November 7, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project Activity Report

(1) FEDERAL CATASTROPHE INSURANCE:

Treaster, Joseph B. "A Proposal for Federal Protection From Catastrophe Divides Insurers." New York Times, October 31, 2006. Accessed at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/business/31insure.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1162914199-V+xXeQvGZt3wG6VUITtznA

[Excerpt: "The two biggest companies, Allstate and State Farm, which provide nearly 35 percent of the insurance on American homes, are seeking legislation that would offer the same kind of program for hurricanes and other natural disasters as the government now promises to provide to commercial insurers in a future terrorism attack."]

(2) PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE:

Justice Technology Information Network. "Technologies for Public Safety in Critical Incident Response Conference and Exhibition 2006." Atlanta GA, September 6-8, 2006. Agenda and slides are accessible at: http://www.nlectc.org/training/nijconf.html

[Note: Saw note concerning the posting of slide presentations in Christian Beckner's "Homeland Security Watch" blog/newsletter, posted today. Includes sections on pandemics, risk assessments, NIMS, WMD, search and rescue, communications interoperability, disaster "lessons learned," simulation and training, and DoD's Role in supporting homeland security.]

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "Rensselaer Researchers Developing Model To Predict Organizational Response to Extreme Events." Troy, NY: RPI Press Release, November 3, 2006. Accessed at: http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=1821

[Excerpt: "By studying the organizational culture of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Coast Guard, as well as each organization's response to last year's Hurricane Katrina, a team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has begun to develop a dynamic model of organizational processes with the capacity to predict how an organization's culture will affect its ability to respond to an extreme event.... Throughout the group's research, a vast dichotomy between the cultures of FEMA and the Coast Guard became increasingly evident, according to William "Al" Wallace, professor of decision sciences and engineering systems (DSES) at Rensselaer, and principal investigator on the project. The researchers believe these cultural factors ultimately dictated how well each organization was able to carry out its function and responsibilities. 'FEMA's fatalist culture, coupled with the loss of its cabinet-level position and budget and rulemaking authority, crippled the agency's ability to fulfill its normal repertoire of emergency coordination and response during Katrina,' says Wallace. 'On the other hand, the Coast Guard had undergone minimal organizational changes and had its pre-existing routines supported, thus it was better equipped to fulfill its duties during the disaster. Additionally, because of the Coast Guard's hierarchical culture, action orders continually disseminated through the organization's chain of command to the response team.'.... Today Wallace is leading a team of researchers to construct a computer simulation that models an extreme disaster situation - similar to that of Hurricane Katrina - where decision-makers are forced to shift their attention from one dimension to another, responses often play out over long durations of time, and information demands vary between interacting response organizations. They'll then input a series of 'what if' scenarios related to organizational structure and culture into the disaster model. Algorithms, or automated reasoning, will predict how each organization's constraints would affect its ability to effectively react to an emergency. The organizational factors observed by the researchers while studying FEMA and the Coast Guard will be used to test the model and to set the parameters.... Wallace sees the model as a diagnostic tool that could help local, state, and federal governments shed light on the vulnerability of certain organizational features. It could also aid in the development of more flexible, responsive approaches to risk management, which is key to improving organizational responses to extreme events, according to the researchers.... Two University of Washington researchers, Peter May and Bryan Jones, serve as co-principal investigators on the project, which also will consider how states assign risk priorities, and how the federal government influences those priorities."]

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

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu

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