The Noggin Blog

 

The premier, comprehensive homeland security event in the nation, the 2019 National Homeland Security Conference brings together an impressive array of homeland security professionals. 

Topics: Crisis Management, Incident Management, Security Management, Conferences & Events, Emergency Response

 

Last Friday’s (March 15) horrific attacks at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch already rank as the deadliest mass shooting incident in New Zealand history. Fifty people were killed, and scores injured in an act of terror unprecedented in the island nation.   

Topics: Emergency Management, Crisis Management, Public Safety, Healthcare, Emergency Response, Resource Management

 

A few weeks ago, the team at Noggin attended the Australian Airports Association (AAA) National Conference, the pre-eminent aviation conference in the Asia-Pacific region. There, we learned all about the latest innovations in airport technology as well as new developments in best-practice principles.

Topics: Emergency Management, Airports, Public Safety, Conferences & Events, Emergency Response

 

AIIMS is the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System. The nationally recognized incident management structure in Australia, AIIMS has wide command, control, and coordination applicability in fire, land management, and other emergency situations, as well as for non-emergency incidents.

Topics: Emergency Management, Incident Management, Emergency Task Management, Emergency Response

 

California is ablaze. Northern California’s Camp Fire has already become the deadliest in the state’s history. The Woolsey fire, rampaging through heavily-populated Los Angeles and Ventura counties, is comparable in size to the city of Denver. For crisis leaders, it’s past time to dust of those corporate crisis plans and get serious about severe weather preparedness.

Topics: Crisis Management, Noggin Crisis, Emergency Response, Crisis Plans, Crisis Planning

 

If you’re involved in emergency management in the U.S., you’ve probably heard of the Incident Command System (ICS). A key feature of the U.S. National Incident Management System (NIMS), ICS is an operational incident management structure that provides a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response in the U.S.

Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Task Management, Emergency Response

 

Been managing volunteers, especially disaster response volunteers, for the last few decades? Then, you’ve probably noticed a shift. There’re fewer long-term volunteers; new volunteers are harder to come by than ever; and your base of existing volunteers is serving historically short stints.

Topics: Emergency Management, Public Safety, Emergency Task Management, Emergency Response, Resource Management

 

By now, the case for interoperability, especially the efficient transfer of relevant data between agencies – otherwise known as interoperability in information management – is clear. Just take a look at many post-emergency, after-action reports; most cite a lack of interagency cooperation as contributory to mission setbacks, or even failures. Of course, one of the best examples in recent memory: poor interagency cooperation between New York City responders during 11 September.

Topics: Emergency Management, Public Safety, Emergency Task Management, Emergency Response, Resource Management

 

When it comes to disaster response, full-time staff usually gets heavy reinforcement from volunteers. Indeed, in the event of an emergency, volunteers, especially spontaneous, converging volunteers, are often the first on the field, providing much-needed first responder support, including search and rescue, first aid, damage and need assessment. It’s also not uncommon that volunteers numerically dominate the response effort. In Australia, for instance, rural fire services often average career staff to volunteer ratios that easily exceed 1:130.

Topics: Emergency Management, Emergency Response, Resource Management

So far this year, the U.S. has already been hit by six storms, excluding the recent Hurricane Florence, that were each severe enough to inflict at least $1 billion in damages. Together, these storms caused more than thirty deaths.

Hurricane Florence—which recently struck the Southeast U.S. leading to severe flooding in the Carolinas—caused an estimated $20 billion in damages, possibly higher given that estimates on the monetary cost are still being estimated, and led to more than forty deaths.

Topics: Crisis Management, Emergency Response, Crisis Planning