2nd annual Disaster Resilience Seminar is Oct. 30

Oct. 21--Enid and Garfield County Emergency Management is set to host its second annual Disaster Resilience Seminar at the end of the month.

The seminar will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, in the Central National Bank Center ballroom. Cost is free to attend, and lunch will be provided.

"I want to build from last year to this year, and then based on what we've done this year, we'll build on top of this for next year ... there's something in this for everyone," said GCEM Director Mike Honigsberg.

A diverse group of speakers is scheduled to speak at the seminar, covering topics ranging from emergency management, insurance, weather, after disasters and more.

"The only thing you will take away from the seminar this year is knowledge," Honigsberg said. "This will come from the professionals that are speaking, from state and local officials to university professors, meteorologists, insurance professionals, cyber and recovery experts, and we can't forget our electrical folks. All are extremely important in this day and age and we will build upon the talks and instruction from these folks this year for next year's seminar."

The tentative speakers and schedule is as follows:

--9 a.m.: Welcome by Enid Mayor Bill Shewey.

--9:05 a.m.: Introduction to seminar by Honigsberg.

--9:15 a.m.: Oklahoma Emergency Management Director Michelann Ooten.

--10 a.m.: Break.

--10:15 a.m.: Kevin Kloesel, Oklahoma Climatological Survey director, University of Oklahoma meteorologist and associate professor.

--11:15 a.m.: Julia Brown, with city of Enid, will present "Cyber Security at Home and at Work."

--11:50 a.m.: Lunch and Leah Seibel will present "Insurance, Why it's Important."

--1:15 p.m.: Todd Lindley, of the National Weather Service in Norman, will present "Weather Ready at Home and at Work."

--2 p.m.: Break.

--2:10 p.m.: Troy Cowley and Chris Bristol, with Oklahoma Gas & Electric, will present "When the lights go Out."

--2:50 p.m.: Break.

--3:10 p.m.: Angel Connell and Mike Weigel, of Trilink Restoration Services, will present "After the Event."

--3:50 p.m.: A final word from Honigsberg.

"I'm really excited about this seminar coming up. we're pretty much ready to go," Honigsberg said. "I just want people who really want to learn and understand all these facets right here of what's going on, how to stay on top of everything and understand there's a system to everything, because a lot of people don't know that and that's why there's so much confusion when something bad happens."

The seminar is open to anyone, Honigsberg just requests those interested in attending RSVP to him at mhonigs [email protected] or [email protected].

"All this is part of what I'm trying to get out to our folks here in the region. And it's not just Enid, it's not just Garfield County, it's anybody in the whole region that would like to come to this," Honigsberg said.

For more information, visit www.gcem.org.

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