Wednesday, August 30, 2017

FEMA Official Emergency and Disaster Declaration information.

Please refer to the following FEMA website for initial information on the current Disaster Declaration in Texas, and the Emergency Declaration for Louisiana.

Additional information on FEMA, State, County websites and information to follow on response, recovery, and mitigation for both significant events.

Due to the nature and severity of these events of 'national significance' the Department of Homeland Security are constantly review the effects of these events on the 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors listed below.  the  national critical infrastructure protection.

Separately, daily conference calls are held with DHS Critical Infrastructure Sectors members, and FEMA on status response and recovery.  

Additional information to be forwarded when received.

BEMA International 



Incident period: August 23, 2017
Major Disaster Declaration declared on August 25, 2017


Incident period: August 27, 2017
Emergency Declaration declared on August 28, 2017


Department of Homeland Security.  Critical Infrastructure Security
-16 Critical Infrastructures....16 critical infrastructure sectors 

Scholarship opportunity for asylum seekers. Immigrant CERT awareness, education & training.

Our link to the West Coast Los Angeles Immigrant Community.

Additionally we are promoting with all BEMA International members with a large immigrant community CERT (community emergency response team) awareness, education & training to prepare our 'whole community' to address planning, preparing, responding, and recovery from disasters.

BEMA International

The African Coalition is collaborating with Hearts of Mercy ( a non-profit ) organization, in bringing education opportunity for refugees and asylum seekers. Hearts of Mercy is working hard advocating  and supporting asylum seekers' education dream. 

Currently, Hearts of Mercy at UCI is launching a scholarship fund to provide financial grants to asylum seekers who are incoming or continuing students admitted at a University of California campus.

If you are / or know  an asylum seeker looking to complete your higher education at a UC campus please contact Senait Admassu (sadmassu@africancoalition.org) or Iman Siddiqi (ihsiddiq@uci.edu).

Please visit Hearts of Mercy's FB page: 
https://www.facebook.com/heartsofmercyUCI/

Sincerely, 
Senait Admassu
President
African Communities Public Health Coalition
3731 Stocker St. Suite 211
Los Angeles, CA 90008
Office : (213) 909-0885

Our Communties Globally. HOW TO HELP DISASTER SURVIVORS IN TEXAS

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Private Sector Division/National Business Operations Center

 Private Sector Advisory 
HOW TO HELP DISASTER SURVIVORS IN TEXAS

August 29, 2017
The compassion and generosity of the American people is never more evident than during and after a disaster. It is individuals, non-profits, faith- and community-based organizations, private sector partners, and governmental agencies working together that will most effectively and efficiently help survivors cope with the impacts of Tropical Storm Harvey.

Please follow a few important guidelines below to ensure your support can be the most helpful for Tropical Storm Harvey disaster survivors.

TO DONATE TO RELIEF EFFORTS
The most effective way to support disaster survivors in their recovery is to donate money and time to trusted, reputable, voluntary or charitable organizations.

Cash donations offer voluntary agencies and faith-based organizations the most flexibility to address urgently developing needs. With cash in hand, these organizations can obtain needed resources nearer to the disaster location. This inflow of cash also pumps money back into the local economy and helps local businesses recover faster.
Please do not donate unsolicited goods such as used clothing, miscellaneous household items, medicine, or perishable foodstuffs at this time. When used personal items are donated, the helping agencies must redirect their staff away from providing direct services to survivors in order to sort, package, transport, warehouse, and distribute items that may not meet the needs of disaster survivors.

Donate through a trusted organization.  At the national level, many voluntary-, faith- and community-based organizations are active in disasters, and are trusted ways to donate to disaster survivors. Individuals, corporations, and volunteers, can learn more about how to help on the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) website.
In addition to the national members, The Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (Texas VOAD) has a list of vetted disaster relief organizations providing services to survivors.  Texas VOAD represents more than three dozen faith-based, community, nonprofit and non-governmental organizations.    

TO PERSONALLY VOLUNTEER IN THE DISASTER AREAS

The State of Texas is asking volunteers to not self-deploy, as unexpectedly showing up to any of the communities that have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey will create an additional burden for first responders.
The National VOAD has also noted the situation may not be conducive to volunteers entering the impacted zone and individuals may find themselves turned away by law enforcement.

To ensure volunteer safety, as well as the safety of disaster survivors, volunteers should only go into affected areas with a specific volunteer assignment, proper safety gear, and valid identification.

At this time, potential volunteers are asked to register with a voluntary or charitable organization of their choice, many of which are already in Texas and supporting survivors on the ground.

The National and Texas VOAD websites are offering links to those who wish to register to volunteer with community- and faith-based organizations working in the field.

Most importantly, please be patient. Although the need is great, and desire to help strong, it is important to avoid donating material goods or self-deploying to help until communities are safe and public officials and disaster relief organizations have had an opportunity to assess the damage and identify what the specific unmet needs are.
Volunteer generosity helps impacted communities heal from the tragic consequences of disasters, but recovery lasts much longer than today. There will be volunteer needs for many months, and years, after the disaster, so sign up now.
Tropical Storm Harvey is still dangerous, with the potential to impact additional areas of Texas and Louisiana. As the situation changes, needs may also change in these areas. Continue monitoring traditional and social media channels to learn more.

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blogwww.twitter.com/femawww.twitter.com/femaspoxwww.facebook.com/fema and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Brock Long’s activities at www.twitter.com/fema_brock.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

August 2017. Vulnerable Population and Exemption from Immigration Enforcement

Thank you Direct Relief for outstanding product.

https://www.citylab.com/environment/2017/08/the-vulnerable-populations-in-harveys-path-mapped/538071/?utm_source=nl__link3_082817


The Vulnerable Communities in Harvey's Path, Mapped

Sunday, August 27, 2017

BLACK EMERGENCY MANAGERS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL: August 2017. 6th Region Diaspora Emergency Operat...

BEMA INTERNATIONAL: August 2017. 6th Region Diaspora Emergency Operat...: A vision to become a reality. CDS.  CEO BEMA International

August 2017. 6th Region Diaspora Emergency Operations Center (DEOC)

A vision to become a reality.

CDS.  CEO BEMA International




August 2017. Louisiana Preparedness Planning

The New Orleans Agenda

Your Alternative Newsletter - News, Arts, Culture & Entertainment!

Wednesday, August 23, 2017                                         For Immediate Release
Join Our Mailing List 

United Way of Southeast Louisiana, business and community partners launch New Orleans East Tornado Recovery Plan

Entergy New Orleans to make major gift announcement

United Way
NEW ORLEANS - Community and business leaders, including representatives of United Way of Southeast Louisiana, SBP, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Rebuilding Together and Entergy New Orleans, will gather on Thursday to announce the launch of the New Orleans East Tornado Recovery Plan for assisting families impacted by the Feb. 7 tornado.
Entergy New Orleans will kick off the community-wide fundraising effort with a major gift announcement.
In conjunction with the announcement, the "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" recovery initiative will open with a volunteer build for the Dorsey family, whose home was destroyed in the Feb. 7 storm.

WHEN:  Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017 | 10:30 a.m.

WHERE:  4533 Read Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70127

SOCIAL:  UWSELA Facebook live and Twitter: @UWSELA
                 SBP Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @SBPUSA
VISUALS:
Following the media announcement, Entergy volunteers, SBP staff and HandsOn New Orleans will raise the walls on a new home for the Dorsey family. The volunteer build will continue throughout the day for live-shot opportunities.
###
About United Way of Southeast Louisiana
For more than 90 years, United Way of Southeast Louisiana (UWSELA) has been a leader and trusted partner in improving lives and making a lasting difference. We fight to eradicate poverty by preparing people for quality jobs, growing incomes, and affording better health and education opportunities throughout Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes. We have a bold vision of equitable communities where all individuals are healthy, educated, and financially stable - and we have a plan. United Way of Southeast Louisiana's Blueprint for Prosperity guides all strategic investments in programs, initiatives, collaborations, volunteerism, and advocacy aimed at tackling poverty. For more information, please visit UnitedWaySELA.org. Find us on social: @UnitedWaySELA.

Join United Way. GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER. CONNECT.

About SBP
SBP's mission is to shrink time between disaster and recovery. Since its founding in 2006 in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, SBP has rebuilt homes for more than 1,300 families with the help of 180,000 volunteers in New Orleans; Joplin, MO; Staten Island, NY; Rockaway, NY; Monmouth and Ocean Counties, NJ; San Marcos, TX; Columbia, SC; White Sulphur Springs, WV and Baton Rouge, LA.

SBP's model is enhanced by AmeriCorps, which provides 180 members annually to manage worksites and clients, and train the organization's volunteers nationally. Through its Disaster Resilience and Recovery Lab (DRRL), SBP works to share lessons learned, prevent common barriers to recovery and help communities utilize SBP's standardized, repeatable and proven-effective model.

SBP shrinks time between disaster and recovery via five interventions:
  1. Rebuild homes quickly after disasters by mobilizing private sector innovations and assigning a single point of contact to make the home rebuilding process faster and more predictable.
  2. Share rebuilding innovations with other rebuilding organizations to allow for efficient, predictable recovery on a national scale.
  3. Prepare home and business owners prior to and following disaster with specific steps to mitigate risk and improve resilience.
  4. Advise policy makers immediately after a disaster so they can deploy federal dollars sooner, and in a way that empowers an efficient recovery.
  5. Advocate for the reform of disaster recovery strategies in the U.S. to improve the predictability and speed of recovery.

To learn more, visit www.SBPUSA.org and like/follow on Facebook & Twitter @SBPUSA

Kirby Jane Nagle
Public Information Officer
United Way of Southeast Louisiana
ph: 501.697.0415


Small Business Administration to Offer Disaster Assistance to Residents Affected by August 5 Flooding

Outreach Center will open tomorrow, August 23


SBA
NEW ORLEANS - Today, Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will offer low-interest federal disaster loans to Louisiana businesses and residents affected by flooding that occurred August 4-6, including August 5 flooding in New Orleans.

Loans are open to businesses of all sizes, most private nonprofit organizations, homeowners, and renters whose property was damaged or destroyed by the flooding. The disaster declaration makes SBA assistance available in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes.

Beginning Wednesday, Aug. 23 through Thursday, Sept. 14, SBA representatives will be on hand at the Disaster Loan Outreach Center to answer questions about SBA's disaster loan program, explain the application process and help each individual complete their application. The center (Mid-City Library, 4140 Canal St. on the second floor in the Long Room) will be open from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Fridays. The Center will be closed in observance of Labor Day on Monday, Sept. 4.

For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations of any size, SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic injury assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any property damage.

Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property.

Applicants can apply online, receive additional disaster assistance information and download applications at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.  Applicants can also call SBA's Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. Individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may call (800) 877-8339. The filing deadline to return applications for property damage is Oct. 23, 2017. The deadline to return economic injury applications is May 22, 2018.

SBA declared a disaster in response to a request received from Gov. John Bel Edwards on Aug. 17, 2017.


###


Friday, August 25, 2017

8:05 pm ET. 8/25/2017. FEMA R6-SpotReport-6

FEMA R6-SpotReport-6

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT:
       Texas Governor has requested a major declaration for 6 counties along the gulf coast
       FEMA Region 6 RRCC remains at a Level I
       Texas SEOC remains at a Level I

SITUATION:
·         Texas Governor has requested for a major declaration request for counties along the coast. The following counties are included in the request for Individual Assistance and Public Assistance (Categories A and B); Bee, Goliad, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio. Direct Federal Assistance and Hazard Mitigation statewide is also being requested.

·         Hurricane Harvey has increased to a CAT 3 hurricane with wind speeds of 125 mph and a deadly storm surge of 6 - 12 feet above ground levels

·         Continues to move slowly northwest toward the middle Texas Coast.  Harvey is forecast to make landfall late Friday/early Saturday as a major hurricane (CAT 3)

·         Heavy rain and areas of flooding are likely through the weekend over south east and east Texas into west Louisiana

ACTIONS/FOLLOW UP: 
       R6 RRCC SAS will continue to monitor and report as necessary

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: 
       Texas SOC
       National Weather Service

PREPARED BY: 
       FEMA Region 6 RRCC Documentation Unit



FEMA Hurricane Harvey Private Sector Update Aug. 25

Information before and after ANY significant event (man-made, or natural disaster) is vital to the community.

Association members with family and friends in the path of Hurricane Harvey for the entire Gulf of Mexico region from Texas to Florida please contact them by phone, Western Union, a neighbor, local Fire & Police to ensure that they follow the instructions of local emergency management offices if instructed to evacuate, and seek shelter at designated location.

A home can be rebuilt, a car can be purchased again, but any life is more precious than material things.

Charles D. Sharp.  CEO Black Emergency Managers Association International


Life safety is paramount. Our primary concern now is to ensure that those in the path of the storm can make informed decisions for their preparedness and take actions as the storm advances based on guidance from local and state authorities.  This is a unique storm and requires all of us to be actively assessing how we can support critical messaging from local authorities regarding protective actions including evacuations which are underway.  

We want to ensure FEMA is connected to you providing data, information, and messaging as needed.
·        NBEOC dashboard has been updated since Wednesday. Use the chat function to answer questions and quickly get answers.
·        Daily NBEOC call today at 2pm Central / 3pm Eastern.
·        Integrating your requirements into the overall priorities for this incident as we coordinate activities in the area of concern. Please follow this format so we can track challenges and get ahead of issues as they emerge and email nbeoc@fema.dhs.gov

Organization
Overall Status
Current Challenges
Concerns over Next 24





This will be a record-breaking storm. We are leaning forward and will keep you updated in coordination with FEMA Region VI. As the situation develops, details will be shared through the NBOEC. Please let us know if you are not receiving mass notices and advisories and would like to receive them by emailing nbeoc@ fema.dhs.gov. If you are not an NBEOC member, please complete the form so we can ensure you are included in future communications.


Please reach to me directly if you would like more information or discuss how we can more effectively work together for this and other disasters.

Thanks,

Rob




Robert C. Glenn  Director, Private Sector Division Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) U.S. Department of Homeland Security direct: (202) 212-4453 mobile: (202) 403-4665  e-mail: robert.glenn@fema.dhs.gov



http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTcwODI1Ljc3MzY2NjExJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE3MDgyNS43NzM2NjYxMSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmdHlwZT1vcGVuJnNlcmlhbD0xNzQ0MzkxNCZlbWFpbGlkPUJFTUFAQmxhY2tFbWVyZ01hbmFnZXJzQXNzb2NpYXRpb24ub3JnJnVzZXJpZD1CRU1BQEJsYWNrRW1lcmdNYW5hZ2Vyc0Fzc29jaWF0aW9uLm9yZyZmbD0mZXh0cmE9TXVsdGl2YXJpYXRlSWQ9JiYm

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

Search This Blog

ARCHIVE List 2011 - Present