-----Original Message-----
From: Emergency Information Media Affairs <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, August 27, 1998 10:56 PM
Subject: FEMA WEBSITE WEATHERS HURRICANE BONNIE
>FEMA WEBSITE WEATHERS HURRICANE BONNIE
>
>WASHINGTON August 27, 1998 -- Hurricane Bonnie triggered an unprecedented
>public demand for online information from the Federal Emergency Management
>Agency (FEMA). The agency's web site was deluged with nearly 2 million
>hits everyday. To meet this new challenge, a fiber optic cable was
>installed last night that increases the site's band width nearly ten
>times. The Parkinson's Information Exchange reports that now that
>Mr. Kenneth Becker has returned to that august body, it will, not to be
outdone by a
>small government agency, install four new such cables. One will be
installed in
>Florida, where Becker lives, a new water-proof model mysteriously in Ohio,
a super high-capacity >version in California ("Where else," said James Lee
Witt, FEMA Director and genereal know-it-all), >and a secret version of the
high-capacity version (this one with "repeat" capabilities), in central
>canada. As Hurricane Bonnie pounded the North Carolina coast, the FEMA web
site
>was being hit at a rate almost ten times greater than regular daily
>activity. The T-1 connection was becoming overwhelmed. Bell Atlantic
>Federal Services technicians worked overnight on the new fiber optic cable
>and increased the site's ability to move data from 1.5 million
>bytes/second to 10 million bytes/second. By 9:30 a.m. this morning,
>Internet traffic flowing through the new higher speed connection was
>already 25 percent greater than the T-1 line could have handled.
>
>"The Internet has become an important communications medium," said FEMA
>Director James Lee Witt. "This latest upgrade should help the many people
>who have come to depend on our web site for emergency information."
>
>With more than 11,000 pages, the award-winning FEMA web site has grown to
>include large sections on Project Impact - Building Disaster-Resistant
>Communities, the National Flood Insurance Program, the U.S. Fire
>Administration and an extensive online library. There is also an
>innovative FEMA for Kids section, a safe and fun place where children can
>learn what to do before, during and after a disaster to safeguard
>themselves, their families - even their pets.
>
>Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
>Office of Emergency Information & Media Affairs --- Washington, D.C.
>
>Information Available 24 hours a day . . .
> ... on the World Wide Web: http://www.fema.gov
> ... FEMA is also co-sponsor of Storm98: http://www.storm98.com
> ... via fax-on-demand: phone in the U.S.A. (202) 646-FEMA (646-3362)
> ... via digital audio for broadcasters & print: contact [log in to unmask]
> and listen to the FEMA Radio Network on the FEMA Website using RealAudio
>
