Volume II

Issue IV

Summer 2014

THE C.O.R.E. ADVANTAGE

Welcome to Miami-Dade County’s Communities

Organized to Respond in Emergencies (M-D

C.O.R.E.) National Preparedness month newsletter.

National Preparedness Month begins September 1st!

This year’s theme is “Be Disaster Aware, Take

Action to Prepare”.

National Preparedness Month is a part of a governmental effort

to strengthen the United States' preparedness capabilities. Sep-

tember was chosen as National Preparedness Month, as the trag-

edies of September 11th, 2001 highlighted the importance of be-

ing prepared. National Preparedness Month serves to encourage

individuals across the nation to take important preparedness

steps including: getting an emergency supply kit, making a family

emergency plan, being informed about the different emergencies

that may affect them, as well as taking the necessary steps to get

trained and become engaged in community preparedness and re-

sponse efforts. Every year, FEMA develops a toolkit which in-

cludes suggestions for activities and events that organizations can

do throughout the month to promote National Preparedness

Month.

The Office of Emergency Management, has taken steps to en-

courage our citizens to take an active role in preparedness and

be ready for the unexpected. Throughout the month, M-D

C.O.R.E. members and Miami-Dade residents will have the op-

portunity to bring preparedness into focus. Page two of this

newsletter provides you with useful links and information on how

to promote and practice preparedness in your community. Also,

click here to view the webinar on tools and resources to engage

Faith-based Organizations.

I t ’ s N a t i o n a l P r e p a r e d n e s s M o n t h !

The M-D C.O.R.E. webpage and database are here!

As part of being prepared, we would like all of our

partners to have access to the database in order to

keep their contact information and organization

profiles up to date in the case of an emergency. If

we haven't been able to meet, please contact us!

We would like to meet with you and provide you

with your log in information.

Our partners from the Islamic Circle of North

America (ICNA) assisted as volunteers in the Mi-

ami-Dade Office of Emergency Management’s Em-

ployee & Volunteer Staging Area Functional Exer-

cise (EVSA FE) on August 20th, 2014.

On August 19th, 2014, Sherry Capers presented

M-D C.O.R.E. in the Department of Homeland

Security Center for Faith-based & Neighborhood

Partnerships’ webinar on emergency preparedness

tools and resources for houses of worship and

community organizations.

IN THIS ISSUE: PAGE:

“Be Disaster Aware, Take Action to Pre-pare”

1

Highlights 1

2014 National Pre-paredness Month 2

Hurricane Prepared-

ness in Review 3

M-D C.O.R.E. CERT

Training 3

Spotlight: UMCOR 4

Flooding & Light-

ning

4

“ B e D i s a s t e r A w a r e ,

T a k e A c t i o n t o P r e p a r e ”

H i g h l i g h t s

2014 Nat iona l Preparedness Month

The Ready Campaign established four universal building blocks of emergency preparedness: Be Informed, Make a Plan, Build a

Kit, and Get Involved. America’s PrepareAthon! Builds on this foundation by encouraging millions of Americans to focus on a

simple, specific activity that will increase preparedness.

There are three simple next steps that you and/or your organization can take as we approach National Preparedness Month

and America’s Prepareathon!:

For information on the White House Office of Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships please click here.

America’s PrepareAthon! Campaign Be Smart, Take Part, Prepare

National Preparedness Month/America’s Prepareathon!: www.ready.gov/prepare

Guide for developing high-quality emergency operations plans for houses of worship

Wildfire Preparedness Tools and Resources for Houses of Worship

Hurricane Preparedness Tools and Resources for Houses of Worship

Flood Preparedness Tools and Resources for Houses of Worship

Tornado Preparedness Tools and Resources for Houses of Worship

Ready Financial Preparedness Page: www.ready.gov/financialpreparedness

FEMA Youth Preparedness Resources

There are tools, resources and a technical assistance portal for communi-ties seeking to engage youth in activities as well. You can find them at

www.ready.gov/youth-preparedness

For youth, years 18-24, consider a year of service supporting disaster survi-

vors through FEMA Corps

Click here to use the Community of Practice groups to connect with your peers to share best practices, develop prepared-ness plans, and help each other prepare more efficiently and effectively.

Did you know that there is an events calendar located on our new website? Check it out here. If your

organization has any upcoming events that you want to include on the calendar, contact Dan Scar-

borough at dts@miamidade.gov. Affiliates are also encouraged to use the message board located on the

database to communicate upcoming events, provide updates on your organization and seek collabora-

tion with other C.O.R.E. partners. Contact us for a tutorial on all of the database tools available to you.

Share a preparedness message the weekend of September 12 – 14. For Houses of Worship and/or community organizations, this is a great time to message preparedness to the communities in which you serve. Then share your activity on the Faith-based Community of Practice of visit the Community of Practice for potential

resources and ideas. For Twitter and/or Facebook users share your message using #NatlPrep #Prepareathon (both hashtags hyperlink to twitter pages).

Download the FEMA app for your smart phone (now available in Spanish) and use it to start your family communications plan.

Connect with faith-based organizations on the National Preparedness Coalition’s faith-based community

of practice (http://www.community.fema.gov) and share how you plan to engage the whole community, or get more ideas from peers on activities you can do.

Hurr icane Preparedness in Rev iew

Hurricane season started on June 1st and goes through November 30th . In Miami-

Dade County, late August through October are considered the peak of hurricane sea-

son. Don’t wait until a hurricane watch or warning is in place to prepare, the time to

prepare is now.

Be Informed: Know your local emergency plans for shelter and evacuation. Click

here to determine your Storm Surge Planning zone and here for the list of Miami-

Dade Hurricane Evacuation Centers and Bus Pick-Up Points.

Make a Plan: Create an emergency plan for your family. The plan should include

evacuations routes and important contact information.

Get a Kit: The kit should include items that will help you survive for 72 hours after

the hurricane makes landfall. Items that should be included are a gallon of water per

person per day, non perishable foods, battery operated radio and flashlights. If need-

ed, medication, diapers and formula, and food for your pets should be included.

Get Involved: Before a disaster strikes; volunteer to support disaster efforts in your

community by joining organizations such as Citizen Corps, Community Emergency

Response Team (CERT) and M-D C.O.R.E.

For detailed information about hurricane preparedness and more, click here to access Miami-Dade’s 2014 Hurricane

Guide.

M-D C .O.R.E . CERT Tra in ing

M-D C.O.R.E. sponsored a Community Emergency

Response Team (CERT) basic training for our faith-

based organizations in May and June. This training is a

20 hour course where participants learn about disas-

ter response skills. Participants were taught to apply

search and rescue techniques; identify hazards that

affect homes, the workplace and the neighborhood;

understand the function of CERT and its role in an

immediate disaster response; comply with fire safety

measures; implement basic fire suppression strategies

and manage resources during medical response opera-

tions. More than 35 participants attended both train-

ings.

The May training took place at the Miami Dade Fire

Rescue Training Facility and the June training took

place at one of our partners’ facilities, Ebenezer Unit-

ed Methodist Church.

Congratulations to our newest CERT trained partners.

(Click on the map to enlarge.)

Spot l i ght : Un i ted Method i st Committee on Re l i e f (UMCOR)

U p c o m i n g E v e n t s

United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization

and a ministry of The United Methodist Church (UMC). UMCOR provides worldwide

humanitarian relief, preparedness, response and recovery efforts to communities that

are not able to recover from a war, conflict or natural disasters. Their goal is to assist

the most vulnerable population in extreme need and crisis while also providing long-

term education, training and support. The annual conferences in UMC are the geographical divisions in the United

States. The United Methodist churches in Miami-Dade fall under the Florida Annual Conference.

Pam Garrison is the Disaster Recovery Manager for the Florida Conference Disaster Recovery Ministry and a dedicated

supporter of M-D C.O.R.E. The ministry’s mission is to provide resources and equip local churches to better assist their

communities and individuals in preparing, responding and recovering from disasters. Ms. Garrison introduced to M-D

C.O.R.E. two of our newest partners, Senior Pastor Villafaña from Wesley Hispanic United Methodist Church and Senior

Pastor Capers from Ebenezer United Methodist Church. We welcome our newest members to M-D C.O.R.E. who

share the same mission of supporting their communities during and after a disaster.

For more information on UMCOR and ways to support this organization, please go to www.umcor.org.

CERT Basic Training

Click here to register.

Location: North Miami Beach Police Department

16901 NE 19th Avenue

North Miami Beach, FL 33162

(2nd Floor Training Room)

Local Mitigation Strategy Meeting

Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014

Time: 9:30am - 11:30am

Location: MDFR Training Facility

9300 NW 41st Street

Miami, FL, 33178

F l o o d i n g & L i g h t n i n g

South Florida’s rainy season lasts from June through Octo-

ber. While July is usually considered the driest month of

the season, this year’s levels of precipitation were record-

ed above normal for the month, breaking records in some

areas. Thunderstorms are very common during this sea-

son producing lightning and great amounts of precipitation,

which result in flooding.

The state of Florida leads the nation in lightning strikes per

year and has the most deaths and injuries due to lightning.

South Florida is no exception, averaging two deaths and

nine injuries a year. In July of this year, lightning strikes

caused injuries to six people and damaged several buildings.

Flooding can happen anywhere and it’s the most common

natural disaster. Some floods develop slowly, while others

can develop in minutes, known as flash floods. It can cause

serious injuries and fatalities; disrupt services such as pow-

er and water; pollute drinking water; and trigger landslides

and mudslides. Click here for tips on how to prepare for a

flood.

The safest place to be during a thunderstorm is indoors.

Click here to learn about lightning and thunderstorm pre-

paredness.

Date Time

September 10, 2014 5pm - 9pm

September 11, 2014 5pm - 9pm

September 18, 2014 5pm - 9pm

September 20, 2014 8:30am - 5pm