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Another year has been put in
history. With 2005 now behind us, 2006 brings along with it new
hopes for personal and professional growth and prosperity. It
also brings another year's worth of resolutions!
SART is hitting the ground
running in 2006 -- a coordinator has been welcomed to the program
(see SART Coordinator Hired), the pilot counties
have their materials and are forming county SARTs, the statewide
county SART roll-out will be started by mid-year, more training
units will be published, quarterly Advisory Board meetings are
being scheduled, and planning will begin for the first statewide
SART conference to be held in 2007 -- whew! And that's not all!
In order to make this year
the most successful it can be, we need your continued support.
Please encourage all interested individuals to sign up as SART
members on the Web site at <www.flsart.org/SART/member?pageID=3>,
post events of interest to the calendar, and submit your stories
and/or photos for publication in the Sentinel to the editors'
e-mail <SARTNewsEditor-L@lists.ifas.ufl.edu>.
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NIMS and ICS
The National Incident Management
System (NIMS) is the new incident management system instituted
in 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security. A paper on the
FEMA Web site provides an overview. This paper, available at
<www.fema.gov/txt/nims/nims_ics_position_paper.txt>,
offers a historical perspective on the development of ICS, an
explanation of how the NIMS Incident Command System (ICS) works,
a comparison of NIMS and previous systems, and information about
the future of NIMS ICS training. Some components of ICS and unified
command (UC) are also discussed.
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National Conference
on Animals in Disaster 2006
Learning from Katrina -
A Commitment to the Future
The Humane Society of the United
States will be holding its fourth biennial National Conference
on Animals in Disaster from May 31 through June 3, 2006 at
the Hilton Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. The 2006 conference
will be dedicated to the lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita. Participants will work to secure the improvements made
in the disaster planning and response process and to re-create
and reinvigorate approaches currently in process that will help
in future preparedness and response efforts. Leaders from government,
nonprofit and voluntary organizations, and the business community
will be participating. For more information, contact the Humane
Society of the United States, 2100 L Street NW, Washington, DC
20037; (202) 452-1100; <www.hsus.org/NCAD06>.
-- Adapted from Disaster Research,
443, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado, Boulder
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Regional Approaches
to Homeland Security Planning and Preparedness
The National Association of
Development Organizations (NADO) issued a special report in August,
2005. Entitled Regional Approaches to Homeland Security
Planning and Preparedness, the report focuses on the
findings from a survey administered to 37 states. A summary of
the survey results discusses which states were utilizing regional
approaches to homeland security and emergency management, what
activities they were involved in, how well intergovernmental
and regional cooperation worked, what needs were most pressing,
and achieving NIMS compliance.
The report can be accessed
at <www.nado.org/legaffair/hssurvey.pdf>.
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SART Coordinator Hired
After graduating in December
from the University of Florida with a Master of Science, Elizabeth
Wang has joined the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services' Division of Animal Industry in Tallahassee. Many of
you may remember her as the moderator at the Belle Glade and
Tallahassee Training Events and the person administering the
green survey booklets at the end of all three training events.
As part of her job duties,
Liz has been charged with overseeing the development of training
modules and the Web site, organizing the Advisory Board meetings,
editing the newsletter, continuing to develop the county SARTs,
and start planning for the 2007 statewide conference.
For any questions or material
requests (or to just say 'hi') you can reach her at:
Elizabeth Wang
SART Coordinator
FDACS Division of Animal Industry
407 S. Calhoun Street
Mayo Building. Room 312
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0800
Office: 850-410-0905
Fax: 850-410-0957
E-mail: wange@doacs.state.fl.us
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The Storm
PBS's news program FRONTLINE
offers full program online
"Three months
after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, what has America
learned from the failures in preparedness, communication, and
leadership?"
FRONTLINE investigates this
question through interviews with the New Orleans mayor, Louisiana's
governor, and others. The RealPlayer and Windows Media formats
of the program are located at <www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/>.
Interviews, analysis, and the timeline of the disaster are also
available on this page.
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Lessons Learned Between
Hurricanes: From Hugo to Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne
Summary of the March 8,
2005 Workshop of the Disasters
This document, published by
the National Academies Press, offers a summary of the topics
discussed during the Disasters Roundtable conducted during
March of 2005. Topics included impacts from smaller category
hurricanes that exacted major losses, scientific forecasting
and risk communication developments, building performance, FEMA
response, insurance industry response, and recovery efforts.
Future challenges like climate and demographic changes, further
coastal development, and the "disaster waiting to happen"
in New Orleans are also discussed. The document is accessible
online in its entirety at <www.nap.edu/catalog/11528.html>.
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Report on the Status
of 9/11 Commission Recommendations
On September 14, 2005, the
9/11 Public Discourse Project, the nonprofit successor
organization to the 9/11 Commission, released the first of several
reports that will assess the status of the 41 recommendations
made by the commission in July 2004 to make the United States
safer and more secure.
In Report on the Status
of 9/11 Commission Recommendations-Part 1: Homeland Security,
Emergency Preparedness and Response, the project participants
examine recommendations made in the areas of emergency preparedness
and response, transportation security, and border security. Of
the 14 recommendations covered, 4 were deemed unsatisfactory,
7 had made minimal progress, and 3 (all in border security) had
made some progress. Find out more about the project and download
a copy of the report at <www.9-11pdp.org/>.
-- As reported in Natural Hazards
Observer, November 2005, Natural Hazards Center, University of
Colorado, Boulder
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The SART SENTINEL
Editor: Elizabeth Wang, SART Coordinator, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Animal Industry
Associate Editor: Gregory S. Christy, DVM, State ESF-17 Coordinator, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Animal Industry
The SART SENTINEL is an e-mail newsletter prepared monthly by Elizabeth Wang and the staff of the Florida State Agricultural Response Team. Past issues of the Sentinel are archived on the Florida SART Web Site: <www.flsart.org>.
If you have a story or photo that you would like to have considered for publication in The SART SENTINEL, contact the Editors at <SARTNewsEditor-L@lists.ifas.ufl.edu>.
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Tip
of the Month!
Tax Time Right Around the Corner
|
Many closed the 2005 fiscal
year within the past few days. That means tax time is right around
the corner.
Special tax rules apply for
disaster losses that are filed with the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS). Be sure to read up on what rules are applicable to your
agricultural enterprise and what deductions you may be eligible
for. The IRS Web site offers some
agricultural
tax tips and provides links to other potentially helpful
links. |
Not quite the same since Katrina? |
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