DISASTER RESEARCH 264

August 4, 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  1. Two New Working Papers from the Natural Hazards Center . . . And Five Quick Response Reports

  2. Congress Passes National Drought Policy Act

  3. Help Wanted: Special Assistant to the Director of OFDA

  4. Seeking Information on Registration of Evacuees

  5. Happy Birthday, EIIP Virtual Forum!

  6. Conferences and Training

1)----------
From the Hazards Center to You . . .
Via the World Wide Web

Two New Working Papers from the Natural Hazards Center

As mentioned in DR #259, hazards researcher Elliott Mittler is undertaking a series of case studies of state initiatives in disaster mitigation and management in order to clarify why states undertake such programs, determine how other states can be encouraged to follow suit, and define an appropriate role for the federal government in supporting these activities. Mittler's third study, Natural Hazards Working Paper #98, entitled A Case Study of Florida's Emergency Management Since Hurricane Andrew , is now available from the Hazards Center Web site: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/wp/wp.html

Another paper has also recently been added to the site: Working Paper #99, What Hazards and Disasters Are Likely in the 21st Century - or Sooner , by Claire B. Rubin. In it, Rubin summarizes the emerging threats that we face in a society that is growing increasingly urban, complex, interconnected, and reliant on sophisticated technologies. She not only summarizes the risks but also outlines some new ways of conceptualizing these problems and new approaches and organizational arrangements that will be necessary to deal with them.

If you do not have access to the World Wide Web, printed copies of these Working Papers are available for $9.00, plus $3.00 domestic shipping and handling, from the Hazards Center Publications Clerk at the address below.

. . . And Five Quick Response Reports

With funds provided by the National Science Foundation, the Natural Hazards Center sponsors "Quick Response" research - studies of the effects of and immediate response to disasters. Upon completing their work, quick response researchers submit brief reports of their findings to the center, which publishes them immediately via the World Wide Web. Five new full-text reports are now available on-line:

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr104.html

QR104: "Dissociative and Posttraumatic Reactions to the Northern California Flooding of 1997," by Lynn C. Waelde, Cheryl Koopman, and David Spiegel

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr105.html

QR105: "Towards a Theory of Coordination: Umbrella Organization and Disaster Relief in the 1997-98 Peruvian El Nino, by David A. McEntire

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr106/qr106.html

QR106: "Risk Factors for Death in the 22-23 February 1998 Florida Tornadoes," by Thomas W. Schmidlin, Paul S. King, Barbara O. Hammer, and Yuichi Ono

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr107.html

QR107: "El Nino and Perceptions of the Southern California Floods and Mudslides of 1998," by Christine M. Rodrigue and Eugenie Rovai

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr108.html

QR108: "The Emergency Aid in the Aftermath of the Italian Earthquake of September 26, 1997," by Inno Rossi

The entire list of quick response reports is available at: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr.html

In addition, printed copies can be purchased for $5.00 each, plus shipping charges ($3.00 for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; $4.00 for international surface mail; and $5.00 for international air printed matter). Orders should be directed to the Publications Clerk, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, Campus Box 482, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0482, (303) 492-6819; fax: (303) 492-2151; e-mail: jclark@colorado.edu. For overseas costs, contact the Publications Clerk at the address above or consult the Hazards Center on-line publication order form: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/puborder.html.

2)----------
Congress Passes National Drought Policy Act

On July 16, President Clinton signed the National Drought Policy Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-199), establishing a commission to provide advice and recommendations to Congress "on the creation of an integrated, coordinated Federal policy designed to prepare for and respond to serious drought emergencies."

The bill establishes the National Drought Policy Commission, which includes 16 representatives from federal agencies, the National Governors' Association; the United States Conference of Mayors; population sectors acutely affected by drought emergencies, such as agriculture and credit; and other groups, such as water associations, native Americans, and fishing and environmental interests.

The commission is directed to conduct a study and report to Congress within 18 months on national drought policy. Specifically, Congress has asked the commission, in consultation with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to:


The complete text of the bill can be obtained from most federal depository libraries or via the Internet at http://thomas.loc.gov, the Library of Congress Web site. For more information on drought, contact the National Drought Mitigation Center, Department of Agricultural Meteorology, 239 L.W. Chase Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0749; (402) 472-6707; fax: (402) 472-6614; e-mail: ndmc@enso.unl.edu; WWW: http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc.

3)----------
Help Wanted: Special Assistant to the Director of OFDA

  1. Solicitation Number: M/OP-98-1549
  2. Issuance Date: 7/27/98
  3. Closing Date: 8/11/98, 5 p.m. EST
  4. Position Title: Special Assistant
  5. Market Value: GS-12 Equivalent $47,066 - $61,190
  6. Period of Performance: 9/1/98 - 8/30/99 (estimated)
  7. Place of Performance: Washington, D.C.
  8. Job Description (To Include Education, Training, and Experience Required for Position): Special Assistant

The Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the U.S. Agency for International Development is recruiting a Special Assistant to the Director of OFDA, one year personal services contract with possible renewal. The position is located in Washington, D.C.

Duties and Responsibilities

  1. Serves as confidential/special assistant to the director for special, sensitive and/or confidential assignments as they relate to OFDA.
  2. Responsible for managing action assignments and follow-up to assure effective, timely, and appropriate completion of these actions for work assignments made on behalf of the director.
  3. Reviews and recommends solutions to various issues/problems that are sensitive and/or confidential in nature for which the director has expressed a personal interest in the outcome. In this connection, collects and analyzes pertinent data for use by the director.
  4. Participates in the preparation of briefing papers in certain instances and assists in any follow-up actions deemed necessary by the director. Drafts routine replies and participates in making recommendations to resolve issues, as appropriate, for the director's action. To accomplish this, the incumbent must be fairly well versed and particularly sensitive regarding the expressed interests and desires of the PVO community.
  5. Reviews all projects or activities that either result from or may result in Congressional interests. In this respect, keeps close watch on Congressional correspondence relating to OFDA functions. Prepares and analyzes replies for the director to assure consistency with published program results or previous statements concerning the same topics. Must be particularly sensitive to the expressed interests and desires of various special interest groups including PVOs, commercial and business concerns, educational institutions and the like.
  6. Liaise with NGOs, U.N. agencies, and other international organizations, as requested by the director.
  7. Track humanitarian disaster relief and rehabilitation issues.

Knowledge/Skills/Qualifications Required

Solicitation for Personal Services Contractor (PSC): The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is seeking proposals (Standard Form 171 or OF 612) from persons interested in providing the PSC services described.

Any questions may be directed to XL Associates, Inc., OFDA Recruitment, 11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 709, Rockville, MD 20852; fax: (301) 770-2354; tel: Jesse Freese or Kirk Dohne, (301) 770-0090; e-mail: ofda@xla.com
- and/or -
Jean Rice, USAID Office of Procurement, tel: (202) 712-0913; e-mail: jrice@usaid.gov; fax: (202) 216-3052.

4)----------
Another Interesting Request
from an EMForum Discussion List . . .

Seeking Information on Registration of Evacuees

Hi there,
I am currently writing a civil defence evacuation plan for a volcanic crisis in Taranaki, New Zealand. I am trying to address the issues associated with the registration of evacuees. People that leave the area will be encouraged to go where they have family or friends to support them. Our problem is getting them to register with us so that we know they have gone and can answer enquiries about their safety and whereabouts. I think they will register, but it is how we manage the system once we have the paper copies of their registration that I am interested in.

I guess that we would look at opening a central registry outside the affected area and have all the outlying registration centres send their registrations to this place. I don't want to go reinventing the wheel and I am sure that this little problem has been looked at already.

Does someone out there have an electronic evacuee registration system that we could look at? Are there any other suggestions as to how we could manage this problem?

I look forward to a reply from someone soon.
Thank you for your help.

Shane Bayley
Regional Civil Defence Officer
Taranaki Regional Council
45 Robe Street
New Plymouth
New Zealand
E-mail: shane.bayley@trc.govt.nz

[Editor's Note: The Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership (EIIP) hosts discussion groups on various aspects of disaster management. To learn about or join the discussions, register through the EIIP Emergency Management Forum Web site: http://www.emforum.org.]

5)----------
Speaking of the EIIP Forum . . .

Happy Birthday, EIIP Virtual Forum!

The first week of August marks the one-year anniversary of the Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership (EIIP) Virtual Forum - a Web-based medium through which emergency managers and others concerned about disasters have shared their knowledge and wisdom, as well as their questions and concerns. An on-line celebration will begin Wednesday, August 5, 12:00 noon, EDT, when Philippe Boulle, Director of the United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), will be the keynote speaker. The 100+ people who have made presentations this past year via the Emergency Management Forum will be honored as the EIIP commemorates a very successful year. The organizers invite everyone with an interest in disaster reduction to join the EIIP Virtual Forum for this special on- line event.

To participate, login to http://www.emforum.org; select either "New User Account" and create your account and password to access Mr. Boulle's address and the other events of the hour; or "Chat Login" if you have an account established. Everyone is invited!

6)----------
Conferences and Training

Below are recent conference announcements received by the Natural Hazards Center. 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

Water Rescue Technician Course

Aquatic Emergencies Seminar

Both courses offered by: Lifesaving Resources; (603) 827-4139; WWW: http://www.lifesaving.com.

SMIP98 - Strong Motion Instrumentation Program 1998 Seminar on Utilization of Strong-Motion Data. Hosted by: TriNet - A joint project of the California Department of Mines and Geology, California Institute of Technology, and U.S. Geological Survey, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the California Office of Emergency Services. Oakland, California: September 15, 1998. Contact: Sharon Kendrick, Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Training Center, P.O. Box 2050, Oakland, CA 94604-2050; (510) 464-7964; fax: (510) 464-7980; WWW: http://www.abag.ca.gov/smip98.html.

The 1998 Terrorism Responders Conference. Sponsors: Ada County (Idaho) Sheriff's Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others. Boise, Idaho: September 18-20, 1998. Contact: Idaho Emergency Services Training, Division of Vocational Education, 650 West State Street, Boise, ID 83720; (208) 334-3216; WWW: http://www.adasheriff.org.

Utah Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference. Cedar City, Utah: October 29-30, 1998. Contact: Ross Wilson, UFMA Conference Program Chair, (801) 226-0393.

Virtual Fire/Rescue Expo. Produced by: National Fire and Rescue magazine and others. The Internet: November 1-5, 1998. See: http://www.vfre.com.

Government, Business, and Education Tech Expo '98 (including an "Emergency Response and Recovery Center" and a major disaster preparedness and response simulation). Sponsors: Lots of big computer companies. Los Angeles, California: December 8-11, 1998. Contact: Tech Expo Conferences and Expositions, P.O. Box 1110, Cameron Park, CA 95682; 1-800-474-3976; fax: (530) 672-0946; WWW: http://www.gbet.com.

Project Impact Summit: "Building Disaster Resistant Communities in the New Millenium." Washington, D.C.: December 9-11, 1998. This invitational meeting will bring together representatives of the Project Impact communities, at risk communities interested in Project Impact, Project Impact corporate partners, and emergency management officials. Contact: Josh Batkin, Office of the Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 500 C Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20472; (202) 646-3923.

Second Conference on Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS for Disaster Management. Sponsors: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency and The George Washington University. Washington, D.C.: January 19-21, 1999. Contact: Greg Shaw, Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management, The George Washington University Virginia Campus, 20101 Academic Way, Suite 220B, Ashburn, VA 20147-2604; (703) 729-8271; fax: (703) 729- 8272; e-mail: glshaw@gwu.edu; WWW: http://www.gwu.edu/~cms/gis/.

National Floodproofing Conference. Presented by: The Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM), with support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: February 1-5, 1999. Contact: ASFPM Executive Office, 4233 West Beltline Highway, Madison, WI 53711; (608) 274-0123; fax: (608) 274-0696; e-mail: asfpm@floods.org; WWW: http://www.floods.org.

Seventh Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst with an Introductory Course on Applied Karst Geology and Hydrology. Presented by: P.E. LaMoreaux & Associates, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and others. Harrisburg/Hershey, Pennsylvania: April 10-14, 1999. Contact: Gayle Herring, P.E. LaMoreaux & Associates, Seventh Multidisciplinary Conference, 106 Administration Road, Oak Ridge, TN 37830; (423) 483- 7483; fax: (423) 483-7639; e-mail: pelaor@usit.net; WWW: http://www.uakron.edu/geology/karstwaters/7th.html.

Second International Symposium on Earthquake Resistant Engineering Structures (ERES) '99. Organizers: University of Catania, Italy, and Wessex Institute of Technology, U.K. Catania, Italy: June 15-17, 1999. Contact: Liz Kerr, Conference Secretariat, ERES99, Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton, SO40 7AA, U.K.; tel: 44 (0) 1703 293223; fax: 44 (0) 1703 292853; e-mail: liz@wessex.ac.uk; WWW: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/1999/eres99/.

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