Author Archives: recoverydiva

FEMA’s Formula for Presidential Declarations is Outdated & Inadequate – GAO

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If you are interested in the threshhold that FEMA uses for its presidential declaration, a new GAO report questions the formula FEMA uses. Federal Disaster Assistance; improved criteria needed to assess a jurisdictions’ capability to respond and recovery on its own. GAO provides both an executive summary and the full text report (89 pp). The GAO is critical of the one criterion FEMA uses, namely the per capita damage indicator.

I highly recommend this report because it contains a lot of interesting information about declarations and the declaration process.
See Eric Holderman’s blog on the same topic.  Eric has the practitioner community perspective.
 
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Drought and Dust Bowl Concerns – 2012

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Drought of 2012 conjures up Dust Bowl memories, raises questions for tomorrow

 

From dry rivers to dead deer, drought’s impact felt everywhere. Nothing in U.S. history can compare to that calamity of eight decades ago, including the historic drought now gripping much of the country.

That doesn’t mean, though, there isn’t considerable suffering and devastation now in most of the United States. Or that dire conditions could well persist for several years, as they did during the 1930s — compounding negative impacts of drought, thus ruining even more livelihoods and lives despite technological and agricultural advancements of recent years.

“Mother Nature holds all the cards,” said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center. “You roll the dice … every year. Nothing will make you quote-unquote drought-proof.”

 

Related articles

 

 

Sept. is National Preparedness Month

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This is the time to review your plans and preparedness supplies.  The Diva is a member of both Citizen Corps and the Community Response Planning Team (CERT) in her county.  Today we staffed a table at the Preparedness Fair at FBI headquarters in D.C.  That was a receptive audience — they have no problem imagining emergencies and disasters!

URGE YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND COLLEAGUES TO TAKE STEPS TO BE PREPARED.

Fast-Melting Arctic Ice May Cause Colder Winters

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Sea ice, ice berg and fog.

Arctic Ice Melt Could Mean More Extreme Winters For U.S. And Europe; from HuffPost, Sept. 12. The outcome seems counter-intuitive, but it is essential to understand the science behind this phenomenon. Some excerpts:

The record loss of Arctic sea ice this summer will echo throughout the weather patterns affecting the U.S. and Europe this winter, climate scientists said on Wednesday, since added heat in the Arctic influences the jet stream and may make extreme weather and climate events more likely.

The “astounding” loss of sea ice this year is adding a huge amount of heat to the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere, said Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “It’s like having a new energy source for the atmosphere.”

The extent of Arctic sea ice on Aug. 26, 2012, the day the sea ice dipped to its smallest extent ever recorded in more than three decades of satellite measurements. The line on the image shows the average minimum extent from the period covering 1979-2010.

The loss of sea ice initiates a feedback loop known as Arctic amplification. As sea ice melts, it exposes darker ocean waters to incoming solar radiation. The ocean then absorbs far more energy than had been the case when the brightly colored sea ice was present, and this increases water and air temperatures, thereby melting even more sea ice.

Hurricane Isaac Stirred up BP Oil Deposits

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See Storm Isaac tars Louisiana beaches with oil from BP spill, from Reuters, Sept. 12.

* Hurricane Isaac unearthed oil buried by previous storms

* BP claims “robust recovery” of Gulf ecosystems

* US govt, Louisiana point to lingering ecological damage

Two years after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, mats of oily tar from BP Plc.’s ill-fated Macondo well have turned up on Louisiana’s shore after Hurricane Isaac stirred up submerged oil deposits, BP officials said on Tuesday.

BP said the oil that washed ashore after Hurricane Isaac made landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 28 was not unexpected, after Tropical Storm Bonnie in July 2010 buried oil under tons of sand. Isaac’s winds and tidal surge peeled back layers of sand and exposed tar balls and tar mats that were buried under up to five feet of sand, BP said.

One more take on the same topic appeared in the Huff Post today.

For the folks in LA and adjacent states, the 3 big disasters of the past 7 years must seem to be interconnected.

Two New Reports on Risk Communication – From START at Univ. of MD

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Two excellent new reports are now available:

Resilience Index – an indicator of recovery potential

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In a recent posting by Phil Palen, one of the authors the blog HLSWatch, he attached a copy of a Resilience Index for Plaquemines  I found that graphic quite compelling and think it could be considered an interesting way to predict how well t a community is likely to fare during recovery.

This community is unusual — both in terms of its extreme vulnerability as well as the amount of  federal funding and governmental attention it has received in recent years.  Note that the parish has a recovery plan in place, which is both unusual and commendable.

Your comments and observations are invited.

Small Grants Available to Archive Key Documents Post-Disaster

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From the Hazards Center in CO, information about the National Disaster Recovery Fund for Archives. According to the website for this project:

The Society of Southwest Archivists and the Society of American Archivists created the SSA-SAA Emergency Disaster Assistance Grant Fund established to address the stabilization and recovery needs of archival repositories directly affected by major disasters. Any repository that holds archival records or special collections is eligible to apply for a grant. The repository need not be a member of SSA or SAA. Grant monies may be used for the direct recovery of damaged or at-risk archival materials; such services as freeze drying, storage, transportation of materials, and rental facilities; supplies, including acid-free boxes and folders, storage cartons, cleaning materials, plastic milk crates, and protective gear; and to defray the costs for volunteers or other laborers who assist with the recovery.

Resilient Infrastructure – where are the incentives?

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The Congressional Research Service has issue a report on Resilient Infrastructure; August 2012. As is true of CRS reports it is an impartial assessment. At the very end, the interesting question of incentives is dealt with briefly. Thanks to the Federation of American Scientists for making the report public.

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