Author Archives: recoverydiva

Debris Management – an essential first step to recovery

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Chalmette, Louisiana, just over a year after t...

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Decisive Disaster Debris Management, Waste Management World, August 17, 2011. Interesting discussion of large scale debris management.

Millions of tonnes of waste were estimated to have been generated by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. With natural disasters becoming more common, should nations have better prepared infrastructure and plans to cope with such quantities? And what about recycling opportunities?

Debris and waste are unavoidable by-products of natural and anthropogenic disasters. Waste management in the aftermath of major disasters is complicated by the priority for life saving and safety efforts. Then comes the interrelated concerns associated with availability of disposal capacity, availability of treatment or recycling/reuse options, transport of wastes, access to waste management facilities, environmental hazards, financial responsibility, and ownership related legal and ethical issues.

The magnitude and significance of waste and debris from natural disasters continue to be highlighted with recent examples around the world. Take the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 and major storms, tornados and flooding in central United States in April and May 2011.

But how can nations prepare for hazard mitigation and the management of debris from major disasters? For the purposes of this article, California and its waste management infrastructure and constraints, will be used as an example.

California, similar in geography and demographics to many areas around the world, is selected due to its large population, presence of major metropolitan areas, and high-risk geographic setting for multiple natural disasters.

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Katrina Evacuees Living in Houston – a 5 year retrospective on their relocation

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Katrina evacuees shift Houston’s identity, CNN, August 12.

Six years ago this month, Gasper and most other New Orleans residents boarded buses, filled SUVs and crammed highways to escape the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.

While the Louisiana city has begun to rebound, its former residents have made an indelible mark on the places they’ve gone — and none greater than in Houston, where as many as 250,000 evacuees landed after the hurricane, according to some estimates.The 2005 hurricane along the Gulf Coast left more than 1,700 people dead and wracked up billions of dollars in damages. Gasper is among the countless New Orleanians who chose to rebuild their lives in Texas after losing their homes, possessions and communities in the storm.

Although the numbers are still in question, the relocation and resettlement of many New Orleans residents to Houston seems to have been positive.  More studies on this topic are needed.

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Proposed Change in Federal Funding of Disasters

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Article titled Debt Deal Reopens Debate on Climate Catastrophes appeared in the NY Times, August 10, 2011.

A provision tucked into the debt ceiling legislation is rekindling debate about the nation’s ability to pay for soaring catastrophe losses as coastal development and carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise.

The nation has struggled for years to find an effective way to help communities rebuild homes, businesses and infrastructure after natural disasters. Now, in a collision between downward federal spending and an upward presence of catastrophes, Congress is moving to pre-fund disasters.

The last-minute legislation approved by Congress last week to raise the debt ceiling creates a disaster fund that will carry billions of dollars for recovery in hard-hit areas. The fund is a money-saving effort proposed by the president’s bipartisan fiscal commission last December in its report “The Moment of Truth.”

The fund could reduce stress on the deficit by preventing the need for emergency supplemental appropriations made in the wake of a crisis. Those unplanned expenses are not included in the budget, so it amounts to new debt

Some Indirect Effects of Recent Japan Disasters

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Plate tectonic movements measured by GPS devices.

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NOTE: This article is getting a lot of hits in 2015 and I am wondering who is reading it and why. Would someone let me know, please. Just put a note in the Comments section at the end of the article.
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This is an interesting discussion of some indirect effects of the recent Japanese disasters, aspects that I have never seen noted before.  It is an important reminder that  intellectual property matters deserve serious consideration. In the U.S. we too have advanced research being conducted in place that are known to have seismic risks,  such as Silicon Valley CA and Boston MA have known seismic risks.

The article Brain Drain and Need for New Infrastructure Loom as Challenges to Post-Quake Japan appeared in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, August 9, 2011.

The numbers stagger the imagination: 15,683 people lost their lives in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, while another 4,830 people remain missing…   Japan’s life science community did not escape unscathed from the twin natural disasters. The earthquake and tsunami brought to a halt research at Japan’s academic and independent institutions and companies. In nearly all cases, though, by now, some five months after the disasters, the institutions involved have either resumed or are close to resuming near-normal operation.

The disasters have forced the government to delay releasing an updated Science and Technology Basic Policy Report for the five years ending in 2016. This would be Japan’s fourth effort at a five-year plan for growing these industries.

Some of the Lessons to be Learned include:

If there’s anything good that could come from the disaster, it is the focus placed by institutions across Japan on drawing lessons that could help future generations avoid the worst effects of another disaster. One of Dr. Miyata’s lessons include distinguishing between valuable intellectual assets that cannot be obtained elsewhere and preserving these first rather than lab equipment, which can be re-purchased.

Another lesson calls for institutions to maintain their own sources of electricity, at least for preserving intellectual assets. Still other lessons include organizing food and living necessities for emergencies, developing leadership and governance policies with the cooperation of faculty and staff, forwarding accurate information quickly to staffers, and agreeing to implement emergency plans quickly as need arises.

As Japan’s life science community continues to return to close-to-normal operations, two of the numerous challenges resulting from the disasters will require urgent attention: repatriating researchers who left immediately following the worst, and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure with greater resistance to as well as forewarning of earthquakes and tsunamis. If these are not covered by the five-year science and technology plan to come out later this month, they should be addressed as soon after as possible.

New UN Report on Risk

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UN finds natural disasters now less deadly but more costly. Radio Australia, August 5, 2011. The United Nations has released its latest report on the state of disaster risk management around the world. The report, titled Revealing Risk, Redefining Development, updates the UN’s Global Assessment Report, since 2009, when the first edition was published. It found that while people in the region now have a reduced chance of dying in a natural disaster, the countries which suffer them, will find themselves facing a bigger cost.

This 24 page report is well-written; I recommend it to you.

Instructions for Building a Safe Room

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For those who live in tornado country (including cities in Massachusetts), the need for a storm shelter or safe room should be a major consideration during the reconstruction phase.  Here is the location of some details from FEMA on this site.

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Japan Earthquake Report

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Japan Earthquakes 3-13-2011 11-29-13 AM

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This Japan Earthquake Report was written by a British private firm.  It is 38 pages.  The subtitle is “A Preliminary Briefing on the Japanese Government’s Disaster Response Management.”

Some of his main points are:
The events in Japan in March 2011, involving an earthquake and subsequent tsunami, fell exactly within the risk profile of Japan’s disaster management programme, and there were no contributing factors to the disaster that couldnot or should not have been predicted and accounted for.
The failures in disaster response management came about through systemic weaknesses that were entirely predictable, and had been identified in previous similar events, including the 1995 Kobe-Hanshin earthquake.
The systemic failures of the Japanese government and disaster management system were not unique to Japan. They reflect almost completely the same weaknesses that were identified in America following Hurricane Katrina and9/11.

Japan’s planning and construction laws have clearly made a difference to the ability of large buildings to survive even major earthquakes, and this can be seen as a major success in their long-term earthquake management policy.
Despite the fact that individual agencies have developed a high-level of expertise and capability (and often have world-class equipment and technology unavailable to other countries, including US), Japan still lacks a unified Disaster Management framework that allows the swift mobilisation of separate agencies under a unified operational command.

There needs to be a clear distinction made between ‘Major Incidents’ and ‘National Disasters’. They require a different class of response, and as one USFEMA commentator noted, it is no use responding to a Class 5 Disaster with Class 1 frameworks.

Failures at the tactical and operational level were reflected in, and in many ways caused by, a lack of leadership at the political level. Disaster management on a national level is a political issue, and responsibility for that needs to be accepted by national political leaders, whether in terms of long-term capability preparation or in the immediate post-incident response.
Despite these failures, there is a clearly-defined development road-map that would allow Japan to use its existing technical, personnel and organisation and lresources to create an appropriate, effective and integrated unified Disaster Management framework.

None of the points above are new or unknown. They reflect almost completely the conclusions reached following the 1995 Kobe-Hanshin earthquake and the Hurricane Katrina….