Planned Relocation

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Managed retreat: Relocating communities to get them out of harm’s way.

More frequent extreme weather events put certain regions in the cross hairs of risks such as coastal flooding, heavy rain, and erosion. There is an obvious, but controversial, solution: relocating communities from vulnerable to safer areas. Based on examples from around the world, researchers chart the landscape for whether and how to implement the strategy of managed retreat – and how, with the minimum disruption possible, relocate or abandon development in the face of extreme weather risk.

Update on March 31: See comments section for some recommended citations on relocation efforts in Australia.

NZ Public-Private Recovery Organization

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See this explanation of SCIRT and its learning legacy.

The Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) was a virtual organisation created in 2011 to rebuild Christchurch’s earthquake damaged horizontal infrastructure. SCIRT’s job was to provide a cost-effective and efficient vehicle to quickly get the city’s civil infrastructure back on its feet.

SCIRT’s $2.2 billion five-and-a-half year programme was funded by the New Zealand Government and Christchurch City Council. It involved more than 700 individual projects across the city repairing and rebuilding underground sewage, storm water and fresh water pipes, rebuilding wastewater pump stations as well as roads, bridges and retaining walls.

Trump’s Climate Adaptation Pullback Efforts Are Likely to Make Disasters Worse – updates

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According to Bloomberg News, On March 28th, Trump is expected to take these actions: Trump to Toss Obama’s Orders to Prepare for Extreme Weather. New order said to reverse policies for climate adaptation; Military bases, coastal towns were protected under planning

On Tuesday, Trump is set to sign an executive order that will in part reverse two main planks of federal efforts under President Barack Obama to adapt to climate change, according to details of the order shared with Bloomberg News. The White House is expected to rescind Obama’s order to federal agencies to plan for climate change and another to have the military plan for the national security implications.

Updates: Fortunately, the federal government is not the only game in town. See this particle from the WashPost today: As Trump halts federal action on climate change, cities and states push on

Trump maintains that Obama-era regulations have unnecessarily hampered businesses and that freeing companies from such burdensome requirements will provide an economic boost.  Some mayors, governors and business leaders plan to press ahead with plans to clamp down on carbon emissions, saying it makes sense for the economy as well as the climate.

March 28: One more take on why these moves will leave communities more vulnerable to disasters.

March 31: Pushback from Michael Bloomberg. And this take from Huffington Post.

April 1: Corporate Resistance to Trump’s Climate Moves

Top Tier Obama Scientists Organize to Push Back on Proposed Cuts

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From the Washington Post: Obama’s science diaspora prepares for a fight

Science, more than many fields, feeds on a collaborative spirit. Former staffers from President Barack Obama’s science office have taken this to heart: They are fanning out, finding jobs in academia, at nonprofits and elsewhere, but they continue to work together, largely behind the scenes. This science diaspora, as one former staffer called it, is ready to both push forward on the ambitious science-related agendas of the previous administration, and to defend against the attacks on science emanating from the new White House.

Proposed DHS Budget Criticized by Former Executives

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From The Atlantic Magazine, article titled Trump’s Unbalanced Homeland Security Budget; The president prioritized border security and immigration enforcement in his blueprint, but it risks coming at the expense of other equally important priorities.

Among the authors is former DHS Secretary Chertoff. Here is one excerpt:

Indeed, paying for border security and interior enforcement by cutting funds to the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, and capping investments in agencies like the United States Secret Service and the United States Coast Guard is akin to double-locking your front door, but leaving your side door open—and your windows, and your garage door, and turning off your alarm.

Women More Affected by Natural Disasters

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Women respond to the effects of climate change and natural disasters

Women generally suffer more than men do from the effects of climate change and natural disasters. This observation leads the SDC to develop a targeted strategy of supporting projects in which women play an important role in their own social and economic emancipation.

On the slopes of the Bolivian Altiplano, in Haiti and in rural India, women tend to bear the brunt of climate change and natural disasters. Because they attend to household duties, they depend on access to natural resources more than men do. When these resources become scarce, an entire way of life – and means of survival – collapses. Some women also lose the little financial independence they had gained.

 

Gap Year Studies for Retirees

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This has nothing to to do with emergency management, but the Diva thinks it would be great if some successful business executives would consider it as a line of work or volunteer activity.

Stanford’s New Freshman Class Is for Successful Retirees; A gap year for  60-somethings, at $65,000 a head.

Stanford University’s Distinguished Careers Institute, a yearlong program for executives and professionals mostly in their 50s and 60s who were grappling with what to do after ending successful careers. In January 2016 he began attending classes and seminars at one of America’s most selective universities as part of a group of 25 DCI fellows, each of whom paid $65,000 for the privilege. “I’m a closet nerd and always wanted to go back to school and learn new things, plus I got to be with people my age who want nothing to do with retirement,” he says. “We were all in exploration mode, trying to figure out what we wanted to do next, and we had the chance to share that journey.”

Update:  Even on a Saturday I got two readers who like this idea. I wish one of the State Universities that already teaches EM would create a program like this and interest active retirees in the field.

Outlook for Disasters Globally

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From Forbes Magazine: The Next Global Refugee Crisis Will Be Caused By Environmental Disasters. Some rather alarming news about mostly man-made disasters:

The next big migration wave won’t be caused by war or hunger. It will be caused by environmental disasters. People will be fleeing cities and countries to escape environmental pollution that makes life short, sick, and unbearable.

The global consequences of environmental disasters are enormous for everyone, including for investors in global markets. For the countries most affected, this massive migration wave will undermine economic growth, property values, and financial asset valuations—a risk investors must factor into their calculations when they buy into financial and real estate assets in highly polluted countries.