Thursday, June 23, 2011

FEMA E-74 Reducing the Risks of Nonstructural Earthquake Damage

The nonstructural portions of a building, such as interior walls, ceilings, utilities, fixtures, and contents, can account for up to 75 to 80 percent of a building’s total cost. The recent earthquakes in Chile, New Zealand, and Japan have once again provided many examples of buildings that performed well structurally but still suffered significant nonstructural damage and were rendered unusable for long periods of time. Given the importance of nonstructural building components, it is critical to raise awareness of nonstructural risks, the costly consequences of nonstructural failures, and opportunities to limit future losses.

explains the sources of nonstructural earthquake damage in simple terms and provides methods for reducing potential risks. The Guide is intended for non-technical audiences, including building owners, facility managers, maintenance personnel, store or office managers, corporate or agency department heads, and homeowners. FEMA E-74 includes more than 70 examples of different nonstructural components, complete with photos of actual damage and details illustrating correct mitigation and installation measures. The newweb format of FEMA E-74 makes it simple to browse and to print out details and sections of interest. MORE INFO

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Florida GIS Data Discovery Workshop: 2011 Hurricane Season

The Florida Division of Emergency Management is hosting a GIS Data Discovery Workshop for the 2011 Hurricane season at the State Emergency Operation Center in Tallahassee, FL on Tuesday / June 28th.

Register to attend in person, CLICK Here ...

Attend on-line, CLICK Here ...

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Monday, June 13, 2011

First Nationwide EAS Test - Nov 9, 2011


One of the most important communications tools that helps federal, state, local, territorial and tribal authorities issue emergency information and warnings to the public is the Emergency Alert System. This system is frequently used and tested at the local level, but to date it has never been tested on the national level. As part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen our nation's preparedness and resiliency, FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission announced that we will conduct the first national-level test of the Emergency Alert System on November 9th of this year at 2 pm eastern. Similar to the way local emergency alert system tests are conducted, the nationwide test will involve television stations (including digital television, cable, satellite audio and television services) and broadcast radio stations across the U.S. and several U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, America Samoa) at the same time. MORE INFO

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