Thanks,
Barbara Ruffino
bruffino@worldnet.att.net
Does anyone have any samples or leads to references on "Disaster Plans
for Vivariums"? Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
(908) 704-4310
Events planned for January '98 include:
1/07/98 - Virtual Library - A special presentation by EIIP
participating partner, Robert Scott of Intergraph Federal Public
Safety, who will discuss his paper, "GIS In Emergency Management:
Crisis Response into Intelligent Planning."
1/14/98 - Virtual Classroom - Dennis Hickethier of FEMA's Emergency
Management Institute (EMI) will share recent experience with distance
learning via the Internet. An instructor and a student will also
contribute their perspectives.
1/21/98 - January Panel Discussion - Our first panel discussion of
1998 will provide an opportunity to learn more about FEMA's new
initiatives: Project Impact and Disaster Resistant Communities.
1/28/98 - Technology Arena - Michelle Hoopes of DSR, Inc. will present
a vision for an emergency management network being developed by the
private sector, which includes the Automated Reimbursement System,
NEON, and other features to come.
For further information about the EIIP Virtual Forum and EIIP
Partnership, contact Avagene Moore, CEM, EIIP Coordinator at
amoore@emforum.org.
I am editing a collection of essays for NYU Press on the cultural
history of disasters and would like to hear from potential
contributors. The volume will focus on the U.S., and I am looking
especially for essays that explore the ways in which disasters have
revealed or shaped social and political conflicts, beliefs,
ideologies, and myths. Please send brief descriptions of proposed
essays to: Steven Biel, American Studies Department, Brandeis
University, MS 005, Waltham, MA 02254; e-mail: sbiel1030@aol.com
Last October I spent two weeks at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in
Beijing - thanks, in part to FEMA's national recognition of the
Pacific Grove Fire Department's "exemplary practices" in earthquake
preparedness, which helped me get a National Science Foundation travel
grant administered by the National Center for Earthquake Engineering
Research at the State University of New York at Buffalo for US/Chinese
researcher exchange visits. I had a fascinating two weeks in Beijing
where I presented a seminar on Pacific Grove's earthquake preparedness
and then learned something of Chinese activities. The Chinese
researchers were very friendly and open and discussed a number of
their earthquake research projects with me.
I was impressed with a Chinese approach of examining magnetic
observatory records to see if there were any precursor indications
associated with known historical earthquakes. The United Nations is
interested in exploring this approach and is attempting to schedule a
workshop for a representative from each of about 50 magnetic
observatories in 23 countries to come to Beijing for a week in
February 1998. The Chinese researchers will show them three different
geomagnetic methods of data analysis so that each magnetician can go
home and search through his or her magnetic observatory data in
connection with local earthquakes to determine if there is any value
to this approach.
This United Nations "Global Programme" for research on precursors is
described on the Internet at: http://www.shore.net/~globalw/ungp/.
It is curious that research on alternative nonseismological earthquake
precursors such as these geomagnetic anomalies apparently has not been
given much emphasis in the United States. Professor Antony C. Fraser-
Smith (Stanford E.E. Department) gave a seminar at Stanford on October
26, 1994, on "Electromagnetic Methods of Earthquake Prediction: Five
Years after Loma Prieta." The seminar's announcement began, "In 1964,
shortly before the devastating M8.6 "Good Friday" earthquake in
Alaska, a magnetometer located in Kodiak recorded a number of large
disturbances of the earth's magnetic field. The observations were
reported in a distinguished scientific journal, but they have since
been almost universally ignored in discussions of the possibility of
predicting earthquakes."
(I must put my personal interest in context and point out that my
first job after leaving MIT many years ago was with the Department of
Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. I was
sent to the Huancayo Magnetic Observatory in the interior of Peru for
two years where we collected data on the earth's magnetic field and
had a seismograph to collect data on earthquakes.)
Surely someone should be interested in earthquake precursors and
prediction research and the opportunity for some cooperative
activities with Chinese researchers. Therefore I am including an
announcement of this workshop:
United Nations International Workshop for the Forecasting of Natural
Disasters by Geomagnetic Methods. Sponsors: U.N. Department for
Economic and Social Affairs, New York; U.N. Development Programme,
Beijing; Chinese Academy of Sciences; State Seismological Bureau.
Beijing China: February 11-18, 1998. The goal of the workshop is to
establish whether geomagnetic precursors to earthquakes exist and
whether a global observation network for monitoring such precursors is
viable. Topics to be covered include: 1) Principles of forecasting
natural disasters using geomagnetic methods; 2) Three geomagnetic
methods for forecasting; 3) Evaluation for short-term and annual
prediction of earthquakes. For further information, see WWW:
http://www.shore.net/~globalw/ungp/;
or contact Wendy Xu, e-mail:
wendyxu@public3.bta.net.cn, fax: 86-10-6237-5167; or Gay
Rosenblum-Kumar, United Nations Headquarters, DC1-936, New York, NY
100017; (212) 963-8381, fax: (212) 963-2916.
**Latin and Central America and the Caribbean**
The IDNDR is supporting a one-year pilot project for disaster
prevention at the local level in Costa Rica. This joint initiative by
UNDP, UNICEF and IDNDR, is being implemented together with the
National Emergency Commission of Costa Rica and local authorities and
communities in three Costa Rican regions.
**IDNDR and the UN System**
The IDNDR Secretariat and other U.N. organizations hosted a press
conference on December 18 in Geneva, to discuss U.N. actions related
to the El-Nino phenomenon - particularly to highlight the resolution
on international cooperation related to the El Nino phenomenon, to
emphasize the cross-sectoral approach to this issue within the U.N.,
to encourage dialogue with press, and to facilitate contacts with the
right people in various organizations. On that day, the General
Assembly adopted Resolution A/52/200, entitled "International
Cooperation to Reduce the Impact of the El-Nino Phenomenon," which
calls upon relevant intergovernmental bodies and others involved in
the IDNDR to actively support Decade activities to reduce the impact
of the current El-Nino. The resolution also asks the Secretary General
to promote an international strategy for preventing, mitigating, and
rehabilitating damage caused by El-Nino.
For additional information, contact scott.weber@dha.unicc.org;
The Ninth Session of the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC) of
the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) was
held in Geneva, October 13-17, 1997.
The agenda focused on the finalization of the IDNDR Action Plan for
1998-1999 and on future arrangements for disaster reduction beyond the
Decade. Hence, the STC endorsed an "IDNDR Action Plan for the Final
Phase of the Decade," which identifies priority actions at the
national, regional, and international levels and identifies key events
(such as the Early Warning Conference to be held in Potsdam, Germany,
October 1998). It outlines both thematic and regional approaches and
also establishes parameters for overall evaluation of the Decade.
Concerning the concluding events for the Decade, the STC recommended
that the IDNDR's disaster reduction achievements be the subject of the
high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations (ECOSOC) Session in 1999, or, alternatively, that a special
meeting of the General Assembly address the accomplishments. To
complement those sessions, and in order to ensure participation in the
closing event of national IDNDR committees, NGOs, and other concerned
segments of society, the STC recommended that a "Programme Forum" be
held in 1999 to examine the scientific and social aspects of disaster
reduction. The committee also decided to present a Final Report on the
Decade in 1999. The document will contain an independent appraisal of
the Decade's achievements and will recommend further development and
practical application of science and technology for disaster reduction
in the 21st century.
The STC also endorsed the theme for next year's IDNDR annual campaign:
"Disaster Prevention and the Media," with the hope of enlisting the
media at the international, regional, and national levels in the
dissemination of messages on the need for a "culture of prevention."
For additional information, as well as a copy of the STC's "Final
Statement" from the October meeting, contact Nicole Appel, United
Nations IDNDR Secretariat, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland; tel: (41-22) 798 68 94; fax: (41-22) 733 86 95; e-mail:
nicole.appel@dha.unicc.org.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is calling for public
comment on its new standard for flood resistant design and
construction. The society will conduct a public ballot for the
standard from January 15 to March 2, 1998. The standard specifies
minimum requirements for flood resistant design and construction of
structures located in flood hazard areas.
The public ballot is one of the final stages of the consensus
standards development process, and ASCE will review and address all
comments submitted through the public ballot. To obtain a copy of the
public ballot and standard, send a written request accompanied by a
$10 check or money order made payable to ASCE to the attention of
Larry Troxell, Standards Coordinator, ASCE, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive,
Reston, VA 20191.
The New York State Emergency Management Office has established a State
Joint Loss Reduction Partnership to recommend and implement ways to
make homes and businesses in New York disaster resistant. One aspect
of this initiative is to identify how the banking, construction, real
estate, code enforcement, and insurance industries can promote
mitigation through incentives and other business practices. A number
of leading businesses and financial institutions in New York are
involved in the effort. For more information, Call Susan Schneider,
Project Manager, New York State Emergency Management Office, (518)
457-9968; or Do Kim, Director of Engineering, Institute for Business
and Home Safety, 73 Tremont Street, Suite 510, Boston, MA 02108-3910;
(617) 722-0200; fax: (617) 722-0202, ext. 242.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/puad/ijmed
http://www.riskinstitute.org
http://peer.berkeley.edu
http://www.turningpointgroup.com
http://www.mitigation.com
hazmit-request@mitigation.com
Well, AltaVista - the search engine company
that seems to index *everything* on the Net - now provides a translation
engine at
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com
that will translate documents in English to French, Spanish, German,
Italian, or Portuguese and vice-versa. You can submit plain text or refer
the translator to a Web page, which it will then tackle. The translations
can be somewhat crude, but they can also help make sense of an article
that would otherwise remain opaque. Give it a try . . .
Incident Command System
Training. Offered by: Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness.
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: January 19-23, 1998. Contact: Canadian Centre
for Emergency Preparedness, P.O. Box 2911, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8N
3R5; 1-800-965-4608.
Critical Incident Stress Management - A 2-day
Basic CISD Certificate Workshop. Offered by: International Critical
Incident Stress Foundation, Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness,
and BGF Enterprises. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: January 30-31, 1998.
Contact: Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness, P.O. Box 2911,
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8N 3R5; 1-800-965-4608.
International Symposium on Information Technology Tools for Natural
Disaster Risk
Management. Sponsors: International Center for Disaster- Mitigation
Engineering (INCEDE) and the United Nations University. Bangkok,
Thailand: February 4-6, 1998. Abstracts due December 20, 1997. Contact:
Prof. Srikantha Herath, ISITT for NDRM, INCEDE, Institute of Industrial
Science, University of Tokyo, 7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106,
Japan; tel: (+81-3) 3402-6231 ext. 2661-3; fax: (+81-3) 3402-4165:
e-mail:
herath@incede.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp;
WWW:
http://incede.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/symposium98.html.
Gulf Coast Regional Climate Change Workshop. Sponsors: Southern
University and A&M College, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and
others. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: February 25-27, 1997. Contact: Dr. Zhu Hua
Ning or Dr. Kamran K. Abdollahi, Workshop Coordinators, P.O. Box 11686,
Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, LA 70813; (504)
771-3286 or 6291; fax: (504) 771-6293; e-mail:
LMTK99A@prodigy.com, or
KABDO@prodigy.net.
Flood Loads and Floodproofing/Retrofitting Residential and Non-
Residential Buildings.
Sponsor: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Chicago, Illinois:
March 9-11, 1998. Contact: ASCE Continuing Education; 1-800-548-2723; WWW:
http://www.asce.org.
First Pan American Congress of Emergency and Disaster Medicine:
"Developing
Strategies to Mitigate the Health Effects of Disasters in the Americas."
Sponsors: World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM)
and the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research of the University of
Pittsburgh, in partnership with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Costa Rica, and others. San Jose, Costa Rica: March 2-6, 1998. Deadline
for abstracts: January 31, 1998. In the U.S, contact: Dr. Ernesto A.
Pretto, Associate Director, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research,
University of Pittsburgh; (412) 383-1960; fax: (412) 624-0943; e-mail: pretto@smtp.anes.upmc.edu. In
Costa Rica: Dr. Daniel Rodriguez Guerrero, General Coordinator, Colegio de
Medicos y Cirujanos de Costa Rica, P.O. Box 548-1000, San Jose, Costa
Rica; tel: 506-232-3433; fax: 506-231-2084; e-mail:
medicos@sol.racsa.co.cr.
16th Annual EMS Today Conference and Exposition. Offered by: Jems
Communications. Baltimore, Maryland: March 11-14, 1998. Contact: Jems
Communications, P.O. Box 2789 Carlsbad, CA 92018-2789; 1-800-266-5367;
fax: (760) 431-8135; WWW:
http://www.jems.com.
Survive! European
Spring Conference. Sponsor: Survive! Business Continuity Group. Brussels,
Belgium: March 24-25, 1998. Contact: Survive! Business Continuity Group,
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;
WWW: http://www.survive.com
14th International Meeting on Prevention, Preparedness, and Response to
Hazardous Material Spills: "Risk Management: Closing the Loop." Sponsor:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Chicago, Illinois: April 5-9. 1998.
See: WWW: http://www.nrt.org/nrt/hazmat98.nsf,
or http://www.epa.gov/ceppo/pubs/postcard.html;
or e-mail: hazmat98@icfkaiser.com.
15th International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference.
Sponsor:
International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). Towson, Maryland: June
4-7, 1998. Contact: IAFC Professional Development Department, 4025 Fair
Ridge Drive, Fairfax, VA 22033-2868; fax: (703) 273-9363.
1998 Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) Annual Conference.
Las
Vegas, Nevada: October 11-14, 1998. Abstracts due March 6, 1998. Contact:
ASDSO, 450 Old Vine Street, Second Floor, Lexington, KY 40507; (606)
257-5140; fax: (606) 323-1958; e-mail: damsafety@aol.com.
Twelfth World
Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Sponsor: New Zealand Earthquake
Commission and others. Auckland, New Zealand: January 30-February 4,
2000. Contact: 12WCEE Organizing Committee, Michael Brice, Adminstrative
Secretary, New Zealand National Society for Earthquake Engineering, P.O.
Box 312, Waikanae, New Zealand; tel/fax: 64-4-293-3059; e-mail: 12wcee@cmsl.co.nz; WWW: http://www.cmsl.co.nz/12wcee; also
see http://www.eeri.org/Meeting
s/12WCEE.html.
Seeking Information on Disaster Planning for Vivariums
(Vivaria??)
Audrey Stewart, D.V.M.
Fax: (908) 725-4063
E-mail: ASTEWART@prius.jnj.com
Seeking Essays on the Cultural History of
Disasters
On Magnetic Anomaly Precursors to Earthquakes:
An Upcoming U.N.-Sponsored Meeting
An IDNDR Update
In December 1997, the IDNDR Secretariat participated in the
Inter-American Dialogue for Disaster Reduction held in Panama and
sponsored by IDNDR in association with several other regional and
international organizations. The meeting brought together diverse
participants from academia, national disaster management agencies,
public and private sectors to consider how the Decade will conclude in
the Americas. The participants anticipate that a report on disaster
reduction as an essential element of sustainable development will be
an agenda item of the forthcoming Organization of American States
Presidential Summit in the Americas scheduled for Santiago, Chile, in
April 1998. Additional dialogues are also proposed to help further
promote disaster reduction as the Decade comes to a close.
tel:
(+41-22) 740-0377, 798-6894; fax: (41-22) 733-8695.
An IDNDR/STC Update
ASCE Calls for Comments on Standard for Flood
Resistant Design and Construction
State of New York Launches Disaster Mitigation
Partnership
Net Stuff
The tables of contents of all issues of the "International
Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters" (Volume 1, No. 1, March
1983 to the present) are now available on the journal's Web site
above, along with other information about the journal including
descriptions of upcoming articles and special issues.
This is the Web site of the recently established Public Entity
Risk Institute (see
DR#236), an organization who's mission is to
serve public, private, and nonprofit organizations as a resource for the
practical enhancement of risk management - including risks associated
with natural hazards. PERI is charged with serving the interests of
public-sector organizations as well as small nonprofit organizations
and businesses. The Web site includes extensive information about the
organization, its plans and programs, as well as links to other useful
risk information on the Web.
This is the Web site of the new Pacific Earthquake Engineering
Research (PEER) Center (see
DR#236), a consortium of nine institutions
conducting earthquake research regarding: 1) policy, planning, and
economics; 2) seismic hazards; 3) performance assessment; 4) systems
reliability; and 5) innovative technologies. The site contains
information about each of the collaborating institutions, and about
the PEER Information Services program, the PEER business and
industrial partnership program, and PEER's other research, education,
and outreach efforts.
Turning Point Group, Inc., an emergency management product and
service company in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, recently announced that
it had established "Canada's first fully accessible bulletin board,
focusing on the complete range of emergency management topics." The
bulletin board, at the URL above, is intended to cover any topic
related to emergency management: emergency preparedness, disaster
response, and business recovery. It is open to anyone interested in
the field. The Web site is a forum for dialogue and exchange of ideas
among emergency practitioners from across Canada and the world and
will be managed by three members of Turning Point Group Inc., all of
whom have extensive experience in emergency management.
hazmit-request@mitigation.com
A new mailing list called HAZMIT has been established for the
global hazard mitigation community. The list is in English and both
natural and anthropogenic disasters will be covered. To subscribe send
the command SUBSCRIBE in either the subject or body of a message to:
As an alternative, you may subscribe by looking up
http://www.mitigation.com/listserv.htm
and filling out a brief form (organization
name and e-mail address). The www.mitigation.com Web site is still under
construction, but the creators intend to include sections on news,
articles and editorials, resources, discussion boards, listserves, and
employment.
Something Nifty from AltaVista
Have you ever found just the information you were looking for on
the Internet . . . except that it was in French (or Spanish or German), a
language you hadn't read or spoken since those faded freshman days decades
ago? Or have you ever wanted to send some information to a colleague in
Brazil (or Mexico or Italy), but wished that you could provide it in her
or his native tongue?
Conferences and Training
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