P a g e 1 F E M A e ‐N e w s V o l u m e 5 , I s s u e 3 Volume 5, Issue 03

FEMA Hosts Emergency Prepar‐edness Seminar for Private Sec‐tor Partners

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FEMA Approves Mitigation Funds for Juan F. Luis Hospital in St. Croix, USVI

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FEMA Region II DCO meets with USVI Key Leaders

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Traveling in the Fast Lane 4

Control of Mosquitoes 6‐7

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

FEMA e-News: Preparedness

for the Private Sector

January, 2016

T o continue building on the private and public partner‐ship and improve our com‐

munity capabilities to respond and recover from emergencies, the Fed‐eral Emergency Management Agen‐cy (FEMA) hosted on January 21, a Seminar for the Private Sector to discuss the Puerto Rico Emergency Plans in place, among other emer‐gency preparedness topics.

“This meeting provided a unique op‐

portunity to bring our combined knowledge and resources to the table as part of the same team. We discussed these plans and visualizes the roles and responsibilities of each member in this partnership”, said FEMA Caribbean Area Director, Alejandro De La Campa. “We hope that this face to face interaction among planners and participants fosters additional discussions and

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Representatives from a wide array of the private sector entities had an opportunity to inter-act with State and Federal officers that answered questions and addressed particular con-cerns, such as commodity distribution and security during an event. FEMA Photo.

FEMA Hosts Emergency Preparedness Seminar for Private Sector Partners

REGION II ‐ CARIBBEAN AREA DIVISION

“This is a unique opportunity to bring our

combined knowledge and resources to the table as part of the same team.”

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FEMA Approves Mitigation Funds for Juan F. Luis Hospital in St. Croix, USVI

O fficials from FEMA and VI‐TEMA announced, the ap‐proval of a $312,500.00

grant in Pre Disaster Mitigation (PDM) funds for the acquisition of a 1,500kw Emergency Generator Unit (EGU) for the Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center (JFLH) in St. Croix, USVI. The JFLH is the only hospital in the island and provides 24‐hour acute emergency and ambula‐tory care services to the 50,000 St. Croix residents.

“Identifying appropriate emergency resources and having them available is an essential task for a rapid re‐sponse and recovery process after an emergency. Mitigating the possibility of losing power at such a critical facil‐ity during an emergency will strengthen the territorial capabilities to manage medical emergencies and operations. Therefore, we worked with VITEMA to identify resources available to address this; support them during the process and now we can see the results,” said Alejandro De La Campa, FEMA Caribbean Area Division (CAD) Director.

“Shortly after I came on board at VI‐TEMA, there was an incident where Juan Luis Hospital lost back‐up pow‐er generation during an island‐wide outage. Addressing this shortfall quickly became a priority for VI‐TEMA, so that it never happens again. Our hospitals must be opera‐tional especially during a major inci‐dent,” said Mona Barnes, VITEMA Director. “Through FEMA we were able to identify and secure funding to purchase a new generator that will mitigate power loss. The installation of the new generator at JFLH ensures that our Territory is truly prepared if there is a major incident. The collab‐

orative effort between the VITEMA and FEMA Caribbean Area Division speaks volumes about our continu‐ing partnership and we are grateful for their support.”

The proposed mitigation activity considers the installation of a new 1,500kw, 0.8 power factor, 4,160 volts, 60 hertz, at 1,800 RPM Diesel Generator set to replace the exist‐ing under size and unreliable 1,100 KW generators that have far ex‐ceeded its useful life.

The JFLH submitted a project pro‐posal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the purchase of one emergency backup generator and installation fees, to ensure continuity of the facility operations during failure of the island’s sole power generating system. In the aftermath of hurri‐canes, such as: Hugo, Marilyn, Georges, Lenny and Omar which heavily impacted the territory and caused wide spread damages and prolonged power outages, protect‐ing and providing backup power generation in the Hospital and Med‐ical Center became an evident need.

The first step of this mitigation pro‐ject will be to analyze the load de‐mand to the generator ensuring it will adequately respond during a power outage. Next step will be overhauling the existing generators to ensure that the wiring and hookup mechanism are suitably sized and meet all applicable building, electri‐cal and environmental codes for the installation of the new generator. And the final step, will be the request for competitive bids for the purchase and installation of the new genera‐tor.

FEMA administers several pre and post disaster Hazard Mitigation As‐sistance programs, including the PDM. This grant program imple‐ments mitigation efforts to reduce risks to life and property from future events, while also reducing depend‐ence on federal funds in future disas‐ters.

To learn more about FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance Programs, visit FEMA’s Federal Insurance and Miti‐gation Division section on the Feder‐al Emergency Management website at http://www.fema.gov/fima/mitgrant.shtm.

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FEMA Region II DCO meets with USVI Key Leaders

B y the end of last year, Region II De‐fense Coordinat‐

ing Officer (DCO), COL Scott Heintzelman, and some members of his staff traveled to St. Croix, USVI to conduct a site visit and engage with key USVI leadership. The team, in conjunction with CAD partners took the opportunity to meet with the Virgin Islands Na‐tional Guard (USVI NG) Territorial Adjutant Gen‐eral (TAG), BG Deborah Howell, and her staff at the USVI NG Joint Force Headquarters, who pro‐vided capabilities brief and covering other topics of interest such as re‐sponse, support, and operational gaps. The HOVENSA refinery facility also hosted a tour of their location and its capabilities, which will be added to the Region II smart‐book for future planning.

Additionally, the team met with VITEMA Deputy Director, Allison DeGazon, and the St. Croix EOC manager, Denise Lewis. Topics ranged from USVI capabilities, to preparedness works, to which capa‐bilities the Department of Defense can provide during emergency op‐erations. It was a great opportunity

FEMA E‐News is a newsletter produced by FEMA’s Region II

Caribbean Area Division External Affairs Division and

includes information of available federal and state

resources to assist businesses and employees in Puerto Rico

and US Virgin Islands in improving their preparedness

when faced with any natural or man‐made risk. To subscribe or cancel your subscription or send

your comments, questions, or ideas for articles contact

Delyris.aquino‐santiago@fema.dhs.gov or call

787.296.3560.

T he FEMA App contains preparedness infor‐mation for different

types of disasters, an interac‐tive checklist for emergency kits, information on how to

stay safe and recover after a disaster, FEMA Disaster Recovery Center locations (one‐stop centers where disaster survivors can access key relief services) and Shelters, general ways the public can get involved before and after a disaster, and the FEMA blog.

You can also download the app via text messaging: If you have an Apple device: Text

APPLE to 43362 (4FEMA) If you have an Android device:

Text ANDROID to 43362 (4FEMA)

If you have a Blackberry device: Text BLACKBERRY to 43362 (4FEMA)

If you use text messaging, standard message and data rates apply. Learn more about our text messages.

Follow FEMA in the Internet in: http://blog.fema.gov, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and

www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities in

www.twitter.com/craigatfema

to continue strengthening FEMA‐DCO relationship with key leaders and organizations within the Terri‐tory in order to be better prepared to respond and support operations during a disaster.

COL Daryl Jaschen, MAJ Christopher Tramontana, CAPT Orest Lebedovych, COL William Sherrill, COL Scott Heintzelman (DCO), BG Deborah Howell, COL Linda Cills, COL Jimmy Ibanez, MAJ Dennise Pizarro, Mr. William Bodt and Sonny Beauchamp during the meeting. FEMA photo.

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Traveling in the Fast Lane By Luz Delgado Global Entry Program Manager

I f you ever stood at the end of an airport’s long line wishing you had a magic wand that could

take you to the front, then you should know that CBP is working hard for you to wait no more to make your dream come true. All across the land, Customs and Border Protection is using the latest tech‐nology to optimize and transform the way it does business. As part of its commitment with innovation, CBP has roll out several initiatives to expedite the entry process into the United States. Getting to know these initiatives could assist families, business people and frequent travel‐ers to improve their prepar‐edness when faced with chal‐lenges while they travel.

Global Entry Global Entry is a program that allows expedited pro‐cessing for pre‐approved low risk travelers upon arrival in the United States. Instead of waiting in the regular lines, members of the Global Entry program use the automated kiosks. After processing, the traveler gets a receipt at the kiosk and can continue to baggage claim and exit. This means no processing lines, no paper‐work, no wait times, no hassle! The application fee for Global Entry is $100 and it lasts five years. Global Entry member are also afforded TSA Pre Check privileges. TSA Pre‐Check can be used in participating US air‐port checkpoints to expedite security screening. This includes domestic

travel. When you have TSA Pre‐Check you go thru a faster line and you do not have to take off belt, shoes, or light outerwear. You do not have to remove your laptop from car‐ry on either. Global Entry is open to US citizens, lawful permanent residents and citi‐zens of selected countries that include: United Kingdom, Ger‐many, Netherlands, Panama, South Korea and Mexico. Global Entry is available in Puerto Rico. For more information about the Global entry program please visit www.globalentry.gov or con‐tact the SJU enrollment center at 787‐253‐4526.

Mobile Passport Control Mobile Passport Control is the first authorized application to expedite a traveler’s entry process into the United States. Eligible travelers with a smartphone or tablet can download the App from the Apple or Google store. They are prompt‐ed to create a profile, to fill out in‐formation regarding their trip and to fill out a Customs Declaration. Once the traveler submits the cus‐

toms declaration thru the app, the traveler will receive an electronic bar‐coded receipt to take to a CBP officer to finalize the inspection. Ba‐sically the application allows for the traveler to present the biographical data before arriving so the officer

can concentrate on other non‐administrative matters of the in‐spection; thus, reducing the wait times and improving service lev‐els. MPC is currently available at Hartsfield‐Jackson Atlanta Inter‐national Airport, Miami Interna‐tional Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, and Seattle‐Tacoma International Airport.

Automated Passport Control In a fashion similar to MPC, Auto‐mated Passport Controlutilizes auto‐mated self‐service kiosks (instead of the app) to allow eligible travelers to submit their Customs declaration form and biographic information. APC is a free service that does not requires pre‐registration and that can be used by US, Canadians and eligible Visa Waiver travelers. APC kiosk are present in most major air‐ports in the United States.

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Continued from front page

initiatives that will benefit our com‐munities before, during and after emergencies.”

During the activity, the participants learned about the Commodity Distri‐bution Plan and the progress of the PR Multi‐sector Catastrophic Feed‐ing Plan, the opportunities available for partnership among voluntary agencies and private sector, the air‐ports and seaports passenger pro‐cessing and expedited process with the Customs and Border Protection Global Entry Program and the Conti‐nuity of Operations Program (COOP).

Representatives from a wide array of the private sector entities including, pharmaceutical companies, retail stores, transportation companies, food distributors, wholesalers, ho‐tels, shopping malls, voluntary agen‐

cies and the aca‐demia, among other enterprises, participated of the event.

FEMA believes in the value of public‐private partner‐ships, and has worked steadily to provide tools, models, and re‐sources designed to inspire their cre‐ation and nurture their success. FE‐MA sees the na‐tion’s vast network of business, indus‐try, academia, trade associations, and other non‐governmental or‐ganizations as equal – and equally responsible – partners in every phase from preparedness to re‐sponse and recovery to mitigation.

FEMA Hosts Emergency Preparedness Seminar… Cont.

More importantly, FEMA continues to learn from the efforts of its private sector, state, local, tribal, and territo‐rial partners who are handling emer‐gencies every day. They offer the most relevant lessons and good prac‐tices. FEMA builds on what works in the field, and helps amplify the reach of the most promising efforts by sharing them nationally.

“FEMA continues to learn from the efforts of its private sector, state,

local, tribal, and territorial partners who

are handling emergencies every day.”

This was a unique opportunity to provide private sector “perspective” regarding all the topics discussed which included commodity distribution and feeding plans for catastrophic events, among others. FEMA photo.

FEMA’s Whole Community approach to emergency management opens the door for active engagement of representatives of every community member working to improve their emer-gency preparedness. An example, is the participation of Beatriz Navarro-Parada, Alternate Consul of Mexico in San Juan, along with Fátima G. Ríos-González, who joined CAD Di-rector, Alejandro De La Campa, his staff and other participants in the discussion of emer-gency preparedness plans in place for our communities in Puerto Rico. FEMA photo.

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