Public as responders (was RE: [emergency]...PPW letter re CAP)

[Art Botterell <acb@incident.com>]

Thanks, John.  In addition to its intel value, that article 
illustrates an important point:

The majority of victim rescues after an earthquake (and in most major 
disasters) are performed by other victims and bystanders, not by 
official responders.  While it's necessary for administrative 
purposes to distinguish between the response community and the larger 
community it serves, major incidents tend to blur that boundary at 
the practical level, especially during the first crucial hours.

So while it's important to improve communications among "first 
responders" (however that term is defined, and it's a controversial 
question) that's still not the whole story.  The public is the 
largest and most influential responder there is, and we need 
constantly to be thinking about how it fits into our systems on those 
days when business isn't as usual.

- Art



At 1:36 PM -0700 10/8/03, Aerts, John F. wrote:
>
>http://www.latimes.com/news/local/pilot/news/la-dpt-briefs19sep19,1,1590414.
>story a d v e r t i s e m e n t
>
>
>
>
>BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS
>
>September 19, 2003
>
>UCI wins $9-million grant from foundation
>
>UC Irvine has received a $9-million grant to help shorten emergency response
>time by improving communications between first responders to crises and
>natural disasters.
>
>The award comes from the National Science Foundation, which also gave $3.5
>million to UC San Diego for the five-year project, called "Responding to the
>Unexpected." It will use information technology to develop organizational
>strategies between law enforcement, fire departments and other agencies.
>
>It represents the largest National Science Foundation grant in UC Irvine
>history.
>
>"Examples include integrating different information sources such as
>satellite images, video and sensor data with field observations to monitor
>the situation," UC Irvine information and computer science professor Sharad
>Mehrotra said of the project.
>
>Mehrotra heads Cal-(IT)2, the two-campus science and innovation institute
>that is managing the project. He said that the goal is to make early
>responders into "human sensors" who could gather and distribute information
>to reduce casualties and economic loss.
>
>They will test their findings with the Irvine and San Diego police
>departments, city and county of Los Angeles and the California governor's
>office of emergency services.
>
>"I am pleased to see UC Irvine and its partner, UC San Diego, successfully
>compete for federal dollars to improve our urban crisis response using
>technological ingenuity," said Newport Beach's Rep. Chris Cox, chairman of
>the House Homeland Security Committee.
>
>"Large threats call for large-scale coordination, and new technology can
>provide critical tools to our early responders," he added.
>
>
>
>- Marisa O'Neil