All Vital Roles in Recovery. Assessment of Impacts from Hurricane Lane Begins in Hawaii

Situation Awareness Hawaii recovery from Hurricane Lane:

What makes one island state\territory\nation so different in planning, preparedness, response, and recovery from another when disaster strikes.  Involvement of the ‘whole community’, involvement by all, taking a pro-active approach to save lives and build a more resilient community.

To our members involved in the pre-planning, and recovery of Hawaii at the federal, and State level.  Thank you for your efforts and professionalism in ensuring the swift recovery of the communities of Hawaii from Hurricane Lane. 

In the private sector, small business enterprises will be the key in serving communities with vital resources for shelter, clothing, water & food, and other necessities.  Your business continuity plan (BCP) for your enterprise with aid agreements in the local communities also play a vital role in the overall emergency planning for recovery.

Charles D. Sharp

CEO

BEMA International

Private Sector Advisory                                                                                     Assessment of Impacts from Hurricane Lane Begins in Hawaii Residents are urged to remain cautious as a flash flood watch is in effect for all Hawaiian Islands through Sunday afternoon   August 26, 2018 FEMA continues working alongside multiple partners from the federal family, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to support Hawaii’s efforts as they begin to assess the impacts from Hurricane Lane. According to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, as of 11 p.m. HST, Lane is now a Tropical Storm with maximum sustained winds of  40 mph.  All land base tropical storm watches and warnings have been cancelled. The current forecast continues a weakening trend over the next few days, with Lane likely becoming a post-tropical low on Monday. Lingering moisture associated with Tropical Storm Lane will produce excessive rainfall this weekend, which could lead to additional flash flooding and landslides. Lane is expected to produce additional rain accumulations of 5 to 10 inches across the windward side of the Big Island and Maui and 3 to 5 inches elsewhere. Localized storm total amounts well in excess of 40 inches have already been observed along the windward side of the Big Island. A flash flood watch is in effect for all Hawaiian Islands through Sunday afternoon. Not all the impacts from the event have been realized, flooding continues as more rain is expected in Maui, Kaua’i, Oahu and Hawaii counties. Residents should follow the directions of state and local officials and avoid areas with damages. Do not return to damaged or flooded areas until told it is safe to do so. Stay away from downed power lines and flooded areas. Live power lines can cause fatal injuries. If you encounter flood waters, remember – turn around, don’t drown. Residents can call 808-768-2489 for help with city services, a list of available shelters, or assistance with transportation to and from shelters. To file a flood insurance claim under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), contact your insurance agent immediately. You can also call 1-800-427-4661 to learn more about your policy, and be directed to the appropriate claims resource.  Within 24-48 hours, an adjuster will call you to schedule an appointment. Disaster Declarations  On August 22, 2018, President Trump approved HI Governor Ige’s request for an Emergency Declaration for Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai Counties, and the City and County of Honolulu in the State of Hawaii, limited to Direct Federal Assistance, as a result of Hurricane Lane.  The Emergency Declaration authorizes FEMA to support the state with federal resources in its efforts to respond to the incident.   Coordinated Resources  FEMA and its federal partners continue to coordinate closely with state and local officials to support any anticipated unmet needs. FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams are on the ground in Hawaii to support the state with any potential rescue operations.  FEMA liaison officers are deployed to the Emergency Operations Center in Hawaii to help coordinate any additional requests for federal assistance. FEMA liaisons are also working with state and local officials on the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui and Oahu.   FEMA Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) personnel and equipment are in Honolulu, Hilo and Kauai to support the state with secure and non-secure voice, video and information services to support emergency response communications needs. A FEMA Region IX Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) is deployed to Hawaii for the Kilauea Lava flow. Additional teams remain in California, should they be needed.   The National Flood Insurance Program currently has 50 claims adjusters in Hawaii prepared to respond to insured survivors. An additional 500-600 adjusters are on standby should they be needed.     Preparedness and Safety Information for the Public  Emergency workers will be assisting people in flooded areas. You can help them by staying off the roads and out of the way. If you must walk or drive in areas that have been flooded, stay on firm ground. Moving water only 6 inches deep can sweep you off your feet. Play it safe.  Additional flooding or flash floods can occur. Listen for local warnings and information. If your car stalls in rapidly rising waters, get out immediately and climb to higher ground. You should listen to NOAA Weather Radio, watch TV, listen to the radio for official news, emergency alerts, and instructions as they become available.  Download the FEMA mobile app (available in English and Spanish) to receive ongoing emergency alerts and safety information so you and your loved ones know what to do before, during, and after disasters. This simple and easy-to-use app provides real-time alerts from the National Weather Service, open emergency shelter locations in your area, and preparedness tips for every type of disaster. Free and available on Apple and Android devices. Please see attached Lifelines, Potential Impacts and Actions. If you have any questions, please contact FEMA’s Private Sector Engagement Team at FEMA-Private-Sector@fema.dhs.gov. ### Please help support FEMA’s mission of “Helping people before, during and after disasters.” The 2018-2022 Strategic Plan creates a shared vision for the field of emergency management and sets an ambitious, yet achievable, path forward to unify and further professionalize emergency management across the country. We invite all of our stakeholders and partners to also adopt these priorities and join us in building a stronger Agency and a more prepared and resilient Nation. Download the FEMA App to locate and get directions to open shelters across the state, and receive weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five different locations anywhere in the United States. Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Brock Long's activities at https://twitter.com/fema_brock. The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications. ·  FEMA+FINAL+Hawaii+lifelines+8-26-2018.docx This service is provided to you at no charge by FEMA.

Black Emergency Managers Association            International
1231  Good Hope Road  S.E.
Washington, D.C.  20020
Office:   202-618-9097
bEMA International

     

   

“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” ¯   David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P)             A 501 (c) 3 organization.

Congratulations Dr. Morris Koffa. Publication: The Ebola Epidemic in Liberia.

It is an honor and pleasure to announce the publication of our member, Dr. Morris Koffa (Lifetime) new book ‘The Ebola Epidemic in Liberia’.

Morris is a valued advisor on Liberia and cultural knowledge and understanding to me, and in focusing members of BEMA International in local community issues, capacity building, diaspora expertise for not only Liberia, but other African Descent communities globally.  Addressing environmental inequity issues in Liberia, the continent of Africa, and other communities.  Pertinent to communities from Flint, Michigan (water contamination), to Bay View community of San Francisco (radiological contamination), Nigeria Delta Region (oil contamination), and other communities not brought into the light.

There is no ‘brain drain’ from our communities, just an under-utilized, non-interactive, or non-inclusive addition of experts from the diaspora sitting and invited to the table,  Experts that not only have the problem-solving power, but as a collective the financial means to address the most pressing issues from financial inequity, homelessness, education, water & food security issues, and other social disaster\crisis\emergency management concerns.

Looking forward to weekend read.

Sincerely,

Charles D. Sharp

The Ebola Epidemic in Liberia By Dr. Morris Koffa Paperback, 84 Pages  Price: $8.00 Prints in 3-5 business days In this maiden scholastic work, Dr. Morris T. Koffa explores the link that runs through taking care of the environment, addressing issues of emergency/disaster management, and creating public health awareness. He explains how Liberia's failure to put appropriate infrastructures in place intensified the adverse impact of the Ebola virus epidemic that decimated a huge number of Liberians. This is a book whose time has really arrived. Read it and be inspired.

Charles D. Sharp Chief Executive Officer Black Emergency Managers Association            International
1231  Good Hope Road  S.E.
Washington, D.C.  20020
Office:   202-618-9097
bEMA International

     

Change without Sacrifice is an Illusion.  Lisa Ellis

Rice U., University of Pittsburgh study also finds FEMA aid increased inequality

http://news.rice.edu/2018/08/20/natural-disasters-widen-racial-wealth-gap/

Natural disasters widen racial wealth gap

AMY MCCAIG

 – AUGUST 20, 2018

Rice U., University of Pittsburgh study also finds FEMA aid increased inequality

Damage caused by natural disasters and recovery efforts launched in their aftermaths have increased wealth inequality between races in the United States, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Pittsburgh.

“Damages Done: The Longitudinal Impacts of Natural Hazards on Wealth Inequality in the United States” will   appear in an upcoming edition of Social Problems. A supplement to the paper highlights the wealth gap between whites and blacks attributable to natural disaster damage from 1999 through 2013 in 20 U.S. counties.

Researchers Junia Howell, a scholar at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research and an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh and Jim Elliott, a professor of sociology at Rice and fellow at Rice’s Kinder Institute combined longitudinal data from nearly 3,500 families across the U.S. with governmental data on local natural disaster damages, Federal Emergency Management Aid (FEMA) and demographics. They followed these people from 1999 through 2013 as disaster damage of varying scale struck counties where they lived, and examined how their personal wealth was impacted.

Supplement highlighting wealth gap between whites and blacks attributable to natural disaster damage from 1999 through 2013 in 20 U.S. counties.

“Last year the United States suffered more than $260 billion in direct damages from natural disasters –mainly from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria,” said Howell, who was the study’s lead author. “And there were also numerous wildfires, floods and tornadoes. Data show that since 2000, approximately 99 percent of counties in the U.S. have experienced significant damage from some type of natural disaster, with costs expected to increase significantly over coming years. We wanted to investigate how these damages impact wealth inequality and accumulation.”

Whites who lived in counties with only $100,000 in damage from 1999 to 2013 gained an average of approximately $26,000 in wealth. However, those who lived in counties with at least $10 billion in damage during the same time period gained nearly $126,000, the paper said.

“In other words, whites living in counties with considerable damage from natural disasters accumulate more wealth than their white counterparts living in counties without major natural disaster damage,” Howell said.

However, among blacks, Latinos and Asians, the results went the other direction. Blacks who lived in counties with just $100,000 in damage gained an estimated $19,000 in wealth on average, while those living in counties with at least $10 billion in damage lost an estimated $27,000. Latinos in counties with $100,000 in damage gained $72,000 on average, and those in areas with at least $10 billion in damage lost an estimated $29,000. And Asians gained $21,000 on average and lost $10,000, respectively. These differences occurred even after the researchers controlled for a wide range of factors including age, education, homeownership, family status, residential mobility, neighborhood status and county population.

“Put another way, whites accumulate more wealth after natural disasters while residents of color accumulate less,” Elliott said. “What this means is wealth inequality is increasing in counties that are hit by more disasters.”

The researchers were able to estimate by county how much of the inequality is attributed to natural disasters. In Harris County, Texas, the disaster-related increase in the black-white wealth gap, on average, was $87,000.

The story does not stop there, Howell and Elliott said. Counties that received more aid from the FEMA saw additional increases in wealth inequality beyond that attributed to the natural disasters themselves. For example, whites living in counties that received at least $900 million in FEMA aid from 1999 to 2013 accumulated $55,000 more wealth on average than otherwise similar whites living in counties that received only $1,000 in aid. Conversely, blacks living in counties that received at least $900 million in FEMA aid accumulated $82,000 less wealth on average than otherwise similar blacks living in counties that received only $1,000 in FEMA aid. Similarly, Latinos accumulated $65,000 less on average, and other races (majority Asians) accumulated $51,000 less.

“It’s unclear why more FEMA aid is exacerbating inequality,” Howell said. “More research is clearly needed. However, based on previous work on disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, we know FEMA aid is not equitably distributed across communities. This is particularly true when it comes to infrastructural redevelopment, which often has profound effects on residents’ property appreciation and business vitality. When certain areas receive more redevelopment aid and those neighborhoods also are primarily white, racial inequality is going to be amplified.”

In addition to exacerbating racial wealth gaps, the researchers found that after natural disasters wealth inequality also increases based on home ownership. Individuals who owned homes in counties that experienced high levels of natural disaster damage accumulated $72,000 more wealth on average than their counterparts in counties with few disasters. Renters, on the other hand, lost $61,000 in wealth on average relative to renters in counties with few natural disasters.

“Put another way, natural disasters were responsible for a $133,000 increase in inequality between homeowners and renters in the hardest hit counties,” Elliott said.

Similarly, college-educated residents accumulated $111,000 more on average if they lived in a county that experienced extreme disasters compared to their counterparts who did not live through disasters. Conversely, those with only a 10th-grade education who lived in counties that experienced extreme disasters lost $48,000 from natural disaster damages on average when compared to counterparts who did not live through disasters.

“In other words, in the counties with the most damage, natural disasters are responsible for a $159,000 increase in the educational wealth gap,” Howell said.

Howell and Elliott said the results indicate that two major social challenges of our age – wealth inequality and rising costs of natural disasters – are increasingly and dynamically connected. They hope the research will encourage further examination of wealth inequality in the U.S. and development of solutions to address the problem.

“The good news is that if we develop more equitable approaches to disaster recovery, we can not only better tackle that problem but also help build a more just and resilient society,” Howell and Elliott concluded.

The researchers are now building on this work by examining how local for-profit and nonprofit organizations influence social inequality after natural disaster

PAID Internship Opportunities. Nothing in major URBAN AREAS.

PAID internships below that are currently open at National Wildlife Refuges across the country.  In addition to getting paid, you will gain awareness, knowledge, and experience working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the largest conservation system in the world.  For more information, click on the links.  Interested individuals should apply through the Student Conservation Association.

Training Administration Intern

Expected Dates:  September 3, 2018 to August 31, 2019

Site:  National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Biological and Recreation Technician Intern

Expected Dates:  September 4, 2018 to November 26, 2018

Site:  Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, Conway, South Carolina

Biological Technician

Expected Dates:  September 4, 2018 to November 26, 2018

Site:  Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Summerton, South Carolina

Visitor Services Intern

Expected Dates:  September 4, 2018 to November 26, 2018

Site:  Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Shirley, New York

Environmental Education Intern – Fall 2

Expected Dates:  September 17, 2018 to December 8, 2018

Site:  Southeast Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Lacombe, Louisiana

Environmental Education Intern – Fall 1

Expected Dates:  September 17, 2018 to December 8, 2018

Site:  Southeast Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Lacombe, Louisiana

Environmental Education Intern-Houston Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership

Expected Dates:  September 17, 2018 to January 13, 2019

Site:  FWS Southwest Region (R2), Houston, Texas

Restoration Intern

Expected Dates:  September 17, 2018 to July 27, 2019

Site:  Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge, Santa Rosa, Texas

Visitor Center Services Intern

Expected Dates:  September 23, 2018 to April 26, 2019

Site:  Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kodiak, Alaska

High Visitation Visitor Services and Animal Caretaker Interns

Expected Dates:  September 24, 2018 to February 23, 2019

Site:  Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Commerce City, Colorado

Visitor Service Intern

Expected Dates:  September 24, 2018 to September 22, 2019

Site:  Eastern Virginia Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Warsaw, Virginia

Aquatic Conservation Intern

Expected Dates:  September 30, 2018 to September 29, 2019

Site:  Ennis National Fish Hatchery, Ennis, Montana

Environmental Education/Visitor Services Intern

Expected Dates:  October 15, 2018 to February 23, 2019

Site:  Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge, Eufaula, Alabama

Invasive Wildlife Technician

Expected Dates:  October 22, 2018 to May 4, 2019

Site:  Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Key Largo, Florida

Why you shouldn’t share your goals. Address your fear, and just 'DO IT".

Aytekin Tank   Founder atwww.JotForm.com || (contact: AytekinTank@JotForm.com) May 16 Why you shouldn’t share your goals Originally published on JOTFORM.COM The race to get the world’s first plane in the sky was a hard fought battle between The Wright Brothers and a lesser-known gentleman by the name of Samuel Pierpont Langley. You will discover why you’ve never heard of the latter here shortly. As you probably read somewhere inside that history textbook you were forced to lug around through elementary — The Wright Brothers were responsible for creating the first successful airplane.  You remember how the story goes… “… it was a cold windy day on December 17th, 1903 in the Kill Devil Hills of North Carolina… Orville watched nervously as his brother Wilbur climbed inside the plane they had spent years perfecting… miraculously it flew for 59 seconds for a distance of 852 feet…” While today “The Wright Brothers” is the first name that comes to anyone’s mind when they hear the word fly, once upon a time the pair were major underdogs. In fact, during the race to the sky, most of America had its money on the man I mentioned earlier, Langley. He was an extremely outspoken astronomer, physicist and aviation pioneer who was on a mission to make history. Langley’s high stature as the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution gave him both the credibility and hype he needed to get America on his side. Not to mention, he was extremely well-backed by the War Department who contributed $50,000 to help him be the first to get a bird in the sky. Long story short, despite all the hype, Langley’s flying machine ended up crashing and burning while The Wright Brother’s plane ended up soaring. One party had the entire world, vast resources and plenty of moolah on his side, while the other just had a small bike shop and a passion to fly. So, let me ask you this…  can you guess why The Wright Brothers achieved their goal to take flight while Langley failed? Early praise feels like you’ve already won. The Wright Brothers victory over Langley came down to passion, intrinsic motivation (Langley was very status driven) and perhaps praise. While Langley was sharing his ambitions with the world and being heavily praised for feats he had not yet achieved, The Wright Brothers were receiving little to no attention whatsoever. Some experts argue that early praise can leave the individual receiving the praise feeling like he or she has already won… in turn causing them to be less likely to follow through with their goals. For example, in Peter Gollwitzer’s research article, When Intentions Go Public, he raises this very question: Are scientists more likely to write papers if they tell colleagues about their intentions or if they keep their intentions to themselves? Gollwitzer and his team of researchers carried out a handful of studies, here is a brief excerpt from their findings: “Other people’s taking notice of one’s identity-relevant intentions apparently engenders a premature sense of completeness regarding the identity goal.” In English, what Gollwitzer found was that when individuals set a goal that is closely tied to their identity and then share their intentions with others, they are less likely to achieve the goal. For example, if your goal is to start drinking more water and you tell your friends and family that you’re going to start drinking more water, this would probably have little to no impact on whether or not you actually drink more water. Why? Because drinking more water isn’t something you hold close to your identity. On the other hand, if your goal is to lose 40 lbs and drop 2–3 waist sizes, it might not be the best idea to post about it all over Facebook.  Your appearance is something you very much so identify with. So, if you tell people you plan to lose weight and everyone tells you how awesome you are and how great you’re going to look, you might be less likely to lose the weight. This finding is a bit counterintuitive, considering we were told by our teachers and coaches growing up to set our goals, share our goals, hold ourselves accountable. But, the theory certainly holds some weight (pun very much intended), and is one that has been adopted by highly successful serial entrepreneurs like Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby. Sivers gave a TED Talk on this very topic nearly a decade back. To prove his point, he asked the audience to imagine how they felt when they shared their goals with others: “Imagine their congratulations and their high image of you. Doesn’t it feel good to say it out loud? Don’t you feel one step closer already? Like, it’s already becoming part of your identity? Well, bad news. You should have kept your mouth shut. That good feeling makes you less likely to do it.” Sivers goes on to explain that it’s this “warm feeling” that keeps us from battling on to actually achieve our goals. When we openly share our goals, we experience a feeling of success that normally only takes place upon completion of the goal. The result? We don’t ever actually pursue the goal. Alternatives to sharing your goals. I’ve recently shared 3 real-life business tactics to achieve your “big hairy goals”. But now, let’s talk about what can actually work when it comes to successfully reaching your goals. For two counterintuitive yet effective approaches to this, we look to a philosophy called “fear-setting” and making an effort to surround yourself with competition. Embrace fear-setting over goal-sharing. Entrepreneur, angel investor and writer, Tim Ferriss, gave an incredible TED Talk where he discussed how fear-setting is instrumental in achieving one’s goals. He recommends that instead of obsessively sharing your goals, you should come to terms with all the fears that are preventing you from achieving them. For example, let’s say your goal is to start your own business.   Ferriss recommends that you write down all of your fears that are associated with starting a business. These might include… “Losing all my money”… “Getting fired from my day job”… “Getting laughed at or judged if I fail”. Once you write down these fears, you should then write down how you would go about preventing these fears (or mitigating the likelihood) of them actually happening. For example, for the first fear “losing all my money”, your prevention might be… “I’m only going to invest $2,500 that way I can’t lose it all.” Finally, after you have written down your preventions, you should then write down how you will repair what you fear from happening… if it actually ends up happening. So, to repair losing the $2,500, you might write down, “Get a part time job as a bartender in addition to my day job until I make the $2,500 back.” By concentrating on fear-setting over goal-sharing, it allows you to remove the fear that is keeping you from actually achieving your goals. Surround yourself with competition. In addition to fear-setting, it might also be a good idea to surround yourself with competition. A healthy dose of competition can be good for your business, too. At JotForm, we love to use competition to our advantage with events like hackweeks to achieve our product release goals. A study published two years ago in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports, sheds some light on the impact that competition has on our goals. The study put 800 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania through an 11-week exercise program where each person was assigned to work out alone or in a team. In addition, the teams were designed to be either supportive or competitive. By the end of the study, researchers found that students involved in the competitive team programs were 90% more likely to attend their scheduled exercise sessions than any other group. Not only is this number staggering, but it also proves that competition can create a higher level of commitment among people chasing down goals. When you surround yourself with competition, it doesn’t mean that you have to share your goals with the competition. You don’t have to tell the other folks in the spin class, cross-fit training or pick-up basketball leagues that your goal is to lose 50 lbs. But, by simply showing up and placing yourself in a competitive environment, you will be more likely to push harder and show up more often — two factors that can help your reach your goals. The science behind achieving goals has always been an interesting topic. While some entrepreneurs advocate the idea that you should never have a goal, I’ve recently explained why setting big goals can make you miserable. Whether you decide to share your goals or not, what I’ve found out across 12 years of entrepreneurship is that you should craft your own path. What works for others won’t always work for you. And what works for you today won’t always work tomorrow. Originally published at www.jotform.com.