EDM Friday Briefing: Officers Shot in San Diego, Wildfires Burn in CA, Cyber Threats Get Color Codes

Emergency and disaster management briefing for July 29, 2016: Two officers are shot in San Diego, two major California wildfires continue to burn, the White House releases a new color-coded schema to deal with cyber threats, the CDC announces $60 million in Zika funding, two Florida counties halt blood donations due to Zika, and China continues its strong move toward clean energy.

1. [link url=”http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-police-officers-shot-san-diego-20160728-snap-story.html” title=”Two police officers were shot in San Diego”] Thursday night, and authorities currently have [link url=”http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-police-officers-shot-san-diego-20160728-snap-story.html” title=”one suspect in custody.”] The incident occurred around 11 p.m. local time in the city’s Southcrest neighborhood. Details are still emerging, but, according to reports this morning, [link url=”http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/us/san-diego-police-officers-shot/” title=”one of the officers has died.”]

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2. [link url=”http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/los-angeles-firefighters-move-closer-containing-sand-wildfire-n618906″ title=”Two major wildfires”] continue to burn in California as firefighters gain control in one and struggle to contain the other. Crews [link url=”http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/los-angeles-firefighters-move-closer-containing-sand-wildfire-n618906″ title=”achieved 65 percent containment”] in the Sand fire in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles, but the fire remains at more than 38,000 acres. Farther north in the state, the Soberanes Fire in Monterey County [link url=”http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/los-angeles-firefighters-move-closer-containing-sand-wildfire-n618906″ title=”grew to more than 27,000 acres”] and the blaze is threatening about 2,000 structures.

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3. The Soberanes wildfire, which is burning Big Sur, has already [link url=”http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/07/28/soberanes-wildfire-california/87678858/#pt0-771712″ title=”destroyed at least 34 homes”] and at least ten other structures in the area. The blaze continues to grow, with recent reports placing the fire at just [link url=”http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/07/28/soberanes-wildfire-california/87678858/#pt0-771712″ title=”10 percent containment.”] The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection estimated that it will likely take [link url=”https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/california-coastline-wildfire-is-big-and-getting-bigger/2016/07/29/d84dba14-5569-11e6-b652-315ae5d4d4dd_story.html#pt0-455329″ title=”until the end of August”] to fully extinguish the fire.
4. This week, the White House released a new [link url=”https://amuedge.com/a-new-color-coded-world-of-cyber-threats/” title=”color-coded cyber threat system”] that introduces a framework to evaluate and assess cyber incidents from within the Federal Government. The [link url=”https://amuedge.com/a-new-color-coded-world-of-cyber-threats/” title=”Cyber Incident Severity Schema”] will serve to define the severity of individual cyber incidents and help mold potential responses to the incidents.

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5. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [link url=”https://amuedge.com/cdc-issues-clear-statement-on-zika-with-60-million-in-funding/” title=”announced $60 million in funding”] that will serve to help U.S. states and territories combat Zika virus. The White House originally [link url=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/22/letter-president-zika-virus” title=”requested $1.9 billion“] to fund the U.S. fight against Zika virus, but that effort remains stalled in Congress. The CDC said the $60 million in funding [link url=”https://amuedge.com/cdc-issues-clear-statement-on-zika-with-60-million-in-funding/” title=”is acting as a stopgap measure”] until additional federal funding can be secured.

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6. Officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that the FDA has asked two counties in Florida [link url=”http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/28/487802572/fearing-zika-fda-asks-2-florida-counties-to-halt-blood-donations” title=”to halt blood donations”] due to Zika fears. With Florida health officials actively investigating the possibility of multiple [link url=”http://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2016/07/071916-investigating-possible-non-travel-related-case-zika.html” title=”non-travel related Zika cases,”] the FDA recommended temporarily halting donations in both Miami-Dade County and Broward County.

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7. New analysis shows that China now accounts for [link url=”https://amuedge.com/china-reducing-coal-use-shifting-to-clean-energy/” title=”one-third of the global investment in clean energy,”] compared to its nearly non-existent presence in the renewable energy industry a decade ago. Experts say that China’s coal use [link url=”https://amuedge.com/china-reducing-coal-use-shifting-to-clean-energy/” title=”may have already peaked in 2013 or 2014,”] as consumption rates have remained flat or slightly declined in the past two years and the country looks to move to renewable energy sources.

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8. Han Song Ryol, North Korea’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs, said yesterday that the U.S. [link url=”http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/07/28/north-korea-united-states-relations/87659264/” title=”‘crossed the red line'”] and that U.S. actions have now [link url=”http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/07/28/north-korea-united-states-relations/87659264/” title=”put the situation on the Korean Peninsula on a war footing.”] The diplomat explained how U.S. military exercises south of the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea have become more aggressive and how the U.S. placing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on its list of sanctioned individuals [link url=”http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/07/28/north-korea-united-states-relations/87659264/” title=”effectively declares war.”]

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9. The [link url=”https://vtdigger.org/2016/07/27/disaster-drill-involves-simulated-infectious-disease-outbreak/” title=”largest disaster preparedness drill in Vermont history”] began this week on Monday. All told, the 10-day exercise will occur at 50 sites across the state and more than 5,000 participants will participate. The drills involve a number of different disaster simulations, including a [link url=”https://vtdigger.org/2016/07/27/disaster-drill-involves-simulated-infectious-disease-outbreak/” title=”mock infectious disease outbreak”] in which thousands are infected and hospitals are overwhelmed in response.

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10. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) [link url=”http://www.dw.com/en/sadc-declares-el-nino-induced-drought-a-regional-disaster/a-19430451″ title=”declared the persistent drought a regional disaster”] this week following erratic rain patterns that have led to bad harvests and mass deaths of livestock. The SADC is an inter-governmental organization that includes 15 southern African states. SADC said that the disaster declaration is necessary because more than [link url=”http://www.dw.com/en/sadc-declares-el-nino-induced-drought-a-regional-disaster/a-19430451″ title=”40 million people urgently need assistance”] in the region.

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