**July 27, 2005 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, CALIFORNIA, PA\--GIS IN
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM:

Heard today from Dr. Thomas Mueller, Adviser to the Geography Major with
GIS and Emergency Management Program at the California University of
Pennsylvania. He notes that in the last year:

1\) We have grown to about 20 students in our program

2\) We have added a new course called GIS 2: It teaches students on the
use of ArcObjects

3\) The student run GIS Club has become a student chapter of the 3
Rivers HAZUS Group\...

4\) One of our students is currently\...at the University of Delaware
studying GIS and Emergency Management issues.

Concerning point four Dr. Mueller provided a status report from his
student at UDel.

\"Hello! My name is Jessica Long and I am a senior at California
University of Pennsylvania majoring in Operational Meteorology, as well
as, GIS and Emergency Management. This summer I have been researching
under the guidance of faculty and graduate students at the Disaster
Research Center (DRC) at the University of Delaware. The research is a
part of their second year Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
funded by the National Science Foundation in which I am one of eleven
students from across the country participating in the program. I spent
the first few weeks becoming familiar with the university, the DRC, and
partaking in modules designed to teach social science aspects of
disasters and research methods\....I am currently working on a paper
entitled \"An Analysis of Incoming Information Sources Utilized By
Oklahoma Emergency Managers as a First Step Towards More Effective Risk
Communication.\" I will be continuing this research through the
completion of my undergraduate degree with the hopes of publication. As
an REU student I have enjoyed numerous benefits of having being accepted
to the program including a variety of speakers from organizations
including the American Red Cross, National Academy of Science, and FEMA.
I have also traveled to Colorado for the Annual Hazards Workshop and to
New York City to tour two Offices of Emergency Management (Brooklyn and
Nassau County). The 9-week program will come to a close August 4, 2006
with the expectation of a completed research paper for the DRC\'s May
25, 2007 deadline.\"

\(2\) FEMA:

Marek, Angie C. \"FEMA Gets Guff About Policies Designed To Curb
Financial Waste.\" U.S. News & World Report, July 27, 2006. At:

[[http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060726/26femaaid.htm]{.underline}](http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060726/26femaaid.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"Historically, FEMA doesn\'t make major changes until it\'s
at least talked to the states and tried to assess the impact,\" says
Mark Smith of the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness. \"That hasn\'t been done yet, and these changes need to be
stopped in their tracks.\"\]

New York Times. \"The Wrong Lesson\" (Editorial), July 27, 2006.

Accessed at:
[[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/opinion/27thu2.html?hp]{.underline}](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/opinion/27thu2.html?hp)

\[Excerpt: \"The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which failed to
employ the kinds of controls necessary to prevent an estimated \$1
billion in fraud and abuse following Hurricane Katrina, has compiled a
list of remedial steps it plans to take. That\'s good. But tucked into
the list is a peculiar decision to cut back immediate emergency aid for
families to \$500, instead of the \$2,000 given after Katrina\.... the
agency\'s incompetence has no bearing on the needs of people who have
lost everything and require immediate help. Cutting back emergency aid
is the wrong response by an agency in crisis, one that smacks of
victim-blaming and overreaction.\"\]

Yoest, Patrick. \"Senate Committee To Mark Up Emergency Management
Reform Bill.\" Congressional Quarterly.

\[Summary: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee \"is scheduled to mark up legislation Thursday that seeks to
improve emergency response infrastructure and procedures to avert
another debacle like the government\'s handling of Hurricane Katrina.\"
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, \"incorporates many of the\"
from the Senate\'s report on the response to Hurricane Katrina. \... In
addition to organizational changes at FEMA - which would be renamed the
US Emergency Management Authority - the bill also would set up a new
Office of Emergency Communications.\"\]

\(3\) HOMELAND SECURITY:

Blumenthal, Les. \"Disaster Plan Fails State, Say Officials - Feds
Blasted For Using Cookie-Cutter Approach.\" The News Tribune (Tacoma,
WA), July 23, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5974061p-5252815c.html]{.underline}](http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5974061p-5252815c.html)

\[Excerpt: \"In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the federal
agency \[DHS\] asked all 50 states and the nation\'s 75 largest urban
areas to review their emergency preparedness plans and pay special
attention to the types of mass evacuations ordered along the Gulf Coast
last summer. \"We kind of laughed,\" said Barb Graff, director of
emergency services for the City of Seattle. When it comes to major
disasters in the Northwest, officials say they won\'t get the three or
four days advance warning that accompanies the approach of a hurricane
and allows for mass evacuations. The most likely disaster in the
Northwest, a severe earthquake, would come without warning. A tsunami
could hit the coast or Puget Sound in minutes. Volcanic eruptions can
come with little warning, and people living near Mount Rainier might
have less than an hour to escape a lahar, a huge mudflow that could
travel down river valleys for miles.

Even emergencies at the Hanford nuclear reservation or the Umatilla
Chemical Depot in northeastern Oregon, where the Army\'s chemical
weapons are being destroyed, likely would come without warning. \'We\'re
being asked to develop a plan that we will probably never use,\' said
Steve Bailey, director of emergency services for Pierce County. \'It
would seem to be a waste of time and money. We have many more pressing
problems.\'

The Homeland Security Department is using a cookie-cutter approach that
might work in other areas, but not in a region where much of the
emphasis is on \'sheltering in place\' during and following a disaster
and educating people about how to be prepared, Bailey said\.... Jim
Mullen, Washington state\'s emergency services director\...\[said\]
Homeland Security used the reviews to blunt the criticism it has faced
since last year\'s hurricanes\...\'This was designed to take the
pressure off the Department of Homeland Security, to show that no one
was prepared,\' Mullen said. \'It was defensive on their part.\'

The federal team that reviewed the state\'s emergency response plan
seemed to view earthquakes as a \'theoretical abstraction,\' Mullen
said, and was more interested in high winds and mass evacuations.
\'It\'s one size fits all. That\'s their standard approach,\' Mullen
said. \'From the way they presented this, it had (an inside the) Beltway
tilt.\' \....

Though the federal team took a comprehensive look at state and
Seattle-King County plans, it was clear they were focused on hurricanes
and mass evacuations. \'Obviously, the questions were hurricane-based,\'
said Graff, Seattle\'s emergency director. \'They came to town to ask
whether we could handle a Katrina-like emergency.\' What they found was
that neither the state nor Seattle-King County has plans for mass
evacuations. The federal review team noted the Seattle-King County
officials had emphasized the \'unlikelihood and inadvisability\' of a
mass evacuation and that sheltering in place was \'the first and safest
recourse\'. King County officials said there was \'no plausible scenario
short of nuclear attack\' that would result in the evacuation of the
county\'s 1.8 million people, the federal team reported. State and local
officials stressed mass evacuations would be tough because the Puget
Sound region is surrounded by water on one side and mountains on the
other, and the only major north-south route is I-5. And if people were
evacuated, there are questions about where they would go. The federal
review team conceded that planning for mass evacuations in the state
would be a \'very complex issue\'. But it also said that shouldn\'t
deter state and local officials. The state is expected to have its mass
evacuation plan completed next year.\"\]

Eggen. Dan. \"New FBI Division To Probe Weapons Terrorists May Use.\"

Washington Post, 27July2006.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601629.html>

Federal Bureau of Investigation. \"Focus on Priorities \-- Director
Mueller Details Realignment.\" Washington, DC: FBI, July 26, 2006.

Accessed at:
[[http://www.fbi.gov/page2/july06/realignment072606.htm]{.underline}](http://www.fbi.gov/page2/july06/realignment072606.htm)

Gaouette, Nicole. \"Report Says Homeland Security Dept. Mishandled
Contracts.\" Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2006. At:
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dhs27jul27,0,367072.story?coll=la-home-headlines>

Government Accountability Office. Homeland Security: Challenges in
Creating An Effective Acquisition Organization (GAO-06-1012T).
Washington, DC: US GAO, July 27, 2006, 17 pages. Accessed at:

[[http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-1012T]{.underline}](http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-1012T)

Government Accountability Office. Rail Transit: Additional Federal
Leadership Would Enhance FTA\'s State Safety Oversight Program
(GAO-06-821). Washington, DC: US GAO, July 26, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-821]{.underline}](http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-821)

Highlights -
[[http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06821high.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06821high.pdf)

Hall, Mimi. \"Feds Move To Share Intelligence Faster - Teams Being Sent
to Work Alongside Local Agents.\" USA Today, July 27, 2006. Accessed

at:
[[http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060727/a_homeland27.art.htm]{.underline}](http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060727/a_homeland27.art.htm)

Scripps News. \"Homeland Protectors Should Use Better Judgment.\"

Editorial, July 27, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/10250]{.underline}](http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/10250)

Witte, Griff and Spencer S. Hsu. \"Homeland Security Contracts Abused -
Report Finds Extensive Waste.\" Washington Post, July 27, 2006.

Accessed at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601683.html>

\(4\) KATRINA:

Argetsinger, Amy and Roxanne Roberts. \"Reliable Source - Michael Brown
Reveals All in a Playboy Interview.\" Washington Post, July 27, 2006.

Accessed at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072602090.html>

\[Excerpt: \"Brownie, you give a heckuva interview! Former FEMA chief
Michael Brown unloads about his post-Katrina downfall in the August
issue of Playboy \-- calling himself a \"scapegoat,\" warning that the
nation is even \"less-prepared\" for this year\'s hurricane season, and
sharing some PG-13 opinions of former colleagues.

\* On Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), accusing him in a hearing of not
comprehending the devastation: \"For that little twerp to claim I
didn\'t understand death and suffering \-- he can just bite me, for all
I care.\"

\* On President Bush saying the levee breaches were unexpected: \"He
doesn\'t have an incredible command of the English language.\"

\* On DHS boss Michael Chertoff ordering him out of the field: \"I am so
mad at myself for not saying \'screw you.\' \"

\* On Bush calling him \"Brownie\": \"It\'s typical of the president.
He\'s a cheerleader . . . How many people in the world do you think have
ever called me Brownie? . . . When he used that nickname, a lot of
people in the media went, Is he an insider?\"

\* On his much-mocked prior job with the International Arabian Horse
Association:\' Dealing with horses\' asses taught me how to deal with
the federal government\'.\"\]

From today\'s DHS News Briefing: \"Book Says Federal Officials

Concentrated Too Heavily On Levee Breach During Katrina. In an article

\" Behind The Katrina Imbroglio,\" adapted from a book by WSJ \[Wall
Street Journal\] reporters Christopher Cooper and Robert Block, the Wall
Street Journal (7/27, B1, 2.03M) reports that as Hurricane Katrina hit
New Orleans, reports of flooding and \"destruction were immaterial in
determining the scale of the calamity,\" as far as federal officials
were concerned. They \"had a single test for determining whether to
treat the storm as an average disaster or as the catastrophic doomsday
scenario everyone had long feared: Had the levees been breached by
Katrina\'s storm surge, or had the water simply flooded over the top?
Unfortunately, these were questions that state and local officials \--
and even FEMA\'s senior staff \-- never fully understood they had to
answer.\" The article pays particular attention to Matthew Broderick,
the director of the Homeland Security Operations Center, whose \"view of
what constituted a catastrophe was pivotal: As HSOC commander, he was
responsible for giving Mr. Chertoff and the White House virtually all of
the ground intelligence they would receive during the disaster.\" The
article adds that statements by Secretary Chertoff and President Bush
\"that the breaching of the levees was \'a second catastrophe\' that
occurred long after Katrina passed\" were false. \'A subsequent
investigation by the Army Corps of Engineers found that in some cases,
breached levees began flooding New Orleans even before Katrina made
landfall.\'\"

\(5\) MATERIALS RECEIVED:

Benjamin, Daniel and Steven Simon. The Next Attack: The Failure of the
War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting It Right. New York: Henry Holt
and Co., 2005, 346 pages.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 55, No. 29, July 28, 2006.

(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health
and Human Services; published by the Coordinating Center for Health
Information and Service (CDC), Atlanta GA.)

\[Note: See, in particular: Luber, G.E., C.A. Sanchez, and L.M.

Conklin. \"Heat-Related Deaths - United States, 1999-2003.\" pp.

796-798. Excerpt:

\"During 1999-2003, a total of 3,442 deaths resulting from exposure to
extreme heat were reported (annual mean: 688). For 2,239 (65%) of these
deaths, the underlying cause of death was recorded as exposure to
excessive heat; for the remaining 1,203 (35%), hyperthermia was recorded
as a contributing factor. Deaths among males accounted for 66% of
deaths\...Of the 3,401 decedents for whom age information was available,

228 (7%) were aged \<15 years, 1,180 (53%) were aged 15-64 years, and
1,363 (40%) were aged \>65 years. The state with the highest average
annual hyperthermia-related death rate during 1999-2003 was Arizona (1.7
deaths per 100,000 population), followed by Nevada (0.8) and Missouri
(0.6).\"\]

\[BWB Note: Kunkle, and company in the following reference, note that
for the period 1979-1992, the average yearly loss of life attributable
to excessive heat was 384. See: Kunkel, Kenneth E., Roger A Pielke Jr.,
and Stanley A. Changnon. 1999. \"Temporal Fluctuations in Weather and
Climate Extremes That Cause Economic and Human Health Impacts: A
Review.\" Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 80, No.

6, June, pp. 1077-1098.\]

Suburban Emergency Management Project: \"History of Federal Domestic
Disaster Aid After the Civil War: Freedman\'s Bureau and the US Army\"

(SEMP Biot #380). July 26, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_380.html]{.underline}](http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_380.html)

\(6\) MITIGATION:

Bayou Buzz (La.). \"Louisiana Recovery Authority: Jefferson Parish
Adopts Flood Elevation Guidelines.\" July 26, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=7730]{.underline}](http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=7730)

\[Excerpt: \"According to the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the
Jefferson Parish Council recently agreed to adopt the Advisory Base
Flood Elevations (ABFE) as recommended by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and required by the Louisiana Recovery
Authority (LRA). The adoption clears the way for \$6.8 million to help
raise area homes to a safer elevation. Now that the parish has adopted
the new guidelines, it is also eligible to receive a ten percent cost
share match from the State to repair critical pieces of local
infrastructure including roads, bridges and public buildings. \'The
Jefferson Parish Council has done a very smart thing for their
citizens,\' said Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. \'This sends a
clear signal to the rest of Louisiana that Jefferson Parish is committed
to rebuilding safer, stronger and smarter than before\'.\"\]

\(7\) PANDEMIC:

Brown, David. \"Bird Flu Vaccine Shows Promise.\" Washington Post, July
27, 2006. Accessed at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601716.html>

Grady, Denise. \"Progress in Vaccine for Bird Flu In Humans.\" New York
Times, July 27, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/26/news/flu.php]{.underline}](http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/26/news/flu.php)

\(8\) PREPAREDNESS:

Lipton, Eric. \"Louisiana Governor Criticizes U.S. Evacuation Plan.\"

New York Times, July 26, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/us/27evacuate.html?\_r=1&oref=slogin]{.underline}](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/us/27evacuate.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

\[Excerpt: \"Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana sent a
sometimes blistering letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff late Wednesday asking the federal government to honor its
commitment to help evacuate and care for thousands of New Orleans area
residents in the event that another major hurricane blows into the
region this year. \'We have received no indication from you that
staffing, logistics and security for additional shelters have been
addressed,\' she wrote in the 18-page letter, in one of many critiques
of federal aid she said she had requested, but has still not been
promised, in this case referring to a need for additional federally
provided emergency shelter space.\"\]

Maggi, Laura. \"Blanco Seeks Federal Help With Hurricane Response.\" New
Orleans Times-Picayune, July 27, 2006. Accessed at:
<http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1153982774142040.xml&coll=1>

Millhollon, Michelle. \"Governor Answers Chertoff\'s Request.\" The
Advocate (Baton Rouge), July 27, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/3434211.html?showAll=y&c=y]{.underline}](http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/3434211.html?showAll=y&c=y)

\[Excerpt: \"Blanco complained that federal officials are not always
keeping the state in the loop on hurricane response plans. For example,
Blanco said that the federal government is working on an evacuation plan
with New Orleans and Amtrak officials without state government\'s input.
She repeated a request she made months ago that key federal decision
makers be located in Baton Rouge and not New Orleans. Another concern,
the governor wrote, is that key Federal Emergency Management Agency
logistics staffers have all rotated out of the state after working with
state planners for months. \'The lack of stability with key FEMA
planners has a detrimental impact on planning in logistics and other
areas,\' Blanco wrote.\"\]

Shuler, Marsha. \"Nursing Homes\' Plans Not Adequate - Only 21 of 72
Have Acceptable Proposals.\" Baton Rouge Advocate, July 27, 2006. At:

[[http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/3434221.html]{.underline}](http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/3434221.html)

\[Excerpt: \"Most of the nursing facilities, home to 6,652 elderly and
disabled people, have neither an adequate way to move patients out of
harm\'s way nor a suitable place to shelter them once they get there,
according to the June survey\....\`I was somewhat disappointed,\' Dr.
Jimmy Guidry, state health officer, said. \'After what we have been
through, I would have suspected some major changes in their plans\'.\"
No kidding.\]

Sieff, Martin. \"Analysis: Chem Security Becomes Hot Issue.\" United
Press International, July 26, 2006. At:

<http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060726-052204-3904r>

\[Excerpt: \"A leading Democratic senator is trying to make a Capitol
Hill fight over chemical security a hot issue for the U.S. congressional
election campaign. Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y\...spearheaded the
campaign with a speech outside a chemical plant in Rochester, NY,
Monday. Standing in front of fuel tanks in Rochester, Schumer said that
chemical facilities posed a major terrorism risk to the state, the
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported.

\'Except for \-- God forbid \-- nuclear, the danger coming from these
chemical plants is probably the worst that we face here. We\'re not here
to point fingers at the chemical industry. \... They\'ve received no
guidelines from the federal government,\' Schumer said\....

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 123 U.S. facilities
handling hazardous materials could threaten more than a million people
if they were attacked, and another 700 smaller ones could threaten more
than 100,000 people each.\"\]

\(9\) WAR ON TERROR:

Perl, Raphael F. Trends In Terrorism 2006 (RL33555). Washington, DC:

Congressional Research Service, July 21, 2006, 21 pages. Accessed at:

[[http://www.hlswatch.com/]{.underline}](http://www.hlswatch.com/)

\[Seems to me to be basically a summary of the State Department\'s
262-page report \"Country Reports on Global Terrorism 2005, released
April 28, 2006.\]

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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