New UN Report on Extreme Events and Disasters Re Climate Change Adaptation

Posted on March 29, 2012 by recoverydiva

It’s not easy to find but here is the shorter “policy maker’s” version ( 20 pages) of Managing The Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. Issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, March 28.{Note: the full report is 594 pp!.]

This is a sophisticated report and warrants a close reading. See especially page 18, which discusses Implications for Sustainable Development. Comments are invited.

The Diva knows 3 of the authors: Susan Cutter (USA), Thomas Wilbanks (USA) and Ian Burton ( Canada).

Here is an analysis of the report from the March 28 Washington Post. Another account in Businessweek magazine, march 29. See also some additional papers produced by the UN University; added on March 30.

Long Term Recovery — NAS Roundtable Workshop

Posted on March 22, 2012 by recoverydiva

The Keck Center

Yesterday, the diva attended the Disasters Roundtable Workshop on Integrating Disaster Recovery: What Should Long-Term Disaster Recovery Look Like? It was sponsored by the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C., March 21.

The purpose of the workshop was to “examine the integration of disaster recovery across disciplines, sectors, and jurisdictions.” The objectives were to address:

1) What is integrated long-term recovery?
2) How is progress of recovery measured?
3) What gaps currently exist that need to be overcome in disaster recovery?
4) How to design and implement an integrative recovery strategy?

My view of the gaps or barriers to effective long-term recovery effort are the lack of:

Mandate – need a National Recovery Act, changes in the Stafford Act

Money – large amounts of multi-year funding

Models – need a knowledge base of good examples and a useful lessons learned system

Without these the various strategies, operational plans, and workshops will not accomplish much.

Mutual Aid and Learning: Joplin and New Orleans – update

Posted on March 12, 2012 by recoverydiva

The Washington Post ( March 1) reported on an unusual exchange by citizen activists aiding their communities during recovery. See:
Joplin tornado survivors learn Hurricane Katrina recovery lessons from New Orleans residents

NEW ORLEANS — The group came to help rebuild a city still struggling to find its way more than six years after Hurricane Katrina, and to learn some disaster recovery lessons they can take back to their own storm-ravaged Missouri community.

BP Claims Process- another travesty of justice and equity

Posted on March 10, 2012 by recoverydiva

Image via Wikipedia

In an opinion piece titled The Phony Settlement, Joe Nocera of the NYT, on March 9, lamented the change in the means of compensating victims of the BP Oil Spill. Some excerpts:

Earlier this week, Feinberg stepped down from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (as it is officially called), having doled out $6.1 billion to some 220,000 claimants. It is in the process of being replaced by a new claims facility, the result of the recent settlement between BP and the plaintiffs’ lawyers who had been suing the company in federal court in New Orleans.

That settlement has been estimated as being worth $7.8 billion, but, since it is uncapped, it could actually wind up costing BP a lot more than that. And even though the vast majority of legitimate claims have already been paid by Feinberg, the settlement will generate hundreds of thousands of new claims, many of which are likely to be bogus.

Some comments from Feinberg, March 30th, on the payout process.

Recovery Issues in Japan

Posted on March 9, 2012 by recoverydiva

Holding Onto Community When You Can’t Go Home’ video from the WSJ on 3/2/2012.

How do you keep a town together when it’s no longer habitable? A year after a tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant, evacuees from nearby Namie are struggling to do just that. WSJ’s Yuka Hayashi reports.

Another touching story from CNN today about the devotion of a mayor who loft his wife in the disasters.

One more about the uncertainties of recovery process in the Washington Post on March 9th. And Searching for Hope and Resilience, WSJ march 10.

Disaster and Aftermath pictures, March9.WSJ

State of Texas Cannot Do Hurricane Recovery Either

Posted on March 8, 2012 by recoverydiva

Image via Wikipedia

I have blogged about recovery problems in LA after Hurricane Katrina several times. Now it is time to take a look at the mess in the state of TX. As reported in the NYTimes on march 8, Amid Finger Pointing, Hurricane Relief Lags. Governor Rick Perry does not win any praise for his role. As noted in the article:

Nearly four years after Hurricanes Ike and Dolly wreaked havoc on the Texas coast, thousands of Texans are still waiting for housing assistance. The long-term disaster recovery effort financed by the federal government has made little headway. But where two state agencies faltered, another is stepping in.

According to a state report to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development at the end of June, none of the 4,100 homes that were expected to be rebuilt or reconstructed with federal money were completed. And by October, the state had spent only 10 percent of the federal money for long-term recovery.

I am glad to see HUD taking a more prominent role in recovery and telling it like it is.

Thanks to Bill Cumming to pointing me to this article.

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Long-Term Recovery from Disasters

Monthly Archives: March 2012