From former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman: No Room for Science in Trump Administration. Some excerpts:

The fact that the Trump administration seems to have a fundamental disdain for science threatens to turn the United States into a backwater nation. French president-elect Emmanuel Macron has already invited climate scientists to do their work in France, and China is also offering research and development opportunities in this field.

We are going to be left behind both environmentally and economically if we do not foster an atmosphere of research discovery. EPA scientists are not merely protecting the environment, they are finding new breakthroughs

Japan’s vets form teams to strengthen animal aid during natural disasters. 

A campaign is underway to create emergency response teams across Japan to provide aid for pets and livestock during natural disasters, following the establishment of such services in a number of prefectures.

Formed in the wake of failures following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region, the Veterinary Medical Assistance Team, or VMAT — consisting of veterinarians and animal caretakers — was started to respond more effectively in times of need.

This article may annoy some of my readers, but i think it is worth considering how important it is to consider the trust factor for government leaders when you want citizens to act.

Disaster in the Time of Trump; The public’s mistrust of President Trump might be especially dangerous in a catastrophe rooted in science — like an asteroid, nuclear spill, volcanic eruption, or the next Ebola.

E.P.A. Dismisses Members of Major Scientific Review Board

The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board, the latest signal of what critics call a campaign by the Trump administration to shrink the agency’s regulatory reach by reducing the role of academic research.

A spokesman for the E.P.A. administrator, Scott Pruitt, said he would consider replacing the academic scientists with representatives from industries whose pollution the agency is supposed to regulate, as part of the wide net it plans to cast. “The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community,” said the spokesman….

News from the Natural Hazards Mitigation Association: NHMA has released its update of the venerable Patchwork Quilt white paper which went though some 50 or so editions over the past 20+ years.

The new paper, Building Your Road Map to Disaster Resilient Future (136 pp) is an update of Patchwork Quilt, professionally designed for easy readability, and to provide impetus to do a better job of community development decision-making both pre- and post-disaster.  This paper should be useful during recovery from the recent flooding in the Midwest and Arkansas and other places.

Also attached is the current Plan for the NHMA Disaster Risk Reduction Curriculum. 16 pp.  Both these documents were developed, in part, using FEMA Cooperating Technical Partners Grant Funds.

From Eric Holdeman’s Disaster Zone blog, this article on Assessing Emergency Management Programs