Disaster Research 159

February 24, 1995

This newsletter is reprinted with the full knowledge and consent of the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center in Boulder, CO.

Table of contents

  1. Hazards Center Seeking Disaster Loss Data
  2. Seeking Campus Emergency Plans
  3. Seeking Information on Natural Hazards in Africa
  4. Wondering What's Happening in Kobe - *Now*
  5. Looking for a Laboratory Accident Data Base
  6. Seeking Information on University Programs in Risk and Risk Experts
  7. Web Sites
  8. Fema Faxes
  9. Meetings and Training

Hazards Center Seeking Disaster Loss Data

As part of its Assessment of Natural Hazards research project, theNatural Hazards Center is attempting to gather data on losses due tonatural and/or technological hazards in the U.S. and its territories forthe period 1975 to the present. The primary natural hazards beingconsidered are: floods, droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,blizzards, and volcanoes. Any natural hazards that may be associatedwith these primary hazards - such as mudslides, fires, lightning,tsunamis, avalanches, etc. - are also being considered. The primarytechnological hazards include any type of nuclear accident, and othertypes of hazardous material spills, accidents, or contamination, etc.

Losses have been divided into five major categories: number of liveslost; number of injuries; monetary damages to the constructedenvironment; disruptions to the social, economic, and businesscommunities; and secondary impacts.

The data being collected will be normalized and stored electronically atthe Hazards Center; it will be made available to any interested parties.Any data or data sources you might know of would be of great help to us.Please send information to Betsy Forrest at forrestb@ucsub.colorado.eduThanks.

Seeking Campus Emergency Plans

The University of Colorado is looking for copies of emergency responseand recovery plans for college and university campuses. We are currentlydeveloping a plan and would like to see what elements have been includedin plans from other institutions. Please send copies to:

Sylvia Dane
Natural Hazards Center
Campus Box 482
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0482
(303) 492-4181
fax: (303) 492-2151
e-mail: dane@colorado.edu

Seeking Information on Natural Hazards in Africa

I have been asked to contribute a chapter on natural hazards in Africato a book (or "manual") being prepared as a contribution to theInternational Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction. This is aninternational project under the auspices of the International Council ofScientific Unions Committee on the Teaching of Science. While theprimary focus of the manual is teachers and school curricula, it is alsoaimed at wider public education. The current plan is for the manual tohave five sections:

  1. Current research on natural hazards and disasters
  2. Regional perspectives on natural disasters
  3. School curricula and natural disaster mitigation
  4. Case studies of successful curriculum interventions
  5. Suggestions for implementation of the material presented.

The chapter on natural hazards in Africa would form part of section 2.This section is intended to describe and explain the ways in whichvarious hazards impinge on the lives of people in different parts of theworld: which hazards affect the region; what aspects of life contributeto hazard vulnerability; the historical occurrence and pattern ofdisaster events; and current and potential actions to reducevulnerability.

I am seeking information on any aspect of natural hazards and/ordisasters on the African continent (including North Africa) - not justthe obvious ones like drought, but also more localised and perhaps lessfrequent disasters - locusts? floods? strong winds? hurricanes?landslides? I would be inclined to include biological as well asmeteorological or geophysical hazards, and human-induced processes suchas desertification as well as those nominally more "natural." I wouldappreciate any information, suggestions, references etc. Visual materialwould also be greatly welcomed.

Please reply to:

Dr Belinda Dodson
Department of Environmental and Geographical Science
University of Cape Town
Private Bag
Rondebosch, W Cape
7700 SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: +27-21-6502876
Fax: +27-21-6503791
e-mail: DODSON@ENVIRO.UCT.AC.ZA

Wondering What's Happening in Kobe - *Now*

I'm currently compiling a report on the Kobe disaster and I realizedthat the disaster stopped being news long before the disaster was over.Does anyone have any information on what is happening in Kobe today?What was the _total_ death count? Do people go to work yet? Hasrebuilding begun?

Thanks,
The Cossack
Dechelb@UofT02.UToledo.Edu
(Please Include Previous Text In Replies)

Looking for a Laboratory Accident Data Base

[Received the following from Adele N Bosnjak ]

I would appreciate very much if you can tell me if there is data baseavailable for research lab accidents and if so how to get it.Thank you.

Seeking Information on University Programs in Risk and Risk Experts

Do any North American institutions offer degrees or diplomas in riskassessment or management? Does Louisiana State U. offer a (graduate)degree in risk assessment? Is there a professional code of conduct forrisk practitioners? A proposed code?

I am writing a paper to be published in a Canadian journal on"disagreements between experts who make judgements about environmentaland human health risk" and was asked by one of my reviewers just whothese "risk experts" are. Good question. I am interested in theconventional use of the term. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help.

Christina Chociolko
Environmental Policy Unit
School of Policy Studies
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, CANADA
613 545 6000 ext. 5279 (voice)
613 545 6630 (fax)
chociolk@post.queensu.ca

Web Sites

Those of you who spend much time on the Internet are well aware that theWorld Wide Web (WWW) is living up to its name - WWW sites withinformation on everything from earthquakes to milkshakes seem to bespreading exponentially as the Web encircles the globe. Thanks todiligent DR readers who responded to our recent call for useful/interesting hazards Web sites, we present here the sites-of-the-week.More later, we're sure.

From Justin Kibell in Australia (jck@catt.citri.edu.au):
I would like to put forward my WWW site for the Victoria State EmergencyService in Australia. It has been running for at least 5 months now andwas one of the first Emergency Services WWW to appear on the Internet.. . . There are about 50meg of pictures and heaps of links and text. Ialso have some audio advertisements/PR/Warnings that the SES have putout on the radio. . . .

http://144.110.160.105:9000/~jck/vicses/vicses.html

From David Gronbeck-Jones in Canada :
New disaster emergency related www home page at:

http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/~pep

This is the British Columbia (Canada) Provincial Emergency Program - a"state-equivalent-level" government organization.

From David Baldwin in Oregon :
I saw a neat earthquake map page that was at Carleton University inCanada (I think). You see a world map, with red Xs marking where fiverecent earthquakes happened. Clicking on an X zooms in a little closerto that spot (repeatedly). Try:

http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/cgi-bin/quakes

From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Waterways ExperimentStation in Mississippi:
The USACE's Wetlands Research Program Bulletin is available on theInternet as part of the home page for the Wetlands Research andTechnology Center at the USACE Waterways Experiment Station. The addressis:

http://www.wes.army.mil/

The WRTC/WRP home page can be found under "Other WES Resources, Centers,and Programs."

From Ric Jensen in Texas (rjensen@tamu.edu>:
Information about water and environmental related issues in Texas is nowavailable over the Internet. The Texas Water Resources Institute, aresearch center at Texas A&M University in College Station, hasdeveloped a World Wide Web site called Texas WaterNet. The site letsusers access and download information on TWRI and its publications andprograms and allows them to link to sites with additional information.Texas Waternet can be accessed at the following URL:

http://ageninfo.tamu.edu/~twri/.

FEMA Faxes

We just received a blurb about the Federal Emergency Management Agency's24-hour information line - FEMAFAX. Four types of information areavailable, each with its own index:

  • Disaster Information (Index = Document #1000): The latest information on current disaster activities, as well as historical disaster profiles and annual disaster activity reports.
  • NewsDESK (Index = Document #2000): Press releases for the current year, tipsheets, etc.
  • Emergency Preparedness Information (Index = Document #3000)
  • Information on FEMA (Index = Document #4000)

To receive a copy of the complete document summary (15 pages), using atouchtone phone call (202) 626-FEMA and at the voice prompt press 1. Thedocument index is updated daily. To receive an index to one of the fourcategories above, at the voice prompt press 2 and enter the documentnumber above.

[Editor's note: Apparently lots of information available through this source]

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Michael Scott / mike@lorax.geog.scarolina.edu
Last Modified: 03/2/95