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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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February
2004
Volume 6
- Number 1 |
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Related Sites:
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Hurricane Conferences in 2004 Jacklyn Blecker Hurricanes have
been a
problem for coastal area for many years. Hurricane Andrew, for example
cost
approximately $15 billion dollars in repairs.
Forecasters are predicting the 2004 hurricane season, will
have between
six and nine hurricanes. Two to four of the hurricanes are expected to
be
severe, meaning Category 3, 4, or 5 storms, with pack winds of 111 mph
or more. Conferences
such as the
National Hurricane Conference and the Governors conference are held
annually. These conferences focus on
an overview of
the previous year’s hurricane season, next season’s outlook,
improvements in
hurricane forecasting, and mitigation strategies that work. This year, the
National
Hurricane Conference is scheduled for April 5-9 at the Wyndham Palace
Resort
& Spa in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The main conference website is located at http://www.hurricanemeeting.com/index.html. The agenda has not been released at this
time. I have been in contact with Teri Besse, who informed me that they
would
not be releasing the conference program until mid February. As part of the
conference,
the National Hurricane Conference co-sponsors with The Emergency
Management
Institute a series of special training sessions. One
of eight sessions will focus on mitigation. The
session, Mitigation Planning Workshop
for Local Government assists representatives of local communities or
multi-jurisdictional planning areas to develop a mitigation plan that
meets
community needs as well as the standards for FEMA approval. FEMA
approved local
mitigation plans are required, in order to receive Pre-Disaster
Mitigation
Grant funds, beginning with the Fiscal 2004 funding cycle. After
November 1,
2004, FEMA approved local mitigation plans will be required in order to
receive
post-disaster mitigation grant funds. This workshop explains each of
the
requirements, demonstrates how FEMA's new Mitigation Planning How-to
Guides can
be used to address each requirement, and provides opportunities to
begin the
planning process. The second
conference, the
18th annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference will be held May 24-28 at
the Tampa
Convention Center. Jeb Bush said that this year the theme of the
conference
would be “Unifying Florida's Hurricane Culture...A Model All Hazards
Approach." Considering, the current emphasis on terrorism, the message
the
Governor’s Conference is looking to deliver is that hurricane
preparedness is
just as important as terrorism preparedness.
The conference intends to provide individuals with the
tools to learn
about the latest trends in hurricane preparedness and provides a forum
for
people to come together and learn about what others around the state
are doing.
Understanding the roles and responsibilities before disaster strikes
will
ensure the provision of the best services to those in need. Similar to the
National
hurricane conference, they too have yet to finalized their training
sessions. I spoke with Lynn Daines who
said that Recovery/Mitigation would be one of the tracks for the
conference. However, it wouldn’t be
until early March before they knew the specific names and areas of
focus.
Considering the lack of information currently available, I would
suggest
re-addressing the conferences in a later article to highlight
specifically on
the training sessions and their topics. |