**Jan 26-30, 04 FEMA EM Higher Ed Project Activity Report**

**(1) Community College of Rhode Island:**

January 28, 2004 \-- Receive email from Dean Maureen McGarry \--
Proposed Emergency Management Certificate Approved:

At long last I can report that our 18 credit certificate program has
been approved at the Community College of Rhode Island. I can now begin
the dissemination of information. We have had several of the courses
successfully run as experimental with very little trouble.

The EM Certificate Program at CCRI is the 107th EM HiEd Collegiate
Program currently operating within the U.S. \-- and the first in Rhode
Island. To offer your congratulations, or for additional information,
Dean McGarry can be reached at: [mmcgarry@ccrl.cc.ri.us]{.underline}

**(2) Disaster Response Operations and Management Course:**

January 29, 2004 \-- Received for review from course developer, Dr.
David McEntire, University of North Texas, a revised draft of Session
16, \"Mass Fatality Management.\" Draft materials from this project are
accessible on the EM HiEd Project web site \-- Academic Emergency
Management and Related Courses section \-- Courses Under Development
subsection.

**(3) Disasters As A Growth Business \-- Munich Re Analysis of Natural
Catastrophes in 2003:**

January 26, 2004 \-- The *Insurance Journal* runs in interesting article
(\"Natural Disasters More Severe and More Costly,\" by Charles E. Boyle)
spinning off the December 29, 2003 Munich Re Press Release on 2003
\"catastrophes\" \-- accessible at:
[[http://www.munichre.com/default_e.asp]{.underline}](http://www.munichre.com/default_e.asp).
From the January 26th article:

> \"According to a recently released report from Munich Re, fatalities
> caused by natural catastrophes were up 450 percent in 2003\...More
> ominous was the reinsurer\'s conclusion that economic and insured
> losses would continue to increase at the same high level\....
>
> The world\'s biggest reinsurer warned that, \'in view of the
> deteriorating risk situation, the insurance industry must continue to
> act rigorously \-- for example, by agreeing on limits of liability and
> risk-adequate premiums.\'
>
> \....the continent\'s summer heat wave was devastating\...\'In Germany
> alone, the record temperatures from June to August corresponded to a
> 450-year event in climatological terms; if the atmosphere continues to
> warm unchecked, such a heat wave could already become a mere 20-year
> event by 2020.\'\.... \[Elsewhere in the article (and press release)
> European deaths due to the heatwave were put at 20,000.\]
>
> Swiss Re\'s report also said the 2003 figures \'confirm this trend
> towards high losses.\' A combination of \'increasingly densely
> populated areas, higher concentrations of insured values and the
> development of endangered zones\' are at least partially to blame.
> This leads to the conclusion that, while it remains impossible to
> control the elements, it may be possible to control, or at least
> limit, the damages.
>
> Munich Re is convinced that the increasingly severe weather related
> events are linked to changes in climate. The report shows that \'new
> types of weather risks and greater loss potentials must be reckoned
> with in the future.\'
>
> \....That conclusion really isn\'t news. The debate over global
> warming and its consequences, particularly its impact on the insurance
> industry, first surfaced in the 1980s. Looking back, while there\'s
> been a lot of discussion, it hasn\'t really produced any concrete
> solutions.
>
> \....\'There\'s no doubt the earth\'s climate is changing,\' stated
> Dr. Robert Watson, head of the International Panel on Climate Change
> (IPCC) Scientific Advisory Panel, back in 2000.
>
> \....A recent BBC report stated, \'Most mainstream scientists believe
> that human activity\--notably emissions of greenhouse gases\--has
> contributed to a significant increase in the average surface
> temperature of the planet.\' They blame the increased burning of
> fossil fuels (oil and coal) for intensifying the trend. The conclusion
> is that humanity is to blame. When Munich Re presented its preliminary
> findings to the UNEP \[United Nations Environment Program\], it
> provoked angry reactions from across the Atlantic. According to
> another BBC report, Sen. James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate
> Committee on Environment and Public Works, said he was increasingly
> convinced that \'global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated
> on the American people and the world.\'
>
> \....UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer, stated: \'Climate change
> is not a prognosis, it is a reality that is, and will increasingly,
> bring human suffering and economic hardship\....\'
>
> Dr. Gerhard Berz, head of Munich Re\'s Geo Risks Research Department
> commented: \'We will have to get used to the fact that hot summers
> like the one we had in Europe this year must be expected more
> frequently in the future. It is possible that they will have become
> more or less the norm by the middle of the century. The summer of 2003
> was a \'summer of the future,\'\.... Warmer summers mean a rise in the
> intensity and frequency of severe weather events. A heated-up
> Mediterranean and a warm North Atlantic increase the risk that
> particularly strong low-pressure systems will form in autumn and
> winter with torrential rain and extreme wind speeds\....
>
> Can anything be done? The answer is probably not. Even if the world
> stopped using fossil fuels tomorrow, it\'s unlikely that this would
> have any immediate effect on the climate\--maybe in a 100 years or
> more, but not now. This puts the insurance industry between the
> proverbial rock and the hard place\....
>
> Dr. Andrew Dlugoledki, director of General Insurance
> Development\...predicted in a BBC interview that unless serious steps
> were taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the costs of natural
> disasters caused by climate change would exceed the world\'s GDP by
> 2065. Long before that point is reached, the insurance industry will
> have run out of money. If remedial solutions are to be found, they
> will require active programs by governments and industries to reduce
> the risks from natural catastrophes. Eventually paying for the losses
> will no longer be a viable option, as more that a few people have
> begun to realize.\"

Footnote: Since we were snowed in with about 16 inches of snow this past
weekend, I decided to read *The Ice Chronicles \-- The Quest to
Understand Global Climate Change* (Paul Andrew Mayewski and Frank White.
Hanover and London: University Press of New Hampshire, 2002). The first
chapter concludes with these, abbreviated here, points:

> 1\. Climate change should be expected as part of the natural world
> \[we are in-between ice ages\].
>
> 2\. Human activity does have an impact on climate.
>
> 3\. Quite dramatic natural climate change can occur in the space of a
> few years: \"Through what are known as Rapid Climate Change Events
> (RCCEs), the Earth has already experienced massive reorganizations in
> the climate system. These are equivalent to plunging portions of the
> globe into year-long winters in the space of a decade or less and back
> into conditions similar to today\'s, also in a decade or less.\"
> \...\...\...\...\....

**(4) Emergency Management Higher Education Conference, June 8-10, 2004,
Emmitsburg, MD:**

January 27-30, 2004 \-- Received several suggestions for presentations
at this year\'s EM HiEd Conference \-- such as one on the new National
Response Plan and National Incident Management System \-- and I
suggested several topics to potential presenters. Thoughts on this?

January 27, 2004 \--Talked with Michael Mumaw, Beaverton OR Emergency
Management, concerning the establishment of International Association of
Emergency Managers chartering of International Emergency Management
Student Association (IEMSA) chapters and a possible conference
presentation on that process \-- perhaps as part of a Student Emergency
Management Panel \-- with a student from a Bachelor -Level IEMSA chapter
(there are four, with another being developed, and one from a
Graduate-level chapter (one is \"in the works\").

January 27, 2004 \-- Talked briefly with Shaun Ohlms, President of the
IAEM Student Region XII, from Central Missouri State University, about
emergency management student participation in this year\'s conference.

January 27, 2004 \-- Talked with Dr. Hank Fischer, Millersville
University of Pennsylvania, about his delivering a presentation on the
survey he will soon be administering to representatives of the 107
active hazard/disaster/emergency management collegiate programs in the
U.S. Dr. Fischer is amenable.

January 27-28, 2004 \-- Communicated with Daryl Spiewak, President of
the IAEM, on IAEM participation in the Conference.

January 28, 2004 \-- Talked with Sonja Nieuwejaar, FEMA Office of
International Affairs, concerning their involvement in the June
Conference. Their office has established working relationships with
several countries which they would like to have invited to provide
representation at the conference \-- Canada, Germany, India, Mexico,
Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. We talked about the audiences
the conference is designed to be supportive of so that in their
communications with foreign nationals they can solicit appropriate
representation.

January 29, 2004 \-- Talked with Dr. Deborah Thomas, Department of
Geography, University of Colorado at Denver, and organizer of the Denver
Workshop on \"Designing Educational Opportunities for the Hazard Manager
of the 21st Century,\" in October 2003, concerning the design and
\"management\" of breakout sessions on EM Skills and Abilities Core
Competencies and EM Core Curricula.

January 30, 2004 \-- Communicated with Craig Marks, Director of the
Community Preparedness and Disaster Management Program, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, concerning the development of a venue
dealing with the subject of accreditation of hazard/disaster/emergency
management and homeland security collegiate programs at the EM HiEd
Conference. Craig is willing to take the lead on developing an approach
to dealing with this topic at the conference \-- perhaps a breakout
session, or perhaps a plenary discussion \-- yet to be determined. He
was kind enough to quickly draft the following on this topic:

> \"THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, COMMUNITY
> PREPAREDNESS AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IS MOVING FORWARD TO THE
> NEXT LEVEL OF PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT FIELD,
> THAT OF CREATING A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL
> INSTITUTIONS AND INTERESTED ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS IAEM AND NEMA TO
> DEVELOP A COMMISSION FOR THE ACCREDITATION OF DISASTER/EMERGENCY
> MANAGEMENT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS. THIS VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION WILL
> OPERATE ALONG THE LINES OF CURRENT BODIES WHICH OVERSEE FIRE AND
> CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAMS AT INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.
> PLANNING IS ON-GOING WITH THE DESIRE TO ESTABLISH A CONSORTIUM OF
> INTERESTED PARTNERS IN THE SUMMER OF 2004.\"

This is a very important subject, in my opinion, and I encourage
interested readers to contact Craig Marks directly and participate in
this dialogue. He can be reached at: marksc@unc.edu

Also received a number of requests to attend the conference. We ask that
people hold off on submitting such requests until we have had an
opportunity to post an application package on the website \-- in early
February we trust (must work on budget documents for this fiscal year as
the next pressing priority). From the number of inquiries we have
received it does appear that this year\'s conference will be larger than
last year\'s (114 participants).

**(5) Emergency Manager Practitioner Demographics and Attitudes Survey
\-- Graduate Student Project:**

January 27, 2004 \-- Received a status report from Carol Cwiak, a
graduate student at North Dakota State University working on her Ph.D in
Emergency Management, on a project she is working on entailing the
administration of, and analysis of, the results of a survey instrument
soliciting emergency manager demographic and attitudinal information.
This instrument was distributed at the International Association of
Emergency Managers Annual Conference (Orlando, FL) in November, wherein
79 completed surveys were collected. The next step is for distribution
of the survey instrument at the North Dakota Emergency Management Annual
Meeting this week. Following this the instrument will be distributed to
personnel in the North Dakota Division of Emergency Management the first
week in February. A mailing to a national sampling of county and
state-level emergency managers will be done in mid-March. Comparative
analysis of survey results will be done in May and a draft report on
findings will be developed this summer. For additional information,
Carol Cwiak can be reached at: madamgovnr@msn.com

**(6) FEMA\'s Path to Homeland Security \-- Journal of Homeland Security
and Emergency Management Article:**

January 29, 2\--4 \-- An Activity Report reader informed me today of the
publication of this article \-- by Dr. Richard Sylves, University of
Delaware, and William R. Cumming (The Vacation Lane Group) \-- in the
HS&EM Journal \-- Vol. 1, Issue 2, Article 11, 2004. From the abstract:

> The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) path to Homeland
> Security was paved for 24 years by (1) the actions of five presidents
> and by new laws, (2) by the outcomes of the agency's bureaucratic
> "turf wars" with other federal departments or agencies, (3) by
> staffing decisions inside the agency that relied on "generalist"
> managers more than "technocratic" managers, and (4) experience with
> human-caused disasters ranging from terror bombings to radiological
> and hazardous materials incidents, under all-hazards emergency
> management. These are the determinants that prepared FEMA for a major
> role in homeland security.

The article (21 pages) can be accessed via:
[[http://www.bepress.com/jhsem/vol1/iss2/11]{.underline}](http://www.bepress.com/jhsem/vol1/iss2/11)

**(7) Floodplain Management \-- Graduate-Level Course Development
Project:**

January 30, 2004 \-- Received for review from lead course developer, Bob
Frietag, University of Washington, a Project Work Plan and a Time Line
for session and course deliverables. The Time Line shows four
deliverables by the end of February \-- Sessions on:

> Effects of Tectonics, Geology & Glaciation on Stream Systems
>
> Introduction to Ecological Principles and Ecoregions
>
> What Is A Hazard
>
> Public Policy in the American Federal System \-- An Overview

For further information there is an expanded course outline on the EM
HiEd Project web site \-- Academic Emergency Management and Related
Courses section \-- Courses Under Development subsection. Bob Frietag
can be emailed at: bfrietag@mindspring.com

**(8) Hazards Mapping and Modeling \-- Upper Division Course Development
Project:**

January 30, 2004 \-- Received from lead course developer, Dr. John Pine,
Louisiana State University, a draft of the Time Line for Deliverables
for this project. Dr. Pine is projecting the delivery of the first draft
sessions in the mid-March, 2004 time-frame. An expanded outline of this
course can be found on the EM HiEd Project web site \-- Academic
Emergency Management and Related Courses section \-- Courses Under
Development subsection.

**(9) Hazards Risk Management \-- Upper Division College Course
Development Project:**

January 27, 2004 \-- Received email from the lead course developer, Greg
Shaw, George Washington University (DC), noting that he had spent much
of the weekend working on revisions to the draft course, based on the
review comments received during the recently completed review period and
our agreements as to the response to those comments. He hopes to have a
final course package to us in the fairly near future. Will then post the
course on the EM HiEd Project website \-- Academic Emergency Management
and Related Courses section \-- Completed Courses subsection.

**(10) Homeland Security Related EMI and NFA Training Courses CD ROM
Update:**

January 30, 2004 \-- Was informed today that all the courses selected
for inclusion on the Homeland Security CD ROM of training courses
(developed at the Emergency Management Institute and the National Fire
Academy) are ready for incorporation onto a Master CD, with two
exceptions: (1) the EMI Mass Fatalities course, which I am told is \"out
of date and is in the revision process,\" and is not to be expected for
another six months, and (2) the EMI Hospital Incident Management
System/Mass Casualty Course, which I am told will be available within
two weeks. We will thus wait for two weeks to be able to get the Mass
Casualties course, and then get this CD into production and distributed.
When the Mass Fatalities course is released later in the year, we will
add it to the CD then. This CD is meant to support colleges,
predominately community colleges, with homeland security programs aimed
at emergency services personnel.

**(11) National Response Plan and National Incident Management System
Power Point Presentation:**

January 29, 2004 \-- The following item also appeared in the January,
2004 edition (Vol. 1, No. 2) of the *Journal of Homeland Security and
Emergency Management*:

> **News from the Dept. of Homeland Security**\
> *Claire Rubin, George Washington University, cbrubin@gwu.edu*\
> On September 25, 2003, Mr. Robert Stephan, Special Assistant to
> Secretary Ridge, gave a presentation with Power Point slides to a live
> forum audience at the George Washington University. The title of the
> presentation is The National Response Plan (NRP), the National
> Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Implications for Emergency
> Management Security. Since the information is very timely and may be
> of interest to the readers, the slide set is available on the homepage
> of the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management at GWU. URL:
> [\<<http://www.gwu.edu/~icdrm>\>]{.underline}.

**(12) New Directions in Hazards Mitigation \-- Breaking the Disaster
Cycle (Graduate Seminar):**

January 30, 2004 \-- Received review comments from one of those who are
reviewing this draft course and forwarded comments to the lead course
developer, Dr. David Godschalk, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. For those readers who have received the draft course for review,
the deadline for review comments is fast approaching \-- next Friday,
February 6th.

**(13) North Carolina Community College System:**

January 27, 2004 \-- Received request from Chuck Barham, Associate Vice
President for Economic and Workforce Development, NC Community College
System Office (Raleigh, NC), for 70 sets of the Associate Degree
supporting CD ROMs and Bachelor Degree supporting CD ROMs developed by
the EM HiEd Project \-- which we are producing for him. Mr. Barham\'s
intent is to distribute these CD ROMs to every community college in the
State of North Carolina, of which there are 58. A number of these
schools have both a curriculum division and a continuing education
division, for which these materials would be applicable \-- thus the
additional CD ROMs. Mr. Barham (and we) would like to see many more
North Carolina Community Colleges teaching hazard, disaster and
emergency management courses and developing certificate and Associate
Degree programs. I predict that this initiative will lead to a
significant increase in the number of North Carolina schools with
emergency management higher education programs. I am hoping that VP
Barham can be enticed into attending the June 8-10 EM HiEd Conference
and presenting on this initiative. For further information, Vice
President Barham can be reached at: barhamc@ncccs.cc.nc.us

**(14) Social Dimensions of Disaster, 2nd Edition \-- Upper Division
College Course Development Project:**

January 27, 2004 \-- Received for review from course developer, Dr.
Thomas Drabek, Denver Colorado:

> Session 41, What Works in Risk Communication?
>
> Session 42, Future Trends in Emergency Management
>
> Session 43, Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Emergency Management
>
> Session 44, Bridging the Gap Between Researchers and Users
>
> Session 45, Final Examination
>
> Cover Page, Preface, and Table of Contents

January 28, 2004 \-- Reviewed the 2nd draft of Session 40, \"Field Trip:
Federal Emergency Management Agency,\" provided review comments to Dr.
Drabek, and forwarded to EMI Webmaster for upload to the EM HiEd Project
web site \-- Academic Emergency Management and Related Courses section
\-- Courses Under Development subsection.

January 29, 2004 \-- Received 3rd draft of Session 40 from Dr. Drabek.
Completed review of Session 41, noted above, and provided review
comments to Dr. Drabek.

January 29, 2004 \-- Received a proposal to develop a textbook to
support this course. Given the 25% cut in the EM HiEd Project budget for
fiscal year 2004, such a project will have to wait until 2005 \-- unless
the cut or some portion of it can be restored. Would then need to draft
a procurement package and submit to the procurement office for
processing and advertising.

**(15) University of California at Irvine, Extension Program:**

January 28, 2004 \-- Talked with Michael E. Anzis, adjunct faculty at
UC-Irvine, about the course he is teaching this semester on
\"**Organizational Emergency Preparedness: Principles and Practices**.\"
Told him about the Business and Industry course on the EM HiEd Project
website \-- Academic Emergency Management and Related Courses section. I
mentioned my continuing surprise that more people were not teaching
these private sector oriented hazards and disasters and what you do
about them courses. The private sector is, after all, much larger than
the public sector, and has much to lose. Subsequently received a copy of
his course syllabus and forwarded to the EMI Webmaster for posting to
the Syllabi Compilation section of the EM HiEd Project web-page, where
it should be accessible within a few days.

**(16) University of Texas at Dallas:**

January 27, 2004 \-- Received email from Dorothy Miller, Program
Manager, Emergency Management and Preparedness Program, noting that the
University of Texas at Dallas, which has an Emergency Management and
Preparedness Certificate, is seeking to specifically tailor this program
to the needs of public sector municipal workers (all departments). The
school intends to offer a curriculum covering the basics and
fundamentals of emergency management, response and recovery, the
incident command system, risk assessment, exercise development,
terrorism, and technology in emergency management. Her question to me,
which I made a stab at answering, was what additional subjects would be
recommended. I invite others to get in touch with Ms. Miller and help
out with the sharing of insights and recommendations. She can be reached
at: dorothy@utdallas.edu