Smartphone Apps
Apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and Macintosh that provide a basic means for communicating using American Sign Language.
Pet ownership and health records, how to report your pet as missing, disaster preparedness and more in this app from the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Official FEMA app for iOS, and Android contains disaster safety tips, an interactive emergency kit list, emergency meeting location information, and a map with open shelters and open FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs).
Need to interact with someone but don't speak their language? Use Google translate to help. Available for both Android and iOS, and on the web.
The American Red Cross has developed a number of apps, including these for iOS, and Android
Developed as a public service by physicians and educators in emergency care at the University of Washington and King County EMS, the Resuscitate application provides instant information on how to perform CPR, operate four commonly available Automated External Defibrillators (AED) and how to aid a choking victim. iOS Only
Available for iOS and Android. ubAlert lets you report an event, and sends alerts to those subscribed. Alerts can also come from organizations monitoring events. All you have to do is report what is happening, where, how serious the event is, and how large the impact area could be. Then, ubAlert checks to see who may be within the impact area you designed and is interested in the alert, and we send them an alert!
WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders) is a mobile application designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. For iOS, Android and other smartphones.
Podcasts
From the Centers for Disease Control, these podcasts range from short public service announcements to interviews with emergency responders from CDC and FEMA who recount their experiences in responding to disasters and disease outbreaks.
Think of three good friends who are also experts in disaster response, especially the medical side, and you have the basic premise of these podcasters who talk about their experiences and questions about disaster response.
This Maryland-based podcast offers interviews with leading experts in disaster response from industry and government.
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Books
Planning for Resilience: A Community Handbook for Reducing Vulnerability to Disasters, by Jaimie Hicks Masterson and Walter Gillis Peacock. This is really a textbook/reference for communities to engage in a process of assessing their disaster risks and how to mitigate such risks. The authors are from Texas A&M and have studied the multiple risks that face that state, resulting in a planning model that can be applied anywhere. Highly recommended to city planners, elected officials, and professional emergency responders.
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, by Laurence Gonzales. Multiple stories of survival, near disasters, and fatal mistakes in multiple scenarios. A strong editor could have tightened the book which at times is repetitive with unnecessary sidelights. The lessons learned at the end would be a place to head to if you don't want all of the gory details.
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm Ravaged Hospital by Sheryl Fink. Short-listed on a lot of critics' list for best non-fiction book of 2013, Five Days at Memorial relates the harrowing aftermath of hurricane Katrina as it plays out a Memorial Hospital in New Orleans. A reminder to emergency responders that communications and worst-case scenario planning are key to keeping people alive, and keeping others from taking lives.Life and Death in a Storm Ravages Hospital.
Fukishima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster by David Lochbaum, David, Edwin Lyman, Susan W. Stranahan and the staff of the Union of Concerned Scientists relates the aftermath of another disaster, this one the earthquake and tsunami in March of 2011 that led to the meltdown of several nuclear reactors at Fukishima Daiichi, Japan. With a cascade of unanticipated events upon them, the power company, government, and nuclear specialist could not prevent a core meltdown and radiation release second only to that of Chernobyl. With similar nuclear reactors in the U.S. also located atop earthquake faults, along coastlines, or near other natural hazards many think that its a matter of when, not if, Americans suffer the same fate.
Ideas for Kids
Three engaging games for kids from Ready.gov.
Monster Guard is the first mobile app created by the American Red Cross that's designed specifically for kids. Follow Maya, Chad, Olivia and all the monsters as they teach kids (aged 7-11) about how to prepare for real-life emergencies–at home plus other environments–in a fun and engaging game.
For older kids and adults from the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland.
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