Rapid Response Committee
Meeting Notes August 31, 2007

The committee discussed the charge and agreed it is reasonable. It is open enough that many aspects could be included in a response plan.

The question was raised whether this plan includes Clearinghouse issues. The CUSEC Clearinghouse Working Group lead by Steve Horton is addressing those issues. While this plan should recognize that aspect of a CERI response and include it, it is not currently within the purview of the committee.

Talking points (TP) were discussed. Several maps of use immediately following an event are available for the usgs ehp website. Other items are relatively easy to incorporate if you know where and how to get them.

Procedures and tools should be well established and accessible to any CERI person available to generate the TP. A preliminary set should be produced by the Verification and Notification team.

TP may be both for internal use as an aid to people interacting with the media and public, as well as a "media" packet for distribution to interested parties. They should be available in both electronic and paper form.

TP could be morphed into an "event page" and a link added to recenteqs and Eq In the News.

The Verification and Notification Team, after consultation with the Information Response Team, will notify coodination desk personnel and active the Rapid Response Plan.

Google Earth format (kml) are a very useful mechanism for distributing maps from the TP.

Generally we know that the plan will be activated for any magnitude greater than 5. Portions of the plan are also likely to be activated for events greater than magnitude 4. Talking points and possible other aspects of the plan will be activated for events with magnitude greater than 3. When and to what extent the plan is activated is subject the the best judgement of the Element Leaders: Verification and Notification, Information Response, and Field Studies.

Events requiring activation of the plan will need daily TP updates (more frequently as the situation warrants).

Participants at CERI are encouraged to provide feedback to the committee after the event. The committee will review the feedback and adjust the plan as warranted.

Buddy will ask Natasha to develop a draft of a bulletized version of the New Madrid tectonic earthquake summary and the Hazard in the Heartland fact sheet for inclusion in the TP.

The plan should include a fair level of detail including lists specific people with specific tasks. There should never be a single person for any given task and preferably be at least 3.

The plan should also include appendices that provide explicit instructions for various tasks (e.g. operation of the digital telephone and updating the 678-2007 voice mail message).

Steve will provide Mitch with the ppt from his RRC brownbag this summer. Mitch will turn this into a document as a starting point for the plan and distribute to the committee for comment.

Our discussions will continue electronically prior to the next meeting tentatively in mid-October.