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AMTI to lead TOPOFF-4 exercises
Company defeats Northrop and Lockheed in winning the $24 million contract; planning for the ten day event will take eighteeen months; bid accepted on the strength of AMTI’s presentation, as well as on strong performance in earlier TOPOFF events
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Air Force frequency jams Denver garage door openers
Emergency band shares frequency with remote control devices; altitude at Cheyenne Mountain means thousands effected; Air Force will try to tweak transmission, otherwise Denverites will have to buy new garage door openers
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Prepared Response to protect Huntington Library
Deal makes a significant foray into the private market; Rapid Responder, company’s crisis management software, already a hit among emergency response agencies
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FSSCC warns that "work at home" may strain emergency telecommunications
Banking and securities industry is extremely reliant on the nation’s communications networks, but remote labor may bring down an already injured system
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Indian business continuity market on the rise
IBM leads the way in this tech-happy country beset with natural disasters and a lingering terrorist threat; China and Japan are said to lag behind their Asian neighbors; Malaysia and Hong King are ripe targets
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LWG releases corrosion retardant for circuit boards and equipment
Product a boon to health and communications personnel; application keeps equipment in shape until repairs can be made; salvage value of components is maintained in case the damage is irreperable
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Critics get tough on emergency preparedness drills
High cost a major factor, especially when real-life consistently befuddles even the most exercised of agencies; consultants often sell cookie-cutter drills of little value; after-action anlaysis is often more important than the program itself
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The MEDSI project offers scalable, efficient crisis management tool
Information sharing and improved coordination are key to a successful effort to mitigate and contain the consequences of a terorist act or natural disaster; MEDSI offers crisis managers a useful tool
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Japanese tsunami alert system proves itself after recent earthquake
Thousands take heed of televised warnings to head to higher ground; system relies on hundreds of seismographs and marine sensors; government officials have the power to automatically turn on home televison sets to warn citizenry
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SPRUCE system permits emergency supercomputing
Scientists need access to TeraGrid computers in order to predict dangerous weather patterns; once notified by an emergency call, computers and servers linked into the SPRUCE system preempt less-critical work
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Buffalo researchers use nano-sensors to locate power outages
Technology will save utilities from block to block searches for downed wires; nanosensors monitor any electrical system that runs on 120 volts — including refrigerators, freezers, home theatre systems, and even home medical systems
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Sealegs unveils new emergency rescue amphibious craft
Crushing demand for the fiberglass ARC forces the company to open a larger factory; at a price of $58,850, Sealegs sees a great opportunity in the American homeland security market
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New England planners look to athenahealth to track epidemic health outcomes
Exercise at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center will test an Internet-based approach to handling patient care; ability to provide surge capacity and manage patient records key factors; athenaNet platform supports the system
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FEMA rapped for failure to maintain emergency housing units
$4 million in units have been rendered unihabitable after officials at an Arkansas storage facility failed to properly store them; Trimarro’s modular homes the biggest victim, in large part due to FEMA’s failure to require proper weather-resistant containers; tarping seen as futile
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ManTech wins DHS iCAV management contract
Company will build out and integrate the geospatial mapping system intended to provide real-time data on natural and man-made disasters
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The long view
Sea-Level Rise Has Increased Frequency of Extreme Coastal Flooding Worldwide: Study
Human-caused sea-level rise has significantly increased the frequency of extreme coastal flooding worldwide. New research found that coastal flooding events expected only once every 100 years are now, on average, about 12 times more likely to occur.
U.S. Needs New Drought Assessment Framework as Droughts Become More Severe and Unpredictable
Droughts in the United States are becoming more intense and unpredictable, and the nation needs to develop a new drought assessment framework to better understand and address them. A new framework should be developed which distinguishes between short-term operational needs, such as drought monitoring and emergency response, and long-term planning for water management, infrastructure, and climate adaptation.
Feds Increasingly Leave Local Governments Hanging When Climate Disasters Hit: Report
Communities that ask for federal assistance when climate disasters hit can’t count on that help to arrive.