Another article about infrastructure: Are our buildings prepared for natural disasters bigger than hurricane Sandy?
Russell Unger, chairman of the task force that proposed building code upgrades after Sandy, explains why city residents should never lose access to running water – and how he helped solve that problem in NYC
By way of the U.K, here is an interesting case study of Availability of Infrastructure: New York after H. Sandy.
Thanks to Donovan Finn for the citation.
The Cato Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, DC, just issued a major critique of FEMA, titled The Federal Emergency Management Agency: Floods, Failures, and Federalism. Full report is 32 pages, including 9 pages of footnotes! [But he managed to miss Emergency Management; the American Experience, 1900-2010, edited by the Diva.]
I agree with some of his points, but surely not the general thrust of the piece. Update: I have already heard from several readers about this article, some of which are in the comment section below. (Others were direct emails to the Diva.) And fellow blogger, Eric Holdeman, picked up on the report today.
And a couple of people who are readers of this blog are quoted in the CATO piece.
Hot off the press (or the Internet and your printer) a new report from Office of Inspector General at DHS titled Major Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Dept. of Homeland Security.
The Diva has just skimmed it and did not see a mention of FEMA until page 14 of the 41 page report. There are some interesting details about FEMA on pages 14 and 15. And I recommend Appendix A for a nice listing of Relevant Reports.
UPDATE: On Nov. 18, the Wash Post published this article: Growing pains continue for Department of Homeland Security, report shows
The American Planning Association has just released a copy of a Model Pre-Event Recovery Ordinance for use by local officials. It is 25 pages long, though not paginated.
This should be a useful start for many local officials.
Mine safety has been in the news lately, due to the indictment of the CEO of the WV mine that had a tragic disaster. The Diva and her colleagues did a lot of work on the history of mine safety a few years ago and produced a very detailed timeline chart showing disaster events and outcomes. A copy of that timeline chart is attached here: MineSafety Timeline.
Some hard copies of the poster-size chart are still available, for cost of shipping and handling.
If you are interested in disasters and faith-based organizations, the Diva has started up a new blog on that topic. See: Disasters and Faith.
Suggestions and information about training programs are invited.
Greater Christchurch Recovery report ( 12 pp.) from the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. The report is insightful about the transition from short- to long-term recovery and candid about unresolved issues.
Thanks to Ian McLean for the link. As he noted to me “the briefings have rather more life than run-of-the-mill bureaucratic reports. And some of the data is a useful record.”
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NOTE: Earlier reports and articles re the earthquake events are stored in the NZ page of this blog.
New book available from the National Academy of Sciences:
Reducing Coastal Risk on the East and Gulf Coast; 209 pp.
Note that their books can be downloaded free, or you may purchase a hard copy.
Three recent articles, two of which discuss recent criticism of the Red Cross issued by ProPublica and another that defends the Red Cross, from a philanthropy organization.
Recovery Diva 