The Resilient Communities Working Group under Canada's Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction has generated a survey to inform on the development of two Canadian awards, the "Resilient Community Award" and the "Disaster Resilience - Children and Youth Award".  The awards would be presented to Canadian communities and children/youth that have made the most progress and/or shown the most initiative in disaster risk reduction and resiliency.  The survey is anonymous (IP addresses are not recorded)…

As part of POINT's continuing mandate to develop strategies to advance interoperability within the Province, the draft Interoperability Strategy for Ontario was developed.  The strategy is based on and aligns with the Communications Interoperability Strategy for Canada and Action Plan by building on the fundamental principles of Governance, Standard Operation Procedures, Technology, Training & Exercises, and Usage.

Interoperability improves public and responder safety; improves the…

The WCDM Call for Papers attracts submissions from more than 35 different countries and selected speakers are invited to this annual event which is currently in its 23rd year.  The deadline to submit is Dec. 2, 2012.

We will also be looking for abstracts that deal with the impact of the global economic downturn in terms of reduced budgets and support for all aspects of disaster/emergency/crisis planning (mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery) and how practitioners can meet their…

I'm curious as to others opinions on whether it is possible to plan for a career in emergency management. When I started my certificate program a year ago, I felt certain that I was entering a growing field. By the time I graduated last April, I felt a lot differently. A lot of this has to do with the changes in government, as well as the state of the economy. The view that emergency management is something that you "fall into" rather than actively aim for as a career, has been reinforced by…

Within the last few years, the Canadian Standards Association has begun establishing a new Standard for Disaster and Emergency Management, called CSA Z 1600. This standard is still in the evaluation process and leans directly onto the U.S. Standard NFPA 1600, which was already established by the U.S. Government. Both standards are building a framework on how to deal with emergencies, disasters and what to establish to prevent or solve these issues for public, non-public and private entities. It…

American Heat produces fire and emergency response training videos based on actual incidents.  This link takes you to their web site. I have a collection of approximately 70 videos from the 1990's. This takes you to a list of the videos they produced. I can try to identify the specific ones I have if there is interest. Although they are a few years old I believe we can still learn from them. 

Please respond to this article with your suggestions on how they can best be used to promote or…

The purpose of this article is to encourage those who attended or listened to the Round Table on Disaster Risk Reduction to put forth just one suggestion for a topic where PTSC-Online technology could be of assistance following the Round Table Discussion.

• One topic that was discussed which could benefit from further discussion in a blog or discussion forum over the next weeks or months
• One organization or group of organizations which could benefit from open or secure private collaboration…

The World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM) is now calling for presentations for the 23rd WCDM taking place June 23th - 26th, 2013 in Toronto, Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

WCDM is proud to be the premier annual event for disaster management professionals, providing a global perspective on current issues and concerns in the industry.

Presentations should fit into one of the following four streams:

1. Business Continuity Management

Is business continuity relevant to…