EMICUS Aggregates Disaster News

Gone are the days when you had to browse several sites to view latest updates about a particular disaster. EMICUS is an emerging system that consolidates everything for you.

Am OK

- As long you can breathe, you can send a word to your family that you are OK, provided you can send a text message. The system will broadcast it to all your family members, friends, followers that well-wishers via FB, Twiter that you are OK.

Gauge PPP people, places & photos

What if you are traveling in a new city that will be hit by a hurricane. What will you do? Stop and ask for directions? OK that is fine but do you know that lots of people barely know their way to their grand ma ‘s place and their gal friends because they go there often for dinner?

If you want to know where a public shelter, gas, food, and more, EMICUS can help you.  It is like your GPS.

Information Portal

With this feature, your company can broadcast a message like run and take cover or evacuate now to all your staff and employees using yesterday and today ‘s technologies. In this way people at multiple locations can receive the same message ASAP.

Platform of platforms

Because everyday citizens can access it and co-create and distribute content, everyone has suddenly become a reporter of sorts. Instead of a few reporters for major news corporations, we have a few hundred or thousand citizens with raw facts about realtime traffic or fire.

Lifeline for crowdsourcing

EMICUS combines information from both their system and other social media sites to create a pool of information that few can rival. This power of pooling from the crowd, listening and capturing a full view of an incident in text, graphics and video is extremely in getting the full picture of an incident.

If you like to check out a disaster news aggregator, go check out emicus.com.

Gideon F. For-mukwai,CEM

Preparedness Champion

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Haiti Earthquake Disaster: Lessons and Who is to Blame?

It is very sad to even contemplate talking about who is to blame for the disaster in Haiti. It is nonetheless a tough question we must ask otherwise we will Not be better prepared for the next disaster. Who is to blame for this calamity in Haiti? Should we blame nature, or should we human folly? It is pretty easy to eliminate technological causes for this disaster.

As an observer of contemporary geopolitical issues at work in developing countries, especially disaster related issues, I take issue with both nature and man in this disaster.

Nature is to Blame:

With respect to nature, we can blame the tectonic plates for their constant movement and restlessness. That said, it is not our business to determine how tectonic forces work or move. It is our business to attempt to mitigate or prevent the impact of their movement on human life. Yes, nature is to blame but ultimately, man shares the blame for napping and not doing enough.

Secondly we can also blame nature for Haiti ‘s precarious geographic location next to a dangerous fault-line that became the epicenter of the quake. The location and geography did not make the situation any easier for the impoverished nation… but more could have been done by man to prevent the impact of this disaster.

Man-made is to Blame:

Haiti ‘s disaster is also largely a man-made disaster in the sense the the leadership of the country did not do enough to prepare the country for such a disaster. The leadership failed failed its people in enacting a building code to provide guidelines on how to build earthquake-resistant buildings. When NPR reported on this on January 14, I thought it was a joke that there is a country without a building code in the 21 Century. Think about that!

Secondly, the citizens also failed to hold the leadership accountable in adopting international emergency preparedness principles to shape mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. In my work as president of the International Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), I have never met with any colleague from Haiti coming to conferences to gain knowledge to help the people back home.

The purpose of this blog post is not to lay blame but to ask a few questions that can help us learn. Thus, I am asking myself what lessons can the world learn from this disaster?

What Lessons for the Rest of Us?

Humans don’t learn from disaster. Sadly, in this disaster as in Bandar Aceh, Katrina and others, man does not learn much from disasters. Something must be done to ensure that man learns. How soon are going to see the end of such drama in other parts of the world?

Accountability: Is it not time the world should hold leaders accountable for failing to prepare their people for disasters? Is it not time we make disaster preparedness mandatory? Without making mandatory like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, dysfunctional and functional governments will continue to undermine the safety of their people. It is time the UN steps in.             As a citizen of the world, with roots in Africa, Asia and Americas, I am hereby calling on the United Nations to work towards signing a Universal Declaration of Mandatory Disaster Preparedness for all nations of the world.

Nations that deliberately fail to prepare and expose their people, the leaders that fail to mitigate threats should be made to face civil for criminal charges for undermining the safety of their people. This is long overdue!

Gideon F. For-mukwai, MA, CEM

Preparedness Champion

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What I Told 1,400 Students Last Week

If you had the opportunity to speak to 1,400 brilliant, enthusiastic and very attentive young minds, what would you say during the first week of 2010?

That is the challenge I faced during the first week of 2010.  To me, that was a privilege as well as a challenge! Personally, I love this type of challenges.

To me, each one of those students represented the future. It was an opportunity I did not want to miss to engage, encourage and edutain them. Who knows?  These young people are the ones who will teach my daughter tomorrow.

At Fernley High School, I talked about how their choices and relationships can make or break. At Pine Middle School, I focused on how they can face adversity with audacity.

Though the purpose of each presentation was different, I did set out not only to share some ideas with them, but also to equally inspire them to face life courageously. My message thus, based on five themes: goal-setting, trials, distractions, relationships and triumphs.

Setting goals or starting with a clear destination

I encouraged the students to set goals and have dreams because life is like a journey with multiple stops and scenes. Research indicates that when we have a destination or a goal in mind we tend to push ourselves a little more. A person without a goal is like a missile without a target. How far can it fly? Where will it land?

Taking the road less traveled

Due to the fact that everyone is searching, the roads are often very crowded. Everyone is following the bandwagon. The only way to get some visibility, space and ample room to enjoy your ride is by taking the road with less traffic. Once you can identify that route, you can go as far as possible.

Asking for help from lifelines

To achieve a goal, it takes resources and good supporters who care about you. Without people who trust you, without “lifelines” in times of distress, the ability to keep focused on the journey can be undermined by any disruptions. Thus, the challenge for every traveler is to find a lifeline, a friend, a mentor or someone who can help you out.

Negotiating and taking ownership

The best way to solve a problem (arrive at destination) is not to abandon they journey when you have a flat tire. The best way is to negotiate for a new tire that you can use to complete the journey. Once you’ve have had one, don’t look back; stay focused.

Don’t mess with fire along the way

On every single journey of life, you will meet with distractions like stopping to view the lake, zoo or museums. The question is, will you stop and view or will you continue? Such distractions are like burning campfire. If you stop for too long, you will finish last.

Understand the terrain

Before setting out on any journey it is good to do an appreciation of situation (AOS). By doing this, you get to be familiar with the weather; road conditions and what have detours. Whether you are Google map, Word of Mouth (WOM), it is important that you know what tools you will need to complete the journey.

Prepare, prepare prepare!

Just as it is important to understand the challenges that lie ahead, it is equally important to identify and prepare physically and mentally for the journey. Without such preparation, the journey will be far more challenging to you than it is for other travelers.

Gideon F. For-mukwai, MA, CEM, CRF

Preparedness Champion

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Preparedness is Your Lifeline in 2010

Our ideas, thoughts and views shared in 2010 on this emergency and crisis preparedness blog will be based on the theme: Preparedness is your Lifeline.

So what do I mean by Preparedness is your lifeline?

To explain this, I am reminded of an expedition, I once undertook with my fellow colleague at the Civil Defence Academy in Singapore back in 2000/2001. Back then, I was not a swimmer. However, during the course of the 9-months Basic Officers Course, I learned to be a swimmer- the hard way.

Part of our training involved a two week outward bound segment in which we had to learn to become men from boys. During that segment, we were out in the jungle. A large portion of that was spent kayaking round Singapore on the South China Sea. As a non-swimmer we had to take a capsize drill. Guess who had to pay the most attention during that drill? ME!

I was aware of the fact that I could not swim and thus, I had to tune in at my best to learn how to survive in case the sea became brutal. You can bet the sea was. During the course of kayaking across a busy fairway, our kayak capsized.  That was a true test of preparedness.

Given the fact that I had learned how to grab my paddle and kayak, how to make a swift turn and how to execute a jump, I did manage twice to get back into the kayak. Was there a struggle? You bet there was. Was I terrified and petrified?  You bet!

Long story  short- the learning of the capsize drill, the confidence, the skill and the awareness saved me. It was not my kayak buddy Hafiz who saved me. Sure he did. What made a big difference is the fact that I was informed, I had the basic skill and confidence needed in facing up to the challenge.

In 2010, if you want to be prepared for any disruptions, I urge you to prepare in four areas:

• Know your risks and the risk facing your business
• Develop the skills needed to face the risks
• Develop the confidence by doing it (testing) prior to the incident
• Communicate your your new state of readiness with those who matter to you (stakeholders)

At XtraMile, I will help you with the following areas of focus in 2010:

Safety

By this I mean basic workplace safety, first aid and CPR training. The focus of our programs is in helping you recognize all the blind spots in safety and avert any looming disruptions.

Preparedness

In this area, I will help your organization learn lessons from from other organizations that thrived during and the after disasters. There is a lot that can be learned from their organization culture, the role of HR, Safety Managers and personnel.

Resilience
Our programs will help the individuals and teams in your organizations to be able to turn setbacks into comebacks. You are only as good as your weakest link. Thus, it pays to prepare both the vantage and at-risk population to be transformative agents of preparedness.

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