MADRA April Meeting

Michael Goldfarb, Program Manager at the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will discuss how Montgomery County approaches Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) as well as highlight some of the challenges the County faces due to the uniqueness of local government. His presentation will also expand on how Montgomery County integrates their COOP program into larger disaster response efforts, as well as provide examples of how the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security overcame similar challenges. If monitoring social media isn't yet a part of your business continuity/emergency preparedness plan, it should be. According to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, "The public is putting out better situational awareness than many of our own agencies can." The second session presented by Ed Tobias, Manager, Business Continuity and Disaster Planning, Global Security Department, Associated Press (AP) will provide examples of how social media can be used as a situational-awareness resource and will look specifically at which types of "tools" can be used to assist with this task of timely communication.