From tornadoes to floods to explosions, emergency agencies bring experts together in emergency operations centers (EOCs) to manage and coordinate operations. Before the pandemic, they did so largely in person. The risk (and reality) of infection, however, has forced EOCs to go virtual – out of necessity.
Makeshift affairs, many of these virtual emergency operations centers (VEOC) are virtual in name only. How, then, to get the most out of your VEOC?
Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Response, Emergency Management Newsletter
In this age of increasing emergency threats, informal volunteer emergency workers often provide critical first responder help, usually search and rescue, first aid, damage, and need assessment.
But because they tend to lack pre-established relationships with emergency managers, informal volunteers can also pose operational risks. Dispatchers, for one, can’t verify training or credentials, so they are unable to accurately match volunteer skills with service areas. And that’s not the only management challenge relief organisations face. What are they?
Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Response, Emergency Management Newsletter, Emergency Operations
With the double-whammy of COVID-19 and a hyper-active weather season, volunteer disaster relief agencies already have enough on their plate. But the rapid increase in the number and severity of disasters is causing a worrying new phenomenon in volunteer management.
That trend is disaster fatigue. What is it, and how to plan for it this coming severe weather season?
Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Response, Emergency Management Newsletter
Physical EOCs (Emergency Operations Centers) have proliferated in recent years. And it’s easy to see why. Physical EOCs help teams, individual organizations, and multiple agencies working in concert mobilize people and equipment for incident responses lasting the entirety of an emergency.
Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Response, Emergency Management Newsletter, Emergency Operations
Social impact is an important driver of what we do here at Noggin. Our software platform helped organisations respond to the historic 2019/2020 bushfires. And that was before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which is impacting our customers, as well, especially healthcare agencies at the frontline of the epidemic response.
Topics: Crisis Management, Emergency Response, Partner Newsletter
As of mid-February, over 64,000 cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported, with wartime measures increasingly becoming the norm throughout mainland China. The reach of the coronavirus, however, is global. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared a public health emergency of international concern.
Topics: Emergency Management, Crisis Management, Emergency Response, Crisis Planning, Emergency Management Newsletter
Disaster relief agencies might be heartened by the volunteer recruitment spikes they experience during moments of crisis, like the rolling bushfire disasters. But according to the data, those spikes are temporary. In other words, organizations relying on long-term resource gains from reliable volunteers will probably have to look elsewhere. Where to? The answer might surprise you.
Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Response, Emergency Management Newsletter
Topics: Crisis Management, Emergency Response, Crisis Plans, Crisis Planning, Crisis Newsletter
According to CNBC reporting, the average number of yearly billion-dollar disasters totalled 15 events from 2016 to 2018. The average yearly total for the previous 38 years: 6.2 events. And this year’s disaster season, with its deadly storms, heatwaves, and, of course, wildfires, is all but certainly trending in the wrong direction.
Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Response, Resource Management, Emergency Management Newsletter
Emergency managers out there, do you have just one pick for an emergency management conference to attend this year? Then, I’d strongly suggest attending the 2019 IAEM 67th Annual Conference & EMEX – Honor the Past, Treasure the Present and Shape the Future.
Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Task Management, Emergency Response
