Mark Your Calendars! - 2012 HAZUS User Conference

Word is the 2012 HAZUS User Conference will be August 6, 2012. The 6th Annual event will be in Philadelphia, PA.

EAS Nationwide Test

The Federal Communications Commission's joined by FEMA and the National Weather Service, have announced the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) at 2:00 PM on November 9, 2011.

FCC Announcement ...

FEMA Announcement ...

US and Mexico Expand Collaboration on Earthquake Monitoring Along Border

USGS is working with the US Northern Command and the Mexican National Center for Prevention of Disasters to improve the ability to better monitor the earthquake-prone zone in northwestern Mexico. READ MORE

USGS Statement...

"Earthquakes in Mexico are a threat to the U.S. and visa versa. It's only by cooperating in our monitoring efforts that both countries can fully understand and protect against their earthquake risk," said Doug Given, the USGS Southern California Seismic Network coordinator, and the USGS lead for this international project.

Rapid Observation of Vulnerability and Estimation of Risk (ROVER)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the release of Rapid Observation of Vulnerability and Estimation of Risk (ROVER), fast, free, mobile software for pre- and post-earthquake building safety screening. ROVER is available on CD-ROM (FEMA P-154 ROVER CD) from the FEMA Publications Warehouse or via online download.

Highlights of the new ROVER software include:

One-time data entry to a built-in database
Captures data via digital photos
Determines building geolocation
Exports to Google Earth for mapping
Imports pre-existing data
Speeds post-earthquake safety assessment by accessing pre-earthquake data
Allows for remote management of screening
Optionally integrates with USGS ShakeCast for seismic monitoring of buildings and with FEMA’s HAZUS-MH to estimate future building repair costs, casualties, and loss of use

To order FEMA P-154 ROVER CD from the Publications Warehouse, call 1 (800) 480-2520 or fax your request to (240) 699-0525.

More Info @ ROVER.org ...

2011 Great California ShakeOut

The 2011 Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill is this Thursday / October 20th at 10:20am

MORE INFO ...

National Prepardness Goal

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate announced the release of the National Prepardness Goal at the annual National Emergency Managers Association (NEMA) Conference in Austin, Texas. MORE INFO

The NPG "includes capabilities to safeguard the homeland against acts of terrorism and man-made or natural disasters" and "is focused on actions to protect the citizens, residents, visitors, and critical assets, systems, and networks against the greatest risks to our nation in a manner that allows our interests, aspirations, and way of life to thrive."



The full goal can be found online at www.fema.gov/ppd8.

Download: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/prepared/npg.pdf

HAZUS.org Bookstore is back on-line !

Thanks to the recent changes to the recent changes in the way California collects on-line sales tax the HAZUS.org Bookstore is once again on-line.

The Western Disaster Center (the operator of HAZUS.org) is an Amazon.com Associate. HAZUS.org receives a small percentage of sales of books and other items purchased through the HAZUS.org Bookstore site. All financial transactions are handled by the Amazon.com secure system. The HAZUS.org Bookstore is maintained on the Amazon.com "aStore system" providing our users a secure and familiar Amazon.com user interface.

To go to the HAZUS.org Bookstore, CLICK HERE...

If you have any book suggestions please let us know ...