| Mark V Cerney | |
|---|---|
Mark Cerney (left) at the 2007 Emergency Preparedness Conference with Governor Mark Sanford (right) |
|
| Born | April 10, 1967 San Diego, California USA |
| Nationality | American |
Mark V. Cerney (born April 10, 1967 in San Diego, California, U.S.) is the founder of an American nonprofit organization. He is best known for creating the Next of Kin Registry (NOKR) organization.
His background includes graduating the St. John's Military School and serving with the US Marine Corp 1986-1993. He is married and has three children. The Next of Kin Registry became internationally known after appearing on CNN and Larry King after Hurricane Katrina. NOKR is an international free resource for the public to register emergency contact information that is only accessible to emergency agencies during times of urgent need. The organization was founded in 2004 and has been a resource used during Hurricane Katrina, 7 July 2005 London bombings, Asian Tsunami and other disasters to include daily emergencies. The NOKR organization has volunteers in 47 US states and 87 countries. NOKR is the central depository for emergency contact information in the United States. Several other States have opted to use the NOKR model to set up their own Department of Motor Vehicles registries, including, South Carolina,[1] Colorado, Delaware,[2] Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey[3] and Ohio.[4] The NOKR resource is used by more than 150 million registrants.
In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Senator Barack Obama (now President) introduced the National Next of Kin Registry to the 109th United States Congress in S.1630, The National Emergency Family Locator Act. The Next of Kin Registry was referenced in this bill as a standard for the Secretary of Homeland Security to consider in establishing the National Emergency Family Locator System.
In 2006 the American Red Cross partnered with the Next of Kin Registry.[5] The American Red Cross, along with many familiar partner agencies, such as FEMA, the United States Postal Service and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, wanted to ensure that families have a bevy of resources and options to use in order to communicate in times of disaster.
In 2007 the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) consulted with the Next of Kin Registry in an effort to answer HR5441 (Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007), SEC. 689c. NOKR put forth the requested solution for the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (NEFRLS), which was established in compliance with Congressional legislation SEC. 689c of H.R. 5441 to help family members separated after major disasters to communicate with one another.
Mark serves as the President of NOKR in Washington, D.C., a non-profit public benefit resource used globally by emergency agencies to reunify families when emergencies happen or national disasters occur.
Contents |
In recent times the NOKR resource was used during the 2009 Samoa earthquake[6] 2010 Haiti earthquake[7] and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[8]
In July 2009, Michael D. Brown the former Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a position generally referred to as the director or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) became the Chief Executive Officer of NOKR.