As the construction continues on the NOAA Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center—taking longer than expected, unfortunately—DRC staff have been busy bringing training and important workshops to the Gulf Coast. Beginning with the Storm Surge workshop in May, the DRC has hosted and provided expertise to support four major training or workshop activities including two U.S. Coast Guard-sponsored training activities, Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique and Science of Oils Spills.
These activities resulted in enhancing the All Hazards response preponderance and expanding the expertise of more than 218 individuals from all five states that boarder the Gulf of Mexico (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida).
September’s workshop, titled The Future of Dispersant Use in Response, was sponsored by NOAA’s Emergency Response Division and hosted by the DRC. The workshop brought more than 85 participants to Mobile, Alabama, and increased the number of students and workshop participants to nearly 300.
Our community neighbors, the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds, were gracious enough to provide the facility and exceptional staff support to enable all of this to happen while our building is still under construction. We certainly wish to thank them. None of this could have happened without them welcoming us to the Gulf Coast.