Author Archives: recoverydiva

Toronto Disasters: first the mayor, then the ice storm- updated

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Toronto Skyline

Toronto Skyline

In the days before Christmas, a huge ice storm affected the northern states in New England and the southern provinces of Canada.  Usually, a power outage of several days duration that affected at least 300,000 households in a metropolitan area would warrant a local emergency declaration. But not so in Toronto.

See this article for the outcome there, given the fact that the mayor did not want to share power with his deputy, or anyone else. Toronto Ice Storm Leaves Hundreds of Thousands with Power.

In the U.S., our process for requesting assistance from a higher level of government entails a local emergency declaration, then the locality requests assistance from state government, and the state asks for a declaration from the federal government. ( Under very special circumstances, the feds may initiate assistance.) From the comments below, it appears that the Canadian system is quite different.

Update on Dec. 27: From a Canadian newspaper article more info on pros and cons of a local emergency declaration. Thanks to Pierre Picard from pointing out this source.

Related articles

Two Recovery Reports from State of VT

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English: Vermont State House, December 2005.The state of VT has a number of interesting reports, including two recent ones on recovery which are under the heading Rebuilding Stronger. The titles of the two reports are:

  • Guidance for State Agencies: Vermont State Agency Policy Options
  • Guidance for Municipalities: Disaster Recovery and Long Term Resilience Planning in Vermont

Go this website for the full text and more details. (Updated 2016)

Economic Development and Disasters

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Today Ms Emily Brown of IEDC is our guest blogger to tell us about the work of her organization. The economics of disasters is an important topic and deserves more attention

IEDC Addresses the Economic Development Piece of Disaster Recovery

Disasters impact communities on every level. After addressing health and safety concerns, one of the larger issues communities face is how to ensure the health of their economy. When businesses are damaged and workforce is displaced, jobs can be on the line. Economic developers can help to mitigate the effects of a disaster on an economy, leading to a full recovery and a stronger community.

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) is a non-profit membership organization serving economic developers. Economic developers promote economic well-being and quality of life for their communities by creating, retaining and expanding jobs that facilitate growth, enhance wealth and provide a stable tax base.  

Since 2005, the International Economic Development Council has been assisting economic development professionals in disaster impacted communities. We have worked in Louisiana, Missisippi, Missouri, Alabama, North Carolina, New York, and Massachusetts after disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, flooding, and storms.  Our trainings and resources focus on disaster preparedness and economic recovery with a special concentration on economic developers’ role.

Information on IEDC reports and resources can be found on www.RestoreYourEconomy.org, a web portal that IEDC administers with funding from the Economic Development Administration. Resources cover issues such as business continuity and preparedness, business financing and retention, capacity building, economic diversification, federal resources, public-private partnerships, and tourism recovery. Additionally, the website features relevant information from other organizations involved in recovery.

IEDC also offers a free monthly Disaster Recovery webinar. The January webinar is entitled, “Lessons from the Field: Small Business Recovery Strategies After a Disaster.” It will take place on Tuesday, January 28th from 2:30 to 4:00. Future webinars will focus on business continuity planning, establishing a 501c-3, and long term recovery for businesses.

Biographies of Key Contributors to Earthquake Safety

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Ever wonder who the key figures are in disaster science and emergency management?  One professional organization has provided a fine example in the form of short bios of key persons.

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), provides an Oral History Series that consists of booklets on key figures in the development of earthquake science and seismic safety. Presently, 21 reports are available in this series.

One can download and read them, at no cost, but not print them off. If you want to order one, most of the reports are available at the cost of $15. Go to the EERI website noted above to order them.

Analysis of Schools of Public Policy

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This may be a bit off topic, but I found this hard-hitting article of interest since I work in the public policy realm.

In a recent WashPost article titled, The Problem with Public Policy Schools, the authors  state that for those who want to govern, they should skip public policy school. Their analysis is that the programs have little impact and many actual leaders did not attend such schools.

New World Bank Report on Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk into Development

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The World Bank has issued a two volume report on Building Resilience:  Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk into Development. Main report is 58 pp. and Exec. Summary is 9 pp.

I especially like the graphic shown as Fig. B on page 10 of the report.  This is a high quality publication, as is generally true of the World Bank.

Serious Problems Continue In Aftermath of H. Sandy

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Displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and Living in Limbo. Some excerpts: 

More than a year after one of the country’s largest-ever disaster recovery efforts began, Ms. Fitzgerald is among the more than 30,000 residents of New York and New Jersey who remain displaced by the storm, mired in a bureaucratic and financial limbo.The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it had provided $1.4 billion in direct aid to victims of the storm and $7.9 billion in flood insurance payouts, and that the Small Business Administration had made $2.4 billion in low-interest loans to homeowners and businesses.

What it did not announce was that less than half of the people who sought emergency money received any, as an analysis by The New York Times of FEMA data shows, or that in many cases flood insurance covered only a fraction of the losses.

 According to the analysis by The Times, in the areas in and around New York City that were hit hardest by the storm, almost half of the people who received assistance from FEMA got less than $5,000. Most of that money was intended to cover housing and other emergency costs immediately after the storm.

Flood Maps:

 Federal Flood Maps Left New York Unprepared for Sandy, and FEMA Knew It. FEMA missed chances to make changes that could have protected city dwellers from some of the worst of Sandy’s destruction

See this related chart: http://projects.propublica.org/fema-nynj/