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In the previous DR, we mentioned that session summaries from the 2001 Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, held in Boulder, Colorado, July 15-18, could be purchased from the Hazards Center in a package that also includes descriptions of the hazards research, projects, and programs discussed at the meeting as well as the agenda, participant list, and workshop notebook.
Well, thanks to the ever-toiling web workers at the Hazards Center, the session summaries (but not the other materials) are now available free from the Hazards Center web site. See: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/ss/ss01.html for the latest information and the cutting edge questions, programs, and research in hazards mitigation and management.
Meanwhile, the entire workshop materials described above can still be purchased for $25.00, plus $6.00 shipping for domestic orders; $25.00, plus $10.00 shipping for orders outside the U.S., from the Publications Administrator, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, 482 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0482; (303) 492-6819; fax: (303) 492-2151; e-mail: janet.kroeckel@colorado.edu. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Diner's Club cards are also accepted.
Are you interested in studying a disaster within hours or days of impact? If so, here's an opportunity for you.
The Natural Hazards Center is now soliciting proposals for its FY 2002 Quick Response (QR) Research Program, which enables social scientists from the U.S. to conduct short-term studies on-site immediately after a disaster in order to collect data that would otherwise be lost.
Applicants with approved proposals are eligible to receive funding to carry out their investigation should an appropriate disaster occur in the ensuing 12 months. Grants average between $1,000 and $3,000 and essentially cover only food, lodging, and travel expenses. In return, grantees must submit reports of their findings, which are published by the Natural Hazards Center both on the World Wide Web and in hard copy (see http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr.html).
Details about proposal submission can be obtained from http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr2002.html, or by requesting a 2002 QR Program Announcement from Mary Fran Myers, Co-Director, Natural Hazards Center, 482 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0482; (303) 492-2150; fax: (303) 492-2151; e-mail: myersmf@colorado.edu. The deadline for proposal submission is October 15, 2001.
In DR #349, we announced the availability of the Hazard Center's Special Publication 38, The Storms of '98: Hurricanes Georges and Mitch - Impacts, Institutional Response, and Disaster Politics in Three Countries, by Richard Olson, Ricardo Alvarez, Bruce Baird, Amelia Estrada, Vincent Gawronski, and Juan Pablo Sarmiento Prieto. That work examines the response and "disaster politics" (including media coverage) associated with Hurricane Georges in the Dominican Republic and Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua. The focus is the "marginalization" of national emergency response agencies. These organizations - typically small national civil defense offices - were quickly shouldered aside when the disasters became major catastrophes demanding international attention and aid. New, temporary offices were established, with consequent duplication of effort, lack of coordination, and poor response.
To deal with this difficulty, Olson and his colleagues offer their "accordion option" under which a national emergency organization recognizes its probable marginalization and therefore prepares a plan for the head of state that outlines how national-level disaster response can be expanded to include other ministries and organizations, while the emergency management office itself retains an organizing and coordinating role.
To make this important work available as widely as possible, The Storms of '98 is now posted on the Hazard Center's web site at http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/sp/sp.html, where it can be read for free.
Persons desiring a printed copy can still purchase The Storms of '98 for $20.00, plus shipping ($5.00, U.S.; $8.00, Canada; $12.00, Mexico; $18.00, beyond North America) from the Publications Administrator, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, University of Colorado, 482 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0482; (303) 492- 6819; fax: (303) 492-2151; e-mail: janet.kroeckel@colorado.edu.
[This request for information recently appeared on the e-mail list of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM)]
Hello all,
The World Meteorological Organization is preparing a brochure entitled, Reducing Vulnerability to Weather and Climate Extremes. They had a question I didn't know the answer to:
In your experience so far, is there any one community or collection of communities that has done some specific hazard assessment as they've developed their action plans? For example, has anyone matched up climatological and simulation information against categories of population activities to decide what groups would be at risk under various scenarios? I picture that there might be a simple time- oriented assessment, that says that if a microburst hits during working hours, 20% are vulnerable to flying debris; if during hours of 5 pm to 9 pm, 50%... etc., as people engage in driving or other outdoor activities that enhance their exposure. It might be expanded to evaluate other hazards, such as for 3 or 4 wind speed categories, for each category of tornado, for ice or snow storms (perhaps including various accretion rates), for heavy rain (by rates), or for heatwaves. That kind of assessment might lead them to act in different ways to reduce vulnerability, including a variety of alerting scenarios and corresponding municipal and media actions, taking into account lead times, probabilities of location and intensity, as well as available resources.NWR is a factor that is pretty unique to the USA, and with it you can do a flat alerting, without a hierarchical notification tree, confident that the alert can reach the great majority if they've responded to the information campaigns about NWR. But elsewhere, communities may need to prioritize the alerting and recommended actions according to a hazard assessment. So, has a city like Denver or Norman or Boston done anything like this in preparing its action plan, to your knowledge?
. . . comments??
John Ogren
WCM, NWS Headquarters
John.Ogren@noaa.gov
As you are aware, nearly six months ago, a devastating earthquake shook India, wreaking havoc in the lives of millions of people in the state of Gujarat. In terms of the magnitude of destruction - the number of deaths and injuries as well damage to property - it was an unprecedented catastrophe.
It is well recognized now that the disaster was, by and large, human made. Thousands of innocent people became hapless victims due to poor building construction, lack of preparedness, and a complete failure of disaster management.
We know that there will be many such disasters in the future - natural and human-triggered. In order to respond to these disasters, the International Institute for Sustainable Future set up a Global Disaster Management Center in Ahmedabad, which conducts research and educational programs on the subject.
Recently, we have initiated a project of compiling a book on disaster management. Recognizing that natural disasters are irrevocable, and the fact that their intensity and frequency is likely to increase with the deterioration of our environment, resulting in global warming, ozone depletion, etc., it is imperative that we recognize this issue and prepare to deal with it.
The book will be edited by Dr. Rashmi Mayur, Director of our Institute, an international expert on disaster management. It will focus on disasters in the developing world - their effects and management. Learning from the past and forecasting through present trends, it will explore the technologies and management skills required, considering the poor economic conditions, the fragile ecology, the depleting resources, and the burgeoning population in these regions in the context of the present globalized world. We invite you to contribute your article on any topic relevant to this subject. You may send it to us in not more than 2000 words, before 10 October 2001.
With your ideas and contribution, we hope to make this a seminal work on disaster management in the world. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Very sincerely,
Roshni Udyavar
Coordinator
Disaster Management Program
E-mail: iisfb@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in
Established in June 2000, the European Crisis Management Academy (ECMA) is a joint initiative of the Leiden University Crisis Research Centre and the Centre for Crisis Management Research and Training (CRISMART), Swedish National Defence College. ECMA is a European network for crisis managers and academics with an interest in research, training, and development of this field of study and practice. By facilitating the exchange of ideas and best practices between practitioners and academics, the academy seeks to improve the knowledge and understanding needed to enhance the management of serious national and transnational crises in Europe. ECMA aims to strengthen European security by assisting in the development of safe, robust, and sustainable societies and polities.
ECMA organizes study projects, conferences, training, and other activities and will hold its first major conference in Stockholm, November 2001 (see http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/conf.html for contact information).
ECMA also maintains an exclusive link with the Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management (Blackwell publishers), and ECMA membership includes a subscription to this journal.
For more information about the academy, see the ECMA web site: http://www.ecm-academy.nl.
[Adapted from ENSO Signal - a newsletter of the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado.]
Canada has experienced recent increases in human and economic costs due to weather-related disasters, particularly the devastating January 1998 ice storm. Research efforts of Environment Canada's Adaptation and Impacts Research Group (AIRG) are focused on understanding such extreme weather events, as well as other impacts of weather, air quality, and related environmental impacts in Canada. AIRG recently renewed a five-year agreement to support a cooperative research project with the University of Toronto dealing with adaptation to weather extremes in urban environments. For more information about AIRG and this project, see: http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/airg/ -or- http://www.utoronto.ca/env/ies/airg.htm; or contact Roger B. Street, Director, AIRG, Institute for Environmental Studies, 33 Willcocks Street, Suite 1016, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3E8; tel: (416) 739-4271; e-mail: roger.street@ec.gc.ca.
[Below are some new or updated Internet resources we've discovered. For an extensive list of good Internet sites dealing with hazards, see http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/sites/sites.html]
http://www.riskinstitute.org
The Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) has published a new guide
that provides small public entities with a user-friendly process to
identify and analyze their risks across the entire organization and
all activities. Available from the PERI web site above, Risk
Identification and Analysis: A Guide for Small Public Entities,
includes ready-to-use forms and potential loss and impact summaries to
aid the risk identification process, particularly among public
entities too small to support a full-time risk manager.
http://www.clivar.org
http://clivar-search.cms.udel.edu/projects
CLIVAR is an international research program on climate
variability and predictability addressing such questions as: Will
there be an El Nino next year? Will the next monsoon cause drought or
flooding? What will the next European winter be like? Should we expect
more extreme weather events? and How much will sea level rise? It is
part of the wider World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The CLIVAR
web site provides background information about the program, recent
news, descriptions of ongoing projects, publications, and much other
information about the hazards associated with climate variability and
change.
CLIVAR has recently implemented its SPRINT (Searchable Program Information Network) database at the second URL above to provide an overview of the status of CLIVAR's major projects and national programs, with objectives, timelines, contacts, web sites, and data.
http://www.panda.org/news/press/news.cfm?id=2386
New research commissioned by the World Wildlife Federation (WWF)
has warned that dams built with the promise of reducing flooding can
often exacerbate the problem with catastrophic consequences, as some
recent floods have shown. The research paper, "Dams and Floods," shows
that dams are often designed with poor knowledge of the potential for
extreme floods. Where data does exist, it may fail to consider such
current risks as increased deforestation or the drainage of wetlands.
The loss of these natural sponges for floodwaters can increase the
risk of extreme floods. The paper argues that many of these problems
could be avoided if the recommendations of the World Commission on
Dams were applied to future dam projects. The WWF web site above not
only provides a news release about these findings, but also the
complete paper in Microsoft Word format.
http://www.eeri.org/earthquakes/Reconn/Arequipa_Peru/Arequipa.html
http://www.eqnet.org
As part of its "Learning from Earthquakes Project," the
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) sends reconnaissance
teams to the sites of major earthquakes and publishes the resulting
field reports in both hard copy and on the web. The institute's latest
offering, by Eduardo Fierro, is on the Arequipa, Peru, Earthquake of
June 23, 2001. For those interested in the Arequipa event, as well as
other significant recent earthquakes, comprehensive listings of the
reports generated by these events are available from the Earthquake
Information Network (EQNET) web site at the second URL above.
http://www.whfreeman.com/bolt/content.htm
This web site was created to complement the classic text
Earthquakes, by Bruce A. Bolt (now in its fourth edition). The site
is a free resource for students and instructors and offers a variety
of electronic instructional and learning tools designed to support the
textbook and provide additional insights into earthquakes. Resources
are organized by textbook chapter and by content type, and include web
links, flash cards, animations and images, and news about recent
earthquakes and earthquake-related happenings.
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
Visible Earth is a searchable directory, produced by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), of high tech images,
visualizations, and animations of the Earth. The directory is intended
to provide a consistently updated central catalog of earth-science-
related visualizations and images. Its goal is to aid the public, as
well as the media, scientists, and educators. The Visible Earth
includes images depicting earthquake dynamics, earthquake occurrences,
earthquake predictions, and seismic profiles. Additional categories
include continental tectonics, crustal motion, and faults.
http://www.johnstonnc.com/jces
The Johnston County, North Carolina, Emergency Services web site
and the county's Hazard Mitigation Plan, which is available in its
entirety via the site, could serve as models for other localities
desiring to use the web as a medium to promote their emergency
management services generally and disaster mitigation specifically.
Besides describing the services provided by the office, the site
contains the local Emergency Operations Plan and information about
many of the hazards (fires, natural disasters, hazardous materials
spills, medical emergencies) faced by local residents.
The Hazard Mitigation Plan, developed in 1999, is intended to be a "living document" that will evolve as the county changes and knowledge of hazards management improves. The plan
http://www.floridadisaster.org
Similarly, the Florida Department of Community Affairs, Division
of Emergency Management, provides an extensive web site that includes
a hazards page, a weather page, sections on resources and department
programs, information about current threats and situations, background
information on hurricanes, hurricane preparedness, and family
preparedness, and other topics of concern to Floridians. Some of the
information is also available in Spanish.
** Four on Lightning **
http://www.vdem.state.va.us/01light/
The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) maintains
this "Lightning Safety 2001 Homepage" with pages covering lightning
hazards, lightning facts, lightning statistics, preparing for a
thunderstorm, and public service announcements. It also provide eye-
opening survivor stories and other accounts, as well as policy
documents and medical handbooks. It includes an excellent list of
related Internet resources, some of which are listed below.
http://205.156.54.206/om/wcm/lightning/index.htm
This home page for a National Weather Service campaign on
lightning awareness and safety entitled "Lightning Kills, Play It
Safe" notes that an average of 73 people are killed annually in the
U.S. by lightning - more than the number killed by tornadoes or
hurricanes. The site includes quick facts about lightning, survivor
stories, success stories, photos, and other information.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/ltgcenter/intro.html
Through its Southern Region Office in Melbourne, Florida, the
National Weather Service also offers this "Lightning Information
Center" web site. It includes presentations on lightning safety and
basic lightning information, as well as details about the latest
lightning research and even a lightning quiz.
http://www.weather.com/safeside/lightning/index.html
Project Safeside is a joint program of the American Red Cross and
the Weather Channel to educate individuals and families about
meteorological hazards and to increase their recognition of the
importance of preparing for natural disasters. This Safeside web page
describes when and where people are at risk due to lightning, what to
do if a warning is issued and what to do before and after lightning
strikes or a thunderstorm passes by.
The Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) is hosting a series of Internet-based symposia on various issues in risk management. The next forum will be "Reducing the Community Risk of Wildland-Urban Interface Fires," and will be held October 15-19, 2001.
The prior symposium covered "Dealing with Public Risks Involved in Land Use Planning." Over 750 people signed up to receive the papers that were e-mailed each day, and many more read them on the institute's web site. The "Issues and Ideas Papers" remain available, and PERI invites all interested persons to download them from the institute's web site and distribute them to colleagues and officials.
The papers from past symposia and information about upcoming Internet conferences are available from the PERI web site: http://www.riskinstitute.org/. Printed copies of the papers can also be obtained by contacting PERI, 11350 Random Hills Road, Suite 210, Fairfax, VA 22030; (703) 352-1846.
The new Virtual Health Library for Disasters (2001 edition), published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), is now available on CD-ROM and on the Internet at: http://www.helid.desastres.net/. This latest edition of the Virtual Health Library for Disasters incorporates publications of many organizations: PAHO, WHO, UNHCR, UNICEF, the ISDR, the ICRC and several NGOs. It also includes an easy-to-use, powerful, and improved search engine. The more than 400 scientific and technical documents are all in HTML - many are also in PDF format.
A limited number of CD-ROMs is available to organizations in developing countries that work in the field of disaster reduction. PAHO encourages others to use the Virtual Health Library for Disasters on-line. For more information, e-mail: disaster-publications@paho.org.
The International Sociological Association has issued a call for papers on disasters and inequity for the XVth World Congress of Sociology to be held in Brisbane, Australia, July 7-13, 2002. The associations's Research Committee on Sociology of Disasters (RC39), will host Special Session 1: "Disasters, Inequity and Exclusion." Please send abstracts by e-mail by October 31, 2001 to Betty Hearn Morrow, Florida International University; e-mail: morrowb@fiu.edu. Abstracts should be 200-300 words long and contain name(s), affiliation, and contact details of the author(s).
The Midwest Sociological Society Annual Conference will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 4-7, 2002. William E. Lovekamp of the Southern Illinois University's Department of Sociology is organizing a session on the "Sociology of Disasters" and has sent out a call for participants. "Papers can examine any topic from mitigation strategies to recovery efforts or responses of individuals, communities, or organizations in disaster situations. Both U.S. and International cross-cultural research are welcome." Please submit papers, abstracts, or paper proposals directly to Lovekamp by mail, e-mail, or fax. The deadline for submission is October 31, 2001.
More information is available from and all submissions should be sent to: William E. Lovekamp, Southern Illinois University, Department of Sociology MC 4524, Carbondale, IL 62901-4524; (618) 453-2494; fax: (618) 453-8926; e-mail: blovekamp@hotmail.com. Additional information is available from the Midwest Sociological Society web site: http://www.drake.edu/MSS/.
[Below are some recent announcements received by the Natural Hazards Center. A comprehensive list of upcoming hazards-related meetings and training is available from our World Wide Web site: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/conf.html]
Weapons of Mass Destruction 2001 - Protecting the Lifeline. Washington, D.C.: October 1-2, 2001. E-mail: conference@janes.com; or see: http://www.janes.com/security/conference/wmd2001/wmd.shtml.
"First Multinational Middle Eastern Conference on Emergency Medicine. Organizer: Emergency Medical Association of Turkey. Istanbul, Turkey: October 4-7. See: http://www.1stmecem.org; or contact: Gurkan Ersoy, M.D.; e-mail: aciltip@ttnet.net.tr -or- gurkan.ersoy@deu.edu.tr.
Short Course on Risk Assessment and Management. Offered by: Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems, University of Virginia. Charlottesville, Virginia: October 15-18, 2001. Contact: Dr. Yacov Haimes, Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems, P.O. Box 400736, 112 Olsson Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904; (434) 924-0960; e-mail: haimes@virginia.edu.
Internet Symposium: "Reducing the Community Risk of Wildland-Urban Interface Fires." Hosted by: Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI). Via the Internet: October 15-19, 2001. See: http://www.riskinstitute.org/.
Business Recovery Managers Symposium. Offered by: MIS Training Institute. San Diego, California: October 30-November 1, 2001. Contact: MIS Training Institute, 498 Concord Street, Framingham, MA 01702-2357; (508) 879-7999; fax: (508) 872-1153; e-mail: mis@misti.com; WWW: http://www.misti.com.
Fifth Annual SR/DR (Search and Rescue/Disaster Response) Conference. Hosts: SR/DR, Inc. and Texas A&M University System's Emergency Services Training Institute. College Station, Texas: November 5-9, 2001. Contact: SR/DR, Inc., 5161 Rummels Road, Conover, WI 54519; (715) 547-3340; fax: (715) 547-3348; e-mail: srdr1@newnorth.net; WWW: http://srdr.com.
28th Disaster Management Course (DMC-28). Host: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). Bangkok, Thailand: November 5-23, 2001. Contact: The Director, Training and Education Division, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, P.O.Box 4 Klong Luang, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand; tel: (66 2) 524-5386/524-5362; fax: (66 2) 524-5360; e-mail: tedadpc@ait.ac.th. For more details about the course see: http://www.adpc.ait.ac.th/training/te.html. Applications can also be filled out on-line at http://www.adpc.ait.ac.th/training/form.html.
Facilitating and Mediating Effective Environmental Agreements. Offered by: CONCUR, Inc. Berkeley, California: November 7-9, 2001. Contact: CONCUR, Inc., 1832 Second Street, Berkeley, CA 94710; (510) 649-8008; fax: (510) 649-1980; e-mail: concur@concurinc.net; WWW: http://www.concurinc.com.
Critical Incident Stress Management Suite of Workshops. Offered by: International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF). Great Falls, Montana: December 6-9, 2001. Contact: ICISF, 10176 Baltimore National Pike, Unit 201, Ellicott City, MD 21042; (410) 750-9600; fax: (410) 750-9601; WWW: http://www.icisf.org.
Sixth Asia-Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine. Sponsors: Ministry of Health, Government of Japan, and many others. Fukuoka, Japan: February 19-22, 2002. Abstracts are due October 19, 2001 (see http://www.ics-inc.co.jp/6thapcdm/abst-form.html and/or the Web address below). For information about the program and scientific content, contact: Congress Organizing Committee, Department of Traumatology and Critical Care Medicine, Kurume, University School of Medicine, Secretary General: Takahisa Kawashima, M.D., Ph.D., 67, Asahi-machi, Kurume, Fukuoka, 830-0011, Japan; tel: +81-942-35-3311 (ext: 3553); fax: +81-942-35-3920; e-mail: deptccm@med.kurume-u.ac.jp; WWW: http://www.trip.co.jp/6thapcdm. For registration information, contact: KJ Planning Inc., 1F Shin KBC Bld., 1-1-35, Nagahama, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, 810-0072, Japan: tel: +81-92-751-3244; fax: +81-92-726-2384; e-mail: 6thapcdm@trip.co.jp; WWW: http://www.trip.co.jp/6thapcdm.
International Conference on Drought Mitigation and Prevention of Land Desertification. Sponsor: Slovenian National Committee of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID). Bred, Slovenia: April 21-24, 2002. Contact: Ms. Sabina Remskar, Slovenian National Committee of ICID, c/o IZVOR, Preradoviceva 44, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; tel: +386 1 2317 913; fax: +386 1 433 5104; e-mail: SDNO-SINCID@guest.arnes.si; WWW: http://www.aeryd.es (in Spanish).
Third Annual Conference on Fires, Floods, and Faults. Host: Collaborative for Disaster Mitigation (CDM) (see DR #351). San Jose, California: April 29, 2002. Contact: Jessica Tran, Administrator, CDM, San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0082; (408) 924-3596; fax: (408) 924-4057; e-mail: jessica.tran@sjsu.edu; WWW: http://www.sjsu.edu/cdm.
Volcanism and the Earth's Atmosphere. Sponsor: American Geophysical Union (AGU) Chapman Conference Series. Thera, Greece: June 17-21, 2002. Abstracts due February 1, 2002. Contact: Alan Robock, Environmental Science, Rutgers University, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901; e-mail: robock@envsci.rutgers.edu. Additional information as the conference program is developed will be available from http://www.agu.org/meetings/chapman.html. To be placed on a mailing list, send an e-mail to meetinginfo@agu.org.
Energy, Climate, Environment, and Water - Issues and Opportunities for Irrigation and Drainage. Sponsors: U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (USCID) and Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. San Luis Obispo, California: July 10-13, 2002. Contact: USCID, 1616 Seventeenth Street, #483, Denver, CO 80202; (303) 628-5430; fax: (303) 628-5431; e-mail: stephens@uscid.org; WWW: http://www.uscid.org/~uscid.
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