PROTECTINGAMERICA.ORG E-NEWS Catastrophe Experts Call House Action Historic
Praise Bipartisan Efforts to Prepare and Protect American Families America’s leading catastrophe response and recovery experts today hailed the overwhelming passage of the Homeowners’ Defense Act of 2007 (H.R. 3355) that would help ensure that individuals and communities destroyed by natural catastrophes have the resources necessary to repair, rebuild and recover in the aftermath of massive hurricanes, earthquakes or other natural events. 'Passage of this bill, coupled with the recent introduction of its Senate companion bill by Senators Clinton and Nelson, are major steps toward the establishment of a comprehensive and integrated state and federal, public and private national program to improve the way that American families are prepared for and protected from massive natural catastrophes,' said James Lee Witt, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and co-chair of ProtectingAmerica.org. Read more ProtectingAmerica.org Applauds the Courage and Dedication of First Responders Battling California's Deadly Firestorms In October, the lives of Southern California residents were uprooted by raging wildfires, tragically causing nine deaths, injuring many more and destroying thousands of homes and property throughout the region. During a time of crisis, there were men and women that rose above the danger to control the fires and protect their fellow Californians. ProtectingAmerica.org applauds the brave firefighters and first responders of California for risking their lives to restore order in the wake of the country’s latest catastrophe. Comprehensive Catastrophe Plan Still Needed for the State of New York ProtectingAmerica.org praises New York’s state insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo for confronting the issues of affordability and availability of homeowners’ insurance in densely populated coastal communities. However, the coalition cautions that homeowners will need a more comprehensive program if they are to realize long term savings and increased availability of coverage in the state. With the creation of a New York state and national catastrophe backstop program, New York homeowners would see an estimated $452.3 million in annual savings. Nationally, families will save a combined $11.6 billion. Read more ProtectingAmerica.org Town Hall Meeting:
Is Los Angeles Prepared? As part of an ongoing awareness tour, ProtectingAmerica.org sponsored a town hall meeting at the University of California, Los Angeles on October 20. The event included a screening of charter member James Dalessandro’s film, The Damnedest, Finest Ruins, an epic documentary about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Dalessandro moderated discussions among emergency response authorities about the threat to Los Angeles and what people can do to better prepare themselves. Participating experts were Lt. John Sullivan of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; James Featherstone, Director of the Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Department; and Michael Kleiner, Director of Emergency and Disaster Response for the American Red Cross. To read more about the event, watch video clips of the discussion, and hear the KNX-AM news report, click here Progress Update: New Madrid Area Catastrophic Planning Initiative Courtesy of The Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC): In a recent interview with the Associated Press (AP), FEMA Chief David Paulison talked about the agency’s ongoing effort to draw up a national response plan for several disasters. According to the AP, since Katrina in 2005, FEMA has taken an aggressive position towards disasters and is working on a $17 million response blueprint for a large earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), which extends 120-150 miles from southern Illinois to northeastern Arkansas, beneath the boot heel of Missouri, and lies just northwest of Memphis, Tennessee. The response blueprint to help increase national readiness for a catastrophic earthquake in the central US is called the New Madrid Catastrophic Planning Initiative. It involves a series of annexes to existing base plans for response, recovery and mitigation to a series of major earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) and combining them into a single document with federal, regional, tribal, state and local components. The states most affected by the NMSZ —Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee— will write the annex at the completion of several scenario-driven workshops which began in March of this year. Paulison also mentioned base plans for catastrophic disasters in South Florida, Hawaii and northern and southern California. Click the link below to read more about the New Madrid Seismic Zone Catastrophic Planning Initiative in the full edition of the newsletter. Read more Coalition Member Spotlight: Author Rick Schwartz presents his new book, 'Hurricanes in the Middle Atlantic States' Rick Schwartz, a member of ProtectingAmerica.org, is the author of a new book, 'Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States.' This is the first book-length examination of the region’s hurricane history, from Jamestown to the present. It is written for a general audience and contains an extensive collection of storm profiles and stories—tales gleaned from articles and books, private journals and interviews. The book is lavishly illustrated with many vintage photographs and track maps. The author also offers a related Web site that focuses on Mid-Atlantic hurricane history, www.midatlantichurricanes.com. SEND US YOUR NEWS DO YOU HAVE NEWS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE IN OUR COALITION SPOTLIGHT? WRITE US AT ENEWS@PROTECTINGAMERICA.ORG AND LET US KNOW HOW YOUR ORGANIZATION IS WORKING TO BETTER PROTECT AMERICA FROM CATASTROPHE. YOUR NEWS WILL BE ADDED TO THE WEB SITE AND FEATURED IN AN UPCOMING NEWSLETTER. See a list of our coalition members | 
