Solutions Highlighted During International Day on Disaster Reduction

During the International Day on Disaster Reduction presentation, several technical solutions were highlighted.

Over the next few days, addition material will be provided on these offerings. All of which can be operated independently or integrated together through the VirtualAgility solution.

VirtualAgility technology is secure, reliable and scalable. All of which are key elements to a disaster management solution.

The VirtualAgility OPS Center (VOC) is a COTS portal framework that integrates single sign-on, GIS, incident management, weather, presence awareness, comprehensive communications and other information sharing applications.

It is an SOA interface that aggregates data and applications and presents them in a user-defined display to provide a common operational picture. Context for data point display can include GIS maps, RSS feeds, weather, SOPs and plans.

Access to data can be authorized by role, mission or organization. Secure system access can be granted ad hoc to any approved user with a standard web browser, allowing instant additions of personnel during a crisis.

Additional information can be found on the VirtualAgility website at http://www.virtualagility.com.

Ric Skinner joins the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Leadership Team

The Neighbors Helping Neighbors started almost one year ago as part of National Preparedness Month 2007. Since then, we have grown from a local resource to sharing best practices to every state and over 65 countries internationally.


As part of National Preparedness Month 2008, we are pleased to add Ric Skinner as a member of Neighbors Helping Neighbors Leadership Team. Ric will be sharing best practices from teams across the United States, serving as a National Representative.


Ric Skinner is a volunteer GIS Advisor to the Tri-EPIC Regional Emergency Planning Committee for four towns and hospital in south central MA. He is a member of the Sturbridge (MA) CERT and is actively trying to organize the CERTs in the four towns into the Tri-EPIC Regional CERT.

He is a Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) with 35+ years experience gained in hospital/ healthcare, healthcare preparedness, emergency management/ disaster preparedness, state cancer registry, environmental assessment, fisheries biology, wetlands delineation & mitigation, biomonitoring of wastewater effluents, electric utility industry, environmental permitting, and probably a few others he has neglected to mention.

Ric has recently started The Stoneybrook Group to consult locally, regionally and nationally in the above mentioned areas and is very interested in consulting opportunities. He also enjoys outdoor photography, wooden ship modeling, small stream restoration, and has recently received a grant to research, GPS and map historic assets in Sturbridge.

Additional information about Ric can be found in the Sturbridge Times magazine. He can be reached at ric.skinner@gmail.com