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The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and the USA Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are going to exchange experts during joint rescue operations in major disasters. This is provided by a protocol of the fourth meeting of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Working Group on Emergency Situations and seventeenth meeting of Joint U.S.-Russia Cooperation Committee on Emergency Situations, which took place in Washington on 25 June. The document provides for expert cooperation in disaster response operations and to study the latest practices. In addition, the parties approved of U.S.-Russian cooperation in this field in 2013-2014, which envisages exchange of experience including...

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY- Some tornado victims, who lost their homes, fear that they may not be able to re-build. Rhonda Northcutt said she is unable to get a building permit from the city because of where her home was located before it was destroyed.</p>

Russia and the United States will work together to improve protection against meteorites and other space threats, Russia’s emergencies minister said on Tuesday following a joint Russia-US working group meeting in Washington. “We have decided that the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Russia's Emergencies Ministry will work together to develop systems to protect people and territory from cosmic impacts,” Russia’s Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov told journalists. The meeting also covered other kinds of natural emergencies, such as recent years' extreme weather in Russia and United States, but it was cooperation to counter space threats that stole the limelight...

While Director of Boston’s EMS, Richard Serino (now the Obama Deputy FEMA Director) developed and authored a 39 page PDF publication entitled “A Tale of Two Cities and the Running of a Planned Mass Casualty Event.” (1) In 2009, Serino retired from his Boston post to serve under FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. Prior to his promotion, Serino created Course 18 which contains the following seven chapters: “Presentation Overview, Planned Disaster Concept, Groundwork, Collaboration , Planning, Execution, and Evaluation and Analysis.” Florida Atlantic University Professor James F. Tracy is being credited for bringing this important publication to our attention in...

The New York Times is pleased with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 438-page, $20 billion plan to protect New York from the effects of future hurricanes. It notes benignly that the cost is probably an underestimate but agrees with the mayor, "Whether you believe climate change is real or not is beside the point; the bottom line is we can't run the risk." Really? Imagine the argument: "Whether you believe zombies are real or not is beside the point. ... We can't run the risk." Clearly one's willingness to undertake these sorts of preparations depends completely on whether the perceived danger is...

It wasn’t clear if residents of Puerto Rico got the warning about possible flash flooding in parts of the U.S. territory Wednesday, but at least some Pierce County residents did. Cellphones across Western Washington warned users of flash flooding, though the National Weather Service said the local forecast called for nothing of the sort, and that the warning seemed to refer to some areas of Puerto Rico. How widespread the alert was is not known, but at least several Tacomans said they got it about 1:40 p.m. “Flash flood warning this area til 6 p.m. AST. Avoid flood areas. Check...

HOUSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency is refusing to provide money to help rebuild the small Texas town where a deadly fertilizer plant explosion leveled numerous homes and a school, and killed 15 people. According to a letter obtained by The Associated Press, FEMA said it reviewed the state's appeal to help West but decided that the explosion "is not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration." The blast killed 10 first responders and brought national attention to the agricultural community. President Barack Obama traveled to the area to attend a memorial service for the...

WEST, TEXAS — The Federal Emergency Management Agency is refusing to provide money to help rebuild the small Texas town where a deadly fertilizer plant explosion leveled numerous homes and a school, and killed 15 people. According to a letter obtained by The Associated Press, FEMA said it reviewed the state's appeal to help West but decided that the explosion "is not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration." The blast killed 10 first responders and brought national attention to the agricultural community. President Barack Obama traveled to the area to attend a memorial service for...

President Obama will gain one more day of respite from the controversies that have crowded in on his administration Tuesday, as he tours the New Jersey coast to inspect the recovery and rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

There is no better steward of American taxpayer dollars than Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. When Hurricane Sandy struck last year, he fought to eliminate non-emergency items from a supplemental disaster relief bill that included millions for road construction in states not affected by the hurricane. So when a monster tornado struck his home state yesterday the liberal press immediately tried to brand Coburn as a hypocrite for accepting federal funds. The Huffington Post reported: "Coburn spokesman John Hart on Monday evening confirmed that the senator will seek to ensure that any additional funding for tornado disaster relief in Oklahoma be...

When the main US federal emergency agency arrives at the scene of a disaster-hit area, one of the first places it turns to is the local Waffle House – and not just for its officials to grab a quick bite.

Coburn is sticking to his fiscally conservative principles, even after a twister killed at least 24 of his constituents On Tuesday morning, emergency responders began dealing with the aftermath of a tornado that killed at least 24 people in Moore, Okla., and injured at least 140 more. The White House has announced that "the administration and FEMA stand ready to provide all available assistance in response to the severe weather." However, one of the state's two Republican senators, Tom Coburn, wants to put a stipulation on that offer: No federal aid without corresponding federal budget cuts.

The tornado-devastated town of Moore, Okla., had complained in February about regulatory delays from state and federal agencies that were preventing it from getting money for its county-wide tornado shelter rebate program. "The city's safe room rebate program is still 'on hold,' with not a lot changed from our update of last May [2012]," a statement posted on the City of Moore website said. "Our county-wide Hazard Mitigation Plan still has not been approved by the state and FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]... "There were changes to the federal requirements for this plan that occurred while our contractor was writing...

Where did all the money go? “Your guess is as good as mine,” David Montoya, the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says of $700 million in missing taxpayer money that Louisiana homeowners were given in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to elevate and protect their homes from future storms. A new report released from the inspector general’s office shows that more than 24,000 homeowners who received grants of up to $30,000 to elevate their homes either misspent or pocketed the money. “The fact of the matter is that the money they received was for a...

Underwater doesn't even begin to get at the heart of Maurice Corkery's predicament. "This was my summer home," the Delaware County plant manager said of his little rancher on Third Street in Ocean City, N.J., flooded with its foundation cracked - totalled, really - by Sandy. "I was trying to think of a time line," he said. "It's been so long. I'm so screwed up. I haven't seen any money. Where is the money? All they do is talk about it." [snip] "It seems like people who are responsible and have paid for coverage are the losers," he said. "The...

WHAT IS CAMP FEMA? Homeland Security graduates first Corps of Homeland Youth October 7, 2012. Vicksburg. The federal government calls them FEMA Corps. But they conjure up memories of the Hitler Youth of 1930’s Germany. Regardless of their name, the Dept of Homeland Security has just graduated its first class of 231 Homeland Youth. Kids, aged 18-24 and recruited from the President’s AmeriCorp volunteers, they represent the first wave of DHS’s youth corps, designed specifically to create a full time, paid, standing army of FEMA Youth across the country. http://campfema.com/ http://www.training.fema.gov/ http://educationviews.org/homeland-security-graduates-first-c... http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/dhs-graduates-first-class-in-fema-camp-corps-is-this-the-2012-hitler-youth-corps/question-3278039/?page=5&link=ibaf&q=what+is+the+fema+youth+corps%3F

News reports that the federal Department of Homeland Security is stockpiling billions of rounds of ammunition have prompted many Americans to ask: Just who is the government preparing to go to war with? To radio talker Mark Levin, the answer is that “our society is unraveling” and DHS is preparing for “the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence, looting, killing in the streets, because that’s what happens when an economy collapses.” Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin agrees, saying, “We’re going to default eventually and that’s why the feds are stockpiling...

The state’s quick adoption of FEMA’s advisory flood maps was sharply criticized Monday by Democratic state senators who said some residents will needlessly spend tens of thousands of dollars to raise their homes to standards that could be eased. Calling the requirements adopted last month by the Department of Environmental Protection "insane," Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) asked scientists at a hearing in Toms River if the maps are "scientifically valid." At least two scientists — who testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee — declined to answer, but Stewart Farrell, director of the Coastal Research Center of the Richard...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is asking those affected by Snowstorm Nemo to check on their neighbors and follow the direction of local officials as the Northeast corridor begins to dig out from under the massive blizzard. "Everyone has a role to play in the response to this winter storm," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in a statement released Saturday morning. "Follow the direction of your state, local and tribal officials, and if you are told to stay off the roads, stay home, and when it is safe, check on your neighbors or friends nearby who may need assistance or...