Back to the Home Page. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been targeted for abolishment inthe Republican "Contract with America." On February 16th, theSubcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of the House Committee onResources will hold hearings on this issue. The USGS is the primarygovernment agency dealing with geologic hazards such as earthquakes,volcanoes, and landslides. In addition, the USGS does significantresearch and data collection on hydrologic hazards such as flooding,effects of hurricanes, and global climate change. The loss of thesefunctions would greatly impact the hazards community. Other majorfunctions of the USGS include monitoring of water quality and supplyacross the United States and preparation of all domestic topographic maps. The hearing is tentatively scheduled to begin on February 16th. This isan important hearing, and if you wish to express your feelings to Congressthen the following addresses will help you.
House Resources Committee
Subcommitte on Energy and Mineral Resources
1324 Longworth
Washington, DC 20515-6015
202-225-2761
The Honorable Robert L. Livingston
Chairman
House Committee on Appropriations
H-218 Capitol Building
Washington, DC 20515-6015
(202)-225-2771
[Somewhere in our many piles of bits and bytes the following two itemsinadvertently got lost. We apologize.]
A) Another Kobe Net Resource
The KOBE-QUAKE list was set up to assist volunteer organisations andprofessionals who are helping with recovery efforts from the January'95 great Kobe earthquake. Contributions to the list will probably bein English or Japanese. The list will aim to provide information suchas:
Owner: Brendan Kehoe (brendan@zen.org)Co-owner: Sacha Sardo-Infirri (sacha@kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp)
B) Looking for Information on Handling Electronic Medical Records
[Thanks to our conscientious reader, Larry Laufman, Baylor College ofMedicine, who forwarded the following. The message was originally sentto the MEDINF-L list on Mon, 30 Jan 1995.]
I am a physician and a fellow of Japanease society of internalmedicine. Now I am reserching about electronic medical record. As youall know, we had a big earthquake in Kobe. Over 5000 victims died. Wegive medcal services to persons who escaped and who might need medicalassistance. Many medical teams visit them, but they take their medicalrecords with them when they leave. So when other medical teams go toKobe they have no previous record which could create numerousproblems. If anyone knows about keeping medical records in a disasterplease let me know. Thank you for any information you might have.
Shunji Yamazaki, Division of Medical Informatics, Chiba UniversityHospital, 1-8-1 Inohana Chuou Chiba 260, Japan; tel: +81-043-226-2346;fax: +81-043-226-2373; PEC01674@NIFTYSERVE.OR.JP.
Dear Friends,
After post a mail here to ask information to help Kobe people, I havereceived over one hundred e-mails from overseas in only one week. Ithank you very much. I am sorry to say I cannot reply to the sendersindividually, because the number is too great for me. The informationyou gave me is absolutely important for Kobe people, and the amount ofthe information is beyond my capacity. I managed to print it into 122pages with very narrow space between letters. I will print it andwould like to distribute the copies to anyone who wants to read anduse it. I will speak of the availability and usefulness of thisinformation through the biggest Japanese computer network, Niftyserve.Thank you, again.
Tomofumi OKA
Department of Social Welfare
Sophia University, Tokyo
KGG01217@niftyserve.or.jp
A while back there was a classic article: Fisher, Chestnut, Violette,"The Value of Reducing Risks of Death: A Note On New Evidence,"_Journal of Policy Analysis and Management_, Vol 8, No. 1, Winter1989, pp. 88-100. The authors suggest an "interim range" of $1.6million to $8.5 million in 1986 dollars.
Do any of you know if there have been any major developments inthis field in the past couple of years? If you reply, please make surethat you reply to ME as well as to or instead of to the LIST. I am notabsolutely certain that list posts get through to me.
Thanks,
Bill
William Dean
Assembly Office of Research
California Legislature
1020 N Street, Room 408
Sacramento CA 95814
Phone: 916-322-2394
Fax: 916-327-3874
E-mail: deanwi@assembly.ca.gov
Niagara Mohawk Gas is developing a Business Continuity Plan to reactto disaster situations. Niagara Mohawk is a power utility serving muchof Upstate New York.
To determine appropriate mitigation and controls we are conducting arisk analysis and would like to use annualized loss expectancy as abasis. To use this approach we need probability values for thefollowing categories:
Thank You,
Bob McGregor
(315) 460-3307
Robert_J._McGregor@NMGAS.com
I am looking for examples of research anywhere in the world involvingthe impacts of drought: agricultural, socio-economic, political etc.If you are or have been involved in such research, or have anysuggestions as to who has been, please e-mail me:
archer@enviro.uct.ac.za or s-mail me at the address below.
Many thanks
Emma Archer
Department of Environmental & Geographical Science
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch
7700
South Africa
I have had a request for information about a "Trauma tax" on petrol.It appears that this tax is used to raise funds for EMS in parts ofthe USA. Is this true? If so, what states or cities are imposing thetax, and about how much is it? Many thanks
Paul Bladen
Information and Research Centre
Australian Emergency Management Institute
Mt. Macedon Victoria AUSTRALIA 3441
ph: (+6154) 261 205 fax: (+6154) 262 479
email: robf@vifp.monash.edu.au
DR reader Robert Thomason of the Washington Post recently brought thefollowing URL to our attention:
http://www.hvu.nl/flood/
as a source of information on the European floods.
[The following is taken from the Networks in Emergency Management List"Nets" - nets@hoshi.cic.sfu.ca]
The "Recovery Times Online" is the digital version of a newspaper forflood victims in California, published jointly by the CaliforniaGovernor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the FederalEmergency Management Agency (FEMA). This first-ever network editionincludes messages from Governor Pete Wilson and FEMA Director James L.Witt, descriptions of disaster assistance programs, and updates onresponse and recovery activities by local, state, and federalagencies. The "Recovery Times Online" is available via the World WideWeb services of both sponsoring agencies:
http://www.oes.ca.gov:8001/
or
http://www.fema.gov (under "News Desk")
The World-Wide Earthquake Locator was developed in Edinburgh very muchas an illustration of what is possible using the World-Wide Web andthe internet. It relates to work we have done building an earthquakeanalysis system using data dynamically obtained over the internet.
Access is via the URL http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/quakes/quakes.html. Thesystem uses data available from the USGS National EarthquakeInformation Center within hours of an earthquake having taken place. The data is mapped using the Xerox PARC Map Viewer. The dynamic natureof this interface means not only are the maps as recent as theearthquake records, but maps can be zoomed and panned to suitparticular user requirements.
Bruce Gittings,
Dept. of Geography
Univ. of Edinburgh
Drummond Street
Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, Scotland
BRUCE@ED.AC.UK
At the suggestion of faithful reader David Baldwin, we would like toannounce the First Monthly DR Dynamite Disaster Web Site Contest. Justsend us the best URLs/Home Pages that you've found on the Net thatdeal with hazards and disasters (other Net resources are alsoacceptable). Winning entries will be posted in DR and winners willreceive a lifetime subscription to Disaster Research.
--The Management
In the Hazard Center's latest working paper, "The Hyatt SkywalkDisaster and Other Lessons in the Regulation of Building" (WP #91,1994, 15 pp.), authors William Waugh and Ronald John Hy examine theuse of building codes and enforcement to mitigate disaster losses. Theauthors focus on the 1981 skywalk collapse at the Hyatt Regency Hotelin Kansas City that killed 113 people and seriously injured 200 more.Investigators determined that had the city building code reflected thelocal seismic risk designation, the walkway may have accommodated thismotion. Waugh and Hy compare these findings to other disasters anddiscuss the need for adoption of seismic codes outside California,improved expertise to enforce building codes, efforts to retrofitolder buildings, and inclusion of wildfire provisions in codes. Copiesof Working Paper #91 sell for $4.50 and can be ordered from thePublications Clerk, Natural Hazards Center, Campus Box 482, Universityof Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0482, (303) 492-6819; fax: (303) 492-2151; e-mail: jclark@colorado.edu. Orders from outside North Americashould include $1.00 for surface shipping or $3.00 for shipment viaair printed matter.
The Department of Public Administration at the University of NorthTexas is seeking applicants for two tenure-track appointments - one atthe assistant, the other at the assistant or associate professorlevel, to begin September 1, 1995. A third position may also becomeavailable. The positions entail teaching at the undergraduate todoctoral level, with primary responsibility in an MPA program.Candidates should possess a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline (ABDs willbe considered only if near completion); an active research agenda inan appropriate field; and an interest in teaching courses in at leasttwo of the following areas: emergency management (includingenvironmental hazards), quantitative analysis, urban managementplanning, political/legal context of public administration,governmental budgeting, intergovernmental relations, nonprofitmanagement, or health policy/administration. Qualified persons withprevious government experience are encouraged to apply. Applicantsshould send a vita, at least three references, and supportingmaterials to Dr. Bob Bland, Chair, Department of PublicAdministration, P.O. Box 13136, Denton, TX 76203-6136.
The Colorado Office of Emergency Management has developed a Windows-based computerized damage assessment program that includes a modulefor situation reporting from cities, counties, and states by fax ormodem. The state is also developing a DOS version of the program,along with a "Victim-Volunteer" matching program for recovery fromdisasters. Colorado will supply a copy of the Windows damageassessment program to interested governmental entities that providethree blank, high-density, 3-1/2" diskettes, along with a check for$5.00, payable to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. Nongovernmental entities should contact Robert Kistner at the address below forfurther information. Contact the Colorado Office of EmergencyManagement, 15075 South Golden Road, Golden, CO 80401-3979; (303) 273-1622; fax: (303) 273-1795.
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