Disaster management articles/events/resources – January 28, 2020

All-Hazards:

 

Resilience:

 

 

 

Public Health / Biosurveillance:

 

Critical Infrastructure & Cyber:

 

Innovations & Interconnections:

 

Training & Professional Development

 

 

Panel Discussion “Climate Change and the Australian Bushfires: A Singular Catastrophe or The New Normal?” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)  For further information: http://www.csis.org or Andrew Schwartz at 202-775-3242.

  • Date/Time: Monday, Jan. 27, 5 p.m. ET
  • Location: 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.

 

Subcommittee Hearing – House: “Out of Control: The Impact of Wildfires on our Power Sector and the Environment.” A joint hearing by the Energy Subcommittee and Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee

  • Date/Time: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 10 a.m. ET
  • Location: 2123 Rayburn Bldg.

 

Webinars on Business Continuity Planning: (Disaster Recovery Journal) A business continuity plan (BCP) outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the event of major disruption to the delivery of critical products & services to key customers. Many industry pundits, consultants are of the firm belief that a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) should automatically lead to a unique Business Continuity Plan. The author of these webinars introduces Capability Assessment, Risk Assessment, among other analytical components, in arriving at viable business resumption strategies:

BCPs – Beyond just BIAs

  • Date/Time: Wednesday, February 5, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET

BCP Made Simple

  • Date /Time : Wednesday, February 12, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET

Key Resources

 

 

Netflix Docu-series: “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak” (2020 | TV-14 | 1 Season | Science & Technology Docuseries) In this docuseries, meet the heroes on the front lines of the battle against influenza and learn about their efforts to stop the next global outbreak.

Article: The politics of zero-sum thinking: The relationship between political ideology and the belief that life is a zero-sum game

The politics of zero-sum thinking: The relationship between political ideology and the belief that life is a zero-sum game

https://flip.it/J-J3v8

Articles as of 12/16/19

All-Hazards:

 

Resilience:

 

Public Health / Biosurveillance:

 

Critical Infrastructure & Cyber:

 

Innovations & Interconnections(?…!):

 

Articles from the week of 10/17/19

Socioeconomic Effects of Coastal Flooding in California (HSNW)

Floods: With Coastal Waters Rising: First-Ever National Assessment of FEMA Buyouts (HSNW)  A new study is the first to examine nationwide data on FEMA’s buyout program.

PG&E Put the Burden of Halting Fires on Millions of Californians (EM / Gov Tech) …the biggest planned power outage in state history leaves a flurry of questions: What really created this mess — climate change, drought and building too close to wildlands jacking up fire danger, or incompetence by PG&E? What can be done to prevent shut-offs, or to at least conduct them better?

Zombie Prep, Emergency Prep: FEMA Partners with Sony for ‘Zombieland’ PSA  (HS Today) ‘“Zombies don’t plan ahead. You can. Make your emergency plan.”’

What’s Your Landslide Risk? USGS Maps Out Danger in New Database (HS Today) The U.S. Geological Survey today unveiled a new web-based interactive map that marks an important step toward mapping areas that could be at higher risk for future landslides. In collaboration with state geological surveys and other federal agencies, USGS has compiled much of the existing landslide data into a searchable, web-based interactive map called the U.S. Landslide Inventory Map.

Are We Doing Enough About Biosecurity? Looking To Tech and One Another For How to Protect Human Health and Prosperity In The Bioeconomy (SynBioBeta)

FBI Says Don’t Pay the Ransom (FEMA) FBI urges all individuals or organizations that have been infected with ransomware not to pay the ransom but, instead, to contact their local FBI field office and report the incidents to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) www.ic3.gov  as soon as possible.

How Texas Used Its Disaster Playbook After A Huge Ransomware Attack  (State Scoop)

Overcoming Challenges of Hospital Preparedness Plans (Dom Prep)

Richer Nations Urged To Boost Protection Against Wild Weather As Losses Jump (Reuters)

Best Practices for State And Local Governments To Improve Natural Disaster Preparedness (Am. City & County)

Algorithm Projects Final Size of Wildfire Just After Start (Governing)

The Next Big Technology to Transform Government (Governing)

It’s called blockchain. Some say it will have a bigger impact than the Internet.

Fireproofing: Whole-House Fire Blanket Protects Buildings from Short Wildfires (HSNW)

Floods: With Coastal Waters Rising: First-Ever National Assessment of FEMA Buyouts (HSNW)  A new study is the first to examine nationwide data on FEMA’s buyout program.

School Safety: Keeping Students Safe Is a Growth Industry Struggling to Fulfill Its Mission (HSNW)

What Will Happen to Bay Area Refineries When the ‘Big One’ Hits? (EM / Gov Tech)

Earthquakes Still Surprise Us, Even with All the Science (EM / Gov Tech)

Unprecedented movement detected on California earthquake fault capable of 8.0 (LA Times)

Bank Regulators Present a Dire Warning of Financial Risks From Climate Change (NY Times) “The associated risks and effects of climate change are relevant considerations for the Federal Reserve,” according to the director of the San Francisco Fed’s Center for Community Development Investments.

As Waters Rise, So Do Concerns For Sports Teams Along Coast (Wash Post)  Editor’s Note: This could be considered a case-study example of the financial battle between the Public and Private sectors over who receives the “benefits” of a project and who takes on the “costs.” (John Vocino)

Note: as water in the atmosphere rises with rising temps,  it could create more rainouts for outdoor sports in the US (Baseball, Soccer, Football).  Could this create greater demand for domed-stadium – especially a demand by leagues and teams to (e.g.: MLB) demand that their communities pay for these next-gen facilities?  It would be an easy-to-understand example of corporations socializing the costs onto the public, while capitalizing the benefits for themselves.  

 Insightful article! But…

“’You missed a spot!”’  

 Unfortunately, this article is short on the issue of financial risk and cost burdens.  The article identifies the multi-million dollar price tags for some recently build stadia.  But that leaves the reader to think that it is the pro teams that have spent their own capital to build the existing facilities, or will pony-up to build these new ones. 

 Not so much.

 As we’ve seen right here in Washington DC, the upfront costs were borne on the locality, not to mention ownership periodically returning to the original deal when it wants stadium upgrades or the community to cover the costs of upgrades to the surrounding infrastructure.  

By adding that additional data point, we now have an easy-to-understand example of corporations socializing the costs onto the public, while capitalizing the benefits for themselves.

Prof. Vocino

National Homeland Security Consortium Releases State Case Studies on HSGP Effectiveness (NEMA)

Article – food for thought…

Disaster management issues are looked by many, many different actors with different lenses:

https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2018/05/03/the-economics-of-natural-disasters/

“What has so often excited wonder [is] the great rapidity with which countries recover from a state of devastation; the disappearance, in a short time, of all traces of the mischiefs done by earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and the ravages of war.”

 

Fall 2019 – UDC Wed class discussion on National Household Survey

OK Students – Let’s discuss the results of this survey.  Here’s some questions to lead us off:

So, what? — what does this mean?

What are the 2 or 3 most important issues this study point out, in your opinion.

Then, given your thought on the above questions, what do we (which ‘we’ are you talking about…) do about these important issues?