Red Cross Regional Disaster Coordination Center (RDCC) Open House

The following message was released on Facebook. Please consider joining us for this open house to see the American Red Cross of the National Capital Area RDCC in action for inauguration.

"American Red Cross' Celebrity Cabinet Member Leeza Gibbons Visits National Capital Area

American Red Cross of the National Capital Area welcomes American Red Cross’ Celebrity Cabinet member Leeza Gibbons to the Chapter Headquarters’ Regional Disaster Coordination Center (RDCC) on Monday, January 19, 2009 between 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Please RSVP by sending an email to moringn@redcrossnca.org (Subject “RSVP”) by 10 a.m. Sunday, January 18, 2009.

For more information, go to our Events page or click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=43643917295#/event.php?eid=43643917295"

Feedback from Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) in the Philippines

One of the goals for the volunteer work through the Corporate Service Corps (CSC) was not only to offer the training and exercise evaluation locally, but also enable them to teach others and sustain the work we did this past summer.

It was great to offer training while we were there, but will they use these lessons to teach others?

Last week, we received the following email from a representative of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) in the Philippines.

"The activities that we've been through had greatly improved the level of preparedness, response and awareness of the government other private organizations. The Police Regional Office headed by BGen Andres G Caro II had ordered and directed last October that all Chiefs of Police of the 4 Provinces, 9 cities and 46 municipalities to undergo a 3-Day ICS and Crisis Management Training to enhance and improved their level of consequence management in any event. (We) were the main trainers for this.

All is well here and we really appreciate the lessons you imparted to us in the series of activities that we been through. Thank you......."

Preparing For The Worst Case Scenario - Island Garden City of Samal - Deep Water Search and Rescue Exercise

"The City Disaster and Coordinating Council (CDCC) of the Island Garden City of Samal staged Water Search and Rescue Drills last July 29, as a culminating activity in the observance of the National Disaster Preparedness Month.

The scenario -- Reacting to a report from barangay captain Rey A. Villaabrille of Catagman about a capsized rubber boat with about 10 passengers, Incident Commander Rene E. Ambrona immediately alerted members of the IGaCOS City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) and called for a briefing to assess the incident and dispatch the group to the site for water search and rescue (WASAR) operations. As per report, the boat capsized within the vicinity of the municipal waters of barangays Catagman, Peñaplata, and San Jose at around 10 AM that day." (Source: samalcity.gov.ph)

Andrew Levy from the Corporate Service Corps and Neighbors Helping Neighbors was on hand to evaluate the exercise.

The complete article with details about the exercise can be found at: http://samalcity.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=338&Itemid=124

The following is video taking during the event.

This time it was only a drill.

For additional information, please email neighborshelpingneighbors@live.com.

Red Cross makes a difference in disasters and every day!

As we continue with National Preparedness Month 2008, who thought it would be National Call To Action Month.

Recently the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) website featured a Regional Disaster Coordination Center (RDCC) video showing some of the services that were offered during recent storms through the American Red Cross of the National Capital Area.

Take a few minutes to view the Regional Disaster Coordination Center (RDCC) video.

If you are interested in disaster response, training, public awareness, making a difference in people's lives and want to get your hands dirty, then you should take a few minutes and consider volunteering through your local Red Cross Chapter.

From a local fire with residents displaced to a major disaster, the Red Cross is there!

Many chapters offer DAT (Disaster Action Team) Camp training, which covers:

• Fulfilling Our Mission
• EIS Orientation
• Mass Care
• Client Casework
• Shelter Operations
• Shelter Simulation

Consider getting trained, volunteering and responding through an organization where it all started.

American Red Cross

Unlike other organizations that might take months or years before your training is put to use, gain skills through the Red Cross that you can put to use right away!

Locals make a difference with disaster response to Gustav

The American Red Cross of the National Capital Area has dispatched vehicles, equipment and volunteers to respond to the needs of the Gulf Coast Red Cross in advance of the landfall of Hurricane Gustav, on course to hit that region as early as Labor Day.

On Wednesday, Aug. 27, our chapter deployed two Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) and four volunteers to a staging area in Alabama.

On Thursday, we deployed two additional ERVs and additional volunteers Other volunteers are enroute to the area. The National Capital Area has activated its Regional Disaster Coordination Center (RDCC) at its Fairfax headquarters.

Your help is needed now. Please donate now to the Disaster Relief Fund

Be Red Cross Ready!

Source: redcrossnca.org

A Beginning, Not an End

Yesterday was the culmination and award ceremonies for National Consciousness Month. It was a true honor to be part of the festivities.

During this past month, we had the opportunity to participate and evaluate the following tabletops, exercises, and drills. In addition, taught several classes and train-the-trainer sessions.

• Central 911/Davao City Disaster Coordinating Council (DCDCC) Corporate Service Corps (CSC) Kickoff Meeting
• DCDCC/City Fire and Bomb Drill Tabletop Exercise - Final Planning Meeting
• RDCC Samal Island Water Rescue Exercise Tabletop Exercise - Final Planning Meeting
• DCDCC/City Fire IOC Fire Drill - Evaluator
• DCDCC/City Fire DTI Bomb Drill - Evaluator
• High School Earthquake Exercise, Evaluator
• Inter-Barangay First Aid Competition
• G402 Executive ICS and International Best Practices Training Session - DCDCC Executive Committee - Instructor
• Barangay Leaders Incident Command System (ICS) Train-the-trainer and International Best Practices Training Session - Instructor

These are just some of the many events that took place as part of National Consciousness Month.

Congratulations to all those that received awards.

One Person and Two Sheets of Paper Can Make a Huge Difference

The first full day my team was here, we had the opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of Samal Island. However, today was different, we had a full scale disaster (exercise).


In a recent water search and rescue tabletop exercise, while we identified there was an incident commander (IC), safety officer, public information officer, logistics, administration and individual sections.

I pointed out there was no 1 person responsible for operations. For other exercises, it was the IC who took this role.

However, if we look at span of control, where it is mentioned that only 3 to 5 people report to any one person, the IC can quickly get overwhelmed.

So, it was recommended that someone take the role of Operations Section Chief. This person was the "man on the scene" working with the IC and the teams.

The exercise and communications was much improved as a result of changing one persons role.

It is amazing the difference one person can make.

The IC and operations chief were both able to identify how many resources they had and were. The leaders at all levels knew how many people they had and accountability was not an issue with the responders.

For larger incidents, as mentioned in the debrief, consider two big sheets of paper, one with the ICS organizational chart along with who is in what role. And another that is a map of the location, you can see where the staging area is, where the incident is, traffic flows, etc. This is a very simple no cost tip that can have a big impact.

The only potential issue with accountability was with medical, when asked of medical, how many patients were arriving on the boat, they may have said 3. However, 5 patients got off the boat. It appears the potential breakdown in communication was there were 3 red patients, 1 green and 1 black. So, the 3 were the red victims.

So, while we often say, give only the information someone is asking you, in this case, it might make sense to say, there are 5 victims total, 3 red, 1 green, 1 black and 0 yellow.

Also, in an early posting, we discussed location, location, location, keep the medical area out of the sun. If you have a building and this is a disaster, take over the building as appropriate. As learned in previous drills, the medical area needs to be clearly identified along with sections for red, yellow, and green patients. This was done and has become second nature to these responders.

At the beginning of the drill was a real incident where they need to apprehend an illegal fishing vessel. The drill was delayed, this was taken care of. And then we proceeded.

One other suggestion would be the staging area. Folks here are very eager to respond, get close to the scene and "do the most good for the most number of people" and quickly. However, improved staging and a dedicated staging leader in the staging area will make the response even more effective. In some of the pervious exercises, there was a "roaming IC", this was corrected and did not occur during this drill.

As a recommendation to the National Disaster Coordinating Council, this group did an excellent job using the resources at hand. However, if we look at the number of victims in the exercise and the response time, it will quickly become clear that more assistance would be needed.

Those agreements should be in place and thoroughly understood and exercised before a disaster.

Again team, job well done! They have been very receptive to the recommendations and quick to implement them.

Pictured before are some of the responders who provided safety for the exercise, along with the Regional Coordinating Council.