February 16, 2000 Forum Presentation

John H. Sorensen, Ph. D.
Director
Emergency Management Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

and

Barbara M. Vogt, Ph. D.
Research Associate
Environmental Analysis and Assessment Center
Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Public Information & Education
The Emergency Planner's Companion CD

SUMMARY

EIIP Virtual Forum Presentation
Wednesday - February 16, 2000 - 12:00 Noon EST

Public Education & Information:
The Emergency Planner's Companion CD-ROM Series

John Sorensen
Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
Tennessee

Barbara Vogt
Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
Tennessee

Amy Sebring
Moderator - EIIP Technical projects Coordinator

The EIIP Virtual Forum treated the online audience to a session featuring the Public Information & Education CD fromthe Emergency Planner's Companion CD-ROM Series. Guest speakers were Dr. John Sorensen and Dr. Barbara Vogt from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

The Emergency Planner's Companion CD ROMs were developed for the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program that provides protection for civilians living in the vicinity of Army depots that store chemical warfare agents (8 sites, 10 states). The Emergency Planner's Companion CD ROMs allow a local planner to obtain the information needed to develop plans within the context of their own planning environment. Although the CD ROMs, including the Public Information & Education CD were specifically developed for CSEPP, most information on the CD is relevant to any type of threat.

JOHN H. SORENSEN, Ph.D.
Director
Emergency Management Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Dr. Sorensen is a Senior Research Staff Member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Director of the Emergency Management Center. He holds degrees in geography from Clark University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he received a Ph.D. in 1977. Dr. Sorensen's research has focused on emergency planning and the impacts of hazard and risk on human systems. He is lead author of The Impacts of Hazardous Technology: The Psycho-Social Effects of Restarting TMI-1, published by the State University of New York Press. In addition, he has written extensively on public response to emergency warnings, protective action planning, and individual and organizational behavior in disasters. The Emergency Management Center is currently conducting work on the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, the NBC Medical Training Program, and the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Support Program. He has led projects related to emergency and crisis management for DOD, FEMA, EPA, NRC, and DOE.

From 1995 to 1997 he served as the team leader for Prediction, Forecast, and Warning subgroup of the Second Assessment of Research on Natural Hazards, a project supported by the National Science Foundation. He has participated in post disaster studies for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Weather Service. Dr. Sorensen has served on numerous committees and advisory boards concerning disaster management including the National Research Council's Subcommittee on Earthquake Research, the advisory committee for the Natural Hazard Research and Applications Center at the Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado, and FEMA's Emergency Management Technology Steering Group.

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BARBARA M. VOGT, Ph.D.
Research Associate
Environmental Analysis and Assessment Center
Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Dr. Vogt is a a research associate in the Environmental Analysis and Assessment Center of the Energy Division at ORNL. Her graduate degrees include a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Tennessee and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Hawaii. Her major interests have been in emergency planning, risk communication, and developing graphic systems for displaying environmental justice data. She has also been instrumental in designing and implementing a number of social science surveys, developing training materials for the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness program using CD ROM interactive technology, and directing a refresher training video on chemical warfare nerve and mustard agents for first responders. In addition, she organized and chaired a caucus for examining gender and ethnicity issues related to disasters and other major events and accidents.

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