Recently in Illinois several communities unfortunately experienced extensive tornado damage. And over the last week I've seen several GIS-related efforts set up to offer information that could be helpful to those working to recover and rebuild. Below are a few quick summaries of these efforts: OpenStreetMap According to their website, OpenStreetMap is "a free, editable map of the…
Category: Emergency Response
City of Cleveland Division of Water Requesting Help
Below is an urgent request for assistance from the City of Cleveland Division of Water. If you can help, contact information is provided in their message: The City of Cleveland Division of Water is in urgent need of two 24” Victaulics couplings. We have contacted Victaulic but have been informed it will take about…
Using Social Media to Communicate Emergency Response
Yesterday Dave Lawry and I presented Using Social Media to Communicate Emergency Response at the 2013 APWA North Amercian Snow Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was fun to give the presentation with Dave because he had some interesting first-hand experiences with implementing social media as a communication tool, particularly during snow operations. His stories came from…
Attending the Emergency Management Institute
Last year a neighboring community applied for a grant to attend a week-long class – E930: Community Specific Integrated Emergency Management Course – at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. After hearing they received the grant, they invited other agencies to attend with them. Fortunately I was one of the people invited and attended…
Hurricane: Preparedness and Response Training
There's a little known secret out there among emergency professionals – FEMA has an awesome training facility in Emmitsburg, Maryland where public works professionals working in local government can get free, high-quality emergency response training. In July of this year, I was fortunate enough to attend a week of training there and plan to share…