Avagene Moore: Welcome to the EIIP Virtual Forum Round Table! Avagene Moore: Today the Round Table is sponsored by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). As a long- time member of IAEM, I am pleased to serve as your host. ... Avagene Moore: A couple of quick reminders for any first timers with us today. ... Avagene Moore: The session will consist of about twenty minutes of introduction and overview before we open the floor for Q&A with our audience. (Unless our speaker injects a request for questions at various intervals.) ... Avagene Moore: If a URL is displayed in the chat window, it will appear blue. If you click on it, it will open the linked Web page in your browser window. ... Avagene Moore: After the first one, the window may not come to the top automatically, and be hidden behind your chat screen. Use the buttons on your status bar to bring the browser window forward. ... Avagene Moore: And now, let's move into today's Round Table. Our discussion will be centered around the recent real-life disaster experiences of our special guest today. ... Avagene Moore: Randy Duncan, CEM, is the Immediate Past President of IAEM. Randy missed the IAEM Conference in Norfolk, Virginia last fall --- his last opportunity to address the membership as IAEM President --- due to disaster-related duties in his county. ... Avagene Moore: Randy is currently the Director of the Sedgwick County Emergency Management program in Wichita, Kansas. ... Avagene Moore: Randy was mentioned in an IAEM newsletter article this month in relation to tornadoes that struck his part of Kansas in May. I sent Randy an email and asked him to join us today and provide the local level perspective of the local emergency manager in a disaster situation. ... Avagene Moore: For those who don't know Randy personally, he is always an upbeat and positive person. To illustrate his wonderful attitude, I quote from his reply to the email mentioned above: ... Avagene Moore: "It has been a fascinating experience to go through another presidential declaration so soon after the flooding - and then to top things off with the rescue of Baby Jesse from the well! I can only say this has been a very interesting six months!" ... Avagene Moore: Some of us might have said 'nerve-racking and exhausting' but 'interesting?' I am sure Randy will provide us with insight and lessons learned from his most recent "up close and personal" disaster-related activities in the community of Wichita, Kansas. ... Avagene Moore: Randy, we are so happy you are with us today in the Virtual Forum. We welcome you once again and will let you tell us any aspect of your county program and disasters that you wish to share with us. We will follow your lead in the discussion from here on out. Randy, the floor is yours. Randall Duncan: Thank you, Avagene and others... Randall Duncan: I'll adopt your style and add an ellipse at the end of my comments... Avagene Moore: Great. Randall Duncan: to let you know I have more information to send... Randall Duncan: I accepted the position with Sedgwick County, Kansas in December, 1998... Randall Duncan: Prior to that I had been working in Cowley County, Kansas... Randall Duncan: In October of 1998, I was involved with a Presidential Declaration of Disaster for flooding... Randall Duncan: Then, upon my arrival here, I was still dealing with the flood... Randall Duncan: When April 5, 1999 occurred... Randall Duncan: That day marked a small tornado in Wichita... Randall Duncan: I now refer to that day as our "practice tornado"... Randall Duncan: On May 5, 1999, we were struck by a "killer" tornado... Randall Duncan: The tornado was rated at F-4 on the Fujita scale... Randall Duncan: Six people were killed as a result of the storm... Randall Duncan: 8,480 homes were impacted by the tornado with 1106 destroyed... Randall Duncan: We estimate approximately $140 Million in damage... Randall Duncan: The tornado resulted in FEMA-1273-DR-KS declaration... Randall Duncan: To date, we have registered over 2200 people through the FEMA 1-800 number... Randall Duncan: and put in approximately $10 Million in disaster assistance from the various FEMA programs... Randall Duncan: One of our primary lessons learned from this tornado was that warning works... Randall Duncan: Best when people pay attention. Perhaps that seems like a "blinding flash of the obvious,"... Randall Duncan: but it bears repeating. Let me take a long breath and ask if there are any questions about to tornado before we move into other subjects. Amy Sebring: ? Randall Duncan: Amy, please go ahead. Amy Sebring: Randy, was Public Assistance involved in a major way? Avagene Moore: (Enter a question mark like Amy did, please, and wait for recognition by name.) BurtWallrich: ? Amy Sebring: That is, the Public Assistance Program. Randall Duncan: Amy...Public Assistance was involved. Our infrastructure was not the most major thing... Randall Duncan: impacted, other than the cost of our emergency response forces, etc. Randall Duncan: Burt, please go ahead. BurtWallrich: How do you account for the discrepancy between 8,480 homes impacted and only 2,200 people registered with FEMA? Randall Duncan: The apparent discrepancy really isn't a major problem...the 8,480 structures issues relates... Randall Duncan: to the difference in the way FEMA and I counted structures. For example, we counted an apartment house as... Randall Duncan: 30 structures if 30 people lived there while FEMA counted it as one. Also, the total numbers I mentioned... Randall Duncan: includes all categories of damage -- destroyed, major, minor, impacted. Avagene Moore: ? Randall Duncan: Avagene, please go ahead. Avagene Moore: Comment: The total number would also include those covered by insurance, wouldn't it ? Randall Duncan: Avagene, that is correct. The numbers don't discriminate against those with or without insurance coverage. It only identifies structures impacted by the storm. Randall Duncan: Are there further questions? Amy Sebring: ? Randall Duncan: Amy, please go ahead. Amy Sebring: Randy, can you give an example of what you meant about the lesson learned about warnings? Amy Sebring: (I lost my connection a moment, so if this is a repeat, I apologize.) Randall Duncan: Yes, perfect example is comparing April 5, 1999 to May 3, 1999. In the April 5... Randall Duncan: small tornado, people tended not to pay attention to the warning when it was issued... Randall Duncan: Of course, part of the problem was this particular storm hit during morning commute... Randall Duncan: and the lead time for warning was greatly reduced. However, it served to remind us... Randall Duncan: that during tornado system in the Midwest, we must pay attention to weather related events... Randall Duncan: When the May 5, 1999 tornado hit people paid attention and took shelter! Amy Sebring: ? Randall Duncan: Amy, please go ahead. Amy Sebring: What kind of warning lead time did you have on May 5? Randall Duncan: On the May 5, 1999 storm, the National Weather Service was able to provide us with 20 minutes of good lead time for warning. Amy Sebring: ? (Last one) Randall Duncan: Go ahead, Amy! Amy Sebring: Did you rely on EAS activated by NWS for warning messages? Amy Sebring: How did that work out? Randall Duncan: EAS is one of the routes used...In addition, we also used direct connection with area media... Randall Duncan: the local cable television over ride system, and the traditional outdoor warning devices. Avagene Moore: If there are no other questions at this point, please continue with other points you wish to make, Randy. Randall Duncan: Thank you, Avagene! Randall Duncan: I would now like to move into some of the mitigation proposals... Randall Duncan: we are dealing with as a result of the tornado. I feel like we have an opportunity... Randall Duncan: to have a major impact on the school system in Wichita with the approved... Randall Duncan: mitigation plan, which emphasizes the importance of construction of safe rooms and areas within... Randall Duncan: structures. Our mitigation funding will be directed toward the Wichita School System to build... Randall Duncan: safe areas within the schools. We will have approximately 1.75 Million to spend... Randall Duncan: on this project. Luckily, last year our office did a complete survey of the school system... Randall Duncan: and identified minor changes which could improve the safety of schools (for example replacing regular glass with laminated safety glass)... Randall Duncan: When the project was announced, our office was able to provide this existing data base, Randall Duncan: and it looks like the projects will be underway shortly! Randall Duncan: Are there questions about the mitigation phase of this project? Bob Klebs: ? Avagene Moore: (Please enter a question mark and hold your question until you are recognized by name.) Randall Duncan: Please go ahead, Bob. Bob Klebs: This 1.75 million, is that the FEMA mitigation money?? Avagene Moore: ? Randall Duncan: Yes, Bob. That funding comes from the pre-defined percentage of total funding spent on the disaster which may be devoted to Mitigation. Go ahead, Avagene. Avagene Moore: I am struck by the simplicity of your example about replacing regular glass with laminated safety glass. ... Avagene Moore: what kind of cost does that add to new buildings or upgrades? Randall Duncan: Avagene, I don't have the exact figures related to that. I have read the information on the "safe room" concept, and understand... Randall Duncan: it is generally cheaper to do in new construction than in retrofit. These simple examples of making Randall Duncan: the structure more resistant to damage appear to be a lower cost modification for existing structures. Avagene Moore: ? One more question. Randall Duncan: Please go ahead, Avagene. Avagene Moore: When you talk about safe rooms, does the mitigation impact just some portions of the school buildings .... Avagene Moore: or the entire structure? Randall Duncan: I think if you followed the pure logic of the safe room concept, you would be talking about... Randall Duncan: just a portion of the structure, typically a room... Randall Duncan: However, I think the concept can be expanded to include a number of features which... Randall Duncan: would make an entire area suitable for a "safe room"... Randall Duncan: One example of that might be the reinforcement of the hall area of a newly constructed... Randall Duncan: school. After all, that is typically the area we suggest as appropriate for shelter... Randall Duncan: in a school. This way, we can make minor modifications to take advantage of that. Again... Randall Duncan: back to the example of the glass. By replacing the door glass at either end of the hallway... Amy Sebring: ? Avagene Moore: Comment: As a rule there are several hundred students in any given building so the safe room concept would have to be rather large. Randall Duncan: we have substantially increased the safety level of the entire hallway. Please go ahead, Amy. Amy Sebring: Do the schools in Wichita have basements at all? Randall Duncan: Amy, in response to your observation some schools do have basements, but the majority don't. That's always struck me as strange, being here in "tornado alley."... Randall Duncan: Avagene, to respond to your comment, we have a number of schools with large... Randall Duncan: numbers of children. Some of our schools have over 1,000 children in them on a daily basis... Randall Duncan: and that is why the concept of expanding the "room" to " Randall Duncan: "area" is important to us. Avagene Moore: Other questions at this point? Amy Sebring: ? Bob Klebs: ? Randall Duncan: Amy, please go ahead. Then Bob. Amy Sebring: Randy, do you have a lot of mobile home parks there, and any strategy for that? Bob Klebs: Did FEMA provide adequate technical assistance ... Bob Klebs: in the planning of the expending of the mitigation money? Randall Duncan: Interestingly enough, the City of Wichita has a municipal ordinance which requires mobile home parks to have shelters... Randall Duncan: Both of the mobile home parks have the shelters, but some of the fatalities occurred there none the less... Randall Duncan: In response to your question, Bob, FEMA has been great. They brought in a Building Performance Assessment Team and... Randall Duncan: analyzed those structures which performed well in the storm and those that didn't. I understand the Randall Duncan: BPAT team will be making recommendations regarding possible changes to building codes... Randall Duncan: to take the impact of tornadoes into account. Avagene Moore: Randy, are you ready to continue with other points you wish to make? Randall Duncan: Yes, if there are no further questions (short pause). Randall Duncan: One other area of interest to me was a new program through the Department of Labor... Randall Duncan: This program provided a 7 million dollar grant to assist workers displaced by the disaster... Randall Duncan: and provide them with temporary employment. While we have not had large numbers of displaced workers... Randall Duncan: our office has none the less been able to secure the services of two temporary full time clerical staff... Randall Duncan: to assist with the increased paperwork burden placed on us by the disaster. In fact,... Randall Duncan: today, one of those workers has challenged the "disaster" of our "store room" to make room for... Randall Duncan: the historical files related to the tornado which Kansas Law requires us to maintain. Randall Duncan: This is a fairly new program, and I wasn't aware of it until this disaster. Are there questions? Amy Sebring: ? audra kunf: ? Randall Duncan: Amy, please go ahead. After Amy, Audra will be next. Amy Sebring: Not exactly on the point, is NEMIS being used for the tornado declaration and do you have access? Randall Duncan: Amy, NEMIS has been used for this disaster, and we are not directly connected into it. However, the reports and SITREPS we've been receiving have been generated by NEMIS. Randall Duncan: Audra, please go ahead. audra kunf: what is the nature of the 'disaster assistance'? is it career counseling to redirect into new jobs? or outright cash assistance to help through a 'non-employment' period? does the Dept of Labor program work like individual assistance/Stafford Act Randall Duncan: The DOL program requires me to identify employment needs within my agency be title. I identified that I needed... Avagene Moore: ? Randall Duncan: two more "office specialists." Our Kansas Department of Human Resources (local agency implementing DOL plan) went out... Randall Duncan: and found me the people who fit that job description. Then, the program pays their wages for a period of six months our up to $12 K... Randall Duncan: and allows them to have the experience and training of working in this job. Randall Duncan: Avagene, please go ahead. Avagene Moore: What is the name of the DOL program? Is it new or just under-publicized and unknown to most of us? Randall Duncan: I don't know the exact name of the program. I believe it is new, because I know I had not previously been aware of it. The link between the Feds and the Locals is through... Randall Duncan: the JTPA (Job Training Partnership Act). Our Kansas Department of Human Resources is the agency responsible for local implementation. Mary Blankenship: ? Randall Duncan: Mary, please go ahead. Mary Blankenship: Was the public aware of the program? Randall Duncan: I don't believe the public was aware of it until a PR campaign was undertaken in the... Randall Duncan: local media. We had a request in for workers long before workers were available for us to interview. Russell Coile: ? Randall Duncan: Russell, please go ahead. Russell Coile: Were there any lessons learned from hurricane mitigation actions useful to you? Randall Duncan: Russell, surprisingly enough, I think the answer is yes... Amy Sebring: ? Randall Duncan: I think first and foremost we need to look at some of the building codes relating to Randall Duncan: wind resistant construction in hurricane prone areas and adapt them for the Midwest and look at implementation. Randall Duncan: Amy, please go ahead. Amy Sebring: Do/did you have some kind of formal volunteer program or CERT program there in Wichita? Randall Duncan: Thank you for bringing up the issue of volunteers. May the creator bless each and every one of them, because they are essential to what we do! Randall Duncan: I am blessed that I have had active volunteers in each jurisdiction I have worked in... Randall Duncan: And Sedgwick County is no exception. We have several formally organized groups: first, Wichita / Sedgwick County Fire Reserve,... Randall Duncan: Second, The Emergency Support Team (TEST) , RACES communications volunteers and... Randall Duncan: Citizen's Radio Emergency Support Team (CREST). All these groups come together and operated in an exemplary fashion during the May 3, 1999 tornado. Mary Blankenship: ? Randall Duncan: Mary, please go ahead with your question. Darryl E Parker TFT: ? Mary Blankenship: Back to the 7 Million for jobs, was this money just to fill needed spaces in the public sector or was it also to fill jobs needed by the private sector darla chafin: ? Randall Duncan: Mary, to the best of my knowledge, only public sector jobs were allowed to participate. I know one of the other stipulations of the program was that the position identified had to have Randall Duncan: relevance to the disaster. Darryl, please go ahead. Then, after Darryl, Darla is next. Darryl E Parker TFT: Randy, how do you think the situation would have been different if it had come in the early morning hours, say at 2 or 3 am? Randall Duncan: That is the time of day when we are most vulnerable. People are at home, asleep, and not easy to reach, even by multiple alarm means. Randall Duncan: One of our local weather folks... Randall Duncan: Mike Smith, with WeatherData, Inc., used calculations originally made by Dr. Scott Lillybridge from CDC and ... darla chafin: not a question, but it's dislocated worker project funds you're addressing, I believe. It's available when certain criteria are met and Gov request. Temporary jobs include assisting community in recovery and community svcs. Offered thru the Dept of Labor using US Dpt of Labor's National Reserve Account. Good stuff! Randall Duncan: his analysis of the 1991 Andover tornado to estimate we would have typically had closer to 20-30 deaths. Randall Duncan: Are there additional questions / comments? Amy Sebring: ? Bob Klebs: ? Terry Storer: ? Darryl E Parker TFT: ? Randall Duncan: Amy, please go ahead. Then, Bob, then Terry, then Darryl! Amy Sebring: Randy I expect Wichita has a "community memory" of disaster. Are you finding good support for your program? Randall Duncan: YES! Of course you are right about "disaster memory," but more than that we seem to have suffered more than our share... Randall Duncan: Just over 1 year age, we faced the DeBruce Grain Elevator explosion, which made national news with 7 deaths and 10 injuries... Randall Duncan: We had to request deployment of the Urban Search & Rescue team. Then, floods in the fall. Then more floods (although not enough for a Presidential)... Randall Duncan: in the Spring. Then a small tornado, then a BIG tornado. People know who and what emergency management is in this area! Go ahead Bob. Bob Klebs: FEMA looks at the "frequency of the event" to determine a "Cost/Benefit Analysis", do you know what the frequency of this disaster for your community.? Randall Duncan: Bob, I don't know if there was a specific analysis of this, but I am familiar with general severe weather statistics and I know here in Kansas we will experience 48 tornadoes in a "typical" season. Bob Klebs: this is in relation to the 406 mitigation grant money. Terry Storer: Did I read that you also received mitigation funds to develop single family underground storm modules/cellars ? If so, how its that program progressing as the storm season continues. Randall Duncan: Terry, I understand there is funding from HUD for doing this in private housing (in the form of unsecured, personal loan). I think I recall seeing an announcement from FEMA... Randall Duncan: about grants / refunds directly from FEMA to residents of Oklahoma relating to the May 3, 1999 tornado. If the same has been extended... Randall Duncan: to Kansas, I have not yet been made aware. Bob Klebs: Randall, for the FEMA recovery efforts from the Northridge earthquake, there was mitigation money available to individual homeowners. Up to $10,000 to brace the homes to the foundations. Avagene Moore: (Darryl's question will be the last one we can take today in the formal part of our session.) Randall Duncan: Please go ahead, Darryl. Darryl E Parker TFT: Randy, thanks for such a great session. It's one of the best we've ever had. Avagene Moore: Thank you audience for participating today and thank you, Randy Duncan. Randall Duncan: Thanks for your kind comments, Darryl. I have found work in this field to be fascinating, and I am happy others are interested. We are here to make sure PEOPLE get the help they need when disaster strikes! Avagene Moore: Excellent information today, Randy, and dynamic discussion by the audience. ... Avagene Moore: Before closing today, I would like to remind everyone that tomorrow, Wednesday, June 23, 12: 00 Noon EDT, the EIIP Virtual Forum is pleased to host Philippe Boullé, Director of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) Secretariat. ... Avagene Moore: The IDNDR is wrapping up an Internet conference this week --- the IDNDR Director will discuss the end of the decade with an emphasis on Disaster Reduction as a Central Element of Government Policy. ... Avagene Moore: Next week, the Tuesday June 29 Round Table discussion will be led by the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). This will be an opportunity to hear about the activities, goals and plans of NEMA. ... Avagene Moore: On Wednesday, June 30, 12: 00 Noon Eastern, the Tech Arena proudly presents George Sambataro, PC Weather Products, in a demonstration of HURRTRAK Tropical Cyclone Tracking Software. ... Avagene Moore: It is time to officially close the Round Table. However, you are invited to hang around a few moments and personally express your appreciation to Randy. You may want to chat a bit with him and ask a question that you didn't have a chance to ask.