In case you thought the sequester was not causing any harm, here is an article with some alarming data.

I assume that many of the scientists in the fields of emergency management and related sciences, basic and applied, also are affected.  But I cannot think of how the effects could be measured.

Among the comments made by outgoing DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano  in her farewell remarks was this stark reminder:

“Our country will, at some point, face a major cyber event that will have a serious effect on our lives, our economy, and the everyday functioning of our society,” Napolitano said. “While we build systems, protections and a framework to identify attacks and intrusions, share information with the private sector and across government and develop plans and capabilities to mitigate the damage, more must be done, and quickly.”

In light of the attacks on several major media outlets this past week, many of which are attributed to the Syrian Electronic Army, it seems like her warning is worth heeding.

A new, 28-page CRS report titled Financing Natural Catastrophe Exposure: Issues and Options for Improving Risk Transfer Markets was recently issued.

Thanks to Bill Cumming for calling this report to my attention.

ProPublica has listed a selection of articles that it considers good reporting; see The Best Reporting on Hurricanes and Their Aftermaths

I had been wondering if Antoinette Tuff, the heroine in GA, had received training how to deal with an intruder at her school.

This article says she did. But you still have to give the lady a lot of credit for being smart and brave!

The full title of this thoughtful, 22 page report from the Center for American Press is A Disaster in the making;Addressing the Vulnerability of Low-Income Communities to Extreme Weather. A salient quote from the report is:

One of the primary reasons that low-income people are disproportionately affected by extreme weather is due to the quality of their housing. Shoddy construction and the age of affordable housing — in  generally in less than desirable neighborhoods that lack quality services and are supported by suboptimal infrastructure – puts low income people at greater risk from the effects of extreme weather.

The chapters address: underlying effects of poverty; the impact of poor-quality housing, environmental factors, economic stability, improve resiliency and recovery in low-income communities.

The report also covers some of the housing problems uncovered by Superstorm Sandy.

Here is another article, this one from the National Journal.

In the wake of the Sandy Task Force report, it is interesting to see the federal regulators of the financial industry urging better emergency preparedness efforts. Article titled  U.S. regulators urge firms to improve business continuity and disaster recovery plans. The lead paragraphs follow:

Futures and securities firms should review their industry-wide and internal business continuity and disaster recovery plans to improve responsiveness to significant disruptions and reduce recovery time, their regulators said Friday in a staff advisory.

 

U.S. regulators have been particularly concerned over how financial firms plan for disasters since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and through the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets during the administration of George W. Bush urged the industry to strengthen its defenses. The concerns have included flooding following Hurricane Katrina and the threat of an influenza pandemic, and are growing.

The specifically identify 7 areas of operations that the owners/managers should address.

Recent article by Homeland Security Newswire weighs pros and cons of stronger national leadership for resilience. See Sandy shows need for more effective preparedness, resiliency standards. Some excerpts follow:

The rebuilding efforts following the devastation wreaked by Superstorm Sandy have triggered a discussion over preparedness and resiliency in America’s commercial and residential buildings.Some experts callfor a presidential appointment of a building resilience “’czar”’ with authority to coordinate and seek synergies between public and private sector initiatives.

The rebuilding efforts following the devastation wreaked by Superstorm Sandy have triggered a discussion over preparedness and resiliency in America’s commercial and residential buildings. Communities in areas affected by Sandy have been developing ways better to withstand the next hurricane. Communities, each with its own set of standards for building resiliency, are reaching out to state and federal agencies for information, funding, and insight. DHS offers details on building-vulnerability assessment tools. FEMA offers details on federal resilient-building initiatives. Disastersafety.org and postsandyinitiative.org offers plenty of advice from insurers and architects for those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Engineering News-Record reports that while there are several outlets to turn to for information on building sustainability and resiliency, progress on building resiliency and federal coordination on the topic have been minimal. “The U. S. has been somewhat paralyzed in the development of an effective building-resiliency response by the extreme politicizing of the topic of climate change,” says Ben Sandzer-Bell, chief resilience officer for Climate Adaptation Solutions. “The level of political toxicity prevents effective engagement by a large segment of the American body politic, industry, academia, NGOs and media.”

Sandzer-Bell’s solution is for a presidential appointment of a building resilience “czar” with authority to coordinate and seek synergies between public and private sector initiatives.

Robert Wible, a building regulatory reform consultant, agrees. “We cannot afford to keep reinventing wheels, spending precious public- and private-sector funds and staff time on duplicative and, at times, conflicting actions,” Wible told ENR. “We need someone and someplace to connect the dots.”

Currently, there is no central body to facilitate discussions and set a unified mission between private and public sector initiatives on building resiliency. Not everyone supports the idea of a presidential appointee to supervise or take the role of a resiliency czar. “I am not in favor of making large government even larger,” says Dennis Wessel, senior vice president at Karpinski Engineering and an ASHRAE director.