Disaster Sociologists Study How Hurricane Sandy Changed Life in New York. Well, the Sandy info may be new, but we have had disaster sociologists for about 50 years!
The study of disasters is beginning to look like archeology: new layers reveal what has been known for many years!
For those interested in what some of the major cities concerned with sea level rise are doing, here are some sites from the City of Boston regarding their efforts in Boston Harbor.
See the Boston Harbor Association site, which is the source of their new report titled Designing With Water. Both an executive summary (18 pages) and a full text report (72 pp) are available there.
The Diva was at a meeting at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters today and learned about a number of interesting programs and activities. Here are some examples:
And an interesting article about the application of science:
How Hurricane Sandy Tamed the Bureacracy
From the HuffPost, this article is worth reading: Toledo’s Troubles: Vivid Example of Why We Need to Act on Climate and Clean Water.
I had been wondering why people were not told to boil the water – that would have made the poison worse!
See also the article in the NYTimes on Troubled Lake Eire.
A 44-page report titled FEMA Strategic Plan (2014-2018).
I found priorities #4 and 5 the most interesting.
FEMA published the National Protection Framework this past week. This is the fifth framework for the national preparedness mission.
Three new FIOP ( Federal Interagency Operational Plans) also are available at this site. They are the ones for mitigation, recovery, and response.
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Update: See Eric Holdeman’s blog posting on the topic of the new Strategic Plan.
Update on recovery in Christchurch, NZ. The article provides some details on the high cost of recovery.
Thanks to Franklin McDonald for the URL
For those readers who like infographics, here is a new one on resilience. [NOTE: It prints out best in landscape mode.]
My personal take is to disagree with the box that compares the resilience and preparedness approaches. I welcome your comments.
Thanks to Chris Jones for sending me the direct link. Chris noted:
Infographics make things clear,
so Claire’s readers hold them dear.
A picture provides,
a simple guide,
so to truth, we can get near.
See this new website mounted by the National Academy of Sciences on Resilience. See also the details on the site for a webinar in early Sept.
Recently, both countries have issued new rules. According to this Reuters article, the Canadian measures are more stringent. See: Canada’s rail safety measures: earlier and tougher than U.S.
Canada quietly issued new details on rail safety regulation last week that included specifications for the next generation of tank cars that are tougher than some of the options proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday.
The safety proposals by Transport Canada for hauling dangerous goods, released online on Friday, builds on measures first announced in April that will require older DOT-111 rail cars used for carrying crude oil be phased out by May 2017.
The measures are a response to a massive surge in crude-by-rail shipments in recent years and a string of high-profile disasters involving older tank cars prone to punctures, including one that killed 47 people in Quebec, Canada.
A direct link to the proposed new U.S. regulations is here.
The Wall St. Journal had an interesting but sad article today about the hardships and stress the local residents of the small, war-town towns where the downed Malaysian airliner crashed. See: After Flight 17 Crash, Agony, Debris and Heartbreak in Ukraine Villages
Recovery Diva 