See the special issue at this location.

Tribute to Gilbert White.

Is California too rich to get help from FEMA? New guidelines worry emergency planners

If California experiences another deadly disaster like the 2018 Camp Fire, survivors may have a far more difficult time obtaining federal assistance.
That’s the warning California’s Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci issued at a congressional field hearing Tuesday.
The reason: a new Federal Emergency Management Agency regulation tightening eligibility for federal disaster recovery programs including housing assistance, healthcare, crisis counseling and unemployment assistance.

From Govtech: 2 Years Post-Harvey, Thousands Still Displaced, in Damaged Homes

Real estate development continues in floodplains, but at higher elevations mandated by new city and county rules, and the region is setting new records for home sales, including many properties that flooded during Harvey.

From the NYTimes: How to Rebound After a Disaster: Move, Don’t Rebuild, Research Suggests. “But a paper published Thursday in the journal Science makes a case that, sometimes, retreating from nature instead of fighting it can actually open up new opportunities for communities.”

Note that the paper cited is titled The Case for Strategic and Management Climate Retreat, which indicates the authors offer more suggestions rather than findings. The link is to a free download – read only version.

Update: here is another take on the paper, done by hswire: Governments Mull “Managed Retreat” of Coastal Towns Before Rising Seas Claim Them

More and more governments around the world are advised by experts to prepare to make a “managed retreat” from coasts as sea levels rise because of climate change. Scientists say that a decision to leave the coasts should not be “seen largely as a last resort, a failure to adapt, or a one-time emergency action.” Rather, it should be viewed as an opportunity to build better communities away from the rising waters.

From the Conversation: Climate scientists may not be the best communicators of climate threats.   An excerpt:

Our study shows that climate scientists have relatively little impact on people’s views. And it demonstrates how difficult it is to match the message and the messenger to an audience when the issues are complex and politically charged.

Thanks to Risa Palm, the coauthor, for the citation.

From eenews.net: Why the U.S. disaster agency isn’t ready for catastrophes.

Interesting analysis of some of  FEMA’s major problems at the present time. The article is quite critical of the states and their limited willingness and capacity to deal with disasters.

Thanks for Susan Cutter for sharing the link.

From Vox: Google’s unusual plan for disaster relief: just give survivors money. The nonprofit GiveDirectly gives the poorest people money, no strings attached. They’re teaming up with Google for disaster relief efforts this hurricane season.

For those of you who knew or knew of Gilbert, this new article on his life and contributions to the field of hazards and disaster research. See: Reflections on Gilbert F. White; Scholar, Advocate, Friend.

Mitigation Framework Leadership Group Pushes Forward on Investing in Resilience.  

The Diva found it interesting to learn why this effort was mounted:

The Investment Strategy comes three years after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report in which GAO found that mitigation investments in the post-Hurricane Sandy response were not coordinated within the Federal Government nor the whole community (which includes the Federal Government, nonfederal partners, and individuals). But even prior to Hurricane Sandy, the report finds that, “since 1980, 246 weather-related disasters in the United States caused at least $1 billion in damage each. Damage from these ‘billion-dollar disasters’ together totaled over $1.6 trillion.” As such, the National Mitigation Investment Strategy can save both lives and money through direct investments and property buy-outs in high-risk areas, investing in safety and security measures, and investing in the collection and sharing of data. The report admits that the Investment Strategy has “ambitious but achievable goals”, citing that success requires “maximum participation from the whole community”. Yet, as risks and damage from natural hazards both continue the increase, the Investment Strategy and the efforts of the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group will lead to greater resilience for the livelihood of citizens, the economy, and the environment.

From HSToday: Steps Government, Industry Can Take to Keep Us Safer from Malicious Drones

The benefits of commercial drones (unmanned aircraft systems or “UAS”) are significant, and exciting. Drones are improving lives – from disaster response to medical deliveries to infrastructure inspection and so much more. In the United States and abroad, drones are being used every day to find missing hikers, enhance economic productivity, and support public safety and law enforcement operations.

But with increasing numbers of drones filling our skies, it is also true that security concerns have escalated. Like many new technologies, the same features that make drones powerful commercial and public safety tools, including their small size, maneuverability, affordability, and the ability to carry various types of payloads, also raise safety and security concerns when used by careless, clueless or criminal actors.