Are you prepared for a major disaster to strike your community? That’s the question Brad Richy, Director of the Idaho Office of Emergency Management, asks as he discusses his experiences and lessons learned after traveling to Puerto Rico and seeing firsthand the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria and the subsequent recovery. Are you prepared to provide shelter to thousands of people? Are you prepared for the truckloads of donations and the hundreds – or in Puerto Rico’s case – thousands of people that will descend on your community in an effort to help start your recovery? Director Richy’s presentation will give you a small glimpse of the vast efforts still underway, the scope of the organization required to respond and the time it takes to begin a recovery from a disaster of this magnitude.
Brad Richy is the Director of the Joint Staff, Idaho National Guard, Joint Force Headquarters; he also serves as the Director, Idaho Office of Emergency Management. As the Director of the Joint Staff, he serves as the principal advisor to The Adjutant General on all matters pertaining to the formulation, review, and execution of all plans, policies, and programs affecting the Idaho National Guard and its relationships with the active/reserve components. He is responsible for all Idaho National Guard actions involving operations, logistics, resourcing, manpower, communications, planning, and intelligence.c