Hurricane planning updates

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FEMA and Federal agencies team up for hurricane response

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator R. David Paulison, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff joined with leaders from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Air Force Reserve and the US Coast Guard stressing a strong commitment to federal agency teamwork as the overall plan for 2007 Hurricane season preparedness.

A press conference at Reagan National Airport, May 22, 2007, with several hurricane hunter and rescue aircraft as the backdrop set the stage for officials of the National Weather Service to announce their prediction of 13 to 17 named storms, with seven to ten becoming major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher. The NOAA Climate Prediction Center projected a 75 percent chance that the Atlantic season will be above normal this year.

In previewing the agency's preparedness for the approaching hurricane season Secretary Chertoff emphasized three points. First, that all storm responses are state and local issues initially. Second, the federal government is prepared to respond with a set of tools never before assembled. He noted that those tools included new communication equipment, more ready supplies in place, and even the ability to more rapidly register and track potentially displaced storm victims. Chertoff's third point was that individual preparedness was necessary prior to any storm. Preparedness is of primary importance in survival and recovery from any storm or hurricane. "It is an individual responsibility," Chertoff said.
Chertoff also cited the enhanced ability of federal, tribal, state and local emergency response agencies to work to together. Over the past year there has been a significant effort by DHS and FEMA to strengthen communication, relations and to clarify roles at all levels of emergency management.

In his purview Administrator Paulison continued to stress that FEMA is ready for the hurricane season. But he cautioned that the unpredictability of natural disasters such as hurricanes make each a unique situational response. He spoke of his personal concern that citizens are being too complacent.

DHS news conference on the 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season outlook
Read the transcript: http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1179922325611.shtm

Lieberman, Collins seek assurance on FEMA’s Hurricane Preparedness

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., have called on the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to boost hurricane preparedness efforts and move quickly to implement recently passed emergency response reforms.

In a committee hearing, the senators examined reforms FEMA has implemented as a result of bipartisan legislation authored by Senators Lieberman and Collins that reinvented the agency to improve its operational and response capabilities. The legislation was approved by Congress in September and signed into law last October.

“Americans need to hear we are making progress, because Hurricane Katrina didn’t just devastate New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It also dealt a body blow to our national sense of safety as well,” Lieberman said. “FEMA must be more forward-leaning, efficient and proactive. Building it into the premier federal emergency response agency our nation needs will not happen overnight, but we are optimistic that the agency is making effective progress in facing the many challenges ahead. And the Department of Homeland Security must be prepared to fully support those efforts.”

“While FEMA’s effective response to the recent tornados in the Midwest and to the April nor’easter in Maine is encouraging, and while they were certainly devastating to the many communities that were struck, obviously neither disaster approached the scope of Hurricane Katrina,” said Senator Collins. “To this day, residents of the Gulf Coast still point to a cumbersome bureaucracy that hinders the delivery of aid and reconstruction assistance. FEMA’s reorganization is not yet complete and coordination with other federal partners is still a work in progress.”

The two witnesses at the hearing were R. David Paulison, Administrator of FEMA, and Michael P. Jackson, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Peak 10 and Agility Recovery Solutions prepare for busy Hurricane Season

Peak 10 and Agility Recovery Solutions have completed the integration of disaster recovery and business continuity services and made them available to customers in advance of the 2007 hurricane season.

The partnership between Peak 10 and Agility provides Peak 10’s clients the ability to recover their business operations in a fully configured mobile office environment virtually anywhere. Agility’s mobile offices are equipped with all the technology and satellite connectivity needed to access and utilize secure data hosted at Peak 10 data centers.

Agility’s mobile office environment includes the power, technology, space and connectivity organizations need to recover their operations after an interruption. The company has access to over 100,000 mobile offices throughout the United States and is capable of recovering anywhere from 10 to 1,000 or more employees.

Peak 10 utilizes its geographically diverse data center network throughout its ten facilities in seven markets to provide scalable business continuity solutions that ensure availability, security and integrity of critical data and business applications 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Utilizing Peak 10 solutions, businesses hit by disasters can immediately recover technology infrastructure, data, and applications through mirrored production environments and also gain much needed access to office space, communications equipment, bandwidth and hardware.

www.agilityrecovery.com
www.peak10.com

•Date: 24th May 2007 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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