Disaster Research 229

July 23, 1997

Table of contents

1. ERLink to Ease Electronic Information Exchange in Disasters
2. IIPLR Finds Another Partner
3. Insurance Industry to Work with UNEP on Environmental Issues
4. Internet Stuff
5. Help Wanted - Health Crisis Mitigation Specialist
6. Who's the Best in Earthquake Safety?
7. Upcoming Workshops at ADPC
8. EENET Alert
9. Conferences and Training

ERLink is a controlled access Web site that allows Federal Response Plan partners to both obtain and post information. The system is currently being tested by several federal agencies to determine if ERLink can truly support the community's information requirements. To obtain more information about ERLink, contact program manager John O'Connor; e-mail: oconnorj@ncs.gov; phone: (703) 607-6130.

The Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction (IIPLR), an insurance industry institute established to address the problem of increasing losses due to natural disasters, recently signed a "Statement of Understanding" with the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM). The statement complements earlier agreements between IIPLR and several other agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey, to work together on disaster issues. For further information on this agreement, contact the Association of State Floodplain Managers, 4233 West Beltline Highway, Madison, WI 53711; (608) 274-0123; fax: (608) 274-0696; e-mail: asfpm@execpc.com.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om
The National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Meteorology (OM) Web site contains full-text weather service publications - including hazard awareness materials on hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms and lightning, floods, winter weather, and other topics - discussion of "hot topics," and a section on "significant weather." It also offers 1995 Natural Hazards Statistics, as well as Disaster Survey Reports - evaluations of NWS performance in recent disasters.

http://www.cnie.org
The Committee for the National Institute for the Environment (NIE) has recently put its "Directory of Higher Education Environmental Programs" on the Web. The directory covers nearly 60 undergraduate and graduate programs representing the full spectrum of environmental disciplines.

http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov
The U.S. Geological Survey's Geologic Hazards Team conducts global investigations of earthquake, geomagnetic, and landslide hazards. The team consists of eight research groups and three information centers. The research specialties are seismic hazard mapping, seismograph networks, global seismology, engineering seismology, neotectonics, paleoseismology, landslide hazards, and geomagnetism. The information activities include the National Earthquake Information Center, the National Geomagnetic Information Center, and the National Landslide Information Center. The Geologic Hazards Team Web site includes sections on earthquakes, landslides, recent publications, hazard images, solar winds, the Northridge earthquake, and geomagnetism, as well as a link to the USGS's "Ask-a-Geologist" public service and other useful sites.

http://nceer.eng.buffalo.edu/faqs
The Information Service at the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) in Buffalo, New York, recently put together this handy little "electronic packet" of earthquake information to answer the most frequently asked questions of secondary school science students and teachers, as well as engineers, in New York State.

http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/ora/ht/ff
The Office of Research and Applications of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is producing experimental products in real-time to help monitor conditions conducive to flash floods. Their Soil Wetness Index (SWI) shows the current surface conditions and the accompanying SWI anomaly represents the difference of current conditions from the past four-year average. Experimental Automated Precipitation products for the U.S. are instantaneous estimates of precipitation as well as 1-, 3-, 6-,and 24- hour totals. A recent enhancement allows users to zoom-in on their area of interest. These products are derived from the NOAA geostationary (GOES) satellite and Department of Defense's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites and can be accessed at the URL above.

http://www.fema.gov/MIT/how2.htm
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has launched a new "How To" series of fact sheets that present simple tips designed to help the public protect their property from high winds, flooding, earthquakes, and wildfires. The first twenty fact sheets are now available in the mitigation section of the FEMA Web site at the URL above. Additional fact sheets will be added soon.

http://www.slonet.org/~abenini/
Hazards researchers Aldo and Jan Benini have established this "Humanitarian Scenarios" Web site, which offers full-text papers on humanitarian and disaster management issues written from an academic perspective, but drawing on personal experience working for the International Red Cross and in the emergency management training professions. The site also offers two examples of simulations written in a popular spreadsheet application that can be downloaded and tested. More resources will be added regularly. Current papers include:

1. "Computer Simulation of Humanitarian Scenarios"
2. "Simulating the Effectiveness of Humanitarian Action"
3. "Ebola Strikes the Global Village"
4. "Early Warning Systems for Violent Conflict"
5. "Relief Economics: Walking in a Political Minefield"
6. "Uncertainty and Information Flows in Humanitarian Agencies"

Closing date: July 28, 1997. Send resumes to: Naseema Saleem, USAID/BHR/OFDA/PS, Department of State, 2201 C Street, NW Room 1262A, Washington, D.C.; (202) 523-0008; fax: (202) 647-5269; e-mail: nsaleem@usaid.gov

Introduction to 
Urban Disaster Mitigation Course         September 1-13, 1997

Training of Trainers Course
in Disaster Management                   October 20-31, 1997

Executive Development Program            November 17-December 5, 1997

Community Based Approaches
to Disaster Management                   January 12-24, 1998

Basic Course in Disaster Management      March 9-28, 1998

Below are recent conference announcements received by the Natural Hazards Center. Most previous issues of DR contain additional notices. A comprehensive list of upcoming disaster-related meetings and training is available from our World Wide Web site: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/conf.html

New Avenues in Crisis Management. Sponsors: University of Nevada-Las Vegas and others. Las Vegas, Nevada: August 6-8, 1997. Contact: UNLV - NSBDC, P.O. Box 456011, Las Vegas, NV 89154-6011; (702) 895-0852; fax: (702) 895-4095; e-mail: nsbdc@nevada.edu; WWW: http://www.nevada.edu/home/16/nsbdc/crisis/

The ABC of Business Continuity Planning. Offered by: Survive! Business Continuity Group. Oxfordshire, U.K.: August 6-8, 1997 and September 22-24, 1997. Contact: Survive! Secretariat, The Chapel, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Fitzhugh Grove, London SW18 3SX, U.K.; tel: +44-181-874 6266; fax: +44-181-874 6446; e-mail: surviveuk@cityscape.co.uk

Northridge Earthquake Research Conference. Sponsor: National Science Foundation. Los Angeles, California: August 20-22, 1997. Contact: Northridge Earthquake Research Conference, California Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREe), 1301 South 46th Street, Richmond, CA 94804; (510) 231-9557; fax: (510) 231-5664; e-mail: curee@nisee.ce.berkeley.edu; WWW: http://curee.eerc.berkeley.edu/curee.html

Helping Communities Help Themselves: A Flood Mitigation, Floodplain and Watershed Management Workshop for the Floods of '97. Tentatively scheduled for the Fargo, North Dakota/Moorehead, Minnesota area, September 2-4, 1997. Contact: The Association of State Floodplain Managers, 4233 West Beltline Highway, Madison, WI 53711; (608) 274- 0123; fax; (608) 274-0696; e-mail: asfpm@execpc.com.

"First Due" Fire and Rescue Conference and Exposition. Sponsors: National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue in cooperation with Fire Rescue Magazine. Norfolk, Virginia: September 9-13, 1997. Contact: Jems Communications, P.O. Box 2789, Carlsbad, CA 92018; (800) 266-5367; WWW: http://www.jems.com.

ConSec '97: The Southwest Regional Planning Symposium on Business Continuity and Information Security. Sponsors: Information Systems Security Association, Association of Contingency Planners, Texas Department of Information Resources. Austin, Texas: September 23-26, 1997. Contact: William Tompkins, Texas Department of Information Resources; e-mail: william.tompkins@dir.state.tx.us; WWW: http://www.dir.state.tx.us/consec/index.html; tel: (512) 475-3330

Emergency Management Technology Partners: A Workshop Focused on Building Bridges for Technology Transfer. Sponsor: Federal Emergency Management Agency. Richland, Washington: September 22-25, 1997. Contact: FEMA Workshop, c/o Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, K1-05, Richland, WA 99352; (800) 806-9790; e-mail: FEMA.Workshop@pnl.gov; WWW: http://pnl113.pnl.gov/fema/femamain.nsf.

Enhancing Coastal Resilience: Planning for an Uncertain Future. London, England: October 29, 1997. Contact: Robert Nicholls, Middlesex University; fax: +181 362 6538; e-mail: r.nicholls@mdx.ac.uk - or - Julia Branson, Southampton University; fax: +1703 592719; e-mail: j.branson@soton.ac.uk.

International Workshop on the Vrancea Earthquake. Bucharest, Romania: November 1-4, 1997. Contact: Workshop Committee; e-mail: fwenzel@gpiwap1.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de - or - lungud@hidro.utcb.ro.

Business Continuity Workshops. Offered by: Survive! Business Continuity Group. Oxfordshire, U.K.: November 17-27, 1997. Contact: Survive! Secretariat, The Chapel, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Fitzhugh Grove, London SW18 3SX, U.K.; tel: +44-181-874 6266; fax: +44-181-874 6446; e-mail: surviveuk@cityscape.co.uk

Health Crisis and the Internet: An International Meeting on Harnessing the Internet for Disasters and Epidemics. Sponsors: Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization, Ministry of Health of Colombia. Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia: November 18-21, 1997. Contact: Pan American Health Organization, Emergency Preparedness Program, 525 Twenty-third Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037; (202) 974-3520; fax: (202) 775-4578; e-mail: crisis-internet@paho.org; WWW: http://www.paho.org/english/ped/ped-internet.htm

Partners for Smart Growth Conference. Sponsors: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Urban Land Institute. Baltimore, Maryland: December 2-4, 1997. Contact: Urban Land Institute, 1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20007-5201; (800) 321-5011; e-mail: smartgrowth@uli.org: WWW: http://www.uli.org/educate/education/smartgro.html.

Ninth Annual Chemical Emergency Preparedness & Prevention Conference. Sponsor: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region III. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: December 2-5, 1997. Contact: Vtec2, 252 Newtown Road, Richboro, PA 18954; (888) 429-6289 (toll free) - or - (215) 942-2088; fax: (215) 357-3613; WWW: http://www.vtec2.com/cepp97.htm.

Seminar on Seismic Design, Retrofit and Performance of Nonstructural Components. Offered by: Applied Technology Council (ATC). San Francisco, California: January 22-23, 1998. Abstracts due September 15, 1997. Contact: ATC-29-1 Project, Applied Technology Council, 555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, CA 94065; (415) 595-1542; fax: (415) 593-2320; e-mail: atc@atcouncil.org.

Fourth International Symposium on Hydrologic Applications of Weather Radar. Sponsor: American Geophysical Union and others. San Diego, California: April 5-9, 1998. Abstracts due November 1, 1998. Contact: Dr. Konstantine P. Georgakakos, Hydrologic Research Center, 12780 High Bluff Drive, Suite 250, San Diego, CA 92130, attn: Ms. Corinne Rice; (619) 794-2726; fax: (619) 792-2519; e-mail: admin@hrc.ucsd.edu; WWW: http://hrc.ucsd.edu - or - http://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/meetings.

TIEMS '98 - Disaster and Emergency Management: International Challenges for the Next Decade - The Fifth Annual Conference of the International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS). Washington, D.C.: May 19-22, 1998. Abstracts due December 1, 1997. Contact: Greg Shaw, Conference Coordinator, c/o The George Washington University Institute for Crisis and Disaster Management, 20101 Academic Way, Suite 220B, Ashburn, VA 22201; (703) 729-8271; fax: (703) 729-8248; e-mail: crisismgt@seas.gwu.edu.

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Spring Meeting. Boston, Massachusetts: May 26-29, 1998. Contact: AGU, Meetings Department, 1998 Spring Meeting, 2000 Florida Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20009; (800) 966-2481 - or - (202) 462-6900; fax: (202) 328-0566; e-mail: meetinginfo@kosmos.agu.org; WWW: http://www.agu.org.

Fifth Internal Conference on Computer Aided Assessment and Control of Localised Damage. Organized by Wessex Institute of Technology, U.K., and Politecnico di Torino, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale, Italy. Bologna, Italy: June 8-10, 1998. Abstracts due October 13, 1997. Contact: Liz Kerr, LOCALISED DAMAGE 98 Conference Secretariat, Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton SO40 7AA U.K.; tel: (44) (1703) 293 223; fax: (44) (1703) 292 853; e-mail: liz@wessex.ac.uk; WWW: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/.

Eighth World Conference on Disaster Management: "Real Events . . . Real Leaders . . . Real Solutions". Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: June 14-17, 1998. Contact: Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness; (800) 965-4608 - or - (905) 546-3911; e-mail: ccep@netaccess.on.ca; WWW: http://nas.net/ccep - or - http://www.netaccess.on.ca/~ccep/ccep/index.shtml.

First World Congress on Risk Analysis. Sponsor: Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). Somewhere in Europe: Sometime in the year 2000. Contact: Richard J. Burk Jr., Executive Secretary, SRA, 1313 Dolley Madison Boulevard, Suite 402, McLean, VA 22101; (703) 790-1745; fax: (703) 790-2672; e-mail: sraburkmgt@aol.com.

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