From the Guardian: Survivors of deadly Maui blaze face displacement after displacement: ‘I live a nomadic life’ An excerpt:

“The deadliest US wildfire in more than a century – which incinerated the historic town of Lahaina, killed 100 people and destroyed 3% of Maui’s residential housing stock – pushed the island’s longstanding affordable housing crisis to a new inflection point. More than 10,000 survivors lost their homes, and, four months later, 6,300 remain sheltered at 33 hotels contracted with the Red Cross and Fema. For the thousands of evacuees who have been shuffling around, the haphazard way in which the program is managed, along with the return of tourists to the fire-ravaged region in October, have carried dire social consequences: residents share concerns of rising suicide rates, and monthly calls to the county domestic violence hotline have more than doubled since the disaster.”

TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT: Artificial Intelligence in Natural Hazard Modeling
Severe Storms, Hurricanes, Floods, and Wildfire. Note that the full report is 61 pp.

The Diva considers this a must read for people in the emergency management field and expects that this subject will be an important one in 2024.

FEMA is seeking feedback on the draft guide “Climate Adaptation Planning for Emergency Managers.” FEMA is seeking feedback on the draft guide “Climate Adaptation Planning for Emergency Managers.” The guide helps emergency managers incorporate climate adaptation into emergency management planning efforts.
Source of Draft Guide: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/plan

The Emergency Management Institute at 70;From Civil Defense to Emergency Management in an Education and Training Institution.

This report traces the 70-year history of the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) from the founding of its predecessor in 1951 to the present. The story of these institutions’ development can inform current strategy about EMI’s future. EMI trains primarily state, local, tribal, and territorial officials in emergency management (EM). It also trains some federal officials and leaders in the nonprofit and private sectors and provides course materials for higher education.

Emergency managers have been asked to respond to a growing number of hazards and disasters, including nontraditional missions, such as managing pandemic response and addressing homelessness. EMI will need to adapt to increasing EM responsibilities in an expanded all-hazards era by building new partnerships and training professionals in disaster management skills applicable to a wide variety of events. EMI also has an opportunity to grow from a technically focused institution into a thought leader and educator of the next generation of EM leaders.

Be sure to read the Key Findings and Recommendations.

From Axios: FEMA chief “very concerned” about disinformation from U.S. adversaries after disasters.

“FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told Axios…..on Monday that she is “very concerned” about the ability of U.S. adversaries to spread disinformation and sow distrust in the wake of natural disasters in the U.S.

Driving the news: She pointed to misinformation and disinformation spread by nation-state actors — namely, China and Russia — following this year’s devastating fires in Maui and train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.

What she’s saying: “I’m very concerned about convergence cyberattacks with our natural disaster — that our adversaries know when we are most vulnerable and know how to take advantage of those times,” Criswell said at the Axios event in Dubai.

“I’m very concerned about this new threat landscape that is coming into our environment and creating challenges that we haven’t faced before,” she said, adding that this includes the spreading of misinformation and disinformation.
“It’s creating so much difficulty for us to get people who really need our help to come ask us for the help because it’s created this level of distrust,” she said. “It’s a whole new challenge.”

From CU Boulder today: Putting research to work: FEMA administrator visits CU to strengthen academic partnerships. Nice tribute to one of the oldest disaster research centers. An excerpt:

“Among the research topics that could support the agency’s resilience goals are work related to climate migration, risk communication and refining social vulnerability indices. These are issues that are central to the work of CU researchers in IBS and across the university, including in engineering and the physical sciences. For nearly 50 years, the Natural Hazards Center has played an especially important role in both advancing new disaster research and translating it for practitioners and policymakers.”

“Since 1976, we’ve had one central goal, which is to move research into the hands of the people who need it most,” stated Director Lori Peek. “We focus on building connections so we can reduce the harm and suffering from disasters. Over the years, we have always remained true to that mission.”

FEMA has published Achieving Equitable Recovery: A Post-Disaster Guide for Local Officials and Leaders, a first of its kind framework to help rebuild communities in a more accessible, inclusive and equitable manner. (144 pp). November 2023.

NOTE: We are having trouble with the newest version URL Finally, this one seems to work:

https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_rr-508_EquityGuide_20231108_508Final.pdf

This document provides guidance for local leaders and officials to understand, prepare for and execute their leadership responsibilities to promote equity, create accountability, establish an inclusive recovery planning process and recover from disasters while rebuilding long-lasting inclusivity.

Planning Considerations for Cyber Incidents; Guidance for Emergency Managers.
(57 pp). .November 2023. The purpose of the document follows:

Emergency management personnel play a central role in preparing for and responding to cyber incidents in their jurisdictions. Although emergency managers are not expected to be technical experts on cyber incidents, they do need to understand and prepare for the potential impacts of a cyber incident on their communities as well as on their emergency operations. Knowing whom to engage when a cyber incident occurs and having plans in place to effectively address an incident’s impacts is central to the role of emergency managers, regardless of hazard type.

Developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in collaboration with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), this guide is intended to help state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) emergency management personnel collaboratively prepare for a cyber incident and support the development of a cyber incident response plan or annex. While focused on the roles and responsibilities that emergency managers in government may have, emergency managers in academia, nonprofits, or the private sector may also find the concepts helpful, especially if they serve on a jurisdiction’s planning team.

From the WashPost: The longer power was out, the deadlier it was for Puerto Rico

From the WashPost: Emergency Response Breakdowns put Maui Police at Risk.