Citation
(2006), "All Hazards", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315eag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
All Hazards
Below are new or updated internet resources that the Natural Hazards Center staff have found informative and useful. For a more complete list, visit: www.colorado.edu/hazards/resources/sites.html
All Hazards
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS)
The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS), a joint initiative of the United Nations and the European Commission, provides near real-time disaster alerts and tools to facilitate response coordination. The purpose of GDACS is to provide the international response community with a platform to ensure that alerts and information relevant to a disaster's response is exchanged interactively in a structured and predictable manner. GDACS will be activated when major natural, technological, or environmental disasters overwhelm a country's response capacity and international assistance is required.
USGS Fact Sheets
http://water.usgs.gov/wid/index-hazards.html
The US Geological Survey added the following fact sheets to their series on hazards: volcano hazards – a national threat, wildfire hazards – a national threat, hurricane hazards – a national threat, tsunami hazards – a national threat, flood hazards – a national threat, and landslide hazards – a national threat. Other fact sheets are also available.
Worldwatch Institute
www.worldwatch.org/features/disasters/overview/
The Worldwatch Institute has launched a two-year project addressing the intersections between natural disasters, environmental degradation, conflict, and peacemaking. The project will examine a variety of cases, including the situation in Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Indo-Pakistani relations following the 2005 South Asia earthquake, and earthquake diplomacy between Turkey and Greece.
National Academies Disasters Roundtable: Law, Science, and Disaster
www.nap.edu/catalog/11593.html
This workshop summary distils the proceedings of the October 18, 2005, National Academies Disasters Roundtable: Law, Science, and Disaster. The workshop examined recent developments and trends in hazards and disaster law and its implementation and drew on the September 11 experience to discuss the related issue of victim compensation.
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
www.opencrs.com/rpts/RS22393_20060303.pdf
This Congressional Research Service (CRS) report State and urban area homeland security plans and exercises: issues for the 109th congress addresses possible policy questions associated with homeland security plans and exercises, including how states and urban areas use federal funding to prepare for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Christian Aid
www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/512_dispreparedness/disaster%20preparedness.pdf
This briefing paper, “Don't be scared, be prepared: how disaster preparedness can save lives and money,” from Christian Aid argues that there are inexpensive and effective ways for poor communities to reduce the impacts of disasters and that local community involvement in disaster risk reduction is necessary for success.
Preparing for future “Katrinas”
www.brookings.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb150.htm
Preparing for future “Katrinas” is the title of this policy brief from the Brookings Institute that proposes the establishment of an independent federal office to operate a catastrophic reinsurance program, calling for the federal government to formally acknowledge and implement what it already has become: an insurer of last resort for catastrophes.
Benfield Hazard Research Centre
www.disasterreductiongateway.org/
An initiative of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre, Disaster Reduction Gateway promotes information sharing and cooperation among individuals with interests in natural disaster reduction. It includes links to web sites of UK- and European-based organizations and individuals involved in disaster reduction as well as links to courses, conferences, publications, funders, and more.
The Heritage Foundation
www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/bg1923.cfm
The report Learning from Disaster: The Role of Federalism and the Importance of Grassroots Response from The Heritage Foundation discusses the role of the federal government and the role that nongovernmental organizations, private sector initiatives, and individual civic deeds play during extreme emergencies.
CARMA International
A new study by US-based media analysts CARMA International surveyed media coverage from a sample of western countries of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami; Hurricane Katrina; the earthquake in Bam, Iran; Hurricane Stan; the ongoing conflict in Darfur, Africa; and the recent South Asia earthquake. It found that it is not human suffering but western self-interest that dictates how disasters are covered in the press.
International Society of First Responders (ISOFR)
This new web site is the online home of the International Society of First Responders (ISOFR). The ISOFR is a trade association and professional resource center dedicated to the issues of training, education, best practices, and shared experiences facing first responders in their support of homeland security. The site features a training center, resource library, and more.
National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications
http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert.php?lang=eng
The National Association of Radio-Distress Signaling and Infocommunications, Havaria Emergency and Disaster Information Services in Budapest, Hungary, collects data on current natural and human-caused disasters around the world and provides the information on their web site. A subscription-based e-mail alert and RSS feeds are also available.
Evacuation planning, human factors, and traffic engineering
http://trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=5206
“Evacuation planning, human factors, and traffic engineering: developing systems for training and effective response” is featured in the May-June 2005 issue of the Transportation Research Board's TR News. The authors suggest that a real-time emergency planning system could generate evacuation routing and traffic management plans in response to accidents, terrorist attacks, or other catastrophic events that change the capacity or the topology of the road network and could serve as a training simulator for emergency planning.
ProtectingAmerica
www.protectingamerica.org/pdf/06pre301f.pdf
ProtectingAmerica.org released these findings from a national survey that found that nearly half of all Americans feel personally vulnerable to a major natural catastrophe. The survey also found that 70 percent of respondents say the country is still not prepared to deal with catastrophe and that they support congressional action to reduce the financial and economic consequences of catastrophe.
Disasters and the law: Katrina and beyond
www.law.berkeley.edu/library/disasters.html
Disasters and the law: Katrina and beyond is a new site from the Law Library at the University of California, Berkeley, featuring information related to the law's role in natural hazards mitigation and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
Association of state floodplain managers
www.floods.org/PDF/ASFPM_PDM_White_Paper_0306.pdf
This white paper from the Association of State Floodplain Managers, Improving the pre-disaster mitigation program, is based on comments from ASFPM members and mitigation professionals across the nation. It summarizes the recommendations of these experts for improving the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program.
Congressional Research Service
www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL33369.pdf
Federal Emergency Management and Homeland Security Organization: Historical Developments and Legislative Options from the Congressional Research Service reviews the establishment and evolution of federal emergency management organizational arrangements since the end of World War II and briefly summarizes current legislative proposals.
Heritage Foundation
www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/bg1923.cfm
This Heritage Foundation report, Learning from disaster: the role of federalism and the importance of grassroots response by James Jay Carafano and Richard Weitz, discusses the role of the federal government and the role that nongovernmental organizations, private sector initiatives, and individual civic deeds play during extreme emergencies.
Empowering America: a proposal for enhancing regional preparedness
www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/SR06.cfm
Empowering America: a proposal for enhancing regional preparedness, a report from The Heritage Foundation, focuses on the importance of regional preparedness to building a national response system that allows local communities, states, and the federal government to work together during a catastrophic disaster.
Infrastructure security project's
www.tisp.org/news/newsdetails.cfm?&newsID=727
The Infrastructure Security Project's Guide for an action plan to develop regional disaster resilience provides a framework for governments, service providers, and other involved organizations. The focus is on multi-hazards, with the goal of sensibly and cost-effectively securing interdependent cyber and physical critical infrastructures.
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
www.unisdr.org/asiapacific/asiapacific-index.htm
This new site from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction provides information related to regional activities, events, and publications for the Asia and Pacific region and highlights achievements and progress made.
Disasters, death, and destruction: accounting for recent calamities
http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-2449-2006.02.pdf
This paper by Roger Pielke Jr, Disasters, Death, and Destruction: Accounting for Recent Calamities, was presented at the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academies' Sixth Annual Roger Revelle Commemorative Lecture.
Nobody Left Behind
This site describes the Nobody Left Behind project, a three-year study by researchers at the University of Kansas on how 30 US counties and cities identified and planned for people with mobility impairments during disasters.
Emergency preparedness for special needs populations
www.washington.edu/admin/business/oem/special_needs_resources/
The University of Washington Seattle Campus Report on Emergency Preparedness for Special Needs Populations is available here along with other information about special needs emergency preparedness.
Measurement and indicators for disasters
http://hazardcenter.louisville.edu/pdfs/wp0601.pdf
The working paper “Measurement and indicators for disasters: topical bibliography” by David M. Simpson and Matin Katirai is available from the Center for Hazards Research and Policy Development at the University of Louisville.
Emergency Management Professional Organization for Women's Enrichment
www.empower-women.com/pages/1/
Emergency Management Professional Organization for Women's Enrichment (EMPOWER) was established to provide a forum to strengthen the presence and excellence of women in emergency management. This web site was created to bring professionals together to share experiences, build skills, and expand and deepen industry knowledge.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0604HLSDIRSURVEY.pdf
This issue brief from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices discusses the findings from its second annual survey of state homeland security directors, which was administered to gauge organizational progress in key areas, including governance and strategy, coordination between government and the private sector, and operations.
Do 1 Thing
Do 1 Thing is a 12-month preparedness program developed by a collaboration of governments and nongovernmental organizations in three Michigan counties. It focuses on a different area of preparedness each month and provides a range of options for each topic, moving individuals through the process of disaster preparedness from awareness to intention to action.
NOAA Podcasts
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) now offers NOAA Podcasts, short audio reports on NOAA science and research, for free download.
Education and Training Issues Related to Major Disasters
www.library.dau.mil/CRS_RL33089.pdf
Education and Training Issues Related to Major Disasters from the Congressional Research Service provides a general overview of the federally funded programs administered by the US Department of Education and the training programs of the US Department of Labor that might be used to help those affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Centre for Natural Risks and Development
www.zeneb.uni-bayreuth.de/home.htm
This site of the Centre for Natural Risks and Development at the University of Bayreuth in Germany provides information on current debates, projects, and meetings in social-science oriented hazards and disasters research in developing countries.