Wikipedia
Titled Christchurch Rebuild One Year On, this series of photos provides immediate post-disaster photos with others taken one year later.
Aerial Photos of NZ Earthquake Recovery
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Author Archives: recoverydiva
Revised Version of “Use of Social Media for Disaster Recovery”
We all owe a vote of thanks to the 3 people who have supported this effort in the year after the Joplin, Mo tornado.The latest revision of the document is posted here. [May 2012]
Disaster Preparedness Help for Small Businesses
The Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety (IBHS) has a number of tools to help owners/managers of small businesses be prepared for a disaster. Check this out now, before the hurricane season starts.
Another article from HS Newswire emphases the protection of businesses using new information technology and cloud computing; May 25.
New UN Report on “How To Make Cities More Resilient”
A new report, (104pp) from the U.N provides a handbook for local government leaders. Down the document here.
Recovery in Joplin MO. one year after the tornado disaster – updates
“We’re here to help,” says Secretary of Homeland Security to residents of Joplin
On the first anniversary of the Joplin, MO tornado disaster declaration, an AP wire story, titled FEMA’s Role Questioned Anew, actually questions what the state role is rather than criticizing FEMA. It appeared in the Portland, ME Press Herald. The article does raise an interesting point about the role of state government and why a “rainy day” fund was not used to help Joplin recover.
Missouri has a rainy-day fund with about $500 million that was created for costly emergencies. But the fund hasn’t been tapped for Joplin because Gov. Jay Nixon and some lawmakers are reluctant to trigger a constitutional mandate that the borrowed money be replenished within three years.
Some critics of federal disaster aid point to Missouri’s rainy-day fund as a prime example of how states pass the buck to the federal government for local tragedies.
On the same topic, the Wall St. Journal has an article about Joplin. The subtitle is: Laissez-Faire Zoning Laws in Tornado-Stricken Joplin Leave Neighbors Bristling. Unfortunately, you have to have a paid subscription to get the whole article and I do not. I would like to know more about the zoning issues, if someone out there has more details.
Earlier today I wrote ” Once again, I want to point out that it is essential to learning and retention that someone write up these examples as case studies so that future recovering communities will have the benefit of these experiences. FEMA – where are you on this matter?” By coincidence, I learned that FEMA is working on collecting recovery information and mounting it on their LLIS system.
One more article, this time on a new report and journal article about health information systems and their restoration in Joplin.
On May 24, FEMA issued a Hazards Mitigation Report on Joplin; click here for the direct link.
Case Study of Recovery – Greensburg, KS
It is not often we see a useful, succinct case study of the recovery process, but Prof. Jack Rozdilsky has provided one in his invited comment titled “City as Sandbox for Green Building,” which is about Greensburg, KS. His article is in the current issue of the Hazards Observer, issued by the Univ. of Colorado’s Hazards Center, pages 7-10. I recommend the whole issue for those of you not familiar with the HO. [Subscriptions are free.]
Of particular interest to me is how replicatable their recovery process is. For the past 5 years, Greensburg has been cited as a model of recovery. But as Jack points out:
Because of the special circumstances Greensburg has faced the recovery lessons there may be of limited usefulness to other communities. * * *
If only there were more of these case studies, a compilation of them might be possible. I keep hoping for a documented knowledge base of case examples of recovery.
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See also Managing for Long-Term Community Recovery in the Aftermath of a Disaster, by Alesch at al. Available in the DisasterBookstore.com.
Use of E-books for Storing Disaster Information
The state of Texas has come up with a useful way to anticipate disaster needs. See the article Prepare now by downloading disaster-related publications to mobile devices. Good idea to store the info in a handy place, one where Internet connection is not needed.The direct link to the documents is here.
Some highlights:
- Texas AgriLife Extension Service has made many of its disaster and emergency-related materials available in e-book format for mobile device users.
- Materials may be downloaded to any mobile device supporting the e-book format, including phones, tablets and e-readers.
- E-books provide just-in-time disaster recovery information.
For others who use an Android phone, here is the specific advice: “Epub should work for Android too with the Aldiko app installed.”
Lessons from the Japan Earthquake Recovery – Heritage Foundation Report
New Report from the Heritage Foundation: One Year later; Lessons from Recovery After the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. Special Report, No. 108. April 26, 2012.
An interesting and thoughtful report. I do not agree with all of their recommendations, but the report does highlight some usually understated needs — like transportation infrastructure recovery, particularly maritime infrastructure.
As always, reader comments are invited.
Related articles
- Japan: One Year Later (heritage.org)
Dire Warning re Global Warming – from International Herald Tribune
In an editorial today called Game Over for the Climate, a NASA scientists warns about the potential damage that would result from energy extraction from the Canadian tar sands.
EM Plans for Many Nursing Homes Are Badly Flawed – update May 10
Logo of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Today the NYTimes featured an article titled: EM Plans for Many Nursing Homes are Flawed. May 10th.
Previous Posting on this Topic:
Big gaps found in nursing homes’ plan to protect frail residents in event of natural disasters. Washington Post article, April 15th. Some excerpts follow:
Tornado, hurricane or flood, nursing homes are woefully unprepared to protect frail residents in a natural disaster, government investigators say. Emergency plans required by the government often lack specific steps such as coordinating with local authorities, notifying relatives or even pinning name tags and medication lists to residents in an evacuation, according to the findings. That means the plans may not be worth the paper they’re written on.
Nearly seven years after Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans exposed the vulnerability of nursing homes, serious shortcomings persist. “We identified many of the same gaps in nursing home preparedness and response,” investigators from the inspector general’s office of the Health and Human Services Department wrote in the report being released Monday. “Emergency plans lacked relevant information. … Nursing homes faced challenges with unreliable transportation contracts, lack of collaboration with local emergency management, and residents who developed health problems.”
The link to the full ( 44 page ) DHS report is here.
An interesting aside is that the report lists the Top Ten States with the most disaster declarations: they are: Texas, California, Oklahoma, New York, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Missouri. If one of them is yours, now is the time for some action!
- Big gaps found in nursing homes’ disaster plans (AP)
- Study: Nursing Homes Unprepared To Protect Residents In Natural Disaster (washington.cbslocal.com)
Recovery Diva 