New Report on Natural Disasters and Resilience

Posted on December 27, 2011 by recoverydiva

Thanks to an organization called the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Inc. (FLASH) and their contractor, Weather Predict Consulting Inc., we have the benefit of an excellent report on natural disasters with some recommendations re resilience. I especially like it because it presents a lot of hard scientific information about natural disasters and some useful observations re resilience, a topic that often sinks under the weight of platitudes and wishful thinking.

The 14 page report is titled: Impact 2011: Examining a Year of Catastrophes through the Lens of Resiliency. It is international in scope though the recommendations are meant for a U.S. audience.

FLASH Looks at 2011 Natural Disasters Through Lens of Resiliency in New Report (prnewswire.com)

Please patronize our sponsor: DisasterBookstore.com

Drought in the US. West – when will it be considered a disaster?

Posted on December 24, 2011 by recoverydiva

Image by @dino via Flickr

The article titled Dealing With Drought that appears in the December 2011 issue of Homeland Security Today Magazine is a thought-providing and well-written account of the long-lasting drought in the American West. It discusses the age old issue of when does a slow onset hazard become a disaster? And raises the new question about when is a drought no longer a matter for the Dept. of Agriculture but worthy of attention from FEMA?

The article extensively references an article title by Stephen and Amanda Jimenez, but that article does not appear to be in the public domain. The author has provided a copy; it is Catastrophic Drought Highlights U.S. Weakness Sept 2011

Killer Texas Summer Shatters Heat, Drought Records (thinkprogress.org)
Texas’ Water Shortage Turning Ranchers & Farmers Against Coal-FIred Utility Expansion (treehugger.com)

Federal Funding Cuts – Impact on Health Projects

Posted on December 21, 2011 by recoverydiva

I plan to do a series of posts dealing with the record number of costs of disasters in 2011 and the simultaneous cutting of federal funds to support emergency preparedness and emergency management. We are in for some serious trouble in the near future with disasters growing in cost, complexity, and effects while Congress continues to make drastic cuts to FEMA and DHS, among other federal agencies.

Here is one aspect:The national Journal published an article titled ” Funding Cuts Threaten Public Health Disaster Preparedness, Study Finds” Full report can be found here. Some excerpts:

Public health funding cuts are undermining programs that protect Americans from infectious disease outbreaks, bioterrorist attacks, and natural disasters, according toa Trust for America’s Health report released on Tuesday.“We’ve documented how preparedness has been on an upward trajectory” over the past 10years, said Trust for America’s Health director Jeff Levi. “But the economic crisis has changed the story. Now we’re seeing a decade’s worth of preparedness eroding in front of our eyes.”

Funding reductions could affect preparedness gains made since 9/11, Levi said. The cuts could impede communities’ ability to distribute vaccines, test for chemical and biological agents, and coordinate disaster response.

Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation assessed the nation’s emergency infrastructure, and looked both at funding cuts so far and projections of future cuts. Future cuts include the mandatory reductions that could result from the failure of the deficit-reduction super committee to reach an agreement. The report found that 40 states and D.C. have cut their public health funds this year, and 49,310 state and local public health department jobs have been lost since 2008. For some states, this was the second or even third straight year of funding reductions for public health emergency preparedness programs. And deep federal cuts are looming….

Recovery in Louisiana – still ongoing in year 6

Posted on December 18, 2011 by recoverydiva

This article focuses on the slow drawdown of federal funds made available for recovery projects in Louisiana since the trio of hurricanes that hit in 2005. It highlights the financial management needed for the long, complicated recovery process. Check out: Another lesson learned from hurricanes Rita, Katrina; December 16, 2011. A couple of excerpts:

While recovery from hurricanes Rita and Katrina from 2005 has been steady, the money allocated by the federal government to Louisiana has not been all spent. There is almost $2 billion still unspent from the $13.4 billion that was given to the state for rebuilding from those devastating natural disasters, according to the state Division of Administration.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be spent, since it will probably take the state years to fully recover.

While we can be grateful for the aide from the federal government, among the lessons from hurricanes Rita and Katrina is how to make the recovery programs from natural disasters more efficient, while making sure the money is spent honestly and for the purposes intended.

Debris that floats and is the size of an island

Posted on December 16, 2011 by recoverydiva

Image via Wikipedia

We usually think of debris and debris removal as things to deal with shortly after the response phase of a disaster. In this case huge quantities of debris must be dealt with during the long term recovery phase. Talk about far-reaching effects: the debris is traveling for thousands of miles in the ocean and is impacting nations on the other side of the globe.

Scientists on the west coast have determined that the first signs of a huge, multi-year hazard is arriving on U.S. shores: debris from the massive tsunami that occurred in March. See First debris from Japanese earthquake/tsunami reaches Olympic Peninsula. The [Olympic] Pennisula Daily News that that islands of debris from the March 11 Japan tsunami that are slowly floating toward the Pacific. Some details from that article:

Tons of debris washed out to sea when a tsunami struck northern Japan after a massive magnitude-9.0 earthquake March 11.

About a quarter of the 100 million tons of debris from Japan is expected to make landfall on beaches from southern Alaska to California, possibly in volumes large enough to clog ports, Ebbesmeyer said.

Using models from a historic shipwreck that occurred 20 miles off Neah Bay, Ebbesmeyer and Ingraham have determined the path of debris that comes into that area off the Washington coast.

They said debris will be snagged by currents leading into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and that a large portion of it will end up on beaches from the mouth of the Elwha River to Port Townsend.

Many ocean models have shown that the massive congregation of flotsam that washed away from devastated Japanese coastal cities is in the middle of the Pacific and won’t make landfall in the U.S. for another year or two.

In the U.S., the debris may clog seaports, affect marine life, and make boating more hazardous. And who will bear the cost of clearing the debris?

Flotsam from Japanese tsunami reaches West Coast (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Debris From Japan Tsunami Reaches West Coast (huffingtonpost.com)
A New Hazard – Marine Debris (recoverydiva.com)

Recovery planning that shows imagination and vision – Christchurch, N.Z.

Posted on December 15, 2011 by recoverydiva

The public officials and planners working on the recovery and reconstruction of Christchurch, NZ are aware that the eyes of the world are upon them. Apparently, significant efforts are being made to incorporate some significant scientific and design innovations in the rebuilding process. Some excerpts from the article follow:

After nine months of work, the final draft of the Central City Plan will be adopted by the Christchurch City Council on Thursday. Mayor Bob Parker discusses development of the framework that will guide the redevelopment of our central city.

This week is significant in the history of Christchurch – it is when the city council adopts the framework to guide the redevelopment of the earthquake-damaged central city which will see Christchurch evolve as one of the most modern cities in the world.

Christchurch has already been recognised internationally by American- based Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 10 global cities in the world to watch as the city begins to rebuild its urban landscape.

This is guaranteed to keep the spotlight on Christchurch in coming years and encourage international investment, so vital to regenerate our city.

For the council, the process of developing the final draft Central City Plan has been challenging.

If any New Zealanders are reading this, we would like to hear your views on how the process is going.

Results of the Diva’s Talk on EM History, Wed., Dec. 14th

Posted on December 12, 2011 by recoverydiva

On Wednesday, I was the guest presenter on the EMForum.org, a long-running, online, educational exchange for those interested in emergency management. The talk focused on the importance of knowing about historic disaster events and their ramifications and outcomes.

For those who did not catch the audio and slide presentation live, you now have a chance to read the transcript and see the slides used for the presentations.

Severe Weather, Global Warming, and Likely Heath Impacts

Posted on December 9, 2011 by recoverydiva

After noting the extreme weather in 2011, some authorities are preparing for the widespread impact of global warming. In this article from the HuffPost, the emphasis is on the health impacts expected. Titled Weather Extremes Hint At Public Health Impacts Of Climate Change , the article features a new tool called the Extreme Weather Map; Dec.9, 2011. The map is maintained by the Natural Resources Defense Council. According to the lead researcher on the map project:

“We have to really understand the local context of these extreme events and how they impact our communities by looking at them in what we call a spatially specific way, or in a way that really gets down to the geography of risk …by addressing those particular aspects of our communities, our cities and our populations that make people more susceptible to the negative health consequences of climate change.”

Rising temperatures are expected to have an impact on all aspects of the public health infrastructure — from air and water quality to food safety, Luber noted. A warmer atmosphere, for example, retains more water, increasing the likelihood of historically heavy rains, which can subsequently overwhelm treatment facilities and spread disease. Rising temperatures can also exacerbate smog, causing increased instances of respiratory illness, or alter the ecology of insect-borne diseases like Lyme, West Nile virus and others.

Disaster Count for 2011 – a record

Posted on December 7, 2011 by recoverydiva

Image via Wikipedia

Earlier this year I said I had a feeling this was going to be a busy year for emergency managers. I was not wrong and here are some current numbers to prove my hunch:

U.S. 2011 billion-dollar disasters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has recalculated the number of weather disasters in the United States which passed the billion dollar mark; NOAA added two disasters, pushing the 2011 tally to twelve billion-dollars-or-more disasters; these disasters caused more than 1,000 deaths and inflicted damaged estimated at $52 billion. Additionally, FEMA’s disaster declaration total is 98, as of December 7, 2011.

Some additional details of the 12 costly events are available on the website Weather.com, which is the weather channel on TV.

On December 10, I found two more feature articles on this topic: (1) article in CNN news online and (2) an article in Scientific American.

Continue reading →

Gender and Disasters

Posted on December 2, 2011 by recoverydiva

Information on Gender and Disasters, noting the website of the U.N. International Recovery Platform. Thanks to Dr. Elaine Enarson for this link. December 2011.

Recovery Diva

Long-Term Recovery from Disasters

Monthly Archives: December 2011