Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Schneider National use Social Media for Emergency Communication   SMEM - Social Media Emergency Management Are you a Twitter user? Were you at the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport on Monday, April 3rd 2012. If so, you may have seen messages from the airport via your Twitter stream, requesting all travelers in the airport to seek shelter as tornadoes approached the facility.  The @dfwairport team did a great job of keeping people informed via social media as the storm wreaked havoc on parts of the city, and continued afterward to update travelers on delays and damage; "We had about 12 tornadoes touch down around #DFW yesterday. 100+ aircraft were damaged from hail," tweeted @dfwairport. "If you're in one of our terminals please don't hesitate to let us know if we can be of assistance." For American Airlines, flight cancellations at Dallas Fort Wor...

Putting on your Helmet Before Disaster Strikes  By Kenneth O’Dell, S.E. M.ASCE, Principal, Firestorm MHP With the onset of an early tornado season occurring near the one year anniversary of the great Tohoku Earthquake in northern Honshu, Japan, as well as one year after some of the most devastating tornado sequences in recent history, we were surprised to see that the state of Alabama and its residents were struggling with questions regarding "red tape" on the implementation of requirements for approving storm shelters. Our surprise was further compounded by recent dialogue in Disaster Recovery Journal's LinkedIn group questioning the applicability and timing of national adoption of the certification process under the PS-Prep program initiated following the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission. These two sets of questions highlight a continuing disconnect between the need for ...

"First thing I did, I grabbed my cell phone and had to call my boss." This amazing video shows Jeremiah Morrison's truck torn apart by a tornado. We along with others wish Jeremiah Morrison a speedy recovery from his injuries after this frightening event. How would you respond if this was your employee (and your lost load)? Do you have a plan in place to respond? What are the first actions you would take?