Tracy Hughes, Emergency Planning Coordinator for the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management and full-time student of American Public University was presented with the 2010 Emergency Management Student Award given by the Emergency Management Association of Texas.

This award recognizes and honors the student making the greatest contribution to the emergency management profession in Texas during the past year.  Tracy Hughes began taking courses at APU in August 2008, one month before Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston County.  While working tirelessly through the response and long-term recovery of this storm, she continued with classes making the Dean's List every session.  In addition to work and her studies, Tracy is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, the Epsilon Pi Phi Emergency Management Honor Society and a recipient of the 2010 Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.  Tracy is on track to complete her degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from American Public University in November 2010.

Tracy Hughes joined the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management in 2004.  The Office of Emergency Management is responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive emergency program for Galveston County.

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The Galveston County Office of Emergency Management would like to remind the citizens and guests of Galveston County that it is time to double-check your emergency plans regarding hurricanes and tropical storms.  Remember, the potentially devastating weather events often strike Texas from late August through September.  Your family emergency plan should include a place to meet outside of your neighborhood.  It is also a good idea to designate a contact person outside the area.  If your family should become separated, a phone call to this contact could assist with reuniting you.  If you live in an evacuation zone, double-check your evacuation route and make sure you have road maps.  Reivew your checklist of needed supplies and stock up if necessary.  Don't forget to include supplies for your pets.  Being prepared for a hurricane, tropical storm or any emergency can lessen the anxiety associated with the event.  Take the time now to be prepared for later.

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On Wednesday, the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management hosted a training exercise in order for evacuation workers and volunteers to learn about the Texas Special Needs Evacuation Tracking System or TxSNETS. This system employs a combination of RFID, GPS and bar-code technology, and was designed to simplify and automate the evacuation process of elderly, sick, disabled or able-bodied individuals who have no access to transportation during an emergency. This system allows County officials to track buses, evacuees and their pets as they travel from Galveston County to the point-to-point shelters in Austin.

Approximately fifty attendees learned how to apply wristbands, utilize barcode scanners and register evacuees.  This training exercise allows those who will be assisting at the County's two embarkation centers (The Doyle Center and The Island Community Center) to become familiar with the process for registering evacuees prior to evacuating them from the County in the event a mandatory evacuation is issued for Galveston County.

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For the first time, survivors of a disaster will be able to apply for federal disaster assistance on their smart phones, making aid more immediately accessible. This new tool, created at the direction of FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, can be accessed directly at FEMA’s new mobile web site www.m.fema.gov. Financial assistance for disaster survivors becomes available when a disaster has been declared by the President, to include individual assistance.

On average, roughly 40 percent of disaster applicants complete applications online.  More and more, when a disaster strikes, survivors are relying on their smart phones to stay in touch with friends and family. While computers and other means of applying for assistance may not be accessible for survivors right away, smart phones can help ensure that survivors have immediate resources and information at their fingertips.  Smart phone models that will be able to access the new mobile platform include Blackberries, Apple iPhones, and Windows Mobile.

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