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It's "High Noon" for lazy Americans

Emergency Management Alert, December 10, 2007

Folks, it's time for the weekly reminder that we're all doomed. This week, the toll of the bell comes from the Emergency Preparedness Institute (EPI), whose Preparedness Clock shows us to what degree our apathy and/or general lassitude will seal our collective fate. It's currently set to 40 minutes to the hour (with 12:00 representing 100% preparedness).

The "hands" of the clock are set using data gained from a national network of emergency managers. The clock was created as a way to gauge the general effectiveness of emergency preparedness, the idea being that those Americans who have not responded to mainstream campaigns might be jolted into a new awareness by a tick-tick-boom approach.

The clock is a team effort by LA-based Jackstreet Media and  EPI. Jackstreet says it specializes in "combining traditional broadcasting with new media technology to package and deliver information to underserved markets." EPI, formed in 2001, and based in Mt. Prospect, IL, was formed "in response to increasing evidence that the nature and frequency of potential disasters had changed," according to a site statement. The Preparedness Clock is one way of refuting the belief that "traditional thinking about emergency preparedness, emergency management, and disaster recovery may be ill adapted to the new realities."

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