Wildfire Information Portal
Firewatchers will soon have the best of the Web at their fingertips, thanks to an upcoming site that promises to aggregate information from social networking sites such as YouTube and Flicker, as well as wildfire reports from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the InciWeb wildfire incident information site, and Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination (GeoMac) wildfire support. This beta version gives a glimpse of how the NASA-funded effort will flow together to provide easy access to wildfire data.
NOAA’s Arctic Report Card 2008
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s yearly report card continues to provide information on the effects of climate change in the Arctic. This year’s report shows evidence of warming in three areas—atmosphere, sea ice, and Greenland’s surface melt—and mixed evidence in the areas of biology, ocean, and land. A summary of each area and links to related essays are included.
Climate and Disaster Governance
The Climate and Disaster Governance program was created to allow collaboration and information sharing that will help communities be more resilient to climate change and disasters. The site has areas for downloading research, news and events, and will offer scholarships (application deadline is December 19) of up to $1,000.
Drop! Cover! Hold On!
This Great Southern California Shakeout-related site links to important information on how to participate in what’s been billed as the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history, but even more fun is the site’s interactive Beat the Quake game. The game gives players the responsibility for securing items in a room and seeing where they fall after a quake strikes. Information on how to beat real quakes is also provided.
Delinquent Mortgages, Swimming Pools, and West Nile Virus
The U.S. financial crisis seems to be spawning more than panicked investors and fiscal angst. According to this report in Emerging Infectious Diseases, it’s also partly responsible for a 276 percent increase of human West Nile Virus cases in the Bakersfield, California, area. The area’s failing housing market—with delinquencies up 300 percent this year—is credited for creating a new mosquito-friendly habitat in the untended swimming pools of foreclosed homes.
Emergency Management Network
Emergency preparedness junkies might soon be able to leave MySpace and LinkedIn behind, now that there’s a social networking site devoted to them. The Emergency Management Network community is just getting off the ground, but the site has areas for news, discussion forums, sharing photos and videos, blogging, and live chat.