Is The Threat Of The Dakota Access Pipeline Real? “I thought pipeline accidents were rare. Turns out, they happen all the time.”
My suspicion was that pipeline accidents are rare, but as I investigated, I found that they actually happen all the time. As shown in the mapstory I produced above, in the last 30 years, there have been over 8,700 liquid pipeline spills, averaging nearly one every day.
From the White House Office of Management and Budget a new report titled Standards and Finance to Support Community Resilience. This 29 page report is the culmination of collaboration with leaders in re/insurance, catastrophe modeling, and building science to advance community resilience and insurability. The office also announced additional commitments by leaders in the insurance industry to help identify and reduce the risks and costs of disasters.
EPA Knows How o Avoid Future City Water Crises. It’s unclear where the next administration will lead the agency tasked with keeping America’s water safe.
EPA Looks to Mitigate Chemical Plant Disasters.
A new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation aims to minimize the harm to local communities from disasters at chemical plants.
The regulation overhauls major sections of the EPA’s Risk Management Program for such plants, with new requirements that companies coordinate with local officials and first responders, and learn from past mistakes.
From the NY Times: States Will Lead on Climate Change in the Trump Era
State governments will serve as an important bulwark against any attempt by President-elect Donald Trump to roll back the progress the United States has made in addressing climate change. And that’s good news for the planet.
While surfing the Internet, I ran across this interesting website that may be of use to those of you who do emergency response. See: The Level Market; Connecting Buyers and Suppliers to Deliver Aid to Those in Need.
I just heard on the evening news that emergency management officials are concerned that ISIS may be targeting houses of worship. The Diva has been maintaining another website to share as many resources as we could gather over the past two years to help secure HOWs. Go to: www.disastersandfaith.wordpress.com
Update as of 7pm. So far, for the U.S. this was based on unconfirmed chatter and DHS said it was not a credible threat and lacked any specific names. If DHS took this seriously there would be solid risk communication coming out on all fronts.
Roy Popkin was a wonderful and remarkable man who made great contributions to the field of emergency management. He and I were friends and colleagues for more than 30 years. Here are some details of his life, from information provided by his family.
Roy’s Red Cross efforts that began in Brooklyn, NY grew to vast responsibilities as National Deputy Director of Disaster Services. From that post, his duties benefited people ranging from flood victims in Alaska, clergy and participants in the March to Selma and families of Cuban political prisoners exchanged for US medical supplies provided by the American Red Cross. Roy retired from the Red Cross in 1982.
He then gained a new assignment working part time in Communications Administration Department of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Senior Environmental Employee (SEE.) He revised or re-wrote information that ensured readers could readily understand EPA regulations and other information. After working at the EPA for 23 years, he retired in 2007. Roy authored several books and short stories.
A memorial service is scheduled for January 8, 2017 in Silver Spring, MD
Contact me if you want his wife’s address or email so you can send a card or note. Feel free to add your comments about Roy and his work to this posting.
Disasters claimed 10,000 lives, cost $158 billion in 2016: Swiss Re
More than 10,000 people died as a result of natural and man-made disasters during 2016, with financial losses totalling at least $158 billion, Swiss Re said on Thursday.
At an estimated $49 billion, insured losses rose by nearly a third from $37 billion in 2015, but covered less than a third of the costs incurred from catastrophes over the year.
“The gap between total losses and insured losses in 2016 shows that many events took place in areas where insurance coverage was low,” Swiss Re said in a statement.
Hurricane Matthew was 2016’s deadliest natural catastrophe, Swiss Re said, claiming up to 733 lives, primarily in Haiti.
I just posted an article with complaints from LA officials. Here is an account of recovery problems as noted by the outgoing Administrator of FEMA:
Battling Climate Change, FEMA Chief Blasts ‘Social Welfare For Developers’
Recovery Diva 