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Recognition

July 2016 - The Pacific Northwest Economic Region was recognized as a model for building a more resilient region in the new DHS National Protection Framework

COVID-19 Resources & News:

Response, Planning, Border Closures, & More

Visit our COVID-19 Resources Page HERE

Cross-Border Relations Restrictions and Economic Stability: Issues in Pandemic Times Webinar

The COVID-19 crisis presents unique economic challenges and restrictions on border activity between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. How has the pandemic impacted the flow of cargo and people across the border? How will immigration, customs, and taxes be impacted in the short and long term? What are ways we can begin to plan for cross-border economic recovery for key sectors like tourism and transportation?

PNWER, in partnership with Miller Thomson and the Border Policy Research Institute, provided insight and information on the impacts and possible solutions going forward during a webinar held on April 16. For a summary of that webinar, click here.

Comprehensive Community Bio-Event Resilience
Action Plan

This planning effort involved multiple planning charrettes that allowed people to dive into the details of a multi-jurisdiction and public-private response to a pandemic flu event. It is important to note that the dominance of social media that we see today was not present at the time of this planning effort and would need to be included in adapting this plan to today's situation. To read this comprehensive report, click here.

The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) launched the Regional Disaster Resilience and Homeland Security Program in November 2001 with the goal of improving the Pacific Northwest's ability to withstand and recover and to protect its critical infrastructures from all-hazards disasters. Based in Seattle, Washington, PNWER is a statutory, non-profit public/private organization that was formed in 1991 by legislatures of the northwest states of Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Canadian provinces and territories of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Yukon & Northwest Territories.

See our most recent updates on CRDR in the PNWER Annual Report here.

Current Projects

Bi-National Disaster Resilience Roundtable

During the Pacific NorthWest's 30th Annual Summit, the CRDR will host a full day Disaster Resilience Roundtable examining disaster resiliency in the United States and Canada. FEMA Director Pete Gaynor will be speaking during the lunch session.

More information can be found here

Cybersecurity Awareness and Workshops

CRDR has two ongoing cybersecurity initiatives this spring. The first is the King County Region 6 Cybersecurity Workshop. This will explore risks in the cyberspace and how to manage them in Washington state. The second is the 6th Annual Idaho Cybersecurity Statewide Summit. Hosted in Boise, ID, this event examines the growing challenges of cybersecurity and their impact on overall economic and physical safety in Idaho.

More information on both events can be found here

Using Drones for Synchronization of Situational Awareness Between Critical Infrastructures and the Public Sector Project

The 2019 Resilience Challenge Grant project seeks to develop methodologies to allow for the rapid inspection of critical infrastructure in post-disasters using drones (also called Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)). This information can then be shared with state level emergency management agencies to establish better situational awareness and a common operating picture.

More information here

Cybersecurity Situational Awareness Project
The Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) and its Center for Regional Disaster Resilience (CRDR) have been awarded a 2017 National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) Security and Resilience Challenge grant for the Maritime Transportation System Cyber Resilience Category. The primary objective of this project is to establish a maritime industry information sharing and analysis process and to work with existing regulatory and standards organizations to create a robust cyber resource and information sharing community.

Find out more information here.

Stakeholder Survey and Self Assessment
A survey has been designed to help us develop a baseline of current best practices and investments in cyber-security by maritime related organizations in the Puget Sound Region. The full survey is available in the link below.

Take the stakeholder survey here.