I am a graduate student at George Mason University doing a researchproject on Intergovernmental Relations during Disaster RecoveryOperations. Any information or assistance with this project will begreatly appreciated (and properly cited). Please reply to:
Adam K. Thiel
athiel@sysplan.com
(703) 293-9097
I would like to take advantage of your internet Q&A capability byasking if anyone has a model of how a state government should (or has)set up a post-disaster plan for continuing the operations of all stategovernment agencies. . . . The issue came up from one state that ispreparing for a new governor and was disappointed that, while they hada strong system of disaster planning for the entire population, theydid not appear to have consistent planning with each cabinet agency.
Thanks for the information.
Eric Brenner
Council of Governors' Policy Advisors
cgpa@sso.org
Due you have any information on what effects disasters have on theoperational effectiveness of 911 centres? Specifically, I'm lookingfor the impact on the personnel in the centre. Also, can you refer meto anyone who has developed a disaster training program for 911personnel.
Thanks,
Jim Foston
jfoston@direct.ca
The Pacific Emergency Management Consortium Working Group will bemeeting again November 4 and 5 in San Luis Obispo, California.Corporations, agencies, educational institutions, or otherorganizations interested in becoming involved should contact Dr. WesBalda (address below).
Here's a brief history of the group:
An emergency management consultation in Morro Bay, California, onSeptember 18-20, brought together a working group of federal, state,university, National Guard, and nonprofit representatives and experts,to explore the feasibility of a new entity to address several needs inthe emergency management community. Conveners included the Governor'sOffice of Emergency Services, California Specialized TrainingInstitute, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the NationalInteragency Counterdrug Institute, and The Simeon Institute.
The group decided that a consortium of agencies, universities,government, nonprofits, and the private sector could help addresstraining and support needs in 1) management education and training(both in the U.S. and internationally), 2) research in emergencymanagement topics, and 3) extension services to provide support toothers. This consortium would gain the most by being open to all andsharing projects, tasks, and income. It would be an umbrella forcooperation among these sectors and would be a functional andgeographic focal point for emergency management efforts in California,the Western U.S., and the Pacific Rim.
A broad range of activities were envisioned, including endowed chairs rotating annually between functional areas, an international centergranting a diploma and providing training to overseas students andclients, an emphasis on risk and politically-sensitive communications,an annual executive seminar, and numerous other activities.
These matters and other issues will be addressed at the Novembermeeting.
For more information, contact:
Wesley D. Balda, Ph.D.
Director/Dean
The Simeon Institute
112 North Harvard Avenue, Suite 30
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-0867; fax: (909) 626-1499
E-mail: wbalda@simeon.org
The Amite River Basin Drainage and Water Conservation District insoutheast Louisiana seeks a full-time Executive Director withexperience in floodplain management or water resources. An advanceddegree or equivalent experience in natural resources, engineering,planning, or related fields is desirable. The Executive Director isresponsible for developing, maintaining, and managing a regional floodcontrol program (including NFIP and CRS); structural and nonstructuralproject development and administration; and coordination amongwatershed communities in a six-parish area. Experience in working withgovernmental entities is required. Salary and benefits package dependon experience. Resumes will be accepted through December 23, 1996, andshould be faxed to (540) 336-4742 and mailed to Amite River BasinDrainage and Water Conservation District, Attn: Executive SearchCommittee, 207 Florida Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801.
The Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center(NHRAIC) Web site:
adder.colorado.edu/~hazctr/Home.html
now includes numerous full-text quick response reports resulting fromrecent disaster research. The newest additions include:
- Quick Response Report #88: "Response to Severe Winter and BlizzardConditions in Grundy and Buchanan County, Virginia in 1996: A FocusGroup Analysis," by Joseph B. Perry, Duane Dukes, and Randall Norris.
- Quick Response Report #89: "Community Disaster Recovery: It Is NotGetting Easier," by Claire B. Rubin.
- Quick Response Report #90: "Tornadoes in the Districts of Jamalpurand Tangail in Bangladesh," by Thomas Schmidlin and Yuichi Ono.
The entire list of quick response reports can be accessed directly at:
adder.colorado.edu/~hazctr/qr.html
[Taken from the new WSSPC-L discussion list on seismic matters - seethe previous issue of Disaster Research]
I have just received a report from the California Policy Seminarentitled "Residential Earthquake Recovery." An extended summary of thereport is available. Anyone desiring a copy should e-mail me at wsspc@wsspc.org. A copy of the brief is also available at www.ucop.edu/cps/lancome.html.
The complete report is available free of charge to California stategovernment offices and to others for $30. A check payable to UCRegents should accompany your order. Credit cards are not accepted.Please address inquires to the California Policy Seminar, 2020 MilviaStreet, Suite 412, Berkeley, CA 94704; (510) 643-9328. Additionalquestions can be directed to the Western States Seismic Policy Council(WSSPC) Office (address below).
Thank you,
Steven Ganz
Executive Director
Western States Seismic Policy Council
121 Second Street, 4th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 974-6435; fax: (415) 974-1747; e-mail: wsspc@wsspc.org
www.wsspc.org
[The following is adapted from an announcement that was distributed inconjunction with the recently completed United Nations InternationalDecade for Natural Disaster Reduction Internet Conference on"Solutions for Cities at Risk"]
A project proposed by the Secretariat for the International Decade forNatural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR):
Sustainable development cannot take place without addressing the risks of natural disasters. Yet disaster reduction is in many casesseparate from the day-to-day development process. Disaster managersoperate in isolation and are expected to solve the disaster problemsof society without being fully involved in the planning of activitiesthat may aggravate hazards or increase the vulnerability ofpopulations. Conversely, development planners often do not considerdisaster risks as part of their planning.
The proposed IDNDR project supports the inclusion of disastermanagement and disaster reduction policies into sustainabledevelopment efforts. It will work through a bottom-up approach inwhich pilot projects and studies form the basic material forinfluencing policies at the local, national, and international levels.The pilot studies and projects are not carried out in isolation, butare closely linked to existing local and national initiatives indisaster reduction. The project provides instruments and formulatespolicies that can make the development process more sustainable.
The project addresses three thematic areas: urban vulnerabilityreduction, disaster reduction in small island states; and developmentplanning and projects. The urban component addresses an increasingdisaster risk, that of poor urban communities living in hazard-proneareas. The small islands component addresses national vulnerability todisasters and provides a bridge toward recognition of disasterreduction as a cross-sectoral sustainable development issue ininternational policies. The planning and project design themeaddresses the need for systematic methodologies to consider disasterrisks in development planning and project implementation.
The cornerstone of the project is a series of pilot activities. Theseaim to reduce risks in selected areas and provide lessons learned andexperiences in a number of key areas of disaster reduction. To makethese experiences accessible to a wider community, a programme ofinternational cooperation and exchange is set up. In addition, athematic policy research programme is included in the programme.Cooperation is a key ingredient in the implementation of the pilotprojects and thematic research. The identification of detailed workprogrammes for the pilot activities will be done in close consultationwith a range of key partners who are active in disaster reductionprogrammes.
The project duration is three years, with a first phase of 1.5 years.The estimated budget for phase one is US$ 1.7 million. The projectproposal has been forwarded to a wide range of IDNDR collaboratingpartners and potential funding partners. The first response isencouraging, and the IDNDR Secretariat hopes to raise the necessaryfunds to begin the project in early 1997.
The Secretariat invites comments and suggestions on the proposedactivities, as well as expressions of interest in collaborating withthe programme. For further information please contact the IDNDRSecretariat, attention Dr. Olavi Elo, (cc: L. Vrolijks, F.Pisano, E.Palm), and reference the "Risk-Events" announcement on disasterreduction and sustainable development.
Dr. Olavi Elo
Director
IDNDR Secretariat
Geneva, Switzerland
E-mail: idndr@dha.unicc.org
The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo invitesapplications for a few visiting professor positions. The duration ofthe appointment will be 3 to 12 months. Successful applicants shouldarrive in Tokyo between January and July, 1997.
Candidates in any area of geophysics (including, but not limited to,all areas of seismology, geodesy, geodynamics, mineral and rockphysics, physics of earthquakes, tectonics, and volcanology),geochemistry, and experimental petrology are encouraged to apply.
The monthly stipend will be 450,000 yen or higher depending onqualifications. Round-trip travel costs will be covered.
A curriculum vitae including a list of publications and a one-pagestatement of proposed research activities should be e-mailed or mailedby November 15, 1996. The application letter should include theexpected date of arrival to Japan, the desired duration of stay, thedate and place of birth, sex, nationality/citizenship, currentappointment and/or status, mailing address/telephone/fax/e-mail(office and home). Selection will be made by the end of November,1996.
Application letter should be sent to:
Tomoko Murakami
Research cooperation division
Earthquake Research Institute
The University of Tokyo
1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
venus@eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Fax: +81 (3) 3816 1159
climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/~chesters/goesproject.html
For those of you who (like ourselves) enjoy high altitude/satellite photography of terrestrial phenomena, this GOES project siteis a gold mine. GOES stands for Geosynchronous OperationalEnvironmental Satellite. For years, this series of satellites hasprovided wonderful images - both photographs and moving pictures - ofthe earth. This site includes information about the GOES project andmany of the better images from the past - everything from volcaniceruptions, to hurricanes, to tornadic storms - as well as current GOESphotos.
www.rothstein.com
Rothstein Associates Inc. and The Rothstein Catalog On DisasterRecovery have reopened an interactive forum at www.rothstein.com fordisaster recovery, business continuity, crisis management and relatedissues. The forum is open to any professionals or others interested inthis field.
The University of California-Berkeley Extension offers an eight-courseprogram leading to a Certificate in Emergency Preparedness Planningand Management. Individuals who would like to earn the certificate arestrongly encouraged to begin with the course, "Strategic Planning andImplementation in Emergency Management," offered March 4-7, 1997.Individuals with little background in emergency management areencouraged to take the two-day workshop, "Introduction to EmergencyManagement," February 27-28, 1997. The courses are taught at theExtension's classrooms in downtown San Francisco. For moreinformation, contact: John Laye, Program Director; (510) 631-0400;fax: (510) 631-0403; e-mail: johnlaye@violet.berkeley.edu; - or -Diane Wolcott and Elisabeth Lamoureaux, UC-Berkeley ExtensionEnvironmental Management; (510) 643-7143; fax: (510) 643-8290.
EENET - the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency EducationNetwork - is presenting "Mitigation Showcase," a program that will airvarious FEMA and Red Cross mitigation videotapes that can bedownloaded for training. The program will be broadcast November 14,1:00 - 3:00 p.m. (EST). For information on how to receive thisprogram, or to be placed on the EENET mailing list, call 1-800-527-4893 or (301) 447-1068; fax: (301) 447-1363; e-mail: sdownin@fema.gov.
These are the latest conference announcements we've received. Mostprevious issues of DR contain additional notices. For a*comprehensive* list of upcoming disaster-related meetings andtraining, see our World Wide Web page:
adder.colorado.edu/~hazctr/Home.html
Royal Astronomical Society/Joint Association for Geophysics DiscussionMeeting: Assessment Schemes for Earthquake Prediction. London,England: November 7-8, 1996. Contact: (up to November 5) Dr. RussEvans or Dr. David Booth, British Geological Survey, tel: 0131-667-1000; fax: 0131-668-4140/0131 667 1877; e-mail: Russ.Evans@bgs.ac.uk - or - d.c.booth@bgs.ac.uk. After November 5, contact Drs.Evans and Booth via the Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House,Piccadilly, London; tel: 0171-734 4582 or 3307; fax: 0171-494 0166.
Water Rescue '96: Natural Disasters in the Aquatic Environment.Washington, D.C.: November 14-17. Contact: International Associationof Dive Rescue Specialists, P.O. Box 5259, San Clemente, CA 92674-5259; (714) 489-2004; fax: (714) 489-5955.
RESCHEDULED:
Workshop on Implementing Hazard Resistant Housing. Dhaka, Bangladesh:December 3-5, 1996. Contact: Dr. Salek Seraj, Department of CivilEngineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology(BUET); fax: +880-2-863026: e-mail: librarian.buet@driktap.tool.nl - or - Dr. Robert Hodgson, University of Exeter, U.K.; fax: +44-1392-263907; e-mail: R.L.P.Hodgson@exeter.ac.uk.
Conference on GIS and Applications of Remote Sensing to DisasterManagement. Sponsors: National Aeronautics and Space Administrationand Federal Emergency Management Agency. Greenbelt, Maryland: January13-15, 1997. Deadline for submitting papers: December 1, 1996.Contact: Sandie Jones, (301) 220-1701; fax: (301) 220-1704, e-mail:pop200.gsfc.nasa.gov; WWW: ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/ndrd/GIS_conference.html
Seismic Design and Performance of Building Structures. Offered by theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Atlanta, Georgia: January30-31, 1997. Contact: ASCE, 1015 15th Street, N.W., Suite 600,Washington, DC 20005-2605; 1-800-548-2723 or (202) 789-2200; fax:(202) 289-6797.
Seismic Design and Performance of Building Structures. Offered by theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). New York City, New York:March 6-7, 1997. Contact: ASCE, 1015 15th Street, N.W., Suite 600,Washington, DC 20005-2605; 1-800-548-2723 or (202) 789-2200; fax:(202) 289-6797; WWW: www.asce.org.
Arid Regions Seventh Biennial Conference: Development in theFloodplains: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Sponsors: Association ofState Floodplain Managers, Floodplain Management Association, andArizona Floodplain Management Association. Laughlin, Nevada: March 19-21, 1997. Abstracts due November 15. Contact: Clark E. Farr, AridRegions Conference, Kern County Engineering and Survey Services, 2700M Street, Suite 570, Bakersfield, CA 93301; (805) 862-5094; - or -Peggy Bowker, Arid Regions Conference, Nimbus Engineers, 3710 GrantDrive, Suite A, Reno, NV 89509; (702) 689-8630.
Fourth World Congress on Stress, Trauma and Coping in the EmergencyServices Professions: Research and Practice. Sponsor: InternationalCritical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), Inc. Baltimore, Maryland:April 2-6, 1997. Contact: ICISF, 4785 Dorsey Hall Drive, Suite 102,Ellicott City, MD 21042; (410) 730-4311; fax: (410) 730-4313.
19th Annual National Hurricane Conference. Sponsors: AmericanMeteorological Society and many others. Houston, Texas: April 22-25,1997. Contact: Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association,National Hurricane Conference, 864 East Park Avenue, Tallahassee, FL32301; (904) 561-1163; fax: (904) 561-1172; WWW: www.nettally.com/nhc
14th Annual Conference of the ALERT (Automated Local Evaluation inReal Time) Users Group. Lake Tahoe, California: May 14-16, 1997.Contact: Dennis Gibbs, (805) 568-3442.
Geological Association of Canada/Mineralogical Association of Canada(GAC/MAC) Annual Joint Meeting. Ottawa, Canada: May 19-21, 1997.Includes the symposium "Geoenvironmental Mapping: Applying Geoscienceto Hazards and Land-Use Issues in the 21st Century." Contact: SteveSibbick, British Columbia Geological Survey, 5-1810 Blanshard Street,Victoria, BC, Canada V8V 1X4; (604) 952-0399; fax: (604) 952-0381;ssibbick@galaxy.gov.bc.ca.
The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS) 1997Conference. Copenhagen, Denmark: June 10-13, 1997. Papers due December30, 1996. Contact: Verner Andersen, Riso National Laboratory, P.O. Box49, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark; tel: +45 46 77 46 77; fax: +45 46 75 5170; telex: 43116; e-mail: tiems@risoe.dk; WWW: www.risoe.dk/news/tiems97.html
Coastal Zone '97. Sponsors: National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) and others. Boston, Massachusetts: June 20-26,1997. Contact: Gary Magnuson, NOAA, fax: (301) 713-4263; e-mail:gmagnuson@ocean.nos.noaa.gov.
Seventh World Conference on Disaster Management. Hamilton, Ontario,Canada: June 22-25, 1997. Contact: Canadian Centre for EmergencyPreparedness, P.O. Box 2911, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8N 3R5; (905)546-3911; 1-800-965-4608; fax: (905) 546-2340; e-mail: ccep@netaccess.on.ca.
Eighth International Conference on Soil Dynamics and EarthquakeEngineering (SDEE '97). Organized by Bogazici University, Istanbul;Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. Sponsors: UNESCO, andUnited Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster ReductionSecretariat. Istanbul, Turkey: July 20-24, 1997. Abstracts are dueJanuary 30, 1997. Contact: Ahmet S. Cakmak, Conference Chair,Princeton University, Department of Civil Engineering and OperationsResearch, Princeton, NJ 08544-5263; (609) 258-4601; fax: (609) 258-1309, (609) 258-2685; e-mail: ahmet@tremor.princeton.edu; - or -Mustafa Erdik, Conference Co-Chair, Bogazici University, KandilliObservatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Cengelkoy, Istanbul81220, Turkey; tel: +90.216.332.6560; fax: +90.216.308.0163,216.332.1711; e-mail: erdik@hamlin.cc.boun.edu.tr; WWW:www.ceor.princeton.edu/sdee.html - or - www.boun.edu.tr/sdee.html
National Coordinating Council on Emergency Management (NCCEM) 1997Annual Conference. Phoenix, Arizona: September 13-16, 1997. Contact:NCCEM, 7297 Lee Highway, Suite N, Falls Church, VA 22042; (703) 533-7672; fax: (703) 241-5603 - or - e-mail: Phyllis Mann, pmann@silverlink.net.
International Conference on Habitat, Sustainable Development andDisaster Mitigation. New Delhi, India: November 17-18, 1997. Contact:R.S. Goel, The Institution of Engineers (India), c/o Director,Environmental Management and Remote Sensing, Central Water Commission,413 (S) Seva Bhawan, R.K. Puram New Delhi - 110 066, India.
Fourth International Conference on Case Histories in GeotechnicalEngineering. St. Louis, Missouri: March 8-15, 1998. Abstracts dueDecember 15, 1996. Contact: Buddy Poe, Conference Coordinator, 103 MEAnnex, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO 65409-1560; (573) 341-6061; fax: (573) 341-4992; e-mail: buddyp@shuttle.cc.umr.edu.
Local Authorities Confronting Disasters and Emergencies. Edmonton,Alberta, Canada: June 26-July 1, 1998. Contact: Herb Presley,preslh@censsw.gov.ab.ca; - or - Dave Noble, nobled@censsw.gov.ab.ca;Disaster Services Branch, Alberta Transportation and Utilities, SecondFloor, 4999 - 98 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6B 2X3, Canada; (403) 422-9000; fax: (403) 422-1549; e-mail: disaster@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca.WWW: www.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca/disaster.
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