And Furthermore...

I was going to add to my previous post (Subversive...?) but I have enough to add that perhaps an additional post would be warranted.

Am currently looking at the US Geological Survey web site for maps. (That's what lead me to the Map of Oz, after all.) They have a lot of useful items, including Google Earth-compatible digital maps for download, and streaming realtime hazard data, both RSS feeds and more in Google-Earth format. (Their web site can be cranky, seems to work fine on this computer, wasn't so hot on my netbook, and was hit-or-miss on the computer at The Salt Mines.)(I use Chrome on the netbook, Firefox here on the desktop, and IE6 at work...)

Order your dead-tree edition State Index here. ($5.00 shipping & handling.)

Hazard maps.

By the way, their list of USGS Dealers In Your Neighborhood is woefully out of date, at least as far as Washington State is concerned....

***

FEMA has a lot of online training. Granted that computer-based training in general is not as useful as hands-on instruction, they offer a lot, including IS317, Introduction to CERT. Other courses I recommend for anyone who in interested in preparing for disaster include:

• IS 3: Radiological Emergency Management
• IS 5: An Introduction to Hazardous Materials
• IS22: Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
• IS55: Household Hazardous Materials - A Guide for Citizens
• IS111: Livestock in Disasters
• IS 362: Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools(If you have kids in school, and the school tells not to worry about it, I'd find a different school...)
• IS 394: Protecting Your Home or Small Business From Disaster

Most of the courses are pretty specialized, i.e, for emergency responders or emergency management or medical professionals, or government officials.

The courses are all part of the Incident Command System, or ICS. ICS was developed in California by CalFire, to ensure that all agencies responding to a wild fire were on the same sheet of music. The intent is for everyone to use the same terminology and the same procedures. Uncle Sam saw the value of this and adopted it in 2003. (Good summary and history on Wikipedia here.)

***

On Saturday, I participated with my Amateur Radio Club in a Simulated Emergency Training exercise. Personnel were stationed at two Emergency Operations Centers, or organized into teams; the teams were sent out to conduct "windshield surveys" in the Green River Valley, our scenario being that the valley was flooded. One thing we learned was that a too heavy reliance on GPS' can be detrimental, since, not only can an electronic device break (or at lest refuse to work), but each one formats information differently, including how data is input: Some teams could use Latitude/Longitude, some needed the Lat/Long reformatted for the GPS, and some were searching for street addresses.

(And, if you're wondering, this is what led me to look at the USGS website in the first place.)

Since the club is working heavily with the D-STAR digital mode, and the related D-RATS software, it may be possible to send and receive locational data that way--if everyone is using D-STAR/D-RATS. Still, a dead tree map needs no power...

(During the de-brief, the suggestion was made that we acquire topo maps. "We'll need map reading classes." "Gee, I wonder if there's anyone here who has taught land navigation...?)