FEMA Regional Y2K Workshops Begin

Well, at least theyre doing something positive. -- Diane

http://www.fema.org/y2k/99011.htm

FEMA Regional Y2K Workshops Begin

Full FEMA Coverage of Y2K Issues

Washington, January 26, 1999 -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) kicks off its first series of regional Y2K Preparation & Consequence Management Workshops agencies in Atlanta, Ga., in mid-February. In addition to FEMA officials, participants will include state and local emergency managers, state fire marshals, state Y2K coordinators and regional representatives of key federal agencies.

The 10 workshops, to be held across the country from mid-February through the end of March, will provide a forum where the emergency management and fire services communities can discuss initial Y2K compliance assessments, potential consequences of Y2K disruptions and the coordination of necessary responses among local, state and federal responders. The regional workshops will pave the way for a national-level Y2K consequence management exercise to be held in Washington, D.C., in June.

"FEMA has a major role to play in working with state and local emergency management and fire services officials to prepare for dealing with any disruptions and responding to Y2K transition problems," FEMA Director James Lee Witt said. "These workshops are designed to identify possible problems and help the emergency management and fire services communities plan responses and develop contingency plans."

Meanwhile, FEMA officials at the highest level were focusing on Y2K issues in a series of meetings in Washington, D.C., this past week. FEMA regional directors, regional preparedness directors along with the agency's regional response and recovery division directors met on Wednesday with headquarters senior managers with Y2K responsibilities to discuss preparation and consequence management issues. And on Thursday, the senior FEMA managers met with John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on the Year 2000, and representatives of the agency's federal emergency response partners to discuss the status of state, local and federal Y2K preparedness activities.

Y2K refers to electronic and computer system problems that may occur because of the inability of date sensitive devices to compute "2000" when systems move from 1999 to the Year 2000 (Y2K). Virtually all systems that rely on computers or electronic devices that refer to date and time may be affected by Y2K in one way or another. This includes power, dispatch and communications systems, 911 systems, microcomputers, and much more.

As chair and coordinator of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS), FEMA is one of nine critical sector coordinators working with the President's Council on Y2K Conversion, headed by Presidential Advisor John A. Koskinen. The ESS group is working to make sure that all segments of the nation's emergency management community operate normally through the cross-over period from 1999 to the Year 2000 and beyond.

The schedule for the first series of FEMA regional Y2K workshops is as follows:

Atlanta Feb. 17-18
New York City Feb. 23-24
Boston Feb. 24-25
Philadelphia Feb. 25-26
Dallas March 9-10
Chicago March 10-11
Kansas City March 11-12
Seattle March 23-24
San Francisco March 24-25
Denver March 25-26

Attention News Media:

FEMA will conduct briefings for the media in connection with each regional Y2K Preparation & Consequence Management Workshop. News media representatives who wish to attend are asked to let us know by calling 202-646-3892, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. EDT. Space is limited and logistical requirements will be addressed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Updated: January 26, 1999

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 26, 1999

Answers

Diane,

Synchronicity again. I was about to post that same FEMA link under the title, "FEMA was busy last Thursday too."

Here's a key quote:

"And on Thursday, the senior FEMA managers met with John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on the Year 2000, and representitives of the agency's federal emergency response partners to discuss the status of state, local and federal Y2K preparedness activities."

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), January 26, 1999.

Knowing the FEMA link between Y2K and terrorism, this is an interesting little slideshow they were updating yesterday. -- Diane

Information Amid Chaos
(Slideshow -- Select Click here to start)

http:// www.fema.gov/NWZ98/TerrorismPres/index.htm

Chuckles, Kevin, wonder where the meeting notes are?

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 26, 1999.

All kinds of neat FEMA links for all your Emergency Management needs including numerous Y2K oriented links ...

GEMS Listed Alphabetically (very long):

http://www.fema.gov/gems/

From the GEMS list, see also ...

CIO Council Year 2000 Information Directory

http:// www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mks/yr2000/y2khome.htm

General Services Administration/CIO Council Year 2000 Information Directory provides up-to-date information as well as links to federal agency and state Y2K web sites.

And ...

President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection

http://www.pccip.gov

Disaster Mitigation related materials.

And ...

The Federal Agency World Wide Web Locator

http:// www.law.vill.edu/fed-agency/fedwebloc.html

The latest additions to the Federal Web Locator, Federal quick jumps, Federal Government Web servers like Federal Legislative Branch, Federal Judicial Branch, Federal Executive Branch and Non-Governmental Federally related sites.

And ...

Y2KTask Force for Canadian Government/Industry

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mangb/y2k/engdoc/homepage.html

Web site of Canadian federal government/industry task force to deal with Year 2000 computer problem.

And ...

Year 2000 Canadian Federal Government Site

http://www.info2000.gc.ca/

Information on Canadian federal government's work to prepare itself and the country for the Year 2000 computer problem.

Then finally, not on the GEMS page but FEMA interesting ... The Rapid Response Information System (RRIS) can be used as a reference guide, a training aid, and an overall planning and training resource for response to a chemical, biological and/or nuclear (NBC) terrorist incident.

http://www.fema.gov/rris

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 26, 1999.