National Dialogue on Preparedness Browse Popular ideas

Provide an incentive for people to become better prepared. Allow them to have a tax deduction for purchasing emergency supplies or performing retrofit work on their homes.

The CERT curriculum is an excellent start for developing community response; there needs to be a nationally-recognized, modular set of curricula for ongoing education and skill development of CERT members.

Provide funding, oversight and guidance for all levels of incident management teams. Develop a national system of training and certification for Types I, II, and III teams. Smaller Type III incidents may cross state boundaries, but because certifications are set up by each state, other states don't have to honor them, complicating the response. It could also make the transition from Type III to Type II more efficient. ...more »

Whatever work is being done, whether at the local, state, or federal level, it must include educational institutions as an participant. Often, educational institutions have tremendous resource pools that will assist with all areas of preparing for, responding too, and recovering from incidents and will posses some of greatest risk potentials. Nation-wide, there is a push to incorporate private sector assistance ...more »

Support inter- and intra-state mutual aid by assisting states/regions/local communities with funding and technical assistance to type resources and credential personnel in responder disciplines (all appropriate for response; not just governmental). Work towards an interactive resource information and request system to shorten and sustain response to a disaster or catastrophic event. Strive to align the EMAC Mission Packages ...more »

Develop and implement a professional career track for emergency planners. Ten years ago in North Carolina, we had one all-hazards plan and one hazard-specific one (hurricanes). Today we still have the one base plan and 15 hazard-specific ones. During this period, EM planning postions dropped from 14 to 9. Other state agencies have increased their preparedness planning, but we do not have a standard planning process. ...more »

I suggest that government and large corporations offer grant funding to local organizations that would stimulate a grassroots response to community disaster education and resilience. This initiative would focus on recruiting volunteers (retired, self-employed, etc.) to teach community disaster education and disaster resilience through the churches and other faith-based organizations, schools, and civic organizations in ...more »

Find a way to incorporate location technology in cell phones to allow agencies to send emergency messages. Is there an app for that?

Work to train and engage volunteers prior to an event.

ICS doctrine has a problem with using standard ICS in EOCs, and AHIMT classes have no meaningful content on EOC integration (and the one FEMA class on ICS/EOC integration does not add much). The Planning function in and EOC may have the same purpose as that at an incident, but the practice is very different; ditto Logs and Ops (or what functions under "Ops" in an EOC: prioritizing resource allocation for field incidents). ...more »

Require agencies that have access to interoperable radio systems to include their use in their written policies. I work as a police/fire dispatcher for a local agency in Colorado. I'm a big fan of our radio system. The mutual aid channels are set up well and easy to understand. Working in the Denver metro area, I have the ability to communicate with any agency in the state. The big problem is that we have the technology, ...more »

CERT teams should conduct SEVERAL family preparedness meetings in the community at schools, churches (maybe link with ministerial alliance folks) and fire houses. These meetings would present family and individual preparedness topics to include fire safety and having a fire plan for the family, but also being prepared for disasters, communication plans, etc. Partner with local hardware stores to publish lists of materials ...more »