2014 Disaster Daily Situation Report Guidance

National Service Daily Situation Report Instructions, Definitions, and Counting Guide

Disaster Services Unit

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 1

Section 1 - Event Information…………………………………………………………………………………………………Page 2

Section 2 - Program Deployment and Sum of Strength…………………………………………………………..Page 3

Section 3 – Program Housing Site and Member/Staff Hours…………………………………………………..Page 4

Section 4 – Service Partner, Service Type, and Service Locations…………………………………………….Page 5

Section 5 – Quantifiables………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 6

Section 6 – Work Order Tracker and Daily Narrative……………………………………………………………….Page 11

Excel Technical Guidance………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 13

Introduction

The National Service Daily Situation Report Instructions, Definitions, and Counting Guide provides guidance to national service programs supporting disaster response operations to reliably and accurately report their daily service to the CNCS Disaster Services Unit. This tool can be utilized by FEMA Mission Assigned national service programs as well as national service programs that are participating in a disaster response without a Mission Assignment. This guidance provides common definitions and guidance on how to count the most common service activities performed by national service programs during a disaster response. Each service output or ‘quantifiable’ has an example of how the count for that output would be made and where in the Situation Report it would be placed.

NOTE: Any program information, hours, and quantifiables input on this form should never be erased, even if a program has demobilized or if a quantifiable is no longer being counted. All information input into this document culminates and provides information for the final after action review that is used to evaluate the national service response. The report also provides vital information on accomplishments that can be used by CNCS to tell the story of national service to elected officials, partners and the general public.

This report should be in ‘Protected Mode’ in Excel at all times to ensure formulas and data remain accurate. If additional rows are needed, please see the Excel Technical Guidance at the end of this document.

Event Information

This section identifies the date that all information on the report is accurate up to, the highest level of government involved, and the type and level of the disaster event.

Report Date

The Report Date reflects the information contained in this report is current as of this date and is referred to as the Reporting Day. The report is filed by the programs by the morning of the day after the service was performed, allowing the program to accurately reflect all service performed for that day. EX: if report data is from 1/15/14, but today’s date is 1/16/14, the reporting day is 1/15/14.

Scale Type

The Scale Type identifies the highest level of government that is responding. Disasters are managed at the lowest level of government possible and that level is determined by the resources of the local government. If the response requires greater resources to manage, the disaster is elevated to the state. If the state requires additional resources, it may become a presidentially declared disaster that allows FEMA to take a direct role in accessing and providing resources to the state, local, and tribal governments.

In this section, the scale type should be identified by as Local, State or Federal. This designation allows the reader of the report to understand the level of government providing support to the response.

FEMA Mission Assignment Number

If the program is responding to a disaster under a FEMA Mission Assignment (MA) deployment, use the appropriate FEMA Mission Assignment (MA) Number EX: 4086DR-NJ-CNCS-01. You can find the MA number on your Disaster Deployment Budget as well as from the Disaster Services Unit (DSU).

If the national service program completing the report is not deployed with MA support, do not enter anything in this section.

Event Type

The type of event is the actual man-made hazards/disasters or natural disaster incident that caused the disaster. In the past, national service has responded to the following natural disasters: Tornados, Hurricanes, Wildfires, Mudslides, Earthquakes, Tsunami, Flooding, Flash Flooding, and more. CNCS has also responded to man-made disasters such as the BP Oil Spill and the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.

Natural disaster event types often have their own rating systems used to determine the severity of the event. The three most common and publicly used rating systems are the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale rating for Tornado, the Saffir-Simpson Wind Category rating system for Hurricanes, and the Richter Magnitude Scale for earthquakes.

The program completing the report should note in this area the type of disaster, and if applicable or known the rating of the disaster. Examples: EF 5 Tornado, Category 4 Hurricane, 7.8 Earthquake, Mudslide, Flash Flooding

Section 2 –Program Deployment and Sum of Strength Information

This section identifies the national service program(s) responding to the disaster event, shows when the program(s) deployed and demobilized to and from the disaster, and the number of national service participants/staff the program(s) have deployed.

A. “Program Name” is the name of the program deployed and the full program name should be used. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps

B. “Start” is the first day of deployment of the program. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps deployed from their home base on 1/10/14.

C. “End” is the last day of deployment of the program EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps returned to their home base on 2/30/14

C. “Sum of Strength # Members” is the number of national service members deployed by the program. EX: 20 AmeriCorps Conservation Corps members have deployed

D. “Sum of Strength # Staff” is the number of paid program staff that have deployed to supervise members during the deployment. EX: 2 paid staff members of AmeriCorps Conservation Corps have deployed with the members.

Deployment Dates			Sum of Strength
Program	Start	End	# Mbrs	# Staff
A. AmeriCorps Conservation Corps	B. 1/10/14	C. 2/30/14	D. 20	E. 2

Section 3 – Program Housing Site and Member/Staff Hours Information

This section identifies the housing location of deployed programs, and provides daily and cumulative service hours performed by both national service members and program staff. If a program has multiple housing addresses an additional line per address must be used.

A. “Program Name” identifies the name of the deployed program. Full program names should be used. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps has deployed.

B. “Housing Location” is the physical location of the deployed program’s housing. A physical address should be used when available. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps members and staff are staying at a Methodist Church in Union Beach, NJ.

C. “Previous Member Hours” identifies the cumulative number of member service hours performed prior to the reporting day. These hours should not include travel time from home base to the disaster area or travel back from the disaster event. Any travel hours accumulated while performing disaster operations while in the disaster area may be counted. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps members have performed 800 hours of service since their deployment began

D. “Today’s Member Hours” is the total number of service hours performed by national service members on the reporting day. EX: 20 AmeriCorps Conservation Corps members worked an 8 hour day each, totaling 160 hours for the reporting day

E. “Total Member Hours” is the total number of service hours performed by a program’s national service members and is calculated by adding the previous member hours with the member’s reporting day’s hours. There is an Auto Sum Formula integrated into this cell; please do not alter the contents. This number is cumulative and will inform the number of national service hours contributed by each program at the end of disaster operations. EX: 800 previous hours plus the 160 hours performed on the reporting day equals a total of 960 hours contributed by AmeriCorps Conservation Corps.

F. “Previous Staff Hours” identifies the cumulative number of staff hours performed prior to the reporting day. These hours should not include travel time from home base to the disaster area or travel back from the disaster event. Any travel hours accumulated while performing disaster operations while in the disaster area may be counted. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps staff have performed 80 hours of work prior to the reporting day.

G. “Today’s Staff Hours” is the total number of program staff hours performed by paid program staff on the reporting day. EX: 2 AmeriCorps Conservation Corps staff worked an 8 hour day each, totaling 16 hours for the reporting day

H. “Total Staff Hours” is the total number of work hours performed by a program’s paid staff and is calculated by adding the previous staff hours with the staff’s reporting day’s hours. There is an Auto Sum Formula integrated into this cell; please do not alter the contents. This number is cumulative and will inform the number of program staff hours contributed by each program at the end of disaster operations. EX: 80 previous hours plus the 16 hours performed on the reporting day equals a total of 96 hours contributed by AmeriCorps Conservation Corps staff

Program Name	Housing Location (Site, City, State)	Previous Member Hours	Today’s Member Hours	Total Member Hours	Previous Staff Hours	Today’s Staff Hours	Total Staff Hours
A. AmeriCorps Conservation Corps	B. 12 Main St, Union Beach, NJ – Methodist Church	C. 800	D. 160	E. 960	F. 80	G. 16	H. 96

Section 4 – Service Partner and Service Site Location Information

This section identifies with whom and where deployed programs are serving on the reporting day. This section also provides a snapshot of the general work performed on the reporting day and breaks out how many national service members and staff were at each site. The information in this section should only reflect those sites, partners, work type and number of members/staff from the reporting day ONLY. This section does not provide cumulative information and must be current each day. This is the only section in this report where previously entered, outdated information may be removed.

A. “Work Site/Service Partner” identifies the location and service partner that a program served with on the reporting day. Full names of the sponsors should be used in this section. NOTE: If Field Operations requires multiple sites and multiple crews, identify general location of operations and separate crews by work type. EX: On the reporting day, AmeriCorps Conservation Corps divided the 20 national service members and 2 staff among three crews. All crews served in the same city at several locations.

B. “Service Location” identifies the city, county and state where the service is being performed. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps’ three crews all worked in the same community.

C. “Work Type” identifies the type of service performed at the location. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps divided their members among three work crews; VRC operations, mucking and gutting and sawyer activities.

D. “Number of Members on Site” is the number of national service members that served at the site during the reporting day. This number should not count off duty members. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps detailed three members to the VRC, fourteen members to the muck and gut crews, and 3 members to the saw crews

E. “Number of Staff on Site” is the number of program staff detailed to each service site on the reporting day. EX: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps staff provided one staff member to the muck and gut crews and one staff member to the saw crew on the reporting day.

This section tracks the daily location of teams; remove sites/partners when complete			# Members on site	# Staff on site
Work Site/ Service Partner	Service Location (City, County, State)	Work Type
A. Union Beach Borough Hall/Union Beach Borough	B. Union Beach, Monmouth County, NJ	C. VRC Operations	D. 3	E. 0
Multiple Residences/Union Beach Borough	Union Beach, Monmouth County	Muck and Gut Crew	14	1
Multiple Residences/Union Beach Borough	Union Beach, Monmouth County	Saw Crew	3	1

Section 5 – Quantifiables

This section collects the quantifiables accomplished by the program for the reporting day. This information allows the program, the sponsor, and CNCS to accurately report service results while the deployment is ongoing. Any information input in this section should never be erased, even if a quantifiable is no longer being counted. There is an Auto Sum Formula integrated into all “New Total” cells to ensure accurate counting; please do not alter the contents.

Each quantifiable has three entries: Previous Total Completed, Today’s Total, and New Total. These categories track the reporting day’s accomplishment, the daily change, and the total completed since the beginning of reporting. Below are examples of how this should be represented on the Daily Report, using work orders as the example:

“Previous Total Mucking Gutting” is the cumulative number of work orders completed as of the previous reporting day. EX: 78 structures had been mucked/gutted since the beginning of daily reporting.

“Today’s Total” is the number of work orders completed for the reporting day. EX: 2 structures were mucked/gutted for the reporting day.)

“New Total Mucking Gutting” is the total of work orders completed since the beginning of the deployment. This number takes the number of mucking/gutting work orders completed in the reporting day and adding them to the previous total of work orders completed. EX: 2 work orders completed for the reporting day + 78 work orders previously reported = 80 work orders completed total.

Field Operations

This section compiles the quantifiables from Field Operations. Quantifiables that are recorded here are:

• Number of Damage Assessments completed or pending

• Number of structures mucked/gutted

• Number of cubic yards of debris cleared

• Number of hazard trees removed

• Number of roofs temporarily repaired and/or tarped

• Number of homes with minor repairs completed

• Number of wellness and safety checks performed

Definitions

Damage Assessments is defined as an evaluation of a work order to ensure that the scope of the work order can be appropriately and safely filled by national service through existing training, supplies and materials and by vetting the priority of the request.

Mucking or Muckout is defined as the removal of mud, muck, silt, and other typically semi-solid material from a structure as a result of water inundation.

Gutting is defined as the tearing out and removal of construction related materials from a home that has been damaged by water, including protruding nails in exposed studs and flooring. Gutting is considered complete when all damaged construction materials and protruding nails have been removed.

Debris removal is classified into two categories; Interior Debris and Exterior Debris.

Interior debris is the removal of disaster damaged personal items, appliances, fixtures and any other items that are not structural components of the damaged structure.

Exterior debris removal is the removal of unwanted and damaged tree, vegetative or other disaster debris from house sites, lawns, fields and forests.

Debris removal is considered complete when all items and/or debris to be discarded have removed from structures or from lawns, house sites, fields and forests and placed in containers or in piles.

Hazard Tree is a tree or tree related material that has been damaged by the disaster event and due to that damage, poses a threat to human life or property.

Roofs temporarily repaired and/or tarped is the act of temporarily preventing weather elements to cause further damage to the interior of a home with a partially destroyed roof.

Tarping is the act of securing rated, temporary plastic sheeting to a damaged roof.

Minor Repair is considered any repair to a home where no licensure is needed to perform the task.

Wellness/Safety Check are typically door to door community outreach to ensure the safety and wellness of a community. These checks may be instituted by an organization after times of disaster to ensure needed medical and other support is directed to those most in need.

Measurements and How to Count

These quantifiables are counted in the following ways for consistency among various responding programs:

“Number of damage assessments completed”: this quantifiable collects all requests and reports on the number of damage assessments that have been completed/pending. Each assessment counts as one.

“Number of mucking/gutting work orders completed”: this quantifiable should be counted when a mucking work order has been completed successfully. Each work order counts as one work order completed.

“Number of structures mucked/gutted”: this quantifiable represents the number of completed structures mucked/gutted. One structure mucked/gutted completely should be counted as one structure mucked.

NOTE: National service programs will count mucking and gutting one activity since these services are often performed consecutively.

“Cubic Yards of Debris Cleared”: this quantifiable reports the total cubic yards of all debris removed, including interior, exterior and gutting generated debris. Tips for estimating a cubic yard: a cubic yard is roughly the size of a as a standard domestic washing machine.

“Hazard Trees Removed”: this quantifiable reports the number of hazardous trees that have been removed. Each tree counts as one.

“Roofs temporarily repaired and/or tarped”: this quantifiable counts the number of roofs that have received national service support with tarping, or other methods of temporary repair. Each roof counts as one.

“Homes with minor repairs”: this quantifiable counts the number of homes where minor repairs have been made. A home may have only one minor repair or multiple repairs, each home is counted as one.

“Wellness/Safety Checks”: this quantifiable counts the number of individuals that have been checked for wellbeing during community outreach. Each individual counts as one.

Mass Care/Sheltering

This section compiles the quantifiables from Mass Care and Sheltering related service by tracking the number of people assisted at a mass care facility, number of facilities supported.

Definitions

FEMA defines Mass Care as actions taken to protect evacuees and other disaster victims from the effects of the disaster.  Activities include providing temporary shelter, food, medical care (physical, mental or emotional), clothing, and other essential life support needs to the people who have been displaced because of a disaster or threatened disaster.

Measurement and How to Count

Typical national service support for Mass Care and Sheltering involve supporting shelters, feeding stations or mobile feeding units, first aid, cooling stations or other care and comfort operations. Activities may include station set up, logistics, cooking, cleaning, or other activities.

This section is composed of the following measurements:

“Number of people assisted at mass care facilities”: this quantifiable counts the number of people assisted or who have received services at shelters, feeding stations, cooling stations, first aid stations or other care and comfort operations. This number includes individuals who may not have received direct service from national service participants, but who have received services of the facility. These numbers may often be gained by speaking with the facility manager. NOTE: Survivors served is a unique number, meaning, if you are serving the same person on multiple days, you should only count that survivor once.

“Number of meals served to disaster survivors”: this quantifiable counts the number of meals prepared and served to survivors at shelters, feeding stations or Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs).

“Number of facilities supported”: this quantifiable counts the number of facilities that have been supported by national service participants. These facilities include: Shelters, feeding operations sites, physical, mental and emotional support facilities. Each shelter counts for one. NOTE: Facilities supported is a unique number, meaning that if multiple programs are supporting the same service facility or support is provided on multiple days, count that facility only once. However, if the service being provided changes but the physical location remains the same, then the service facility can count as multiple facilities. An example of this would be a church has been used as a sheltering facility, but has transitioned from sheltering to a counseling facility. This facility may then be counted twice (if national service members have supported both of those operations), once as a sheltering facility and once as a counseling facility.

Donations/Warehouse Management

This section compiles the quantifiables from donations and warehouse management related service by tracking the pounds of food, clothing and other supplies collected or distributed, and the pounds of donations sorted.

Definition

Donations management is process of managing spontaneous donations during times of disaster. This often means coordinating with Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) partners, staffing donations hotlines, accepting, inventorying and dispersing donated items.

Measurement and How to Count

This section is composed of the following quantifiables: Pounds of food collected or distributed, pounds of clothing collected or distributed and pounds of other supplies collected or distributed. Tips for calculating pounds of debris: an industrial garbage bag holds about 50 lbs; if a scale is present at the donations/distribution site, work with the organization operating the facility to gain weights.

“Pounds of food collected/distributed”: this quantifiable counts the pounds of food collected or distributed through donations or warehouse management operations.

“Pounds of clothing collected/distributed”: this quantifiable counts the pounds of clothing collected or distributed through donations or warehouse management operations.

“Pounds of other supplies collected/distributed”: this quantifiable counts the pounds of other supplies collected or distributed through donations or warehouse management operations.

“Pounds of donations sorted”: this quantifiable counts the pounds of any type of donation sorted.

Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) Operations

This section compiles the quantifiables from VRC related service by tracking the number of VRCs supported, the number of volunteers registered, the number of volunteer hours generated, the number of volunteers supervised and the estimated number of people assisted through the VRC.

Definitions

A VRC is a location where spontaneous volunteers or affiliated volunteer groups are registered, trained, provided with safety training and personal protective equipment, deployed and tracked. VRCs often are a location where survivors and residents of the disaster impacted area can request assistance. Typical work includes registration, training, database management of work orders, volunteer data tracking for FEMA soft-match purposes, and other duties.

FEMA Soft-Match is compiled from tracked and documented volunteer hours. These hours are assigned a state-specific dollar amount and can be turned into FEMA by local emergency managers to count against the state’s share of response costs. FEMA requires the following documentation for these hours to be utilized for soft-match: volunteer’s name, date of service, number of hours served by day, location of the service and the type of service rendered. NOTE: different FEMA Regions or disaster events may establish other points of information that must be collected or various scope of service that the volunteers may be provided for inclusion.

Volunteer is any non-national service participant that is registered, trained, and deployed from the VRC or other avenues.

Measurement and How to Count

This section is comprised of the following quantifiables:

“Number of VRC Supported”: This quantifiable counts how many unique VRC facilities are receiving support from national service participants. Each facility counts as one.

“Number of Volunteers Registered”: This quantifiable counts the number of new volunteers registered, trained, assigned, and documented through the VRC and applied during the reporting day. If a volunteer serves multiple days, they are only counted once in this quantifiable.

“Number of Volunteer Hours Leveraged”: this quantifiable counts the number of volunteer hours generated by the VRC on the reporting day.

“Number of Volunteers Supervised”: this quantifiable counts the number of volunteers directly supervised by national service participants during the reporting day.

“Number of Estimated People Assisted (non-mass care)”: this quantifiable counts the number of people assisted through VRC operations. Each individual that submits a work order would count as one, unless, multiple people reside in the same home. Care should be taken if a resident submits multiple work orders for the same home that this resident only be counted once and not duplicated. An effort should be undertaken to determine how many people reside at each work order location, however, if this is not possible, an estimate of three people per home is recommended. This number DOES NOT count volunteers, only residents or community members that utilize the VRC for service.

Miscellaneous Quantifiables

This section is to be used when there are other quantifiables that can be counted as progress for response and recovery operations but are not listed in the any of the above quantifiables. If a program wishes to add quantifiables in the section, program team leaders should consult with the Disaster Services Unit or with the CNCS Disaster Cadre, if deployed to the disaster, prior to submission. This consultation helps ensure that the quantifiable does not fit any other category and is being counted in a reliable way. Please note that any quantifiable that supports one specific and unique place or person should be counted only once not multiple times.

Section 6 – Work Order Tracker and Daily Narrative

This section allows the program to track work orders, identify any accomplishments, challenges, recommendations and objects for the next operational period.

A. Deployment Tracker by Work Order

This section helps keep awareness of how many work orders are being processed through a Volunteer Reception Center and identifies the number of new work orders, in progress work orders, national service completed work orders and how many work orders have been transferred to other organizations. This quantifiable will only be present if national service is supporting a VRC that is accepting work orders.

Definition

Work Order is defined as a community or resident identified service need that has been presented to the Volunteer Reception Center. A work order may be for only one project or multiple projects at the same location.

How to Count

A work order does not adequately represent the total bulk of work that is needed, but can show the pace of demand for national service support. A work order is considered ‘complete’ when all requests on the order have been satisfied to the extent that national service can provide. Often, national service will encounter work orders that are outside the scope of national service abilities due to safety concerns, lack of licensure, or ability. These work orders are often referred to other agencies or organizations that may be able to complete them. These work orders are also considered national service completed.

Deployment Tracker by Work Order:	New	In Progress	National Service Completed	Transferred to other Org
Note: "Work Order" refers to a single address; there can by multiple jobs under one work order. Work Orders can also be reopened if additional jobs are added	A. 50	B.150	C. 20	D. 30

Examples:

A. New Work Orders: this column shows how many new work orders have been submitted during the reporting day. EX: 50 new work orders were presented to the VRC on the reporting day.

B. In Progress: this section shows how many work orders are being served by or are in queue to be served by national service. This number does not include the work orders counted in the “New Work Orders” category. EX: 150 work orders are being served or are in line to be served by national service programs.

C. National Service Completed: this section shows how many work orders have been fully completed by national service or have been served to the extent of the programs abilities and resources. EX: 20 total work orders have been completed to the extent that national service may support.

D. Transferred to other organizations: this section shows how many work orders have been transferred to other organizations for completion. Transfer of work orders to another agency may occur in hand off as national service is completing response operations, has exhausted the skills, expertise, or resources of the national service program to complete, or for long term recovery. EX: 30 work orders have been transferred to other organizations.

A. Highlights In this section, national service programs should share any project milestones, media coverage, political or community support shown, or other highlights.

EX: Highlights: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps mucked and gutted their 100^th home today! Anderson Cooper’s “360” filmed members mucking and gutting a home. The crew supervisor was also interviewed by Anderson Cooper and the piece is expected to air this evening at 9:00 pm EST on CNN.

B. Challenges Narrative: In this section, national service programs should identify challenges that sponsor(s), CNCS Cadre, or DSU may need to be aware of or may be able to assist. Please identify if additional tools or supplies are needed, if there are challenges with housing or any unmet needs related to the deployment.

EX: Challenges: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps is in need of P100 respirators due to mold growth in homes that have mucking/gutting work orders. United Way of Atlantic County cannot furnish these due to cost. Please advise.

C. Recommendations: In this section national service programs should identify any recommendations they may have to resolving the challenges listed above or recommendations on how the mission may be better served.

EX: Recommendations: AmeriCorps Conservation Corps recommends requesting if the State Donations warehouse may be able to provide. If these are unavailable and cannot be secured through donations, recommend allowing the program to purchase and to be able to reclaim that purchase with the FEMA reimbursement.

D. Objectives for the Next Operational Period: In this section the national service program should identify the goals and plans for service for the next operational period, with a brief outline of how they propose to fulfill those goals and plans. The operational period is defined by FEMA and may change during the course of a deployment. At a minimum, 24 to 48 hours is requested by the DSU. The operational period must be defined at the beginning of the explanation.

EX: Objectives for the Next Operational Period: (48 hours) AmeriCorps Conservation Corps will continue to support the VRC, provide four field operations crews, and will seek to fulfill 10 work orders within the operational period. AmeriCorps Conservation Corps will also continue to work with project sponsors, CNCS Disaster Cadre and other relevant partners to ensure operations continue smoothly and to trouble shoot any issues or concerns as they arise.

Excel Technical Guidance

This report is formatted and protected in Excel to ensure that data is accurately tracked as well as the formatting of the report remains consistent. On certain disasters, the “Program Information” section and the “Other Quantifiables” section may need to be expanded to allow for additional rows of information. Below are instructions on how to add additional rows:

1. Click on the “Review” tab

2. Click on the icon “Unprotect Sheet”

3. Select the last row of the section you want to add a row by right clicking on the row number; select “Copy” (make sure row is highlighted)

4. Select the row below the last row by right clicking on the row number; select “Insert Copied Cells” (make sure row is highlighted)

5. Repeat as necessary

6. When all needed rows have been added, go back in the “Review” tab, click “Protect Sheet”

7. If a pop box comes up with protection options, just click “ok”. Do not enter in a password or change any of the options.

It is the responsibility of each program and the Cadre to ensure that the report remains in Protected mode to ensure data and formatting consistency.