CUSEC – A partnership to mitigate disasters and save lives…

CUSEC Supporting Nationwide Community Lifelines Project
In partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) and G&H International Services, Inc. (G&H), CUSEC has been supporting a project to operationalize FEMA’s Community Lifelines construct through a tool known as the Community Lifelines Status System (CLSS). The CLSS is being developed as a no-cost tool for states, localities, tribal nations, and territories (SLTT) nationwide to assess and report on their own lifelines, which are, as FEMA describes, “the most fundamental services in the community that, when stabilized, enable all other aspects of society to function.”

Through the CLSS, users can create and update impact assessments and reports which are aligned with the eight FEMA Lifelines.

CLSS is a no-cost tool for states, localities, tribal nations, and territories.

In development since 2022, the CLSS is now available to SLTT and other emergency management agencies for testing. Brian Blake, CUSEC’s Executive Director, said of the CLSS project:

This project provides a great opportunity for CUSEC to help states, local governments, and others to quickly create a community impact assessment on their lifelines and easily report this information through the CLSS tool.”

CLSS assessment report showing the lifeline icons and their status.

G&H is developing the CLSS prototype which is hosted on CUSEC’s servers. CUSEC is supporting outreach and end-user support on the tool, not only to their Member and Associate States, but nationwide. Over 70 jurisdictions in 28 states at the local and state levels have already begun pilot testing and incorporating the tool into their own exercises, as well as attending virtual demonstration workshops. Within the CLSS, users are able to control and manage sharing capabilities and data-driven reporting.

G&H Senior Vice-President for Strategic Partnerships, Mike Dossett, said of the tool:

The CLSS expands on FEMA’s Community Lifelines concept and gives emergency managers a simple tool to conduct impact assessments and generate reports for their own use and to share with other agencies. The EMA has the ability to manage and customize their indicators in the tool to determine if that lifeline has minimal, moderate, or significant impacts and be able to share that information at a glance. It’s a tremendous opportunity for EOCs at all levels.”

Weighted indicators determine how each component in the Energy lifeline is assessed and given a red, yellow, or green score.

More information
- Jurisdictions nationwide are eligible to participate. Emergency Managers for states, local governments, tribal nations and territories (SLTT), as well as GIS professionals, NGOs, utility companies, private sector participants, and others in incident preparation and response can contact us at clss@cusec.org for more information about participating in workshops, exercises, and testing.
- Additionally, agencies can schedule an hour-long demonstration workshop directly by going to GHI’s workshop booking page.
- Regularly updated information is provided on the CLSS Hubsite.
- Interested persons can also subscribe to the CLSS Newsletter.
- DHS S&T Fact Sheet on the CLSS tool
Read more
February is Earthquake Awareness Month

As earthquakes continue to occur on a daily basis in the central U.S.—with nearly 2,000 small tremors per year—CUSEC and emergency management officials in our Member States remind citizens and communities about the earthquake risk by designating February as Earthquake Awareness Month. During the month of February, and into March, CUSEC and our states will be involved with several events (listed below, as they become available) intended to educate the public, private sector, first responders, and government officials.

February 1-28 – Earthquake Awareness Month
February 1 –Southeast Region Public-Private Partners Summit; Pearl, Mississippi
February 14 – Answering the Call: Post-Disaster Safety Evaluation Webinar
February 15 – CUSEC Board of Directors Meeting; Franklin, Tennessee
February 21 – Earthquake Resilience Workshop; Knoxville, Tennessee
February 22 – CUSEC Insurance Commissioners Workgroup Meeting; Virtual
February 23 – Tennessee SAVE Coalition ATC-20/45 Training; Nashville, Tennessee
February 24 – Missouri SAVE Coalition ATC-20/45 Training; St. Louis, Missouri

Also, February 7 is the anniversary of the last of the earthquakes that struck the central U.S. in the winter of 1811-12. According to the US Geological Survey:

This sequence of three very large earthquakes is usually referred to as the New Madrid earthquakes, after the Missouri town that was the largest settlement on the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and Natchez, Mississippi. On the basis of the large area of damage (600,000 square kilometers), the widespread area of perceptibility (5,000,000 square kilometers), and the complex physiographic changes that occurred, the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 rank as some of the largest in the United States since its settlement by Europeans.

While scientists say that there is a 7-10% probability of a reoccurrence of the 1811-12 earthquakes within any 50-year window, they also estimate that there is a 25-40% probability of a M6.0 or greater earthquake occurring in the central U.S. within the same period of time. About 200 earthquakes occur in the central U.S. every year-many of which go unnoticed. And while the primary focus remains on the NMSZ, it is not the only area of concern. Earthquakes are also occurring along the Wabash Valley and East Tennessee Seismic Zones and in Oklahoma, Kansas, Ohio, and Texas.

Read more
Missouri Earthquake Summit 2024

CUSEC is a proud sponsor of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency’s (SEMA) 6th annual Earthquake Summit, which will be held March 21, 2024 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

This regional professional development conference will bring together hundreds of attendees to learn the latest about earthquakes in the Midwest – the risk, preparedness strategies and recovery planning. Experts from across the country will lead sessions focused on the latest geology, best practices in mitigation, planning and response, transportation technologies, hospital and health services response, communication strategies, hazardous materials challenges and more.

Previous Summits have included information on New Madrid Seismic Zone hazards, consumer research and insurance communications, field operations for earthquake evacuation, emergency planning, ShakeCast, health care and earthquake risks, evacuation and mass care, transportation planning and response tools, response and recovery, business continuity principles and many other topics.

For more information and to register for this FREE event visit: https://sema.dps.mo.gov/earthquake_preparedness/summit.php

Read more

CUSEC Supporting Nationwide Community Lifelines Project
In partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) and G&H International Services, Inc. (G&H), CUSEC has been supporting a project to operationalize FEMA’s Community Lifelines construct through a tool known as the Community Lifelines Status System (CLSS). The CLSS is being developed as a no-cost tool for states, localities, tribal nations, and territories (SLTT) nationwide to assess and report on their own lifelines, which are, as FEMA describes, “the most fundamental services in the community that, when stabilized, enable all other aspects of society to function.”

Through the CLSS, users can create and update impact assessments and reports which are aligned with the eight FEMA Lifelines.

CLSS is a no-cost tool for states, localities, tribal nations, and territories.

In development since 2022, the CLSS is now available to SLTT and other emergency management agencies for testing. Brian Blake, CUSEC’s Executive Director, said of the CLSS project:

This project provides a great opportunity for CUSEC to help states, local governments, and others to quickly create a community impact assessment on their lifelines and easily report this information through the CLSS tool.”

CLSS assessment report showing the lifeline icons and their status.

G&H is developing the CLSS prototype which is hosted on CUSEC’s servers. CUSEC is supporting outreach and end-user support on the tool, not only to their Member and Associate States, but nationwide. Over 70 jurisdictions in 28 states at the local and state levels have already begun pilot testing and incorporating the tool into their own exercises, as well as attending virtual demonstration workshops. Within the CLSS, users are able to control and manage sharing capabilities and data-driven reporting.

G&H Senior Vice-President for Strategic Partnerships, Mike Dossett, said of the tool:

The CLSS expands on FEMA’s Community Lifelines concept and gives emergency managers a simple tool to conduct impact assessments and generate reports for their own use and to share with other agencies. The EMA has the ability to manage and customize their indicators in the tool to determine if that lifeline has minimal, moderate, or significant impacts and be able to share that information at a glance. It’s a tremendous opportunity for EOCs at all levels.”

Weighted indicators determine how each component in the Energy lifeline is assessed and given a red, yellow, or green score.

More information
- Jurisdictions nationwide are eligible to participate. Emergency Managers for states, local governments, tribal nations and territories (SLTT), as well as GIS professionals, NGOs, utility companies, private sector participants, and others in incident preparation and response can contact us at clss@cusec.org for more information about participating in workshops, exercises, and testing.
- Additionally, agencies can schedule an hour-long demonstration workshop directly by going to GHI’s workshop booking page.
- Regularly updated information is provided on the CLSS Hubsite.
- Interested persons can also subscribe to the CLSS Newsletter.
- DHS S&T Fact Sheet on the CLSS tool
Read more
February is Earthquake Awareness Month

As earthquakes continue to occur on a daily basis in the central U.S.—with nearly 2,000 small tremors per year—CUSEC and emergency management officials in our Member States remind citizens and communities about the earthquake risk by designating February as Earthquake Awareness Month. During the month of February, and into March, CUSEC and our states will be involved with several events (listed below, as they become available) intended to educate the public, private sector, first responders, and government officials.

February 1-28 – Earthquake Awareness Month
February 1 –Southeast Region Public-Private Partners Summit; Pearl, Mississippi
February 14 – Answering the Call: Post-Disaster Safety Evaluation Webinar
February 15 – CUSEC Board of Directors Meeting; Franklin, Tennessee
February 21 – Earthquake Resilience Workshop; Knoxville, Tennessee
February 22 – CUSEC Insurance Commissioners Workgroup Meeting; Virtual
February 23 – Tennessee SAVE Coalition ATC-20/45 Training; Nashville, Tennessee
February 24 – Missouri SAVE Coalition ATC-20/45 Training; St. Louis, Missouri

Also, February 7 is the anniversary of the last of the earthquakes that struck the central U.S. in the winter of 1811-12. According to the US Geological Survey:

This sequence of three very large earthquakes is usually referred to as the New Madrid earthquakes, after the Missouri town that was the largest settlement on the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and Natchez, Mississippi. On the basis of the large area of damage (600,000 square kilometers), the widespread area of perceptibility (5,000,000 square kilometers), and the complex physiographic changes that occurred, the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 rank as some of the largest in the United States since its settlement by Europeans.

While scientists say that there is a 7-10% probability of a reoccurrence of the 1811-12 earthquakes within any 50-year window, they also estimate that there is a 25-40% probability of a M6.0 or greater earthquake occurring in the central U.S. within the same period of time. About 200 earthquakes occur in the central U.S. every year-many of which go unnoticed. And while the primary focus remains on the NMSZ, it is not the only area of concern. Earthquakes are also occurring along the Wabash Valley and East Tennessee Seismic Zones and in Oklahoma, Kansas, Ohio, and Texas.

Read more
Missouri Earthquake Summit 2024

CUSEC is a proud sponsor of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency’s (SEMA) 6th annual Earthquake Summit, which will be held March 21, 2024 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

This regional professional development conference will bring together hundreds of attendees to learn the latest about earthquakes in the Midwest – the risk, preparedness strategies and recovery planning. Experts from across the country will lead sessions focused on the latest geology, best practices in mitigation, planning and response, transportation technologies, hospital and health services response, communication strategies, hazardous materials challenges and more.

Previous Summits have included information on New Madrid Seismic Zone hazards, consumer research and insurance communications, field operations for earthquake evacuation, emergency planning, ShakeCast, health care and earthquake risks, evacuation and mass care, transportation planning and response tools, response and recovery, business continuity principles and many other topics.

For more information and to register for this FREE event visit: https://sema.dps.mo.gov/earthquake_preparedness/summit.php

Read more