Robert A. Jensen

Last updated
Robert A. Jensen
Born
Robert Andrew Jensen

1965 (age 5859)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater California State University, Fresno
OccupationChairman of Kenyon International · Writer · Crisis Management Expert
Years active1998–present
SpouseBrandon D. Jones
Website robertajensen.com

Robert A. Jensen (born 1965) is an American writer and crisis management expert. He is best known for his responses to the Oklahoma City Bombing, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Contents

Biography

Jensen was born in the Bay Area, California, and spent most of his childhood on the west coast. His last two years of high school were completed in Florida at Admiral Farragut Academy, a Naval Honor Military high school whose alumni include Alan Shepard and Charles Duke. He graduated from California State University, Fresno with a degree in criminology – law enforcement. [ citation needed ]

Jensen was commissioned as a US Army officer in 1986 with an initial assignment in field artillery at Fort Sill, but soon took the Pershing Officer Course that led him to become a launch control officer in Germany. While serving, Jensen was also the commander of the 54th Quartermaster Company – Mortuary Affairs. As commander, he responded to incidents such as the 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash and the Oklahoma City bombing. [1]

Jensen is the former chairman of Kenyon International Emergency Services. [2] He has directed and been involved in response and recovery efforts for numerous international large-scale crises, typically terrorist attacks, criminal and civil investigations, natural disasters, and countless transportation accidents – most involving large-scale loss of life. These have included complex events such as bombings in the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, 2002 Bali bombings, the September 11 attacks, seizure of the In Amenas gas plant, the 2015 Sousse attacks, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Hurricane Katrina and multiple large-scale aircraft, rail and maritime disasters.

Jensen has contributed to international and national news outlets, including Business Insider, NPR and Univision, as to what families and the general public could expect after the Surfside condominium building collapse. [3] [4] [5] The New York Times, Associated Press and BuzzFeed News interviewed Jensen regarding the number of COVID-19 fatalities in New York City. He has provided behind the scenes interviews to The Houston Chronicle, GQ Magazine and The Telegraph about crisis and disaster management. [6] [7] [8] Jensen has also provided commentary on leadership, crises and their aftermath on the Oklahoma City Bombing, 9/11, Bombing of UN Headquarters in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, [9] 2004 Asian Tsunami, [10] 2010 Haitian Earthquake, [11] Grenfell Tower Fire, [12] Pandemic and multiple aircraft disasters including Germanwings Flight FU 9525, Helios Flight 522, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to media outlets including the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph, BBC, CNN and Sky News.

He has published one technical book and several crisis management articles in publications such as the Houston Business Journal. [13] His first book, Mass Fatality and Casualty Incidents: A Field Guide, a guide to disaster responses to events that result in mass fatalities, was published by CRC Press, a division of British multinational publisher, Routledge, Jensen's second book, Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living, will be published in September 2021 by St. Martin's Press.

Personal life

Jensen is married to Brandon Jones [14] and has one daughter. [ citation needed ]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation accidents and incidents</span> Aviation occurrence involving serious injury, death, or destruction of aircraft

An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until all such persons have disembarked, and in which (a) a person is fatally or seriously injured, (b) the aircraft sustains significant damage or structural failure, or (c) the aircraft goes missing or becomes completely inaccessible. Annex 13 defines an aviation incident as an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the safety of operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian response to Hurricane Katrina</span>

Canada was one of the countries to provide the most aid and relief for Hurricane Katrina. They provided ships, supplies, volunteers, search-and-rescue teams, and more. It has also accepted some evacuees to stay in Canada.

Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 1 (FL-TF1) is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Miami-Dade County, Florida and sponsored by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. The mission of FL-TF1 is to respond to natural and man-made disasters to provide search and rescue as well as both medical and communications support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 2</span>

Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 2 or FL-TF2 is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Miami, Florida and sponsored by the Miami Fire Department. FL-TF2 was started in 1991 and is designed to respond to a variety of disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and terrorist attacks. The Miami Fire Department sponsors the team, and provides administrative staff as well as warehouse space and other infrastructure needs. The team is composed of experts from 23 additional fire and police departments as well as civilians making up the 210 members of the team.

Urban Search and Rescue Virginia Task Force 2 (VA-TF2) is one of the 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces. Based in Virginia Beach, VA-TF2 is sponsored by the Virginia Beach Fire Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal</span> Award

The Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal is an award in the Australian honours system. The award is presented to those who perform humanitarian service in a foreign country, in particular those working in dangerous environments or conditions or during a humanitarian crisis. The award was introduced by letters patent on 16 April 1999, following a review of the Australian honours and awards system beginning in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Cerney</span>

Mark V. Cerney is the founder of an American nonprofit organization. He is best known for creating the Next of Kin Registry (NOKR) model.


A mass fatality incident is an emergency management term used to identify an incident involving more dead bodies and/or body parts than can be located, identified, and processed for final disposition by available response resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lists of 21st-century earthquakes</span>

The following is a summary of significant earthquakes during the 21st century. In terms of fatalities, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was the most destructive event with 227,898 confirmed fatalities, followed by the 2010 Haiti earthquake with about 160,000 fatalities, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake with 87,587 fatalities, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake with 87,351 fatalities, and the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes with at least 59,259 fatalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Haiti earthquake</span> Magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Person Finder</span> Open source registry and message board

Google Person Finder is an open source web application that provides a registry and message board for survivors, family, and loved ones affected by a natural disaster to post and search for information about each other's status and whereabouts. It was created by volunteer Google engineers in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Google Crisis Response is a team within Google.org that "seeks to make critical information more accessible around natural disasters and humanitarian crises". The team has responded in the past to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 2010 Pakistan floods, 2010–11 Queensland floods, February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami among other events, using Google resources and tools such as Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Person Finder, and Google Fusion Tables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami</span> Megathrust earthquake off Japans east coast

On 11 March 2011, at 14:46 JST, a Mw 9.0–9.1 undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approximately six minutes, causing a tsunami. It is sometimes known in Japan as the "Great East Japan Earthquake", among other names. The disaster is often referred to by its numerical date, 3.11.

Relief 2.0 or disaster relief 2.0 is the deployment of digital information techniques in the management of disaster relief.

Events in the year 1952 in Japan.

The International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" is a non-binding charter which provides for the charitable and humanitarian acquisition and transmission of satellite data to relief organizations in the event of major disasters. Initiated by the European Space Agency and the French space agency CNES after the UNISPACE III conference held in Vienna, Austria, in July 1999, it officially came into operation on November 1, 2000, after the Canadian Space Agency signed onto the charter on October 20, 2000. Their space assets were then, respectively, ERS and ENVISAT, SPOT and Formosat, and RADARSAT.

Lucy Easthope is a UK expert and adviser on emergency planning and disaster recovery. She is a Professor in Practice of Risk and Hazard at the University of Durham, and co-founder of the After Disaster Network at the university. She is also a Visiting Professor in Mass Fatalities and Pandemics at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, a researcher at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University, a former Senior Fellow of the Emergency Planning College, and a member of the Cabinet Office National Risk Assessment Behavioural Science Expert Group.

References

  1. Johnston, Jody (February 16, 1996). "Post Exchanges Open Throughout Bosnia". The Talon. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  2. "Our Team". Kenyon International Emergency Services. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  3. Jankowicz, Mia (July 1, 2021). "Figuring out what really happened in the Miami condo collapse could take more than a year, expert says". Business Insider . Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  4. Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (June 27, 2021). "Disaster Management Expert Discusses Rescue Efforts In Florida". NPR . Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  5. Caceres, Lorraine (June 30, 2021). "Surfside Condo Search and Rescue Continues a Week After Collapse". Univision . Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  6. Drane, Amanda (July 8, 2021). "When large-scale tragedy hits, Spring-based Kenyon International goes to work". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  7. Larson, Lauren (December 20, 2016). "The Man Who Cleans Up After Plane Crashes". GQ . Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  8. Williams, Sally (September 12, 2015). "Inside the little-known Berkshire firm called when disaster strikes". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  9. Barry, Dan (August 27, 2006). "Tracing the Path of a Corpse, From the Street to Dignity". The New York Times . Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  10. Paris, Jenny (January 20, 2005). "U.S. Company Aims to Identify Tsunami Victims" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  11. Turner, Allan (January 13, 2010). "Houstonians mobilize to help Haiti" . Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  12. Williams, Sally (April 14, 2018). "What Next? After the fire" (PDF). Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  13. Jensen, Robert A. (July 9, 2021). "How to properly handle a disastrous situation" . Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  14. "Spotlight: Robert A. Jensen on leadership, responsibility and crisis management". The Business Magazine. 2021-07-21. Retrieved 2021-07-30.

Sources