Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Community Participation. Disaster Planning

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/New_York/News/2011/09_-_September/NYC_disaster_plan_ignores_disabled_people__suit/

NYC disaster plan ignores disabled people: suit

9/26/2011
NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Disability-rights advocates on Monday accused New York City of failing to account for the unique needs of its nearly 900,000 disabled residents during disasters like Hurricane Irene and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, contended that the city is violating federal and state anti-discrimination laws by failing to make emergency plans, shelters, announcements and transportation fully accessible to individuals with physical disabilities.

The suit was brought by the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, and Tania Morales, a Brooklyn resident who uses a wheelchair. Morales was one of more than 250,000 New Yorkers asked to evacuate from low-lying areas during Hurricane Irene.

Morales said she arrived at a designated emergency shelter to find the gates leading to the wheelchair ramp were locked. Volunteers at the shelter tried to track down the keys, but after 10 minutes Morales returned home, saying she was afraid to wait any longer on the sidewalk and had no way to get to another shelter.

"It's an absolute disgrace that a decade after the September 11th terrorist attack, there is still an absence of planning for our most vulnerable citizens," Julia Pinover, an attorney with Disability Rights Advocates representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs are seeking a court order forcing the city to revamp its emergency preparation plan to account for disabled individuals' needs, including accessible transportation, shelter, communication, notification and assistance during disaster recovery.

CITY REBUFFS CLAIMS

During the hurricane evacuations, roughly 75 percent of designated emergency shelters were not fully accessible to wheelchair users, and evacuation announcements and directions were not provided in a format usable by individuals with vision or hearing impairments, the complaint said.

A spokeswoman for the New York City Law Department rebuffed the plaintiffs' allegations.

"Once the evacuation order was issued, the City aggressively communicated the locations of the evacuation centers and also specifically targeted service providers who work with people with special needs," said Kate O'Brien Ahlers.

Everyone who called the city seeking assistance in getting to a shelter was helped, she added, and the city deployed a special fleet of vehicles to assist the disabled.

The case is Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled et al v. Mayor Michael Bloomberg et al, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, no. 11-6690.

For the plaintiffs: Sid Wolinsky, Mary-Lee Smith and Julia Pinover of Disability Rights Advocates.
(Reporting by Jessica Dye)

International Sector. Disaster Simulation Game. For Kids & Adults

http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html

Monday, September 26, 2011

Diversity Training. Free College CEU units.

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is20.11.asp

IS-20.11 - Diversity Awareness

Course Description

This course recognizes the benefits of diversity in our workforce and FEMA’s commitment to valuing diversity of its employees and customers.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
  • Define what is meant by diversity.
  • Describe how diversity benefits us individually and collectively.
  • State FEMA’s Vision of Diversity.
  • Describe the agency’s commitment to diversity as stated in the Diversity Action Plan.
  • Describe how culture influences our interactions with others.
  • Describe the actions you can take to optimize diversity.

Prerequisites

None

Course Length

1.0 hour including the final exam

CEUs

0.1

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Community Participation

Are our African-American communities up to the test during any disaster (natural or man-made)?

Charles D. Sharp.
Emergency Manager.
Senior Advisor
Black Emergency Managers Association (BEMA)

Black Male Initiative. Whole Community Approach.

·        HBCU Conference.  19-20 September 2011. 
o       Breakout session:   ‘Black Male Initiative’.  Interesting note of number\percentage of black males currently incarcerated or considered ex-offenders. 
Noted positive (college, military, employment), and negative (death, prison, unemployment) options presented by Dr. Ronald Williams (Pres. Southern Univ. System).  
§         Question(s) 
·        Can we as African-American emergency managers and members of BEMA contribute to each of the positive options, and reduce the negative options available to black males?
·        Can we as African-American emergency managers and members of BEMA contribute to providing a platform whereby we promote a ‘whole community’ approach to emergency management in the African-American & all communities by advocating FEMA EMI, CERT, and SERT (Student Emergency Response Team) training to ex-offenders on reentry programs? 
·        Can we provide a method where ex-offenders reenter\return to their communities with a skill that would contribute to community embracing them?
·        Can ex-offenders contribute to the planning, preparedness, short & long term recovery of the community following a disaster event (man-made, natural)?

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