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Once again, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) will sponsor graduate-level fellowships in hazard mitigation planning (see DR #305). Designed to help planning students understand the importance of incorporating natural hazard mitigation into community planning activities, the fellowship will be managed by the Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC) under the auspices of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).
The objective of the fellowship is to provide up to two graduate students with support for one year of field research focusing on local and state hazard mitigation and community planning issues. Applicants must be full-time graduate student and work with an advisor who has a strong interest in using planning in hazard mitigation and in integrating mitigation into the education and practice of urban planners.
During the summer of 2002, student(s) will be based in Washington, D.C. at FEMA headquarters for approximately eight weeks to study FEMA's missions and structure, focusing on FEMA's Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration's initiatives and programs. The fellows will initiate a one-year field project that focuses on hazard mitigation and community planning issues within their study community, on a topic such as economic development, sustainable development, post-disaster recovery, or hazard identification.
From fall 2002 to spring 2003, student(s) will continue follow-up work with the subject community(ies) for both semesters of the academic year under the direction of the sponsoring faculty member. Each student will be required to produce a paper (co-authored by the sponsoring faculty member) that, based upon his/her field experience, will provide FEMA with information on assisting states and communities with developing and maintaining effective mitigation plans and incorporating hazard mitigation into local government planning programs. The paper will also provide recommendations and observations for incorporating hazard mitigation into graduate planning programs.
FEMA will provide each student with a stipend of about $5,800 and housing for the eight weeks at FEMA offices in Washington, D.C.; a stipend of $1,000 plus tuition/fees for a maximum of six credit hours for independent study during the academic year; and travel costs and other expenses incurred for fieldwork.
Applications are due January 21, 2002.
Complete details and an application form are available from the FEMA Web site at http://www.fema.gov/nwz01/nwz01_162.htm. Applications and supporting material should be sent (via e-mail or U.S. post) to: Claret M. Heider, National Institute of Building Sciences, Multihazard Mitigation Council, 1090 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005-4905; (202) 289-7800, ext. 131; fax: (202) 289-1092; e-mail: cheider@nibs.org
The Fire and Rescue Training Institute of the University of Missouri Extension program is offering a new, non-degree certificate program in emergency management. Registration for the first course – Contemporary Emergency Management I – ends January 15, and the class starts January 21. The course will be held at the Fire and Rescue Training Institute in Columbia, Missouri.
This new continuing education certificate program will train professionals from state and local governments, response and relief organizations, and business and industry to "build local teams and coalitions that respond to natural and technological disasters." The broad-based "Contemporary Emergency Management" certificate requires a minimum of 390 hours of classroom time (195 credits in both core and elective courses), including the required courses Contemporary Emergency Management I and II, the Impact of Disasters, Critical Communications Skills, and Program Management and Problem-Solving. For more information, contact: Eric S. Evans, University of Missouri, Fire and Rescue Training Institute, 201 S. Seventh, 240 Heinkel Building, Columbia, MO 65211-1342; (573) 884-8984 or (800) 869-3476; fax: (573) 882-0678; e-mail: evanses@missouri.edu; WWW: http://outreach.missouri.edu/ and http://www.mufrti.org/.
The Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) are soliciting papers for the second annual award recognizing scholarship in the area of land use planning and natural hazards. Two papers addressing a relationship between natural hazards and land use planning will be chosen for the 2002 award. Each winner will receive $1,000. The deadline for eligible abstracts is March 12, 2002. Full papers are due September 3, 2002. The winners must present the papers at the 2002 ACSP Conference, November 21-24, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland. Undergraduate, graduate, and faculty/student papers from students in ACSP-member schools are eligible. For more information, contact: Robert E. Deyle, ACSP-IBHS Committee, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, 214 D William Johnston Building, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2280; email: rdeyle@garnet.acns.fsu.edu; WWW: http://www.uwm.edu/Org/acsp/index.htm.
I have been asked to find out as much as possible about an International Standard on Emergency Management, which was mentioned to a client of mine at a conference dinner recently. Unfortunately my client cannot remember the source's name or contact details. My own investigations have come up with nothing so far. If DR readers have any information about this standard, please e-mail me at the address below.
Many thanks,
Christine Jenkinson
Library Manager
Defence Library Service
Australian Emergency Management Institute
Mt Macedon, Victoria, Australia 3429
e-mail: cjenkinson@ema.gov.au
Dennis Wenger is a new Program Director for the Infrastructure Management and Hazard Response Program (IMHRP) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The hazard program is part of the Division of Civil and Mechanical Systems within the Directorate for Engineering. Wenger, a professor with the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University, started his two-year term in Washington, DC on November 26, 2001. Miriam Heller remains as a Program Director, and William Anderson, a previous Program Director, is now at the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Science Foundation is soliciting proposals for its spring grant deadline of February 7, 2002. In addition to engineering, proposals are encouraged from the social sciences and related fields. Information about submitting proposals can be found at the NSF web site at http://www.nsf.gov.
I am currently doing some research for ChildHope UK into the state of street and working children in Central Asia and the South Caucasus region. As part of this I am trying to find any information that relates to the vulnerability and coping capacity of street and working children to natural hazards and disasters, as ChildHope is looking to become involved in relief and development work. Does anyone have knowledge of how child-specific relief organisations (e.g., Save the Children) respond to natural hazards and disasters, with specific respects to children? As far as I am aware most disaster management plans do not differentiate in such a way.
Also, I have been asked by the chief executive of the Employers' Forum on Disability how disaster managers address the needs of people with physical disabilities. Of particular interest is how warning systems and evacuation procedures are made accessible to them (i.e., warning sirens are no use to a deaf person, while people who are colour-blind, and this mainly applies to men, may not be able to distinguish the level of alert from a traffic light warning system).
Many thanks and best wishes,
Mike Northcroft
e-mail: megan@childhopeuk.or
The FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project needs volunteers to review the draft version of a new, senior-level college course entitled Building Disaster Resilient Communities. No honorarium will be provided, and reviewers will have 30 days to read and comment on the 632-page draft text.
Raymond Burby, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his 10-member team developed the course. It is designed for use during the last year of an emergency management, bachelor-level degree program. The 30-session, classroom-based course has four sections: 1) The legacy of vulnerability and vision of resilience, 2) Managing change to build hazard resilient communities, 3) Using resilience-building tools, and 4) Creating resilience. The final version will be available free of charge from the "Academic Emergency Management and Related Courses" section of the FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education web site at http://www.fema.gov/emi/edu/.
Because of the short turn around time and high printing and mailing costs, only capable and committed professionals with enough time to read and comment on the draft should request a copy. For a review copy, contact: B. Wayne Blanchard, Higher Education Project, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Emergency Management Institute, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Building N, Room 430, Emmitsburg, MD 21727; e-mail: wayne.blanchard@fema.gov.
A research paper just published on the Internet focuses on the little – if ever – studied topic of a corporation's role and responsibility in reducing natural disasters. The 84-page report is a first attempt to research and document the private sector's role in international development and disaster reduction. As such, it discusses many aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in reducing natural disasters around the world, especially in developing countries. Corporate Social Responsibility and Disaster Reduction: A Global Overview reviews opportunities and challenges of CSR in disaster reduction, presents evidence of global CSR efforts, and contains six CSR case studies. In the end, collaborative CSR programs among private, public, and non-profit sectors are little understood, rarely put into practice outside of North America, focus on immediate unsafe conditions rather than underlying causes of the events, and are hampered by corporate profit goals and philosophical differences.
This paper is one of the first published from a research project that is managed by the Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre at University College London and funded by the Department for International Development. The project aims to understand the extent, nature, and potential of CSR in natural disaster reduction, especially in developing countries. Further studies of CSR in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have just begun. For a PDF copy of the research paper, go to Benfield's web site at http://www.bghrc.com and select Disaster Management. Send any comments to John Twigg, Project Manager; e-mail: j.twigg@ucl.ac.uk.
The Department of Sociology at the University of North Texas seeks an assistant professor specializing in disaster or hazard research with an emphasis on collective behavior/social movements, sociology of disasters, or complex organizations. The tenure-track position begins September 2002. Applicants must have a PhD in sociology, a commitment to teaching, and the potential for developing a funded research program. The position requires teaching five courses a year including undergraduate required courses in the Emergency Administration and Planning (EADP) program. Application review began November 5 and continues until the position is filled. Please send letter of application (including e-mail address), vitae, evidence of excellence in teaching and research, and the names of four references to: Faculty Search Committee, P.O. Box 311157, Department of Sociology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76203-1157. For more information, see the job announcement at http://www.unt.edu/soci/Current%20Events/assistant_professor.htm.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) needs an administrative/logistic support officer in its Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Program for its Washington, DC office. Application deadline is December 17, 2001. Applicants should apply via the PAHO web site at http://www.paho.org. Once there, select "Job Opportunities" then "Professional positions," then this job notice, and finally, "Apply now." Complete and submit the personal history form. If unable to apply via the Internet, applications should be sent to: Personnel Department, Pan American Health Organization, 525 Twenty-Third Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20037; fax: (202) 974-3379.
As part of a project to look at various aspects of the response to the incidents on September 11, I am looking at the way Canada dealt with all the diverted flights that ended up at Canadian airports. I would appreciate any and all contacts with persons who were on those flights and anything written about those flights. (I have tracked down most news stories in major papers but there are, I suspect, some interesting local accounts.)
Thanks,
Joseph Scanlon
Director
Emergency Communications Research Unit
Carleton University
e-mail: jscanlon@ccs.carleton.ca
An advance copy of The Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001: Immediate Impacts and Their Ramifications for Federal Emergency Management by Claire B. Rubin and Irmak Renda-Tanali is now available on the Internet from the author. The PDF file of the Quick Response (QR) Report, which was recently submitted to the Hazards Center, can be downloaded from either http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~icdm/publications.htm or http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~cbrubin.
The Natural Hazards Center sponsors "Quick Response" investigations that allow researchers to visit the site of a disaster immediately after impact in order to assess response and recovery. In turn, the researchers publish summaries of their findings on the Hazards Center web site. The newest report will be posted to the Hazards Center's web site soon.
In a recent correspondence, natural hazards Internet pioneer Art Botterel announced that his highly popular and long-running discussion group is shutting down. The Network in Emergency Management, better known as NETS, has fulfilled its mission after more than a decade of service. But, don't despair. Art is starting the CAP Discussion List, a forum that will discuss concepts and details of a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). According to the web site, CAP is a "framework for a national collaboration of autonomous, interconnected public-warning systems" badly needed because of the existing, uncoordinated U.S. warning systems that are "a chaotic patchwork of technologies and procedures."
To address this problem, Botterel and others formed the CAP Working Group, built a web site , and started the CAP discussion list. The working group's first meeting was held November 29 to discuss how to use education, research, and policy to improve the national disaster warning system. The meeting drew more than 150 representatives from federal, state, and local government; non-profit organizations; and the private sector. Attendees agreed a new warning system is needed and called for partnerships between private and public entities that will improve the system to ensure fast,accurate communication of emergency information to those at risk. Peter Ward, chair of a White House-appointed working group on natural disaster information systems, will lead the new CAP committee, according to a press release from the meeting's host, The MITRE Corporation in McLean, Virginia.
To learn more about the CAPS program and working group, see http://www.incident.com/cap/index.html or contact Art directly at acb@incident.com. To join the CAP discussion list, send an e-mail to cap-list-request@incident.com with the word "subscribe" in the message body.
There was an informational error in Item #13 of the December 5, 2001, Disaster Research 358 newsletter that was sent today. Art Botterell, CAP Working Group organizer, has advised me that Common Alerting Protocol Working Group (CAP) and the Partnership for Public Warning (PPW) are two different initiatives with distinct goals. The article implied the CAP Working Group held the November 29th meeting when in fact that was PPW's organizational conference. Says Art:
"The Partnership for Public Warning (PPW), which held its organizing meeting on November 29th near Washington, is an entirely separate effort from the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Working Group. The CAP effort is a narrowly-focused technical initiative which arose independently and which may or may not eventually come under the auspices of the Partnership. The Partnership is a much larger effort that will address a whole range of issues surrounding warning and emergency information. The 150 people met to form the Partnership, not CAP. Peter Ward is chairing the PPW organizing effort, not the CAP group. PPW is not CAP, and vice versa."
I deeply regret the error and apologize for any confusion it may have caused.
Wendy Hessler
Interim Editor
Disaster Research
Natural Hazards Center
[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.fema.gov/emi/edu/aem_courses.htm Just a reminder to visit the above web site for pages and pages of new references on terrorism. "Terrorism Bibliography-wp.doc" (see DR #356) is updated each Monday (or shortly thereafter) and includes reports, congressional testimony, articles, fact sheets, resources, and more. The link is located at the bottom of the page following the listing of the "Terrorism and Emergency Management" Higher Education Project course.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/env_manage/documents.html Papers presented at the UN Expert Group Meeting "Environmental Management and the Mitigation of Natural Disasters: A Gender Perspective" are now posted on the above web site. The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) at the United Nations and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) organized the conference held in Ankara, Turkey, November 6-9, 2001. An archive of submissions to the pre-conference, e-forum discussion on "Gender Equality, Environmental Management, and Natural Disaster Mitigation" (see DR #354) is also available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/env_manage/e-forum.html.
http://www.engga.uwo.ca/research/iclr/Post-ws/default.htm A new web site contains the abstracts and presentations from the recent international workshop "Non-Structural Measures for Water Management Problems" held in Ontario, Canada.
http://www.iclr.org/ Five research papers from the Canadian Natural Hazards Assessment Project (see DR #327) are available in PDF format from the publications section of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) web site. The articles identify and emphasize human aspects of response and recovery issues following natural disasters or emergencies. The Human Element to Disasters and Their Impact: Issues Related to Response and Recovery: Five Articles From The Canadian Natural Hazards Assessment Project was edited by David Etkin and includes the papers: 1) Lessons Learned or Lessons Forgotten: The Canadian Disaster Experience, by Joe Scanlon; 2) Psychosocial Aspects of Disaster Recovery: Integrating Communities into Disaster Planning and Policy Making, by David Hutton; 3) Risk Assessment and Management in Local Government and Emergency Planning, by James Gordon; 4) Disaster Response Systems in Canada, by Ron Kuban; and 5) Dialogue on Crisis: The Need for "Education, Too, by Ron Kuban.
[Below are some recent announcements received by the Natural Hazards Center. A comprehensive list of upcoming hazards-related meetings andtraining is available from our World Wide Web site: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/conf.html]
Building Seismic Safety Council's 2002 Annual Meeting. Charleston, South Carolina: January 22-24, 2002. Interactive workshops include introducing performance-based design procedures into the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) recommended provisions, use of low ductility systems in higher seismic design categories, and developing a series of protocols for qualification of manufactured components. Other presentations will address the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the structural and geotechnical capabilities and research opportunities of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation. For registration and the preliminary program, see http://www.bssconline.org.
Survivor 2002: Will Your Business Be the Weakest Link? Hosted by: Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council (EPICC). Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada: February 26-27, 2002. The forum is designed to "inform; address current issues; and provide solutions." Contact: EPICC, (604) 687-5522. See http://www.epicc.org for brochure and registration information.
Spring World 2002. 13th Annual Corporate Contingency Planning Seminar and Exhibition. Presented by: Disaster Recovery Journal (DRJ). San Diego, California: March 10-13, 2002. Contact: DRJ, PO Box 510110, St. Louis, MO 63151; (314) 894-0276; fax: (314) 894-7474; e-mail: drj@drj.com; WWW: http://www.drj.com/conferences/sd2002/24pg/.
Critical Incident Stress Management. Presented by: International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF). St. Louis, Missouri: March 14-17, 2002. Contact: ICISF, Inc., 10176 Baltimore National Pike, Unit 201, Ellicott City, MD 21042; (410) 750-9600; fax: (410) 750-9601; e-mail: fresesm@slu.edu; WWW: http://www.icisf.org/.
New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) 2002 Technical Conference and Annual Meeting. Napier, New Zealand: March 15-17, 2002. Conference theme is "Learning From Earthquakes: What Are the Gaps in Our Mitigation and Preparedness?" Contact: Conference Coordinator, NZSEE, P.O. Box 13 482, Wellington, NZ; tel:64 4 478 6112; fax: 64 4 478 6106; e-mail: jacauie@hague.co.nz.
The 12th Annual Conference on Contingency Planning, Business Continuation, and Disaster Recovery using Telecommunications. Sponsored by: International Disaster Recovery Association (IDRA). West Springfield, Massachusetts: March 24-27, 2002. Contact: IDRA, c/o BWT Associates, PO# 4515, Shrewsbury, MA 01545; (508) 845-6000; fax: (508) 842-258; WWW: http://www.idra.com/.
2002 National Hurricane Conference. Orlando, Florida: April 1-5, 2002. Contact: National Hurricane Conference, 2952 Wellington Circle, Tallahassee, FL 32308; (850) 906-9224; fax: (850) 906-9228; e-mail: mail@hurricanmeeting.com; WWW: http://www.hurricanemeeting.com.
XXVII General Assembly of the European Geophysical Society. Nice, France: April 22-26, 2002. Deadline for abstracts is January 11, 2002. Many sessions are planned for the Natural Hazards Program. Contact: EGS Office, Max-Planck-Str. 13, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany; tel: +(49) 5556-1440; fax: +(49) 5556-4709; e-mail: egs@copernicus.org; WWW: http://www.copernicus.org/EGS/egsga/nice02/programme/overview.htm.
Coastal Zone Asia-Pacific: Improving the State of the Coastal Areas. Bangkok, Thailand: May 12-16, 2002. Abstract deadline is January 15, 2002. Contact: Ratana Chuenpagdee, Conference Coordinator, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, VA, 23062; (804) 684-7335; fax: (804) 684-7843; e-mail: ratana@vims.edu; WWW: http://www.vims.edu/czap.
1st International Symposium of the Faculty of Mines (ITU) on Earth Sciences and Engineering. Sponsored by: Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Faculty of Mines. Istanbul, Turkey: May 16-18, 2002. A special session will focus on earthquake problems faced by Eastern Mediterranean Countries. Abstracts are due by January 15, 2002. Contact: Tuncay Taymaz, Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mines, Department of Geophysics, Maslak - 80626, Istanbul, Turkey; tel: +(90 212) 285 62 45 or 285 60 60; fax: +(90 212) 285 60 80 or 285 62 01; e-mail: earth@itu.edu.tr; WWW: http://www.earth.itu.edu.tr.
ATC-17-2 Seminar on Response Modification Technologies for Performance-Based Design. Sponsored by: Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER). Los Angeles, California: May 30-31, 2002. Abstract deadline is January 1, 2002. Contact: Gerald Brady, Applied Technology Council, 555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, California 94065; (650) 595-1542; fax: (650) 593-2320; e-mail: atc@atcouncil.org; WWW: http://www.atcouncil.org/.
Ground Water/Surface Water Interactions. Sponsored by: American Water Resources Association (AWRA). Keystone, Colorado: July 1-3, 2002. Abstract deadline is January 31, 2002. Some sessions will focus on land subsidence, drought management, and remote sensing technology. Contact: Michael J. Kowalski, AWRA Director of Operations, 4 West Federal Street, P.O. Box 1626, Middleburg, VA 20118-1626; (540) 687-8390; fax: (540) 687-8395; e-mail: mike@awrz.org; WWW: http://www.awra.org.
2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio +10). Johannesburg, South Africa: September 2-11, 2002. The World Summit is the largest and most prominent conference on sustainable development. The meeting will have hundreds of sessions, many of interest to the Natural Hazards community, such as Oceans and Coasts. Contact: Johannesburg Summit Secretariat, Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Two United Nations Plaza, DC2-2220, New York, NY 10017; e-mail: dsd@un.org; WWW: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org.
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