FEMA and The Regional of Latin, Central America and the Caribbean

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Carlos Andres Castillo | Leave a comment

I am from the amazing beautiful, tropical, green and loving Republic of Honduras. Located in the top most vulnerable areas in the Planet.
Before I came down to Washington DC, I had the privilege to work at the Comisión Permanente de Contingencias COPECO (@FEMA Analogue). Today I was wondering why, COPECO, and the other analogue emergency management agencies of the region, don’t have cooperation agreements directly with FEMA. USAID/OFDA does an amazing job at aiding and coordinating effort with Honduras and the region. But when it comes to good practices and lessons learned, shouldn’t it be the FEMA the agency willing to also contribute their good practices and knowledge with the world? As a secondary effect, a common language and standards can begin to replicate throughout the hemisphere.
For example, utilizing the Interamericana Network For Disaster Mitigation (ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATE PLATFORM) http://www.oas.org as a tool for gathering experts from FEMA, Canada Emergency Management Agency, et’ all, to share good practices with other countries.
Hopefully the results of such a voluntary effort, will bring the Western Hemisphere together, in the amazing and great task of Emergency Management, Business Crisis and continuity management, Disaster Risk Reduction and and overall, Human sustainable development.

Best, Carlos

Constitutional Rights or Lefts?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Carlos Andres Castillo | Leave a comment

I want to make a quick point, and put a thought out there.
We, as a society, when it come down to rights and privileges, always end up invoquing the “Constitution” and Freedom of………. My question is: Do constitutions, now a days, take into consideration, The Internet?

Hope to hear from you!

Carlos

VOST TRAINING GUIDE

I wanted to remind you, that Virtual Operation Support is always helpful and needed. Please visit the link below and join the conversations #VOST (@VOST) & #SMEM.

VOST TRAINING GUIDE

First of all, I want to wish a Happy Friday to all you out there, hoping that mother nature takes a rest this weekend.

I wanted to first, thank Caroline Milligan (@mm4marketing) and Scott Reuter (@sct_r) for making this incredible resource available for the world. The VOST Basics and NZ VOST Training Guide – in my opinion – that these two professionals in #SMEM have come up with.

I feel that sharing information (not withholding it) opens doors and builds on better relationships and networking.

Keep it up VOSTies. Special thanks also to Jeff Phillips (@_JSPhillips) for all his time and efforts ,which are now being shared with the world.