From HSToday: PERSPECTIVE: The Evolving Cybersecurity Landscape in 2024
A look ahead at an important new field.

From HSNewswire: Extreme Weather Cost $80 Billion in 2023. The True Price Is Far Higher.

From NYC to D.C. and Beyond, Cities on the East Coast Are Sinking.

“Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year – a decline at the ocean’s edge that well outpaces global sea level rise. Particularly hard hit population centers such as New York City and Long Island, Baltimore, and Virginia Beach and Norfolk are seeing areas of rapid “subsidence,” or sinking land, alongside more slowly sinking or relatively stable ground, increasing the risk to roadways, runways, building foundations, rail lines, and pipelines.”

Translated article from the South Korean newspaper The Segye Times , written by reporter Yeongjun Park from; published in Dec. 2023.

“The nature and components of disasters vary widely, requiring training and ongoing education of key personnel.”

Claire Rubin, a researcher who works as a disaster prevention consultant in the U.S., emphasized training and education as an iteration of responding to various disasters on Sept. 26 (local time). She is a disaster prevention and safety expert who has taught disaster management for decades at the George Washington University Crisis Response Center in Washington, D.C…..

“New and more complex threats continue to emerge, including more frequent and powerful hurricanes, more destructive wildfires, and cyber threats,” Rubin said of recent disaster trends. “The current state of disaster management is reasonably responsive to common threats, but recent emerging hazards pose significant challenges to current U.S. preparedness and response efforts,” she said.

Regarding innovations in disaster response, Rubin noted that while “new technologies, including social media, are being utilized in many aspects of disaster management,” there are limits to relying on technology alone, as “it can be misleading or misinformative, and it may not work well (in a crisis).”

Regarding the preparations needed to strengthen disaster management capacity, Rubin emphasized that “there are many elements to competent disaster response, management, and recovery,” and that “(ultimately) the key to success is for governments to have well-educated and trained emergency managers.” “The nature and components of disasters vary widely, requiring training and ongoing education of key personnel,” she urged.

She emphasized the importance of building disaster management capacity at the community level.

“The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides grants to state agencies, which in turn support local emergency management organizations and activities,” Rubin said. “FEMA also provides training courses to state agencies and many universities that offer emergency management training and degrees.” “State government works with citizens,” he said, “and collaboration between public and private organizations, such as community emergency response teams, is critical.”

New Congressional Research Service report: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Assistance. (4 pp)

New Report from RAND: Improving the Financial Resilience of Public Entities and Individuals for Natural Disasters: A Resource Guide for State and Local Government.  The full document is 50 pages and can be downloaded free from the RAND site.

From the WashPost: Nearly 6,200 Lahaina wildfire survivors face the holidays with no home

“More than four months since the deadliest wildfire in modern American history burned Lahaina to the ground, nearly 6,200 people are still looking for a place to live while their beloved Maui town is rebuilt.

There’s the retiree who has been shuttled from one shelter to another; the family of five who can only afford to stay in their overpriced, unlicensed rental until month’s end, when their shrinking finances will force them to leave the island; and the dozens of people camping on the beach to demand long-term housing for survivors of the blaze.

In the fire’s immediate aftermath, many predicted this crisis. And yet, despite the warning signs, Maui has hurtled headlong into a housing emergency.”

New Report from the firm Everbridge. Written from the business perspective.

Year in review: Key trends in critical event management

From the Guardian: Survivors of deadly Maui blaze face displacement after displacement: ‘I live a nomadic life’ An excerpt:

“The deadliest US wildfire in more than a century – which incinerated the historic town of Lahaina, killed 100 people and destroyed 3% of Maui’s residential housing stock – pushed the island’s longstanding affordable housing crisis to a new inflection point. More than 10,000 survivors lost their homes, and, four months later, 6,300 remain sheltered at 33 hotels contracted with the Red Cross and Fema. For the thousands of evacuees who have been shuffling around, the haphazard way in which the program is managed, along with the return of tourists to the fire-ravaged region in October, have carried dire social consequences: residents share concerns of rising suicide rates, and monthly calls to the county domestic violence hotline have more than doubled since the disaster.”

TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT: Artificial Intelligence in Natural Hazard Modeling
Severe Storms, Hurricanes, Floods, and Wildfire. Note that the full report is 61 pp.

The Diva considers this a must read for people in the emergency management field and expects that this subject will be an important one in 2024.