Disaster Research 170

June 15, 1995

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

Table of contents

  1. Information Sources III
  2. Looking for North American Disaster Maps/Photos
  3. Seeking Help with Media Kits for Earthquakes
  4. Looking for Information on Road Accident Rescue
  5. Looking for Speakers
  6. Join a Lifelines Discussion Group on the Net
  7. The Tornado Debris Project
  8. Cultural Preservationists Undertake National Emergency Preparedness Effort
  9. Some New Research of Note
  10. All the Water Resources Information You Could Ever Want
  11. Meetings


Information Sources III

Your editor has recently compiled yet another list of informationsources to supplement the lists of organizations and periodicals thatare available from the Hazards Center by e-mail, via the World Wide Web,and through the last two issues of our printed newsletter, the "NaturalHazards Observer." This latest offering covers *Internet* resources thatwe have found particularly informative and useful. The list is by nomeans comprehensive, but it does offer good starting points for Internethazards surfing. To obtain a copy, look at the Hazards Center URL:

http://adder.colorado.edu/~hazctr/Home.html

or contact us by e-mail: hazctr@colorado.edu


Looking for North American Disaster Maps/Photos

I am working on the final stages of a book chapter on North Americanhazards/disasters - Canada, the United States and Mexico - for ICSU. Iam trying to find someone who might have or know where I can find ahazard map of the three countries - showing threats. I could also usesome good shots of some aspects of Midwest floods and/or HurricaneAndrew and/or Mexico City earthquake. I have lots of Canadian photos.

Thanks.
Joe Scanlon
ECRU Carleton U.
E-mail:
Joe_Scanlon@Carleton.Ca

(I will be at the conference at Boulder and would be delighted to talkto anyone there.)


Seeking Help with Media Kits for Earthquakes

I'm a student of geography at the University of Colorado at ColoradoSprings. As part of the development of a comprehensive earthquakemitigation program for Colorado, through the Colorado EarthquakeProject, we are developing a media kit. We are looking for media kitsthat are already in use. Our kit would be sent to local mediaimmediately after an earthquake occurs in Colorado. In it would becurrent, accurate information about the threat of Colorado earthquakes.It would also include resources the media could call upon to answerfurther questions. We could also use the kits for public education inschools or in the community.

If anyone is aware of similar products please get in touch with me viathe addresses below. We are also looking into the best way to get thisinformation to the media following a quake.

Thanks,
Tim Ash
3655 Van Teylagen Dr. #1
Colorado Springs Co 80917
(719) 574-0806
tcash@uccs.edu


Looking for Information on Road Accident Rescue

As a follow up to my now 3-year-old trip to Europe to study RAR (RoadAccident Rescue), I am now seeking an update of information from otherroad rescue services. I want to know:

  1. What brand of equipment they use?
  2. Do they have a minimum equipment standard? - if so please supply a list.
  3. How many dedicated RAR units they have, and what area/population they service?
  4. Do they have minimum training and assessment standards, if so what are they?
  5. 5. Are they volunteer or full time organisations or a combination?

A summary of information will be made available on request.
Any information would be welcomed and can be sent to:

Paul Jerome,
Regional Officer
Victoria State Emergency Service
P.O. Box 551
Ballarat
Victoria 3350
Australia
Tel: +61-53-31-7000
Fax: +61-53-31-7114
E-mail:
vicses@vifp.monash.edu.au


Looking for Speakers

I am on the program committee for the Pan Pacific Hazards '96 Conferenceto be held July 29-August 2, 1996 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. We arelooking for connections/names/contacts of prominent people/researchersin the area of emergency response and/or disaster transportation/logistics as potential presenters/speakers. The transportation/logisticsissue is clearly one of current interest so any suggestions ofprominent/provocative speakers you can provide will be much appreciated.Thanks for your help.

Terry Spurgeon
3128 Beacon Drive
Coquitlam, B.C.
V3C 3W9
Tel: (604) 666-5489 (work)
Tel: (604) 464-1984 (home)
Fax: (604) 666-1175 (work)
E-mail:
tspurgeo@sfu.ca


Join a Lifelines Discussion Group on the Net

This discussion group is intended to serve professionals involved in allaspects of earthquake lifelines, including hazards research,engineering, facilities management, and public planning. Some of thelifelines to be considered include water, gas, electricity,communications, and transportation.

This group has been established by the Wellington Earthquake LifelinesGroup, which was formed in 1993 to promote the identification ofearthquake hazards and the mitigation of their effects. One of thestrengths of the project has been the cross-fertilisation of ideas froma wide range of disciplines.

Information about future meetings, new publications, and new findingsrelated to any of the above areas are welcome and will be distributed tomembers by e-mail through Internet. Discussions of unsolved problems arealso welcome.

Those who wish to join this group should send e-mail to

Majordomo@vuw.ac.nz

with the following single line in the body of the message (the subjectline will be ignored).

subscribe Lifelines

Lifelines list administrator:
John Taber
Institute of Geophysics, Victoria University
P.O. Box, 600, Wellington, New Zealand
John.Taber@vuw.ac.nz
taber@rses.vuw.ac.nz


The Tornado Debris Project

The Tornado Debris Project, administered from the School of Meteorology,University of Oklahoma, studies the transportation of debris by tornadicthunderstorms. While many anecdotal accounts exist of debris lofted bytornadoes and then found far downwind, such information has not beencollected in an organized, scientific manner. The goal of this projectis to understand how this process occurs by locating "traceable" debrissuch as canceled checks, photographs with names on them, bank papers,legal documents, envelopes, invoices, etc., and inferring a trajectoryfor the debris based on its starting and ending locations, the dynamicsof the transporting storm, and the structure of the wind field in themesoscale environment. The results of such research could prove far-reaching; by identifying a possible pattern of debris fallout withrespect to the path of a thunderstorm, emergency management officialsmay be better equipped to determine the potential hazards posed by thelofting and subsequent fallout of contaminated or toxic materials.

The Tornado Debris Project was initiated in conjunction with theVerification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX)in the spring of 1994 in the southern plains. The project relies heavilyon assistance from the public in order to locate debris. Prior to thestart of the VORTEX intensive observing period, contact letters are sentto law enforcement, emergency management, and news media personnel inthe study area (northern Texas to southern Kansas) and also "downwind"in northern Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. The contact letter acquaintsthese individuals with the project and indicates what they should expectif a tornado strikes their area. When a tornado is reported to havecaused significant damage within the study area, a press release is sentby fax to the contact personnel in counties downwind from where thetornado struck. The press release asks the public to be on the lookoutfor debris that may have been transported by the tornado.

Debris reports are received by the Tornado Debris Project via the 24-hour Tornado Debris Hotline: (800) 3DEBRIS; by mail: c/o School ofMeteorology, 100 East Boyd Street, Room 1310, Norman, OK 73019; or by e-mail: debris@metgem.gcn.uoknor.edu.

Persons who discover debris are asked to note what the item is, thespecific location where it was found, the time it was found, and if ithas any identifying marks or writing that might indicate its origin.Most debris items are sent to the Tornado Debris Project for furtherstudy and an attempt to return them to their owners.

The operation of the Tornado Debris Project during the VORTEX intensiveobserving period in the spring of 1994 yielded several reports from twotornadoes in the southern plains. Items were found anywhere from a fewmiles to over 70 miles from their source.

In the spring of 1995, the Tornado Debris Project expanded its studyarea to include reports from tornadic storms that occur anywhere in theU.S. at any time of the year. Through the cooperation of professionalmeteorologists, media personnel, science teachers, and amateur weatherwatchers, the project hopes to promote the search for tornado-blowndebris as a nationwide effort.

For more information about this project, contact Amy Lee Wyatt at theTornado Debris Project, University of Oklahoma, Sarkeys Energy Center,Suite 1310, 100 East Boyd Street, Norman, OK 73019; fax: (405) 325-0507.


Cultural Preservationists Undertake National Emergency Preparedness Effort

In March, 24 organizations and agencies willing to work to protectcultural property against natural disasters met as the National TaskForce on Emergency Response. The effort grew out of a prior meeting inDecember, called the National Summit on Emergency Response: SafeguardingOur Cultural Heritage, sponsored by the National Institute for theConservation of Cultural Property (NIC), the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA), and the Getty Conservation Institute.

The task force is a partnership of federal agencies, national serviceorganizations, and private institutions representing a wide range ofcultural and historic preservation interests. Members include theAmerican Institute of Architects, the American Library Association, theDepartment of the Army, FEMA, the Library of Congress, the NationalEmergency Management Association, the National Park Service, theNational Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, theSmithsonian Institution, and numerous preservation and libraryorganizations.

At their first meeting, members created seven working groups, acommittee on FEMA Cultural Property Policy, and a committe to oversee aGeographic Information System feasibility study. The working groups willaddress public information, information for cultural institutions,working with FEMA, training members of cultural institutions, trainingemergency management professionals and government officials, on-siteassistance, and policy and funding for recovery.

For more information about the National Task Force on EmergencyResponse, contact John Ketchum, NIC, 3299 K Street, N.W., Suite 602,Washington, DC 20007, (202) 625-1495; fax: (202) 624-1485; e-mail:john_ketchum@nic1.imssys.com.


Some New Research of Note

"Assessment of Floodplain Management in the Flint River Basin," FederalEmergency Management Agency, $80,725, seven months. Recipient:Association of State Floodplain Managers. Principal Investigator:Elliott Mittler, 6121 Shoup Avenue, Unit 30, Woodland Hills, CA 91367;(818) 703-8419.

"Continuing Archival Studies of Role Enactment, Organizing, andDisaster," National Science Foundation, $184,270, 36 months. PrincipalInvestigators: Gary A. Kreps and Susan L. Bosworth, College of Williamand Mary, Williamsburg, VA 32185; (804) 253-4000.

"Emergency Response and Early Recovery in the Hyogoken-Nambu Earthquakeof January 17, 1995," National Science Foundation, $50,000, 12 months.Principle Investigators: James D. Goltz and Charles Scawthorn, EQEInternational, Inc., 44 Montgomery Street, Suite 3200, San Francisco, CA94104-4805; (415) 989-2000.

"Outreach Training Seminars for Local Government and Industry Leaders,"Federal Emergency Management Agency, $191,000, 12 months. Contact: RonColeman, California State Fire Marshal, 7171 Bowling Drive, Suite 600,Sacramento, CA 95823; (916) 262-1870.


All the Water Resources Information You Could Ever Want

The National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) electronicpublicaiton database provides, on computer diskettes, a listing of 9849publications produced since 1984 by the NIWR, 54 institutes in the StateWater Resources Research Institute Program. Included DOS software allowsthe user to search the data by key words, author, state, type ofpublication, and year. The NIWR Publication Database costs $10.00 -primarily to cover the cost of distribution. Persons ordering shouldspecificy the type of diskettes desired. To order or obtain moreinformation, contact NIWR, Massachusetts Water Resources ResearchCenter, Blaisdell House, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-0820; (413) 545-2842; (413) 545-2304.


Meetings

[These are the latest conference announcements we have received.Additional notices appear in most previous issues of Disaster Research.A comprenhensive list of meetings is available from the Hazards CenterWeb site - http://adder.colorado.edu/~hazctr/Home.html]

Energy Emergency Preparedness Conference. Sponsors: State of Utah, U.SDepartment of Energy, and others. Park City, Utah: July 12-14, 1995.Contact: Connie McCowan, Utah Division of Comprehensive EmergencyManagement, 1110 State Office Building, Salt Lake City, UT 84114; (800)753-2858; (801) 538-3400.

Seismic Design and Performance of Waste Fills Workshop. Sponsors:Geotechnical Engineering Group, University of California at Berkeley, inconjunction with GeoSyntec Consultants and Woodward-Clyde. Gaithersburg,Maryland: July 21, 1995. Includes sections on seismicity and hazardassessment, static/dynamic material properties, static and dynamicanalyses, observations from case records, and practical design.Contact: Sherene Biden, Woodward-Clyde Consultants, (301) 258-9780.

When Decisions Count: A Special Workshop on Disaster Management.Sponsors: University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute,State Emergency Management Agency, and the Missouri Division of FireSafety. Jefferson City, Missouri: July 29, 1995. Contact: Fire andRescue Training Institute, University of Missouri - Columbia, 205 LewisHall, Columbia, MO 65211; (800) 869-3476

Coastal Earthquakes and Tsunamis - Reducing the Risks. Sponsors: OregonDepartment of Land Conservation and Development and Oregon Extension SeaGrant Program. Seaside, Oregon: August 29-31, 1995. Contact Jay Charlandat Ocean. Admin. Hall 104, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-5503; e-mail: jcharlan@oce.orst.edu; tel: (503) 737-1340; fax:(503) 737-2064.

Scientists estimate that very large earthquakes occur along theCascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ), off the coasts of Northern California,Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, every 300-400 years, with thelast event some 300 years ago. Thus, there is a 10-20% chance of a majorearthquake affecting the coastal Pacific Northwest in the next 50 years.This conference is being organized in response to this danger, and willinclude all concerned organizations and individuals - scientists, landdevelopers and planners, insurance and finance specialists, electedofficials, emergency managers and planners, port and waterfrontoperators, and affected property owners. The goals of the conference areto disseminate current scientific information on CSZ earthquakes and onearthquake hazards in general, to share results of recent coastalhazards reduction projects in coastal states and provinces, and toidentify and discuss management and policy options to reduce the risksto coastal communities from a major earthquake and tsunami. Theconference will address long-term mitigation strategies, with emphasison means to reduce the risk to lives and property which involve land useand infrastructure development decisions.

Economic Consequences of Unexpected Catastrophic Earthquakes. Sponsors:National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research and others. New YorkCity: September 12-13, 1995. Contact Deborah O'Rourke, National Centerfor Earthquake Engineering Research, State University of New York atBuffalo, Red Jacket Quadrangle, Box 610025, Buffalo, NY 14261-0025;(716) 645-3391; fax: (716) 645-3399.

American Geophysical Union - Fall Meeting. San Francisco, California:December 11-15, 1995. Call for papers and posters - special paper andposter sessions on "Monitoring of Floods and Droughts with RemoteSensing"; abstracts due September 6. Contact: Dr. Dale Quattrochi, NASAEarth Systems Science Division, ES44, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL35812; (205) 922-5887; fax: (205) 922-5723; e-mail: dale.quattrochi@msfc.nasa.gov.

Recent major flooding events, such as the 1993 and 1995 Mississippibasin floods, show how better assessment of the magnitude and extent offloods and droughts is needed to reduce their impact on daily life.Remote sensing offers a synoptic space and time perspective for studyingsevere hydrologic events and for evaluating the impact that floods anddroughts have on local and regional human health and safety, as well ason the economies of impacted areas. This session is soliciting papersthat demonstrate how remote sensing can be used to monitor the impactsof severe hydrologic events, and on the potential uses of remote sensingfor developing mitigation strategies and for coordinating disastermanagement efforts in response to floods or droughts.

Risk Management Strategies in Agriculture: State of the Art and FuturePerspectives. Sponsor: EUNITA - EUropean Network for InformationTechnology in Agriculture. Wageningen, The Netherlands: January 7-10,1996. A call for papers has been issued. Abstracts of 500 words inEnglish should be submitted on paper or in electronic form by September15. Contact: Dr. Ruud Huirne, Wageningen Agricultural University,Department of Farm Management, Hollandseweg 1, NL-6706 KN Wageningen,The Netherlands; tel: (31) 8370 84065; fax: (31) 8370 84763; e-mail:ruud.huirne@alg.abe.wau.nl. The seminar has a WWW-page available:http://eunita.lii.unitn.it/EUNITA/

Seventh U.S.-Japan Workshop on Improvement of Structural Design andConstruction Practices: Lessons Learned from Kobe and Northridge.Sponsors: Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Japan StructuralConsultants Association (JSCA). Kobe, Japan: January 18-20, 1996.Abstracts should be submitted by August 31. Contact: ATC, 555 TwinDolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, CA 94065; (415) 595-1542; fax:(415) 593-2320.

International Conference on Air Pollution from Agricultural Operations.Sponsors: Midwest Plan Service, Northwest Regional AgriculturalEngineering Service, and Cooperative Extension Service. Kansas City,Missouri: February 9-11, 1996. A call for abstracts, due August 15,1995, has been issued. Contact: Dr. Albert J. Heber, ConferenceChairperson and Planning Subcommittee Chairperson, 1146 Agricultural andBiological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907;(317) 494-1214; fax: (317) 496-1115; e-mail: heber@ecn.purdue.edu.

Second International Conference - Local Authorities ConfrontingDisasters and Emergencies. Sponsors: Netherlands Ministry of theInterior and others. Amsterdam, Holland: April 22-24, 1996. Contact:Ministry of the Interior, Crisis Management and Fire ServicesDepartment, ICLA Conference Office H1603, P.O. Box 20011, NL-2500 EA,The Hague, The Netherlands; tel: (+31) 70 302 7323/7047; fax: (+31) 70302 6204.

Hazards-96: Sixth International Symposium on Natural and Man-MadeHazards. Sponsors: International Society for the Prevention andMitigation of Natural Hazards and others. Toronto, Canada: July 21-26,1996. Contact: the Natural Hazards Society, P.O. Box 49511, 80 GlenShields Avenue, Concord, Ontario, Canada L4K 4P6; or M.I. El-Sabh,President, Natural Hazards Society, Centre Oceanographique de Rimouski,310 allee des Ursulines, Rimouski, Quebec, Canada G5L 3A1; (418) 724-1707; fax: (418) 724-1842; e-mail: mohammed_el_sabh@uqar.uquebec.ca.



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