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Response Video from the Central Texas VOAD

Click here to view

Brought to us courtesy of Prima Mosi
Disaster Response Coordinator, AmeriCorps*VISTA
Central Texas VOAD

 

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Are you prepared for the unexpected?

Prepare, Plan, Stay informed

 

 

Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test

A nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System will interrupt programming on television and radio stations at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, November 9

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The test, originally planned for three minutes, will now last only 30 seconds, but broadcasts will be interrupted for about a minute, including pre- and post-announcements.  The Federal Emergency Management Association, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, will conduct the test.

Although tests are conducted monthly on state and local levels, the federal government has actually never tested the nationwide Emergency Alert System, which replaced the older Emergency Broadcast System, 

That experience has led local officials to decide that they won’t wait for federal government activation if there is a 9/11-level event in the future. Should such an event occur, local officials would activate their own system, including sounding outdoor warning sirens, a signal that residents should tune into local broadcast outlets for instructions and information. “We’re going to make sure that our community knows that they should tune into local media,” Breckenridge said.

On Wednesday, local officials’ job will be to receive the signal in the Emergency Operations Center and over text messaging systems during the test. Outdoor sirens will not sound. If all intended recipients actually get the message, the test will be a success.

While some may view the test as inconvenient, it’s sorely needed, he said.

Reminder Monthly Conference Call Tuesday, November 8

Catholic Charities USA Updates 2011 Disaster Response

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), among the nation's largest providers of both disaster response and disaster case management services, reported today that its resources have been severely tested in 2011 by the unusually high number of tornadoes, floods and other natural disasters that have impacted various parts of the United States.  CCUSA has deployed its national disaster response team to a variety of disaster-stricken areas, trained over 150 member agency staff, and provided $3.3 million to disaster affected areas in over 37 dioceses across the U.S.

CCUSA currently serves as the primary federal government contractor for nationwide disaster case management services—organizing and training national, regional, and local teams, composed of representatives from Catholic Charities agencies and other social services organizations, that can deploy anywhere in the country within 72 hours of a FEMA designated disaster.  Currently, teams are deployed across the northern part of New York State and throughout Vermont to assist individuals and families impacted by the devastating floods of Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene.

Asteroid To Just Miss Earth on Late Afternoon Flyby 

An asteroid slightly bigger than a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier will zoom by Earth inside the orbit of the moon Tuesday, Nov. 8, but it poses no danger of smashing into our planet, scientists say.

Asteroid 2005 YU55, which is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) across, will make its closest approach to Earth at 6:28 p.m. EST (2328 GMT) today. At that point, the space rock will be traveling at about 29,000 mph and be about 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) from Earth — closer than the moon, which orbits 238,864 miles (384,499 km) from us on average.

The flyby will mark the closest such a big space rock has come to Earth since 1976. But there's no need to scurry down to the basement bunker to await an asteroid impact, researchers say.

"2005 YU55 cannot hit Earth, at least over the interval that we can compute the motion reliably, which extends for several hundred years," research scientist Lance Benner, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., said in a recent NASA video.