Three recent articles, two of which discuss recent criticism of the Red Cross issued by ProPublica and another that defends the Red Cross, from a philanthropy organization.

1. Additional details about ProPublica’s complaints about the Red Cross. How Crowdsourcing Helped Bring Red Cross Problems to Light; The ability to reach a much wider universe of sources gives reporters a powerful new tool — if they know which questions to ask.
2. Internal Survey Shows the Red Cross’ Own Employees Doubt the Charity’s Ethics. Survey results obtained by ProPublica also show a crisis of trust in the charity’s senior leadership.
3. In defense of the Red Cross: Losing the Red Cross Would be a Real Disaster.

Over the past few days about a dozen people have written comments regarding recovery and blogs. I suggest you read some of the comments that follow the last two postings for details.  Today, I want to briefly highlight two aspects:

On recovery:  At least two people have commented on the problems with the recovery phase at the federal level, noting its “orphan” status and the unwillingness of FEMA, HUD, and Commerce to adopt it, embrace it fully, and treat it kindly in the future.

On the merits of a blog:  Many people still seem to regard a blog  as a popular medium that focuses on superficial or personal expression. From the start of this blog, I have assumed it could be a means of informal education.

I want to show that a blog can provide current, substantive information and commentary. Additionally, I created an index in order to aggregate the serious studies and documents that were done recently and to provide a  ready reference for the past 4 years.

In my view a blog augments textbooks, which take years to produce. It may also be true that an assessment of blog postings could lead to the creation of a new text or guidance document.

In closing, this period of assessment by the Diva and her readers may be tedious to some, but I think it has uncovered a lot of interesting information. And The Diva appreciates the kind comments and support from loyal readers.

Why the disappointment? The reaction of readers to the offer of an in-depth index and summary of key recovery documents for the past 4  years was truly underwhelming.

The Diva writes this blog to informally provide educational material about the disaster recovery process. She is not a journalist and does not write to entertain readers or pass the time. This past week, the Diva spent a great deal of time and money to index 4 years of postings on this blog in order to have a lasting document useful to those with an ongoing interest in recovery.

The lack of interest is baffling, since the first index, completed last year, was quite popular and helped generate interest and donations for the blog. And it’s not as if there are many other sources of info on recovery; there are not.

So, considering the lack of response at the present time, I have to ask Why Do I Bother? 

I welcome your comments.

Announcing: The 2nd Recovery Resources Roundup Index

For over 4 years the Recovery Diva blog has published more than 1300 postings on a wide array of topics, mostly about disaster recovery. Once again, we have put together an annotated index of the most significant postings. Our Recovery Resources Roundup is a 40 page compilation, sorted by category and includes a URL and an abstract for each item.

This Round Up document is an indispensable aid for those serious about disaster recovery. It provides a current supplement to existing texts and traditional resources, and it would be a great resource for a college course on recovery. [Ask re for bulk purchase price. And note that the document is copyrighted.]

A copy can be yours if you make a contribution of $25 or more to the RD blog, via the DONATE NOW button on the upper right corner of the blog’s homepage. Copies will be sent out promptly via email.

We need your support in order to maintain and improve this blog.

Now available free from the FEMA Higher Education Program’s website a new e-book titled Critical Issues In Disaster Science and Management; A Dialogue Between Researchers and Practitioners. Editors are Joseph E. Trainor and Tony Subbio.

The Diva is a coauthor of one chapter of this book. See Chapter 13: Unmet Needs and Persistent Problems.

NOTE: Be prepared for a 482 page download!

UPDATE:  The HSDL gave the book a nice write up (Nov.7)

From the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) –“the UK’s leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues” a new report titled: Setting, Measuring and Monitoring Targets for Disaster Risk Reduction: Recommendations for post-2015 international policy frameworks

More details and the Executive Summary (8 pp) and the Full Report (84 pp) are available. This is a sophisticated and dense report, but very worthwhile.

NOTE: check out Don Watson’s assessment of this report in the comment section. The Diva has not yet read the full document.