All hazards

Disaster Prevention and Management

ISSN: 0965-3562

Article publication date: 1 April 2004

119

Citation

(2004), "All hazards", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2004.07313bag.001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


All hazards

All hazards

National Academies' Disasters Roundtablehttp://dels.nas.edu/dr

The National Academies' Disasters Roundtable has launched a new Web site highlighting past and future Roundtable workshops, which take place thrice a year in Washington, DC. The Roundtable's mission is to facilitate and enhance communication and the exchange of ideas among scientists, practitioners, and policy makers in order to identify urgent and important issues related to the understanding and mitigation of natural, technological, and other disasters. Each workshop focuses on a specific topic or issue; the most recent, held 22 October, was entitled Hazards Watch: Reducing Disasters Losses Through Improved Earth Observations. Summaries of the nine previous workshops are available from the site, as is a link to the interim report from the Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction entitled Reducing Disaster Vulnerability Through Science and Technology.

Behavioural Research Programhttp://dccps.nci.nih.gov/brp/conceptual.html

Early in 2003, the Behavioural Research Program (BRP) of the National Cancer Institute sponsored a workshop entitled Conceptualizing and Measuring Risk Perceptions. Research developments in a number of domains suggest that the reduction of risk perceptions to probability and severity estimates is probably inadequate. For example, recent research on emotional reactions to threat, experience-based and implicit attitudes, the accuracy and variability of risk judgments, and cognitive representation of probability all provide insights that could enrich our understanding of the nature of perceived risk and the processes by which risk perceptions affect precautionary behaviours. The goal of the workshop was to bring together scholars from a range of theoretical perspectives to talk about these issues. Seven papers from the workshop are now available on the BRP Web site along with a detailed summary of the discussions that followed each paper.

Water Stewards Networkwww.waterstewards.org/

The Water Stewards Network has launched a new Web site with the aim of becoming a planet-wide “central nervous system” for water literacy and stewardship. Network organizers hope to galvanize support for the movement for water sovereignty and promote a paradigm shift in the global approach to water management. The Web site includes project and country profiles, links to water-related resources, and a section on upcoming events.

THORPEXwww.mmm.ucar.edu/uswrp/programs/thorpex.html

General information about THORPEX: A Global Atmospheric Research Program, created to accelerate improvements in the accuracy of 1-14-day weather forecasts for the benefit of society and the economy, is presented on this Web site. THORPEX research is often related to natural hazards, and the program periodically issues requests for proposals.

Cambridge Scientific Abstractshttp://thesaurus.nbii.gov

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, the National Biological Information Infrastructure, the US Geological Survey, and the US Department of the Interior have launched a collaborative online “biocomplexity thesaurus,” which combines five existing thesauri: the aquatic sciences and fisheries thesaurus, the life sciences thesaurus, the pollution thesaurus, the sociological thesaurus, and the national biological information infrastructure thesaurus. The Web site includes teacher resources, and geographical perspectives, and should prove useful for those interested in hazards, natural resources, and sustainability.

Pacific Disaster Centerhttp://atlas.pdc.org

The Asia Pacific region is home to 53 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of its land area, but nearly 70 percent of all lives are lost due to natural disasters that occur within the Asia Pacific region. The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) has released an online Asia-Pacific Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas to provide a dynamic geospatial framework through which information may be accessed and viewed by the disaster management and humanitarian assistance communities. An objective of the atlas is to engender greater awareness among emergency managers regarding the risks of natural hazards in their area.

Red Cross Floridawww.tallytown.com/redcross/cbo-mitigation.html

The capital area chapter of Red Cross Florida is creating a national resource library of disaster mitigation initiatives undertaken by community- based organizations. Visit this section of their Web site to tell your story and see what others are doing.

Capital Area Citizen Corps in Washington, DCwww.tallytown.com/redcross/cacc-01.html

During July 2003, the Capital Area Citizen Corps in Washington, DC, conducted a week-long training of young people called the “Capital Area Youth Disaster College.” The training included disaster education and mitigation activities, field trips, and disaster training opportunities, all of which are profiled on this Web site.

US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administrationwww.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/emergencypreparedness/index.html

The US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) offers this emergency preparedness Web site, focusing on emergency preparedness and response materials, resources, and links for workplace safety.

Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Education Networkhttp://training.fema.gov/emiweb/EENET/

The current schedule of programs and satellite information for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Education Network (EENET) is available on this Web site.

Michigan Tech Universitywww.geohazards.mtu.edu

Michigan Tech University and the US Peace Corps have announced an opportunity for students who want to work abroad and are interested in the mitigation of geological hazards. The program offers field-based experience through a Peace Corps assignment. It initially targets Central American countries facing significant challenges in geological hazards. For details, contact: William Rose, Michigan Tech University, Houghton, MI 49931. Tel: (906) 487-2367; E-mail: raman@mtu.edu

Health Library for Disasterswww.disaster-info.net/newsletter/92/helid.htm

The 2003 edition of the Health Library for Disasters, an online collection of information resources on public health in disasters and complex emergencies, has just been released by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization. The library is fully searchable with a variety of key terms.

Federal Emergency Management Agencywww.fema.gov/kids/games/board

The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has unveiled an interactive web-based board game for children as part of its commitment to educating young people about disaster preparedness and risk reduction. The board game is called “Disaster Discovery.”

Bibliographyhttp://online.northumbria.ac.uk/geography_research/gdn/resources/bibliographies.html

This URL is a link to a newly revised gender and disasters bibliography.

FEMAwww.fema.gov/tab_education.shtm

At this URL, FEMA offers a community-based pre-disaster mitigation curriculum designed to involve emergency management and community and faith-based organizations (CBOs/FBOs) in pre-disaster mitigation at the local level.

FEMA's Higher Education Programhttp://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/facultypos.asp

FEMA's Higher Education Program, a division of EMI, mentioned above, has begun posting emergency management faculty vacancies on the Higher Education Web site.

Community Emergency Response Teamwww.naem.com/connection.html

Since January 2002, there has been nearly a 100 percent increase in the number of states where Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training is available. The Connection newsletter, comprising of articles written by the people from around the country who are involved in community preparedness on a daily basis, is seeking contributions. Suggested topics include emergency responses in which CERT teams were involved, schools and preparedness training, innovative CERT ideas, and how CERTs are maintaining skills and motivation. Complete guidelines for article submission is available at www.naem.com/connection/guidelines.html.

National Mass Fatalities Institutewww.nmfi.org/index.htm

The National Mass Fatalities Institute (NMFI), an organization established to help communities, businesses, industries, government, and disaster response agencies effectively plan for, respond to, and recover from a mass fatalities incident, now offers an online newsletter, which will be sent out periodically to provide updated news, information, and event listings to help communities and organizations prepare for mass fatality incidents. To sign up for this free newsletter, send an E-mail: nmfi@kirkwood.edu.

GeoSpace.comwww.geoplace.com/gw/2003/0311/0311gngis.asp

The relationships between geospatial data, geographic information systems, and risk analysis for natural disasters, technological accidents, terrorist attacks, and regional conflicts are explored in this column at GeoSpace.com, a resource for geospatial information.

“North Carolina: Mitigation in Action”www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id¼8412

The FEMA Web site recently featured a series of three articles entitled “North Carolina: Mitigation in Action” that describe measures taken to alleviate flood and hurricane damage. In particular, they look at steps taken after recent devastating storms, such as hurricanes Fran in 1996 and Bonnie in 1998, and show how those measures prevented further damage last summer when Hurricane Isabel came ashore. The articles offer numerous examples and tips that could be adopted elsewhere.

Institute of Business & Home Safetywww.ibhs.org/publications/list.asp?id¼72

The Institute of Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has posted presentations from insurance company representatives, emergency management officials, academics, government officials, and others, who participated in the 2003 IBHS congress.

The International Emergency Management Societywww.tiems.org/

The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS) has unveiled a new and updated Web site that provides access to proceedings and papers from past TIEMS conferences.

The Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administrationwww.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/ics/index.html

The Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released its latest web-based training tool on the Incident Command System (ICS). This web course highlights planning, preparation, and implementation of an ICS system, and includes a section outlining OSHA standards that affect ICS workers, along with additional guidance applicable to emergency response safety and health.

Public Entity Risk Institutewww.riskinstitute.org/lib_art.asp?art_id¼1081

On its Web site, the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) has posted abstracts of the articles in the volume Beyond September 11th: An Account of Post-disaster Research, published by the Natural Hazards Center (see the Observer, Vol. XXVIII No.2, p.3). These articles were authored by researchers who studied the immediate effects of 11 September 2001, in the days, weeks, and months following the disaster.

Government Emergency Telecommunications Servicehttp://gets.ncs.gov/

The Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS), provided by the Office of the Manager, National Communications System (OMNCS), supports federal, state, and local government, industry, and nonprofit organization personnel in performing national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) missions. GETS provides emergency access and priority processing in the local and long distance segments of the Public Switched Network (PSN). It is intended to be used during an emergency or crisis when the probability of completing a call over normal or alternate telecommunication means is low.

The Texas Association of Regional Councilswww.txregionalcouncil.org/cc_cert/citizen_corps.htm

The Texas Association of Regional Councils local Citizens Corps Councils web page includes an overview of the state's Comprehensive Citizen Corps program in Power Point format from a recent presentation given at the Volunteers in Homeland Security Conference in November. The presentation covers statewide program goals, structure, funding, and activities.

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