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Think your flight is delayed?

A recent photo from an airport in Chile were an active volcano is creating major disruptions to air travel.

Robots assist rescuers in Japan

Two teams and their robots were actually in the U.S. when disaster struck. They were at "Disaster City," at Texas A&M University. "Disaster City" hosted American and Japanese researchers that jointly tested their bots using a mock-up terrain that simulates the same kind of environment that researchers will find on the battered eastern coast of Japan.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/14/japans-best-robots-to-help-with-rescue-effort/#ixzz1Gc0xRiFo

Emergency Alert System in Morris County, N.J., to Link 39 Cities via Social Media

In March, a powerful storm pummeled New Jersey, forcing police, utility and emergency crews to scramble as the severe weather sapped power, delayed trains and triggered floods. But publicly available information about the storm’s effects was scarce, and citizens searching for updates were left high and dry.

To avert such communication failures in the future, Morris County, N.J., has activated a shared emergency information network, using social media tools — Facebook and Twitter — to deliver crucial updates around the clock.

This is a great example of leveraging technology to provide widespread distribution of information!

See the entire article at: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/safety/Emergency-Alert-System-Social-Media.html

Church Latest Victim of ACH Fraud

Over a weekend in August, the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, fell victim to a $600,000 ACH fraud theft and becomes another in the growing list of businesses and entities that have suffered huge losses as a result of these crimes.

The church says it was victimized by criminals who illegally obtained its banking information in order to transfer funds to numerous "money mule" recipients across the United States on Aug. 13 and 16.

The Diocese is but the latest of many such incidents to have hit the nation's businesses and government entities over the past year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that 205 separate businesses have reported incidents of corporate account take-over since 2004 -- the bulk of them in the past year, with estimated fraud losses topping $40 million.

Full article: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=2888&opg=1

FDNY, Marines train for chemical attack

NEW YORK – The New York City Fire Department and the Marines’ Chemical Biological Incident Response Force responded to a simulated exploded bus, a subway chemical attack, a building collapse and two IED attacks, April 22.

A FDNY firefighter sprays water on simulated victims of a chemical attack in the subway, as Marines from the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) lead them out of the subway, at FDNY Fire Academy on Randall's Island, N.Y, April 22. FDNY and Marines from the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) joined together for a training exercise after a weeklong training evolution between the two units. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Randall A. Clinton)

The all-day exercise was the culmination of a weeklong training evolution at FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island pairing Marines and firefighters. The Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF), based in Indian Head, Md., has a history with the FDNY going back to the unit’s founding in 1996. Deputy Chief and Marine veteran Raymond Downey helped develop the original training for the unit. After he died in the World Trade Center rescue effort, their training facility was named after Downey.  Full article: US NorthCom

Aggies earn fifth cyber defense regional win

A team of Texas A&M Aggies won the Sixth Annual Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) in March.

This is Texas A&M’s fifth win of the Southwestern Regional Competition. The team is now preparing for the national competition to be held April 16-18 in San Antonio.  See full article at:

http://engineering.tamu.edu/news/index.php/2010/04/02/aggies-earn-fifth-cyber-defense-regional-win/

The DHS is monitoring social networks for security reasons, are you?

This is an interesting article about the DHS monitoring social networks during the 2010 Winter Olympics.  I believe we will see more of this activity since it gives those in public information positions a portal into what may be going on in an area of interest.

The important point here is not that the DHS is monitoring information; it is the opportunity for all of us to develop relationships and areas of interest we can monitor during an incident.  All groups could benefit from sharing information (albeit not always factual) including businesses, schools, churches, and communities.  One great way to share information as an alternate to other methods during an emergency is Twitter or Facebook.

As required by law, the DHS has published a Privacy Impact Statement about its monitoring activity--in this case monitoring social media outlets for security reasons for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.    the full article is available at: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/emergency-blogs/crisis-comm/DHS-Monitoring-Social-Media.html

Southeast Texas Severe Weather Awareness Week - Feb 21-27 2010

Several resources from the National Weather Service and the State of Texas Department of Public Safety.

Intel Chief: U.S. at Risk of Crippling Cyber Attack

FOXNews.com

The United States is at risk of a crippling cyber attack that could "wreak havoc" on the country because the "technological balance" makes it much easier to launch a cyber strike than defend against it, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said Tuesday. See article for details:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/03/intel-chief-risk-crippling-cyber-attack/

Disasters 2.0 Conference Addresses Social Media Use

Interesting article on the mid-west of the United States collaborating among the private and public sector to establish best practices for social media usage in emergecny management.

Full link at: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Disasters-20-Conference-Social-Media-Use.html