Red Cross Disaster Communications and the Amateur Radio Community - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

American Red Cross CA Gold Country Region Red Cross Disaster Communications and the Amateur Radio Community 1

American Red Cross Gold Country Region What you can learn from this presentation:  Who is the Red Cross.  What the Red Cross does for disaster relief.  Nature of Red Cross potential disaster message traffic.  How you, as our Amateur Radio partners, can help us. 2

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Jim Piper, RN & N6MED Disaster Health Services Disaster Services Technology: Liaison to ARES / Amateur Radio  American Red Cross registered volunteer since 2014  Amateur Radio interests: Disaster Communications & Public Service  ARES 1994-2012  DEC Santa Cruz County late '90s  CERT Santa Cruz County 2002-2008  NDMS Disaster Medical Assistance Team CA-11, Sac  Beau coup FEMA and other disaster training courses 3

American Red Cross Gold Country Region No, I'm not a doctor. But, I play one on tv! 4

American Red Cross Gold Country Region What is y our perception of what the Red Cross does related to disaster relief? 5

American Red Cross Gold Country Region The mission of the Red Cross is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. 6

American Red Cross Gold Country Region For What Kind of Incident Does the Red Cross Activate? “Small” localized incidents :  Family burned out of their home  Residents burned out of an apartment building Wide-area disasters:  Wild-land fire threatening occupied structures  Earthquake (e.g., '89 Loma Prieta and '14 Napa quakes)  Flood (Katrina, Matthew, Oroville Dam, etc.) 7  Hurricane (Matthew, Irma, Maria, etc. (more to come)

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Potential Major Disaster Threats in NorCal/Coastal Areas?  Wild-land fire (no kidding!)  Flooding  Major power outage (PG&E “Public Safety Power Shutoff”)  Tsunami  Transportation corridor incidents 8 (e.g., hazmat shipped by rail)

American Red Cross Gold Country Region 24 Counties 4.8M Residents 48,327 sq miles Effective mid 2020: San Joaquin & Stanislaus Counties going away; gaining Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, & Lake Counties 9

American Red Cross Gold Country Region 100 Year Flood & Potential Shelters Red dots are potential Red Cross shelters County, state & Red Cross resources spread to the max! 10

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Disaster Response : How and By Whom is the Red Cross Activated? Depends on the incident Small incident, by the Incident Commander on the scene. Call made to the Red Cross on-call Disaster Action Team 11

American Red Cross Gold Country Region How is the Red Cross Activated ... (con't)? Red Cross On-call Disaster Action Team 12 **Photo from the public domain

American Red Cross Gold Country Region How is the Red Cross Activated ... (con't)? Disaster Action Team (DAT) for Small incidents Responds to the scene to attend to the disaster victims for immediate needs:  Shelter  Clothing  Food  Unmet medical needs 13

American Red Cross Gold Country Region How is the Red Cross Activated ... (con't)? Disaster Action Team (DAT) for Small incidents Responds to the scene to attend to the disaster victims for immediate needs: Shelter Clothing Food 14 Unmet medical needs

American Red Cross Gold Country Region How and By Whom is the Red Cross Activated? Large incident: Request from EOC officials to the Red Cross for an evacuation center or shelter close to the affected area for an approximated number of affected individuals 15

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Disaster Response : How and By Whom is the Red Cross Activated? In all cases, the county is responsible for disaster response, including mass sheltering, feeding, and healthcare. Civil agencies initiate opening shelters, might engage food providers, and activate county public health services. Then county commonly engages the American Red Cross. 16

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Red Cross Activation A “mega” shelter Hurricanes, earthquake, or major wild fire 17

American Red Cross Gold Country Region How is the Red Cross Activated ... (con't)? For a response to a large incident, ARC frequently takes over a shelter already opened by the affected county Or...  Open a new shelter 18

American Red Cross Gold Country Region What Does the Red Cross Provide at a Shelter?  A safe place to sleep  Meals, snacks and water  Health services (for disaster-related conditions), such as first aid, refilling lost prescriptions, or replacing lost eyeglasses  Emotional and spiritual support and mental health services 19

American Red Cross Gold Country Region What Does the Red Cross Provide at a Shelter? More ... Help reconnecting with loved ones (family reunificaton) Information about and connecting with disaster-related resources in the community Disaster victim advocacy Anyone with a disaster-related need can visit the shelter to be directed to the appropriate resources. 20

American Red Cross Gold Country Region What Does the Red Cross Provide at a Shelter? During some emergencies, we might also be able to provide other important services, such as:  Access to case workers to help with disaster recovery  Childcare  Laundry (through partners)  Direct access to services provided by our partners 21

American Red Cross Gold Country Region And the Red Cross Response Operation Begins ...  DPM via support from headquarters (Exposition Blvd., Sacramento) contacts Shelter Manager and other support staff  Ideally, Red Cross Operations Group contacts our amateur radio partners to request radio resources  Contacts other partners (e.g., Salvation Army or Southern Bapist Disaster Relief, Islamic Relief USA, SPCA, etc.)  Contacts Red Cross On-Call Nurse to assess 22 client un-met medical needs

American Red Cross Gold Country Region How Red Cross Operates in a Disaster Response Order of the Day: ICS disaster management model as “Concept of Operations.” Positions renamed as appropriate to Red Cross functions. Ref: National Incident Management System Incident Command System ICS Forms Booklet FEMA 502-2 23

American Red Cross Gold Country Region How Red Cross Operates in a Disaster Response  Red Cross is the only ngo designated as the primary agency in the NIMS NRF as Emergency Support Function 6: Mass Care, Emergency Assistance, Housing, and Human Services  Designated as a support agency for five other ESF's:  #5 Information and Planning  #7 Logistics  #8 Public Health and Medical Services  #11 Agriculture and Natural Resources  #15 External Affairs 24 Refer to: ICS 800 National Response Framework – An Introduction

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Red Cross ICS Structure as “Concept of Operations:” Primary Job Titles  DRO or Job Director = Incident Commander  AD, Operations (“ADO”) = Operations Chief  AD, Information and Planning (“ADIP”) = Planning Chief  AD, Logistics (“ADL”) = Logistics Chief  AD, Finance (“ADF”) = Finance Chief  AD, External Relations 25 Refer to handout: Incident Action Plan

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Red Cross ICS Structure Job Director (Incident Commander) AD Operations AD Planning AD Logistics AD Finance (Ops Chief) (Plans Chief) (Logs Chief) (Finance Chief) AD External Relations Government Public Affairs Liaison 26

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Red Cross ICS Structure (con't) AD Operations AD Planning AD Finance AD Logistics AD External (Ops Chief) (Plans Chief) (Logs Chief) (Finance Chief) Relations Bulk Distribution Disaster Supply / Assessment Procurement Public Affairs Client Services Information Staff Services Dissemination Government Disaster Liaison Feeding Statistical Services Information Technology Sheltering Lead COML (Communications Lead) DHS Nurse Lead 27 Shelter DHS Nurse SV

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Red Cross ICS Structure & Radio Comms AD Logistics (Logs Chief)  DST sets up and manages telecom (cell phone) and datacom network at Disaster Services the DOC, issues cell phones to Technology functions (e.g., Shelter Manager(s), Disaster Health Services, etc.) COML/ Comm Center Manager  Incident Communications Center Manager “Red Cross” (tactical call) at HQ/DOC (aka “net control”) 28

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Typical Disaster Response (DR) Communications  Heavy reliance on cell phone  As response grows, DST brings in resources: phone, intranet and internet infrastructure  cell phones  server(s)  laptops, printers, and earth station.  But for cell phones, DST equipment supports the local District Ops Center only , not the shelters 29  Verizon and AT&T

American Red Cross Gold Country Region Typical Disaster Response (DR) Communications As response grows, Red Cross Logs/ DST responds:  Logs supplies resources; COML supplies comm resources, i.e., radio operators to Operations .  Operations decides where to use radio operators. Current practice: assign a radio operator to shelters on their opening. 30 Refer to handout: Disaster Messaging When the Phones Go Out