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Disaster Zone

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Mar 13, 2025 • 48min

3D Printing Buildings

As we look to the future of making for a more disaster resilient future, there are new building technologies that are ready for prime time. One of those is the use of 3D technology for the construction of all types of buildings and other structures.  In this podcast we learn from one leader in 3D construction, Ziyou Xu, Founder of RIC Technology. 3D printing using concrete uses less labor and is very flexible in how the materials can be used. When thinking about building for disaster resilience, be it for fires or earthquakes, concrete is an excellent choice of materials. In this podcast you will learn about the advantages of the technology and how its use is expanding widely here in the United States and around the world.Please visit our sponsors!L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Mar 11, 2025 • 46min

Disaster Accountability Project

As this is being written the firestorm in California is continuing. It is not only government that responds to disasters and the needs of disaster survivors and victims. The Disaster Accountability Project was created to help coordinate nongovernmental organizational efforts. To date, the site has more than 900 organizations registered worldwide. Following a stringent review process, organizations are presented with information that displays proximity to a specific crisis, and the range of services provided to survivors, and a detailed but easy-to-digest overview of the organization’s financial health – which gives an indication of the percentage of aid that will be directly passed on to survivors. You can find all the details at www.smartresponse.org  The podcast guest is Ben Smilowitz, ben@disasteraccountability.org He witnessed the bungled Hurricane Katrina response while managing a high-volume Red Cross Client Service Center in Gulfport, MS. Soon after, Ben launched Disaster Accountability Project, an independent watchdog, to confront the root causes of the failed Katrina response and maximize the impact of billions of dollars of disaster relief and humanitarian aid.  Disaster Accountability Project has successfully advocated for the release of millions of dollars of disaster relief and recovery funds after Superstorm Sandy, investigated deficiencies in emergency planning surrounding 19 commercial U.S. nuclear power plants, and improved the transparency of nearly 2 billion dollars of disaster relief donations after disasters in the U.S., Haiti and Nepal.  Under Ben’s leadership, DAP’s reports, advocacy, and op-eds have been covered by global news media including The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and CNN. Many of DAP’s successes over its thirteen years are attributable to the hundreds of volunteers from around the world that Ben has recruited and managed.  Prior to starting DAP, Ben had a background in youth civic engagement and issue advocacy. He wrote successful legislation in Connecticut and created a Youth Cabinet in Missouri. Ben studied Political Science and Nonprofit Management and holds a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law.Please visit our sponsors!L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Mar 4, 2025 • 54min

Communicating Effective Emergency and Disaster Warnings

In this podcast we explore what makes for effective alerts and warnings with one of the preeminent scholars and researching these topics today. Jeannette Sutton, Ph.D., specializes in disaster and risk with a primary focus on online informal communication, and public alerts and warnings disseminated via short messaging channels. Much of her research investigates the evolving role of information and communication technology, including social media and mobile devices, for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Her current work centers on message design and testing across a range of hazard contexts including atmospheric, meteorological, geological, technological, biological, and human induced threats for communication via Wireless Emergency Alerts and other alerting channels. See this link for The Warning Lexicon   She is employed at the University at Albany, SUNY, as an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security where she directs the Emergency and Risk Communication Message Testing Lab. She is also the founder of The Warn Room, LLC (thewarnroom.com) where you can get more resources to support your mission of warning people, and provides evidence-based advice on effective alert and warning messages. Dr. Sutton holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and completed her postdoctoral training at the Natural Hazards Center.Please visit our sponsors!L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Feb 20, 2025 • 1h 1min

Updated - What is Next for FEMA

UPDATED EPISODE! As you may have noticed, we accidently posted Pete's last episode, equally good and worth a listen but you should also check out today's episode talking about the future of FEMA.The new Trump Administration has started out with a slew of news impacting emergency management. There were two trips to disaster areas. One in the Southeast and North Carolina, where the President stated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had performed poorly and even politicized the disaster relief. He promised to fix those issues. Then, a trip to Southern California to view the impacts of the Los Angeles fires. Prior to the trip he was critical of the State of California for its water policies and failure to maintain the forests by raking up the leaves, etc. That was followed by executive orders and memos that 1) Cancelled all advisory committees which would include one that advises FEMA. 2) The Office of Management and Budget (OMG) sent out a memo to all federal agencies to pause funding all grants to organizations—later withdrawn. 3) An email was sent to all Federal employees offering them basically seven months of pay—free, if they took the option to leave Federal employment after September 2025. The President also is establishing a group to study FEMA and make recommendations for how to reform the agency. Members of that council have yet to be named at this writing. In this podcast we will be discussing the types of changes that could be made to make FEMA more functional as an organization and then consider what types of major policy changes could be in the offing, e.g. shifting more of the burden of disaster recovery costs to states and local jurisdictions. The Disaster Zone Podcast Guest is Peter Gaynor, an accomplished executive with over 15 years of leadership in Emergency Management & Homeland Security at every level of government. He has led a wide variety of challenging disasters at the local, state, and federal levels. He has served as the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, FEMA Administrator, and Deputy FEMA Administrator.Visit https://femapete.com/ for Pete's leadership course! Please visit our sponsors!L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Feb 4, 2025 • 56min

Forecasting the Future

I don’t know if you have noticed, but things are changing fast. Change is happening at every level of our society, in government, business and culture. Nothing is immune from the extent of change that is occurring. In this podcast we explore the topic of forecasting the future in order to better prepare ourselves and our organizations. You will find this topic engaging and thought provoking. The podcast guest is Donna Dupont the Founder and Chief Strategist for Purple Compass, as well as an award-winning designer and futurist who helps organizations build their future literacy skills to navigate change in today’s complex and uncertain world. She brings skills and insights developed over 25 years working with leaders in healthcare, public safety, defense, and security. Her unique style bridges systems thinking with strategic foresight to support organizational decision-making and advancing actions to mitigate future risk, enhance preparedness and adaptive capacity to disruptive events, and leverage opportunities for change, innovation and transformation. She is a recipient of seven government awards at the provincial and federal level for outstanding achievement, excellence, and partner relations in policy and strategic planning. Her unique style bridges systems thinking with strategic foresight to understand patterns and the potential evolution over time. She works with both quantitative and qualitative data, and designs processes to ensure confidence with insights and knowledge theories generated. Donna’s professional portfolio of projects have advanced insights on topics such as climate change, international development, environmental security, civil security/emergency preparedness, climate-risk and infrastructure, health and human security, space sector and national defense.L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Jan 30, 2025 • 44min

Combating Misinformation and Disinformation

The modern media world we live in today is nothing like we have experienced to date. Legacy media is fading and we have an entire new suite of information channels sharing good and often time distorted information. Add to that, we now have “machines” that can generate the information without any human interface. This podcast addresses these challenges and some solutions all organizations, public and private need to avail themselves of.The podcast guest is Molly Dwyer is the Director of Insights at PeakMetrics, a narrative intelligence company that empowers organizations to combat harmful online threats. In her role, Molly expands the realm-of-the-possible for PeakMetrics use cases to answer customer challenges in the public and private sectors. Molly brings a decade of experience working in the open-source intelligence start-up space. Previously, she built and directed the analysis team at Predata, now part of FiscalNote. Molly studied politics and Russian at Princeton University. Her passion for combatting mis/disinformation was emboldened by her years spent living in and traveling in Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.!Rescheduled January 2025! Emergency Management for Dynamic Populations (DyPop):Hot Mess Express: An emergency management leadership course focusing on response tactics during terrorist attacks. Hot Mess Express includes an immersive exercise during an intentional train derailment scenario. Register for DyPop here:www.thereadinesslab.com/shop/p/dynamic L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Jan 14, 2025 • 1h 10min

A Crisis Athletes Interview

This is a different type of Disaster Zone Podcast. The host, Eric Holdeman becomes the interviewee and Kim Guevara, is the interviewer. Kim has been researching different aspects of what it means to be an emergency manager. In her words, “a crisis athlete.” This is not about push-ups, but rather what does it take to be successful in becoming prepared for disasters, responding to them and then the disaster recovery.The podcast Guest is Kim Guevara, MA Founder and CEO at MOZAIK Solutions  Kim has 25 years’ experience in emergency management, homeland security, and development. She has provided services to all levels of government, the U.S. military, and the private and non-profit sectors. Kim’s combined experience in emergency/crisis management, health community initiatives in humanitarian crises, and organizational leadership also led her to co-create the Crisis Athlete™ program. At its core, the program challenges, questions, and envisions new, more sustainable pathways for crisis leaders to think about resilience by leveraging and applying the power of neuroscience at the individual, organizational, and community levels.You can read about this topic here: Executive Function: The Crisis Leader’s Edge in a High-Pressure WorldFor more brain tools see www.crisisathlete.comMajor Endorsements!Rescheduled January 2025! Emergency Management for Dynamic Populations (DyPop):Hot Mess Express: An emergency management leadership course focusing on response tactics during terrorist attacks. Hot Mess Express includes an immersive exercise during an intentional train derailment scenario. Register for DyPop here:www.thereadinesslab.com/shop/p/dynamic L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Nov 27, 2024 • 46min

Legal Issues for Volunteers Responding to Disasters

Elizabeth Van Nostrand is an associate professor in the Department of Health Services Administration and Policy at the Temple University College of Public Health. Van Nostrand is an expert in legal epidemiology—the study and application of law as an intervention to prevent disease and injury. She is the co-author of three public health emergency law bench books for health departments in the District of Columbia, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. Through a CDC-funded grant, Van Nostrand created the Emergency Law Inventory (ELI), a tool for volunteers engaged in disaster response to navigate responder laws across the United States. She received the National Partner Award from the Medical Reserve Corps (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and two awards from the University of Pittsburgh's Innovation Institute for the development of ELI. In 2022, Van Nostrand received a second grant from the CDC to update ELI’s content.Major Endorsements:!Rescheduled January 2025! Emergency Management for Dynamic Populations (DyPop):Hot Mess Express: An emergency management leadership course focusing on response tactics during terrorist attacks. Hot Mess Express includes an immersive exercise during an intentional train derailment scenario. Register for DyPop here:www.thereadinesslab.com/shop/p/dynamic L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Nov 19, 2024 • 48min

Conversation with a Documentary Film Maker about Volcanic Risks

As individuals we are the sum total of all our experiences. So it is with Michael Lienau. From a childhood interest in film to a career as a documentary filmmaker, he has left his mark. A close encounter with Mt. Saint Helens eruptions set him on a path to study and document volcanoes. On the way he has translated science into videos that inform and educate generations of people. During the podcast several video productions focusing on volcanoes were mentioned.Here is the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History Global Volcanism Program for the VolFilm Episodes:https://volcano.si.edu/gallery/VideoCollection.cfm?subject=VOLFilms&language=EnglishAnd specifically the ones produced in English language:Human Experiences with Lava Flowshttps://vimeo.com/666125121Debris Avalanches and Landslideshttps://vimeo.com/666128789Health Hazards of Ashhttps://vimeo.com/666121806For over 45 years Michael Lienau has been an award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer, working in documentaries, television, feature films, commercials, corporate, government and new media.When Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, 20-year-old Michael Lienau was one of the first cinematographers to photograph the devastation around the mountain from the ground. Caught in the second largest eruption, the camera crew barely escaped with their lives. Michael’s dramatic footage was seen worldwide in IMAX theaters and on television. His unforgettable experience on the mountain fueled a life-long desire to communicate his own story and those of other eyewitnesses in an independent dramatic documentary, “THE FIRE BELOW US: Remembering Mount St. Helens.” This seven-time award-winner became the longest running, most requested, highest rated independent film on National Geographic Television and was also seen internationally on Discovery Networks and PBS.His life changing experience at the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption led Michael to engage with world-class earth scientists to better understand Earth processes, including plate tectonics related to volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Much of Michael’s affinity for science came from his father, a nuclear physicist who later became a leading expert in the development of geothermal resources around the world.Check out Michael’s main website: Global Net ProductionsMajor Endorsements:!Rescheduled January 2025! Emergency Management for Dynamic Populations (DyPop):Hot Mess Express: An emergency management leadership course focusing on response tactics during terrorist attacks. Hot Mess Express includes an immersive exercise during an intentional train derailment scenario. Register for DyPop here:www.thereadinesslab.com/shop/p/dynamic L3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com
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Oct 29, 2024 • 50min

Executive Leadership on Security and Risk Management

Increasing risks and increasing technology are the topics in this podcast.How to manage technology and risks that extend from the cyber perspective all theway to corporate leadership and climate change. This is one of the most engagingconversations that the Disaster Zone Podcast has had with a true subject matterexpert. Leaders in business and government should listen to this podcast.The guest is Steve Durbin is the Chief Executive of the Information Security Forum(ISF). His main areas of focus include strategy, information technology, cyber securityand the emerging security threat landscape across both the corporate and personalenvironments.He is a frequent speaker and commentator on technology and security issues, and,since 2016, the host of the ISF Podcast featuring conversations with global industryleaders and thought leaders, including Mo Gawdat, Dr. Hannah Fry, Sir Bob Geldof,Apple founder Steve Wozniak, and the first female prime minister of Denmark, HelleThorning-Schmidt.Formerly at Ernst & Young, Steve has been involved with IPOs, mergers andacquisitions of fast-growth companies across Europe and the USA. Having previouslybeen senior vice president at Gartner, he has advised a number of NASDAQ andNYSE listed global technology companies.Steve has served as a Digital 50 advisory committee member in the United States, abody established to improve the talent pool for Fortune 500 boards around cybersecurity and information governance and he has been ranked as one of the top 10individuals shaping the way that organizations and leaders approach informationsecurity careers. He has also been featured on the top 20 most influential list ofleaders whose companies have a vision that shapes the conceptual landscape of theirrespective industries.Major Endorsements:!Rescheduled January 2025! Emergency Management for Dynamic Populations (DyPop):Hot Mess Express: An emergency management leadership course focusing on response tactics during terrorist attacks. Hot Mess Express includes an immersive exercise during an intentional train derailment scenario. Register for DyPop here:www.thereadinesslab.com/shop/p/dynamic CBRNe Convergence Orlando 2024 28-30 October, Orlando, FloridaL3Harris Technologies' BeOn PPT App. Learn more about this amazing product here: www.l3harris.com Impulse: Bleeding Control Kits by professionals for professionals: www.dobermanemg.com/impulseDoberman Emergency Management Group provides subject matter experts in planning and training: www.dobermanemg.com

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