Although the report cited is not new, it is worth taking a look at this posting by Eric Holdeman re State Ratings.
The Diva is pleased to see that her home state, Virginia, is at the top of the list.
State Ratings for Hurricane Preparedness
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Monthly Archives: May 2016
World Heritage Sites in Danger from Climate Change
From the NYTimes, this article: Report Warns of Climate Change Disasters That Rival Hollywood’s. An excerpt from the article:
A joint report, released on Thursday by Unesco, the United Nations Environment Program and the Union of Concerned Scientists, that detailed the threat climate change could pose to World Heritage sites on five continents.
Here is the direct link to the report, which is titled New Report Shows World Heritage Icons at Risk from Climate Change
Shame on you Australia: Australia asked UN authors not to include Great Barrier Reef in their report for fear of damage to tourism.
RAND on Disaster Recovery and the Private Sector
The Diva is amazed at the number of significant recovery-related programs and reports that have come out in the past two weeks. First the Frontline TV show, then the GAO report, and now a new report from RAND. The need for attention, improvements, and reform to recovery is coming to the fore.
New from RAND: Disaster Recovery and the Private Sector: New Roles and New Challenges. (24 pages)
The report, titled “What Role Does the Private Sector Have in Supporting Disaster Recovery, and What Challenges Does It Face in Doing So?”, provides an examination of how the role of the private sector has shifted, given the shifting nature of disasters both in frequency and nature. As disaster declarations now include those that are natural, human-caused, and technological, the question at the helm of the disaster recovery conversation is “who pays for this?”.
New GAO Report on Disaster Recovery Framework
Hot off the presses, this report on Disaster Recovery from the GAO. As the Diva noted a few days ago, the Frontline TV Show featured the huge problems with recovery and with the National Flood Insurance Program after Hurricane Sandy. One would expect that the show would have generated a lot of scrutiny. But as we all know a GAO takes many months to complete. So it is an interesting coincidence that this report was released today.
Disaster Recovery: FEMA Needs to Assess Its Effectiveness in Implementing the National Disaster Recovery Framework. Report is 45 pages. GAO-16-476: Published: May 26, 2016.
For those of you as impatient as the Diva, the first 16 pages of the report describe what should happen, and then on pages 17 -30 the report digs into what actually happened and the problems identified. The conclusions and recommendations for action are on pages 30 and 31.
Revision Underway of Chemical Safety Law
From the Huffpost, see: Congress Is Finally Overhauling A Decades-Old Chemical Safety Law. Should we be excited for changes to a law everyone says is broken?
Video of TV Show “The Business of Disasters”
On May 24th, Public TV (PBS) featured a Frontline special titled “The Business of Disasters.” The hour-long show is available as a video at this URL.
Here is a related piece, also from the PBS source, that provides background re the National Flood Insurance Program.
The Diva would like to have comments from viewers who saw the show.
Mass Care and Sheltering Guidelines – NFPA
NFPA’s new standard on mass evacuation and sheltering. (Updated 2020)
Red Cross Criticized Again by ProPublica
Although this article appeared in Salon, the source is ProPublica, which has been on a crusade re the Red Cross. See : The Red Cross is its own Disaster.
Update on May 26. Congressman Benny Thomas presses Red Cross officials for explanation.
Global Risk Warning
International Economic Development Council
Update on the International Economic Development Council. It has been about two years since the Diva mentioned this organization. It is worth taking a look at their current publications regarding hazards and disasters. See this page of their website.
Recovery Diva 