Titanic Tweets

The tragic sinking of the Titanic ocean liner triggered many enduring changes to the fields of safety management, disaster response, and maritime regulation.  We'll be sharing our thoughts on those subjects in the coming weeks, as we remember the 100th anniversary of the ship's calamity on April 15. In the mean time, you might enjoy exploring these two offerings from the UK's largest history publisher.

The History Press is currently telling the Titanic's story through a Twitter account, @TitanicRealTime. They will be chronicling the Titanic disaster as it occurred in real time with tweets from the captain, crew and passengers telling the story of this star-crossed voyage. (You can view the Twitter stream without an account.)

Here's a sample tweet:
TitanicVoyage ‏ @TitanicRealTime                                10 Mar

#captain Exactly a month now before Titanic’s journey begins, I cannot 

wait to see her completed and on the ocean!

The same publisher also released an iPad app on March 15, Titanic: Her Journey. According to the website, the app “collates the knowledge of the world’s foremost Titanic experts in the most interactive way to date”. It includes rare archive footage, archive photographs of its construction, detailed ship plans and survivor accounts.

First Day of Spring as a Springboard for Preparedness

I love lists, calendars, and routines.  My crazy, busy, hectic schedule, as I'm sure many of you experience, creates the need for reminders to keep me on track.  I like to use the first day of spring as a "springboard" for my own emergency preparedness. (It falls six months before and after September, which is National Emergency Preparedness month.) It also serves as a great pivot point between cold weather and warm weather preparedness. (Not forgetting, of course, that we still have the potential

Watch This!

I couldn't have said it better myself.  Thanks to the Metropolitan Emergency Managers Committee who produced this with funding support from the Kansas City Regional Homeland Security Coordinating Committee's Urban Area Security Initiative grant.  We love it, so keep it coming!

Flood Safety Basics for National Flood Safety Awareness Week 2012

Photo by Val Huffman

When it rains, it pours! And when it pours, the water has to go somewhere, right? On average, flooding is the #1 cause of severe weather related deaths (more than tornadoes).  And most of those flood deaths are caused by vehicles swept away in moving waters!  Take a minute and educate your family about flood risks (especially younger drivers).