The MRSC has been looking for someone to contribute written information on the topic of emergency management focused on elected officials. We emergency managers complain all the time about the lack of attention that elected officials give to the issues surrounding disaster resilience. So, I thought this might be an opportunity to provide them with some specific information targeted to them as elected officials. The purpose is to both increase their knowledge of the subject area and also hopefully get them to engage more directly with the people in their jurisdiction who have responsibility for performing the functions of emergency management.
A big resilience issue here in Washington state is a failure to address unreinforced masonry buildings (URM). Thus, as a life safety issue, I thought this would be a good first topic. Here's a link, share it with others — especially elected officials, who also have seismic risks as part of their potential disaster portfolio, Disaster Zone: Unreinforced Masonry Buildings.
Thanks to Byron Katsuyama, MRSC, for the opportunity to contribute information.
