Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE EXTENSION
2621 MORGAN CIR
KNOXVILLE,TN 37996-4540
Performing Department
Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
Non Technical Summary
The Executive Committee of the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) has determined that, in response to the many catastrophic risks faced in the United States, a major effort of EDEN should be creation and development of preparedness and recovery educational resources related to risks and disasters which rise to the level of catastrophes. To that end, a team of EDEN delegates representing a wide range of disciplines and geographic locations has volunteered to take on this project. Current committee members represent thirteen 1862 Land Grant institutions (including the University of Guam) and one 1890 institution. The definition of 'catastrophe' included in the U.S Department of Homeland Security National Response Framework (US Department of Homeland Security, 2008) has been accepted by the team: "A catastrophic incident is ... any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, which results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions." A polling instrument has been created on the EDEN web site for use by the Catastrophe Preparedness Team and by EDEN delegates to prioritize a list of thirteen possible catastrophic events including, in no particular order: Earthquake, Terrorism, Tsunami, Hurricane, Tornado, Wildfire, Blizzard, Flooding, Drought, Volcano, Pandemic, Meteor Strike and Radiological Event. The Catastrophe Preparedness team has determined a provisional top priority list of Earthquake, Hurricane, Tornado and Pandemic. Those top four threats will be addressed by breakout teams in Year 1, with other threats addressed in subsequent years. The EDEN Catastrophe Preparedness Team will create peer-reviewed educational material related to preparation for, response to and recovery from an event of catastrophic nature. Materials will be distributed via the EDEN and eXtension web portals, and materials will be formatted for delivery using any web-enabled device (computer, smartphone, etc.) and as downloadable data packages that can be accessed and used off-line when normal communications channels are impaired.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to create a nationally recognized library of educational resources relative to the preparation for, response to and recovery from a catastrophic event. The educational resources developed through this project will be focused on EDEN's role in equipping Extension Educators with research-based information to enable them to improve the resiliency of their audiences, and on the public at-large via EDEN's eXtension Communities of Practice, currently identified as Agrosecurity and Floods. Recognizing that communications channels may be severely interrupted by the nature of some possible catastrophes, a broad array of material will be created. Some will be very basic printed materials suitable for distribution at businesses, government offices, disaster service centers and door to door. Other resources for public distribution will take advantage of available technology, including fact sheets and videos accessible using web-enabled mobile electronics and information distributed through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, more in-depth materials available through the EDEN website may not be readily accessible by consumers when Internet access is impaired. These materials support the series of fact sheets and videos, and are primarily intended for use by Extension and other educators. Examples of these educational material include in-depth publications, lesson plans and presentations.
Project Methods
The EDEN Catastrophe Preparedness Team will build on the disaster education materials already on the EDEN and eXtension sites and from other authoritative sources, including updating where necessary and assisting in vetting materials through EDEN's stringent peer review process. Every effort will be made to include the authors of existing EDEN and eXtension materials in the appropriate team subgroups. As this is a new effort, the team will take full advantage of the opportunity to create the new material with both the peer review process and the eXtension opportunities in mind. In addition to the previous efforts within EDEN, the team will review other recent programs and lessons learned during recent disasters. For example, when creating materials related to an earthquake of catastrophic impact, results from the previously-funded multi-state earthquake conferences targeting states in and near the New Madrid Fault will be reviewed. Results of other conferences and symposia will also be reviewed and incorporated into this EDEN effort. All educational materials developed for this project will be distributed via the EDEN and eXtension web portals, and materials will be formatted for delivery using any web-enabled device (computer, smartphone, etc.) and as data packages of fully formatted documents that can be downloaded at regular intervals prior to disasters in order to be accessed and used off-line when normal communications and literature distribution channels are impaired. This offline access will enable local Extension educators and others to print and distribute materials locally for timely response during and after disasters. To promote the curriculum, materials developed during this project will be distributed on USB flash drives at national Extension conferences, and feedback will be solicited to evaluate the materials.