations Planning is
in competition with two other topics which are also being investigated
\-- Principles and Practice of Emergency Management \-- and Theory of
Emergency Management. Currently we have a dilemma \-- which way to go.

\(2\) DISASTERS WAITING TO HAPPEN:

Leslie, Jacques. \"Before the Flood.\" New York Times, January 22, 2007.

Accessed at:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/opinion/22leslie.2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>

\[Excerpts: \"In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave
United States dams a D, a grade that is still justified two years later.
For starters, the nation\'s dam stock is rapidly aging. Most dams need
major repairs 25 to 50 years after they\'re built, and most United
States dams are at least 25 years old; some\...were built more than a
century ago.

As dams age, their danger increases. This is a matter of not just
advancing decrepitude, but \"hazard creep\" - the tendency of developers
to build directly downstream from dams, in the path of floods that would
follow dam failures. The result is that even though Americans now build
few dams, more and more dams threaten people\'s lives. Chiefly for this
reason, the number of dams identified in one estimate as capable of
causing death and in need of rehabilitation more than doubled from 1999
to 2006, from around 500 to nearly 1,400. The civil engineers\' 2005
report placed the number of unsafe dams much higher, at more than 3,500.
On top of that, dam safety officials are so overworked that in most
states, they don\'t come close to carrying out all the inspections
required by law. According to the engineers\' society, the average state
dam inspector is responsible for 268 dams; in four states the number
exceeds 1,200\....

\"\...about half the dams in the Corps\' inventory, including many
high-hazard ones, do not have emergency plans in case of failure\....
the plans that do exist are often inaccurate, and many of the people
they\'re intended to protect have no idea of the potential peril they
face. California is the only state that even requires property buyers to
be informed of potential jeopardy from an upstream dam.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimated in 2005 that repairing
dams threatening human life would cost \$10.1 billion, while a 2003
study by the Association of Dam Safety Officials placed the cost of
repairing all non-federally owned dams in the national inventory at
\$36.2 billion. In the last session Congress considered legislation to
repair dams at a rate of \$25 million a year for five years, but even
that feeble gesture didn\'t make it out of committee.

Americans are easily persuaded to spend hundreds of billions of dollars
combating debatable terrorist threats from outside the United States,
while failing to notice that inside the country, the infrastructure is
crumbling.\" Jacques Leslie is the author of \"Deep Water: The Epic
Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People and the Environment.\"

\(3\) FEMA RECRUITMENT OF GRADUATES OF COLLEGIATE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
PROGRAMS:

Talked for some time with a FEMA Headquarters staff officer who has been
tasked with coming up with a way forward in the recruitment of graduates
of collegiate emergency management degree programs \-- particularly
Bachelor and Graduate-level graduates. I provided data, information, and
suggestions as to how to proceed. This project officer has asked not to
be identified. I will be willing, however, to forward email messages
relating to the subject of FEMA recruitment of collegiate emergency
management program graduates to this person for consideration. In
bureaucratic jargon, FEMA is up-sizing and believes that graduates of
all-hazards emergency management programs would be an asset.

\(4\) INTRODUCTION TO HOMELAND SECURITY COLLEGE COURSE:

Received from Mr. Tracey DeWitt a course syllabus for posting to the
\"Syllabi Compilation\" on the EM HiEd Project website of a course
entitled \"Introduction to Homeland Security,\" to be taught at the
Macon Cove Campus of Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis,
TN, as the first offering within a five-course comprehensive Technical
Certificate of Credit for Homeland Security. According to the syllabus
the purpose of the course \"is to provide a primer on homeland security
for emergency managers and related disciplines. Content first includes
an overview of the Homeland Security basic management concepts. Then,
there will be readings, discussions and problems related to achieving
homeland security.\" The syllabus is being forwarded to the EMI
Webmaster for upload to the Syllabi Compilation on the web. In the
meantime, for additional information, Mr. Tracey DeWitt can be reached

at: <tgdewitt@southwestern.tn.edu>

\(5\) KATRINA:

Walsh, Bill. \"Blanco Calls For Federal Katrina Probe - Ex-Director Says
White House Tried To Foil Governor.\" New Orleans Times-Picayune,
January 23, 2007. Accessed at:

<http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/116953815315500.xml&coll=1>

\(6\) MATERIALS RECEIVED:

Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Vol. . 21, No. 4, November
2006. (Quarterly, Australian Emergency Management Institute, Main Road,
Mt. Macedon, Victoria, 3441, Australia. 03-5421 5100, 03-5421 5272
(fax), URL:
[[http://www.ema.gov.au]{.underline}](http://www.ema.gov.au/), e-mail:
<rfleming@ema.gov.au>.)

Crisis Response Journal, Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2007. (Quarterly published by
Cava Media Ltd., UK. For information:
[[http://www.crisisresponsejournal.com]{.underline}](http://www.crisisresponsejournal.com/).)

\[Note: Includes an interview (pp. 16-17) with ex-FEMA Director Mike
Brown entitled \"After the Storm.\" Sub-title states: \"Roundly vilified
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the then Director of FEMA became
the very public embodiment of the failures in response. Here, Emily
Hough talks to Michael Brown. Hero or villain? You decide\...\"

Disaster Prevention and Management-An International Journal, Vol. 15,
No. 5, 2006. (MCB University Press North America 875 Massachusetts Ave.,
Suite 82, Cambridge, MA 02139. (888) 622-0075, (617) 354-6875 (fax),

URL: [[http://www.mcb.co.uk]{.underline}](http://www.mcb.co.uk/),
e-mail: <help@mcb-usa.com>.)

Environmental Hazards, Vol. 6, Issue 4.. Elsevier Science Publishing
Co., Inc., PO Box 945, NY, NY 10159-0945, (212) 633-3730, (888)
437-4736, (212) 633-3680 (fax), URL:

[[http://www.elsevier.com/locate/gloenvcha/]{.underline}](http://www.elsevier.com/locate/gloenvcha/),
e-mail: <usinfo-f@elsevier.com>.

Homeland Defense Journal, Vol. 4, Issue 11, November 2006. (Monthly
published by Homeland Defense Journal, Arlington, VA,
[[http://www.homelanddefensejournal.com]{.underline}](http://www.homelanddefensejournal.com/).)

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Vol. 21, No. 5, Sep-Oct 2006. The
Official Journal of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency
Medicine and the Nordic Society of Disaster Medicine.
[[http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu]{.underline}](http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/)

\(7\) NEW RIVER COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE, BLUEFIELD WV \-- AS
DEGREE IN EMER.MGMT:

The Project Assistant informs me that a description of the new Associate
of Science Degree in Emergency Management at New River Community College
in Bluefield, West Virginia, is now accessible within The College List
on the EM HiEd Project website \-- specifically at:
[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/collegelist/emassociate/New%20River%20Community%20and%20Technical%20College%20-%20Associate%20of%20Sci.doc](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/collegelist/emassociate/New River Community and Technical College - Associate of Sci.doc)

\(8\) PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COLLEGE COURSE
DEVELOPMENT INVESTIGATION:

Have received a paper from Dr. David McEntire with the Emergency
Planning and Administration program at the University of North Texas on
his investigation into the development by the FEMA EM HiEd Project, via
contract, of a upper division college course on the Principles and
Practice of Emergency Management. This paper is being forwarded to the
EMI Webmaster to upload to the EM HiEd Project website \-- Free College
Courses section \-- Courses Contemplated subsection \-- where it should
be accessible shortly.

\(9\) RISK:

Robinson, Brian. \"Lieberman Signals Contentious Time For DHS.\"

FCW.com, January 8, 2007. Accessed at:

[[http://www.fcw.com/article97295-01-08-07-Web&slnewsletter=yes]{.underline}](http://www.fcw.com/article97295-01-08-07-Web&slnewsletter=yes)

\[Note: I trust that all realize that the \"risk management\" being
referred to is only \"risk management\" from a predominately single
hazard perspective \-- namely terrorism, with slight modification from a
vulnerability perspective that recognizes three other hazards that could
be catastrophic. This is not all-hazards \"risk assessment\" which then
leads to all-hazards \"risk management.\"\]

\(10\) TULANE UNIVERSITY:

Responded to request of Dr. Colin M. MacLachlan, FEMA Project Director,
Payson Center, Tulane University, to provide a set of CD ROMS of EM HiEd
Project college-level educational courses, and EMI training courses. Dr.
MacLachlan noted in his request that \"we are planning to implement a
recent agreement with Gulf FEMA \-- give our academic program some
substance, even muscle!.\" For additional information, Dr. MacLachlan
can be reached at: <cmaclac@tulane.edu>

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, K-011

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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