Monthly Archives: April 2013

Sea Level Rise – some dramatic examples in 8 cities

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I ran across this graphic and thought it was worth sharing.  It does make sea level rise more real.  I definitely can relate since I have lived in 3 of the 8 cities shown. Check out this site.

On April 6, the NYTimes published this article about melting icecaps, dealing with the topic of global warming..

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Transportation and Disasters

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A wealth of resources on transportation issues/need in the post disaster setting, from the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciencies.

As noted by the Univ. of CO/Boulder in their newsletter (April 5th):

When it comes to keeping citizens safe during transit, the Transportation Research Board has 101 ways to make it happen. Actually, make that 111 ways—and learn the status of them all in this monthly report. Since 2001, the TRB has been busy making sure travel in the United States is safe from terrorist threats and other dangers. So far, they and their partners have completed 111 research projects, with another 24 in progress and 10 in development. The report is a quick and easy way to keep tabs on $20 million devoted to keeping everything from railways to waterways terrorist-free.

The Arkansas pipeline failure incident

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Given the current debate about the really big Keystone pipeline project, this latest incident is causing serious harm in a small community; and the event raises many issues that need to be faced about pipeline safety and the management of spills and accidents. See this news account.

More details will be coming from one of our readers.

What makes this incident unusual is that pipelines are the responsibility of the Dept. of Transportation. So the responsibility for managing this disaster event is with DOT.  Most of the disasters experienced recently in the U.S., and talked about in this blog,  have received disaster declarations and are the responsibility of FEMA. The major exception was the Deep Water Horizon disaster, which was a hazardous material disaster, hence was managed under the National Contingency Plan by the Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA.

News Clips re Hurricane Sandy Aftermath

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The new flood maps, if approved, would add more than 65,000 structures in New York and New Jersey to the 100-year-flood zones—areas that FEMA believes face a 1 percent-a-year change of flooding. Everyone in those zones is required to get flood insurance….

The solution we support would result in a better and more proactive approach and leverage a stronger public-private partnership. This approach would strengthen America’s financial infrastructure by building a privately funded national catastrophe fund.A national catastrophe fund that is part of a comprehensive, integrated program will help address insurance affordability and expand coverage options for all home­own­ers while protecting taxpayers from the seemingly endless need to provide emergency relief.