Posts Tagged ‘crisis’

FedEx Helps Red Cross Ensure Hometown Readiness

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

FedEx Supports Red Cross

FedEx Corp., an active participant in disaster relief, recovery and preparedness initiatives, is engaging FedEx team members in major cities throughout the country in disaster preparedness planning through the American Red Cross corporate volunteer involvement program Ready When the Time Comes.

Memphis, home of the company s worldwide headquarters, will officially launch its program Feb. 27 with FedEx serving as the local lead sponsor. Through the Ready When the Time Comes program, volunteers receive specialized training in crucial disaster response functions, such as shelter operations, large-scale feeding efforts, and damage assessment.

The Red Cross trains employees from participating corporations and mobilizes them for large-scale local disasters. FedEx team members currently work closely with local chapters in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and now Memphis. At FedEx we understand how vital preparation is to the success of the business, whether the mission is to ensure a critical overnight delivery or to aid charitable organizations in their response to a large-scale disaster, said Rose Flenorl, manager of Social Responsibility at FedEx. Each day we deliver services and solutions all over the world, but the key to any successful operation is preparation, and that begins at home, in our local communities.

FedEx work with the Red Cross also includes disaster preparedness efforts such as small business preparedness outreach and emergency preparedness training for school-aged children. As part of its longstanding commitment to the Red Cross mission, FedEx is a founding member of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program and contributes more than $1 million in cash and in-kind services to the Red Cross every year.

During the recent Haiti relief efforts, FedEx transported more than 150,000 pounds of American Red Cross family care kits and gave a cash grant in support of their International Relief Fund, which provides lifesaving supplies and relief materials. FedEx previously received the prestigious Circle of Humanitarians Award and the Henry Dunant International Partnership Excellence Award in gratitude for its generous contributions and longstanding commitment to the humanitarian mission of the organization.

Conference Addresses Social Media Use In A Disaster

Friday, January 29th, 2010

The use of social media to inform communities about emergencies has taken local public information officers by storm. Recent events have outlined social media’s popularity as survivors of Haiti’s earthquake turned to Twitter and other networks to update their statuses and verify the well-being of loved ones. Its popularity with citizens worldwide has led to a bevy of questions regarding use and best practices.

About 130 public and private information officers from the emergency management, first response and business continuity communities gathered on Jan. 21 at the Midwest Disasters 2.0: Social Media and Emergency Response training session. The session’s goal was to assemble Kansas City, Kan.-area emergency communicators to learn how social media systems work and how they can be used during a disaster.

The examples of social media’s use during disasters — like the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 and the Mumbai attacks in 2008 — spurred the creation of the event, said Adam Crowe, assistant director of the Johnson County Emergency Management and Homeland Security office. “There seemed to be a growing use of it, and then a lot of people in my area of Kansas City were clamoring to learn more,” he said. “And unfortunately the only trainings that were popping

via Disasters 2.0 Conference Addresses Social Media Use.

Emergency This Book Will Save Your Life

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life, a new book by author Neil Strauss was released today. The book follows the “lessons learned” by Strauss as he spent several years researching individual emergency preparedness and what to do in a worst-case scenario.

Terrorist attacks. Natural disasters. Domestic crackdowns. Economic collapse. Riots. Wars. Disease. Starvation.

What can you do when when there is no one to turn to, no one to help…. You’re on your own in a major crisis or emergency?

You can learn to be self-sufficient and survive without the system.

**I’ve started to look at the world through apocalypse eyes.** So begins Neil Strauss’s harrowing new book: his first full-length worksince the international bestseller The Game, and one of the most original-and provocative-narratives of the year.

After the last few years of violence and terror, of ethnic and religious hatred, of tsunamis and hurricanes–and now of world financial meltdown–Strauss, like most of his generation, came to the sobering realization that, even in America, anything can happen. But rather than watch helplessly, he decided to do something about it. And so he spent three years traveling through a country that’s lost its sense of safety, equipping himself with the tools necessary to save himself and his loved ones from an uncertain future.

It’s one man’s story of a dangerous world–and how to stay alive in it.

I’ll review the book within the next couple of weeks and possibly give away a few copies in an upcoming promotion on the Homeland Security Response Network site.

We’ve also added a discussion in the forum.

Available at Amazon.com

Biden Guarantees Generated, International Crisis Within 6 Months

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008


Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. “And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

Source – Full Article