disaster preparedness

This feature is part of a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). In this month’s feature meet Alyson Finn, emergency planning specialist with OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program.

This week, during National Preparedness Month, OR&R is taking a closer look at some of the disaster response roles our office and its partners serve in being prepared for both natural and human-caused disasters. In today’s blog, learn more about an important partner in preparedness within NOAA — the National Geodetic Survey.

This week, during National Preparedness Month, OR&R is taking a closer look at some of the disaster response roles our office and its partners serve in being prepared for both natural and human-caused disasters. In today’s blog, read a first person account of an OR&R scientist’s experience preparing for and living through disasters, and how the “little extras” in preparedness can make a difference. 

This week, during National Preparedness Month, OR&R is taking a closer look at some of the disaster response roles our office and its partners serve in being prepared for both natural and human-caused disasters. In today’s blog, get an inside look at how NOAA’s scientific support coordinators prepare for action.

This week, during National Preparedness Month, OR&R is taking a closer look at some of the disaster response roles our office and its partners serve in being prepared for both natural and human-caused disasters. In today’s blog, learn more about how OR&R’s Marine Debris Program helps to prevent and remove debris after major storms, such as hurricanes, and find out what you can do to help prevent debris before the storm hits.

This week, during National Preparedness Month, OR&R is taking a closer look at some of the disaster response roles our office and its partners serve in being prepared for both natural and human-caused disasters. In today’s blog, learn more about why disaster preparedness is important, what the National Ocean Service does to prepare, and some tips for how you can prepare.

NOAA Ocean Podcast: Episode 28

In this episode, Kate Wheelock, Chief of NOAA’s Disaster Preparedness Program, explains how her team facilitates internal communication, coordination, and preparation for all types of unforeseen disasters.

The government can’t stop working just because of an emergency. This means that federal agencies need to be prepared, with plans that account for every situation, to ensure our jobs always get done. This is called comprehensive continuity planning. 

“When is hurricane season?”

That question was posed by Ernesto Morales with the NOAA Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in San Juan, Puerto Rico at a recent preparedness workshop. Officially, the Atlantic Hurricane Season runs from the first day of June through the last day of November each year – but Ernesto wasn’t looking for the official response.

Preparing for a disaster isn’t that different from preparing for a sporting event or just about any activity in which planning benefits from past experience. We learn from past events and apply that knowledge to future events — or we at least like to believe that we truly do learn and make better future decisions from experience.