Please join the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) for the 

Disaster Debris Management Best Practices Workshop

from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 8, 2023

In Person and Online

---

Register to Attend In Person Register to Attend Online

---

Natural disasters challenge communities every year and are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. After a disaster, communities are tasked with the difficult job of managing disaster debris on top of the potential loss of homes, lives, power, and critical facilities. Debris may damage infrastructure, block road access, and pose threats to human health and the environment. Cleaning it up can be time-consuming and costly, and recovery is not complete until all debris has been managed.

Join us for a hybrid event from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 8 to learn from experts and local practitioners about best management practices for disaster debris in 2023! 

Topics will include

Disaster Debris Management 101

• Disaster debris preparedness
• Immediate response actions
• Long term recovery
• Special debris operations (e.g., dangerous trees, private property debris removal, waterway debris removal)

Debris Management Sites

• Purpose of a debris management site (DMS)
• Site selection considerations
• Public vs private sites
• Reduction methods
• Environmental considerations
• Monitoring
• Site approval

Public Information

• The changing face of public information
• Developing messages
• Response to no-notice incidents

Managing Finances While Mitigating Risk

• Preparing response for proposal documents
• Scoring and contractor selection
• Documenting hours
• Documenting expenses

The workshop will also provide the participants an opportunity to discuss concerns and share their best practices and lessons learned from their past debris management response and recovery efforts.

Presenters for the event will be:

John Buri - Director, Post-Disaster Programs is a versatile disaster mitigation, response, and recovery and grant management professional. Mr. Buri has provided senior management oversight on 22 major disasters declarations for over 100 clients since 2007, representing over $5 billion in disaster-related grants. He has been extensively involved in numerous emergency management and recovery missions in Texas since 2007. Due to established working relationships throughout Texas with groups like Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), FEMA Region VI, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Mr. Buri provides H-GAC jurisdictions with unique knowledge and practical understanding of planning, reimbursement, and monitoring that can greatly assist H-GAC jurisdictions in future responses. 

Nick Russo III - Director, Post Disaster Environmental Services is an environmental services expert with over 20 years of experience in disaster recovery, environmental resources, and water management. He joined Tetra Tech in early 2022 after spending 19 years with the Harris County Engineering Department. He has vast experience in coordinating environmental, sustainability, and regulatory programs at the local, state, and federal levels. Mr. Russo worked on numerous federally declared disasters including Hurricane Ike, the Tax Day Flood, Hurricane Harvey, Tropical Storm Imelda, and the COVID-19 Pandemic where he conducted damage assessments, debris removal, and program management in coordination with FEMA and other regulatory agencies.

Brian Rutherford - Senior Emergency Management Consultant has developed or updated over 50 Disaster Debris Management Plans and has developed and conducted debris management training and exercises for jurisdictions across the nation for the past 15 years. Mr. Rutherford has managed and assisted in the conducting of debris operations in response to hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires. Mr. Rutherford has also been involved in public health emergency plan development, continuity of operations planning, infectious disease planning, plan assessments, public information plan development, hazard mitigation planning, hurricane planning and response, wildfire response, flooding response, training design, and meeting facilitation.