• Disaster evacuation plans need to incorporate family perspectives

    A recent study sponsored by the National Science Foundation found that most respondents felt the evacuation of New Orleans residents to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina was a “failure” and this opinion has shaped their willingness to accept shelter if offered in an emergency evacuation

  • Emergency response for the disabled

    Roughly 56 million Americans have a disability and with many living without a telephone or television, communicating with them in the event of a major disaster is no easy task; to address the needs of disabled Americans during natural and manmade disasters, emergency officials recently participated in a seminar called “Planning for the Whole Community”

  • Iridium offers emergency response service on satellite phone

    Iridium offers free SOS service on its Iridium Extreme satellite phone; individuals who need emergency help can now maintain contact with an operator during the emergency rather than rely on one-way SOS alerting

  • Local towns signing up for Twitter and Facebook for emergency comm.

    Following the lead of several other cities and federal agencies, the town of Wilton, Connecticut recently launched a Facebook page and Twitter account to help communicate with residents and share information during a disaster

  • Yellow Dot gets medical info to first responders fast

    Emergency officials in Alabama recently introduced a new program aimed at quickly providing first responders with critical information during accidents; in the event of a car accident, first responders will be able immediately to find vital medical information on victims by simply looking in their glove compartment

  • Chicago emergency officials preparing for harsh winter

    As Chicago braces for an especially brutal winter, the Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is doing its best to prepare residents, emergency responders, and work crews for the worst weather in the nation

  • New Jersey teams with Target for disaster response

    During the next major disaster, New Jersey emergency responders will receive assistance from the big box retailer Target; last week the company announced that it had officially teamed up with New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness to assist state and local officials in the event of a major disaster or terrorist attack

  • Protecting first responders from a quiet killer

    Emergency responders in Flagstaff, Gilbert, and Chandler, Arizona recently underwent a battery of medical tests to help minimize the risk of having a stroke or heart attack while in the line of duty; 44 percent of all firefighter deaths were the result of heart attacks, which is the leading killer of firefighters

  • Texting 911 in emergencies

    The Post Falls police department in Idaho is testing a new 911 system that would allow residents to report emergencies via text message or e-mail

  • Georgia to build privately funded first responder training center

    A local firm in Georgia is set to build a privately funded training facility for first responders that would bring more than 100 jobs to Perry; the sophisticated training center, built by Guardian Centers of Georgia, would help prepare first responders for natural disasters and terrorist attacks

  • Insects to become first responders, aid in search and rescue

    Researchers are finding ways to harvest energy from insects, holding the promise of using insects to aid in first response and search and rescue, and monitor hazardous situations before sending in humans

  • Early 9/11 responders at greater risk of heart disease

    A new study warns that 9/11 responders who arrived immediately after the attacks could be at greater risk of heart disease; researchers examined the blood vessel walls of thirty-one 9/11 responders and found that the nineteen men and women who went to work before 13 September had much greater damage to their blood vessel walls than those who arrived later

  • Pennsylvania’s homeland security office to operate out of state police HQ

    The Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Homeland Security will move its operations to the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) headquarters in Harrisburg; the office was merged into the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) during the previous administration, but the governor determined that relocating the office to the state police headquarters would result in an even greater combination of intelligence gathering and sharing

  • Harvard-designed swarm robots licensed to Swiss company

    Harvard researchers developed Kilobot — a low-cost, easy-to-use robotic system for advancing development of “swarms” of robots; robot swarms might one day tunnel through rubble to find survivors, monitor the environment and remove contaminants, and self-assemble to form support structures in collapsed buildings

  • Device allows summoning help where no cellular coverage is available

    People who work or travel in remote places often find themselves in areas where there is no cellular coverage; summoning emergency help is thus difficult, if not impossible; a Colorado company offers a solution