Colorado Flooding and Information You Already Know

Colorado is experiencing unprecedented rainfall, the level of precipitation combined with recent fire burn scars, the geography that constitutes the foothill region, and proximity to densely populated areas, is causing serious problems across Boulder, Jefferson, Larimer, and El Paso Counties.

Update: The President has approved Federal Disaster Declarations for Boulder, Larimer, and El Paso counties. 

If you can, tune in to the weather channel, they are and will continue to do their equivalent to election night coverage and while there's no Alexandra Steele, Jim Cantore and the rest of the team are doing a bang up job explaining why this is happening. If you think the weather channel is sensationalistic garbage then check out Joel Gratz at OpenSnow.com, he does a good job of explaining what's happening to cause this rare rain event as well.

At this point I would transition to what is being done in response, but I can't because as of 11pm Thursday night, it's still raining, there are still evacuation warnings, and the potential for this to get worse is very high given that it's supposed to continue to rain through Friday.

At this point emergency management is feverishly working to ensure that no more lives are lost while the beginnings of nonprofit and spontaneous response activities are taking place: Occupy has setup a Boulder response Facebook page and I imagine others will in the coming days, Twitter has exploded with hashtags: #COFlood, #COwx, #boulderflood, etc...and I anticipate the CO VOAD to initiate conference calls in the next 24 hours. The machine is starting up and even with my understanding that Colorado is a well prepared state, I still fear that the same challenges in nonprofit coordination will exist on the ground. 

It is my hope that the Natural Hazard Center at UC Boulder, a prominent research facility, captures as much information about the progression of response from all angles and uses that information to help build inclusive frameworks for other cities to replicate moving forward. I'm not holding my breath, but I think it would be a great use of their resources and expertise.

We know that the spontaneous response is going to be huge, we know that Social Media and technology are going to play a prominent role, we know nationally responding organizations are going to deploy resources...it is my hope that Boulder and other impacted communities are preparing for that in the midst of everything else, so that when the water recedes: assessments can start, volunteers can be managed, infield activities can be coordinated in a safe and structured manner, and the progress of each impacted community can be tracked so that Long Term Recovery can be quick to start and quick to finish. 

More to come, but in the meantime here are some twitter feeds and sites that have good info to follow:

Twitter

Colorado OEM: @COEmergency

Larimer County:  @LarimerCounty

Larimer County Sheriff:   @LarimerSheriff

Boulder OEM: @BoulderEOM

CU-Boulder Police:  @CUBoulderPolice

City of Longmont:  @cityoflongmont

Platte Valley Fire Department @PVFPD

Hashtag:  #COflood and #COwx 

Boulder Specific: #Boulderflood

Event Tag:  #WaldoFlood and #WaldoFloods is being used in some areas

Websites:

HelpColoradonow.org

http://boulderoem.com/emergency-status

http://www.larimer.org/emergency/emergency_detail.cfm?nam_id=100

http://www.coemergency.com/

Hang in there Colorado...

9/11 Day of Service

I’m in NYC right now meeting with nonprofits involved in Superstorm Sandy recovery, lending a hand and providing perspective as it relates to their involvement in recovery efforts. This is a very apropos time to be blogging about volunteers, community preparedness, and disasters given my location and the significance of today.

While today’s tragic origins will not be forgotten, a hopeful spin has turned a day of remembrance into a day of action. What started in 2002 as a way to honor a family member who passed helping others get out of the towers, has grown into so much more. 9/11 has become a day of Service and National Remembrance used as a means of paying tribute to those who died, honoring those who bravely acted on behalf of others, and re-connecting with the sense of community we felt in the days and weeks that followed as we looked to do something, anything to help. 

For me, 9/11 was the first time I can clearly remember the palpable desire to do something, to be involved; I was comforted by the fact that I wasn't alone as I saw just how powerful well meaning individuals can be when united by a common cause.

Join the legions of people using today as an opportunity to give back...check out: http://www.911day.org/ for inspiration and ideas on what you can do and how you can do.

The Emergency Bra

In looking at the different ways we're integrating preparedness into our daily lives, I came across the Emergency Bra (EBra), an invention of Dr. Elena Bodnar. The EBra is first and foremost a functioning undergarment but has filters sewn into the lining of the cups that work to protect the wearer from smoke, airborne particulate, etc... Dr. Bodnar has been clear that this is not a substitute for traditional forms of respiratory protection like half, full, or N-95 respirators but that it is supposed to be a stopgap should those options not be readily available.

While Dr. Bodnar's inspiration may have come from real world scenarios working with the World Health Organization, it may not be the most practical approach to the problem. Be that as it may, it's her innovative approach at trying to make preparedness as accessible as possible that I appreciate.

From music, to “literature,” and now clothing, emergency preparedness is being integrated into the fabric of our lives--i'm on the lookout for a the male counterpart...the Emergency Jockstrap.

Singapore Smog

The health concerns smog represents are real and severe. Its ubiquity has become woven into the fabric of urban life, as such air quality indexes have been created to provide guidance on the level of health impacts just by breathing.

While not every city grapples with airborne particulate, what's happening in Singapore right now is really interesting and quite horrible. In the days leading up to the first day of summer here is a visual progression of the air quality in Singapore:

Singapore

The pictures from the 20th and 21st look like they were taken from a sci-fi movie set in a post-apocalyptic land...not Singapore 2013.

The reason the smog level is the highest its been in 16 years is due to naturally occurring fires and plantations clearing land in preparation for another growing season, much of which is happening in Sumatra. Intense winds are blowing wildfire smoke in a northeasterly direction, crushing Singapore...check out this slider image showing the smoke coverage over the course of a few hours, you have to click on the Image Comparison button.

As the Al Jezeera report illustrates, limited resources and the lack of political will to take steps to deal with the causes of these events mean that many will have to endure the potentially hazardous smog until conditions such as: rain, change in wind, or the fires being extinguished take place.

Seeing this unfold and being a resident of Southern California where we're under Red Flag warning, in the middle of a drought, and are already dealing with smog on a daily basis, makes me question how  our urban cities would deal with a similar situation and whether the political would exist to enact swift and substantive changes to remedy the situation.

The Good for Nothing Club*

 
Civic Engagement: Community Disaster Relief Wagon from Lori H. Ersolmaz on Vimeo.

The reason I posted this video is because it captures the spirit of so many people who just start helping after a disaster...whether it's flying across the country and renting a U-Haul to create a mobile kitchen, or helping someone cleanup their home, the power of people helping people is pretty amazing.

The other reason I posted it is because I think this video captures the sentiment of a lot of Spontaneous Unaffiliated Volunteers (SUVs) and their motivations for getting involved, which I believe is an important first step in being able to setup systems that work with this type of mentality. Better understanding the motivations of SUVs will help to create dynamic and flexible systems of coordination that support these types of individuals on a local level, while working to integrate them into the broader response context instead of ignoring or marginalizing them and their impacts.

Have a good weekend...see you on Monday.

* The good for nothing club, people who do "good" for "nothing." Kinda corny...but I like it.

The Digital Divide

While the rapid evolution of technology appears to be the panacea for what ails communities struggling with preparedness, response, and recovery issues, it's important to remember that not everyone has the same access to, or comfort with existing or newer technological innovations. While the technologist is pushing the envelope and creating new opportunities to utilize technological platforms following disasters, there are a lot of people out there who don't fall under the digital umbrella.

Dubbed 'The Digital Divide,' the below infographic does a good job of highlighting some of the remaining challenges to the widespread adoption of technology; however, what the infographic fails to include is the aging population and how the internet usage of those 65 and older are only at 42 percent according to livescience.com. Given that the focus of so many organizations following an event is on addressing the needs of vulnerable populations like the elderly, their lack of access to reliable communications has, and will continue to hamper the communication of critical information before, during, and after an event.

As we look to technology to spur innovation and enable resource strapped muncipalities to do more with less, we must remember that crucial stakeholders aren't currently a part of the preparedness/resilience conversation. I believe that civic engagement and tech innovation are essential to mitigating the loss of life during an event and leveraging the support given after, but that it's up to the communications providers to put the infrastructure in place and offer reliable services so that the innovations can have an impact.

Innovation + Civic Engagement = Secret Sauce

Who doesn't love a Venn diagram?

Secret Sauce...that's what we're all after right? Finding the balance, the intersection between civic engagement and innovation, where capable, hungry individuals and organizations are working to streamline access to new and exciting ways to help their communities in both times of disaster and not.

The fluid nature of innovation and the reactive spikes in civic engagement following disasters makes harnessing the confluence of these two elements difficult. However, I believe what happened following Hurricane Sandy is a great example of Secret Sauce in action; where volunteerism and civic engagement fueled by new tech platforms aided community-wide response and recovery activities. At the time it was messy and chaotic, but the new ideas and perspectives on how to approach many of the challenges that continue to pervade response and recovery, were a welcomed breath of fresh air.

Because the life cycle of a technology employed in response is so short, it's almost guaranteed that the next time it's used, lessons learned from its previous deployment will have gone into creating version 2.0. While creating newer and more efficient applications and systems is good, I believe the key to retaining the secret sauce is to maintain a technology's simplicity while enhancing its functionality. Of course that's easier said than done, but it's important to remember that during times of disaster people revert to what they know and what's easiest, which is why you see so many people doing coordination with a pen and legal pads.

The confluence of motivated people and new technology rallying around a common cause is rare, but we have the good fortune in disaster response to have an abundance of both. I believe the key to ensuring that every community gets their own brand of Secret Sauce is to aggressively promote innovation while nurturing and rewarding civic engagement that promotes community cohesion.