This article may annoy some of my readers, but i think it is worth considering how important it is to consider the trust factor for government leaders when you want citizens to act.
Disaster in the Time of Trump; The public’s mistrust of President Trump might be especially dangerous in a catastrophe rooted in science — like an asteroid, nuclear spill, volcanic eruption, or the next Ebola.
Dangerous mix: Climate change, tornadoes, and mobile homes.
Tornadoes and mobile homes do not mix to begin with, but throw in the volatility of climate change and the potential for massive property damage and deaths is even higher in coming decades. The number of mobile homes in the United States has risen dramatically in the past 60 years, to about 9 million currently. Meanwhile, the United States is the most tornado-prone country in the world, with an average of 1,200 twisters per year.
The annual impact of tornadoes is expected to increase threefold over the next few decades due to the “twin forces of increased climate variability and growth in the human-built environment,” according to the study, which is published online in the journal Regional Science and Urban Economics.
E.P.A. Dismisses Members of Major Scientific Review Board
The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board, the latest signal of what critics call a campaign by the Trump administration to shrink the agency’s regulatory reach by reducing the role of academic research.
A spokesman for the E.P.A. administrator, Scott Pruitt, said he would consider replacing the academic scientists with representatives from industries whose pollution the agency is supposed to regulate, as part of the wide net it plans to cast. “The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community,” said the spokesman….
FEMA hopes to speed disaster response with Baton Rouge contingent of home-based ‘reservists’
Baton Rouge will serve as the test site for a program designed to convert hundreds of temporary FEMA workers into reservists — creating a ready-made response team prepared to tackle any future disasters in this area.
“For the regions most impacted by storms, we want to create a workforce that is more readily available in those areas to respond to disasters,” said Carissa Berkeley, supervisor, human resource specialists, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
News from the Natural Hazards Mitigation Association: NHMA has released its update of the venerable Patchwork Quilt white paper which went though some 50 or so editions over the past 20+ years.
The new paper, Building Your Road Map to Disaster Resilient Future (136 pp) is an update of Patchwork Quilt, professionally designed for easy readability, and to provide impetus to do a better job of community development decision-making both pre- and post-disaster. This paper should be useful during recovery from the recent flooding in the Midwest and Arkansas and other places.
Also attached is the current Plan for the NHMA Disaster Risk Reduction Curriculum. 16 pp. Both these documents were developed, in part, using FEMA Cooperating Technical Partners Grant Funds.
From Eric Holdeman’s Disaster Zone blog, this article on Assessing Emergency Management Programs
From The Hill website: 5 ways the president’s budget blueprint could change the way we respond to disasters
Here is an analysis of the program made and resilience shown in Fort Murray. See:
Fort McMurray By The Numbers One Year After The Wildfire
According to the Weather Channel, although we are just starting the 5th month of this calendar year, the U.S. already has experienced its 6th billion dollar weather-related disaster. See: The U.S. Likely Just Experienced Its Sixth Billion-Dollar Weather Disaster of 2017
From CorporateWellnessMagazine: 5 Key Components to Effective Disaster Preparedness. This is a combination of an article and infographic. Hope you find it useful.
Recovery Diva 