On March 21, 2001, the newly created Subcommittee on Research of the House Committee on Science held a hearing to examine how the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) affected the impacts of the Nisqually earthquake that occurred in Washington state on February 28. The hearing, "Life in the Subduction Zone: The Recent Nisqually Quake and the Federal Efforts to Reduce Earthquake Hazards," highlighted improved understanding of earthquake processes in order to mitigate impacts more effectively. The subcommittee heard testimony regarding how NEHRP activities in research and mitigation are conducted under four federal agencies: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. Testimony also addressed damage caused by the quake, ground failures, liquefaction, the role of the National Science Foundation under NEHRP, earthquake research and facilities, characteristics of earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest, characteristics of the Nisqually quake, hazard assessment, USGS earthquake programs in the region, geologic and structural effects of the quake, and remote sensing and hazards planning.
The hearing charter and prepared testimony are available on the sucommittee's web site: http://www.house.gov/science/reshearings.htm.
During the summer of 2000, wildfires burned more than 6.8 million acres of public and private land. Many of these fires burned in urban-wildland interface areas and exceeded the fire suppression capabilities of those regions. Consequently, Congress has appropriated substantial funds to help reduce the threats posed by wildfires and has directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to consult with states and tribal governments to develop a list of urban wildland interface communities within the vicinity of federal lands that are at high risk from wildfires (see the Observer, Vol. XXV, No. 3, pp. 8-11).
On January 4, the agencies posted a notice in the Federal Register that provides an initial list of at-risk communities as well as the preliminary criteria for risk evaluation and management that will be used to focus hazardous fuel reduction efforts funded by Congress. Communities on the list "exist where humans and their development meet or intermix with wildland fuel." The agencies divided jurisdictions into three types:
On May 1, 2001, the secretaries are required to publish a second list in the Federal Register of high risk communities for which fuels reduction activities will not begin in 2001. Risk factors that will be considered in narrowing the initial list include: fire behavior potential, values at risk (e.g., property, natural resources, or cultural treasures), and infrastructure (e.g., dead end roads, steep grades, fire-fighting capacity, water supply, and emergency response capabilities). The subsequent fire-reduction projects will focus on federal land and may be extended to nonfederal land in close proximity. Other factors that may be considered in project selection include community contributions, such as the establishment of a defensible space around a community, hazardous fuel reduction activities and programs, partnerships with other agencies, enforcement of fire-related laws, appropriate community planning and land- use practices, and fire safety and related environmental education.
The notice can be found in the Federal Register, Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 751-777. Copies are also on-line at http://www.access.gpo.gov.
On January 24, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture established the Joint Fire Science Program Stakeholder Advisory Group to provide advice to the departments concerning priorities and approaches for research and implementation of findings for the management of wildland fuels on lands administered by the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.
The group's recommendations are intended to reflect national public interest, and members will represent varied stakeholders affected by the Joint Fire Science Program. For more information, contact Bob Clark, Joint Fire Science Program Manager, National Interagency Fire Center, 3833 South Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705; (208) 387-5349; e-mail: bob_clark@blm.gov.
Individual states are working with federal agencies and organizations interested in U.S. forested areas to develop a 10-year comprehensive strategy for restoring forest ecosystem health. The collaborative effort began last fall, when Congress directed federal agencies to work with states and provided funding for state and private fuels management and wildfire preparedness activities (see the previous two articles).
At press time, the report Ten-Year Comprehensive Strategy: A Collaborative Ten-Year Strategy for Restoring Health to Fire-Adapted Ecosystems (2001, 12 pp., free), was posted in draft form on the Western Governors' Association (WGA) web site. The final version was expected to be completed May 1.
The WGA also issued a statement in December 2000, calling for a long-term approach to the wildfire risk in the U.S. The Catastrophic Wildfires of 2000: Collaborative Effort Key to Prevention and Improved Ecosystem Health (5 pp., free) outlines action the chief executives feel needs to be initiated under the new Bush administration and Congress. In particular, the governors call on Congress to provide funding over the next 10 years that is consistent with the amount appropriated for fiscal year 2001 (see the Observer, Vol. XXV, No. 3, p.11), asserting that this funding will "pale in comparison to that required for future fire fighting needs, lost timber value, restoration costs and damage to downstream resources if the trends continue and we see more fire seasons like the Summer of 2000."
Both reports are available from the Western Governors' Association web site, http://www.westgov.org.
In a recent memorandum of understanding (MOU) among federal agencies, states, local governments, tribes, and other organizations, the Interim National Drought Council was created to coordinate activities relating to drought. Specifically, it will establish a more comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated approach toward reducing the impacts of drought. Its goals include improving drought preparedness, monitoring and prediction, risk management, and response in the U.S. By coordinating the partners to the MOU, the council hopes to resolve drought-related issues, promote the exchange of information about effective programs, and improve public awareness of the need for drought planning and mitigation. The interim council, which held its first meeting in November, will continue for five years or until Congress establishes a permanent National Drought Council.
For further information about the interim council, contact Leona Dittus, Executive Director, Interim National Drought Council, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 6701-S, Washington, DC 20250-0501; (202) 720-3168; fax: (202) 720-9688; e-mail: leona.dittus@usda.gov.
History teaches that a lack of hurricane education and planning are common threads among all major hurricane disasters. The goal of Hurricane Awareness Week is to educate the public about the hazards associated with hurricanes and ways to reduce the risk. Each day of Hurricane Awareness Week will have a special focus: coastal and marine hazards, wind hazards, inland flooding, forecasting, and disaster prevention. The National Weather Service's Tropical Prediction Center has posted web pages regarding this event; see http://www.nhc.noaa.gov for more information.
The Hazard Mitigation Planning Clinic in the University of North Carolina Department of City and Regional Planning has been working with the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management (NCDEM) to promote mitigation planning at the local level throughout the state. The resultant products and activities are applicable throughout the country. The following are some of the activities currently underway in the Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative (HMPI).
HMPI's objective is to foster the development of local hazard mitigation plans. To that end, NCDEM, along with the Hazard Mitigation Planning Clinic, have supported the development of demonstration mitigation plans (11 completed) and watershed mitigation plans (one completed). In addition, they are currently supporting the formulation of local mitigation plans in 63 communities affected by Hurricane Floyd.
At the heart of this initiative is training to build local government capacity to plan for mitigation. HMPI has developed and conducted the following training programs:
The initiative has also produced numerous media presentations:
Besides specific plans, programs, and products, HMPI has collected extensive data to support its work:
For further information regarding these activities and products, contact the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, 4713 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4713; (919) 715-8000, ext. 275; WWW: http://www.dem.dcc.state.nc.us.
Editor:
I would like to correct a couple of inaccuracies in Abigail Fowle and Christine Theodoropoulos' article on nonstructural earthquake hazard mitigation in the March 2001 Observer. The University of California, Berkeley's Q-Brace (Quake Bracing Assistance) Program was not recently developed; in fact, it is in its fourth successful year. Furthermore, it involves no money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); the Vice Chancellor for Business and Administrative Services provides funds that are matched equally by the departments and units that choose to participate.
This is one of three programs related to nonstructural hazard mitigation here at UCB. The other two are research projects designed to give us a better understanding of the scope of the probable losses due to nonstructural damages on a university campus, and realistic estimates of the resources necessary to begin reducing them. One study being conducted by Professor Mary Comerio of Architecture is funded by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center. When it is completed in June, it will provide a typology of nonstructural hazards encountered in various campus settings, suggest effective mitigation techniques, and calculate likely costs. The second study--funded in equal parts by the Chancellor, FEMA, and PEER--involves a comprehensive survey of a laboratory building in order to develop mitigation techniques for the special, expensive equipment and systems used there, and to create a cost model that UCB and other universities can use. This study is being co-directed by Professor Comerio and the Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Facilities. When its first and second phases are completed early next year, the next phase will involve creating a funding mechanism to support mitigation.
For more information on any of these three programs, please contact me.
Sarah Nathe, Disaster-Resistant University Program Manager University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1500; e-mail: sknathe@uclink4.berkeley.edu.
Below are some new or updated Internet resources the Hazards Center staff has found informative. For a more complete list of some of the better sites dealing with hazards and disasters, see http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/sites/sites.html.
http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/wp/wp106/wp106.html
In the Natural Hazards Center's newest Working Paper (#106), the author, California State University-Long Beach
geographer Christine M. Rodrigue, examines how the public's understanding of hazards and risks is being shaped by the
Internet. In Construction of Hazard Perception and Activism on the Internet: Amplifying Trivial Risks and Obfuscating
Serious Ones, she states that "social construction of hazard policy entails a risk assessment dialogue between technical
experts and public interest activists and between each of these and elected risk management policy makers. These dialogues
have traditionally taken place in the frequently distorting presence of broadcast and print media . . . The advent of the
Internet has fundamentally altered these discussions. . . . Early results have included an impressive empowerment of
individual activists vis-à-vis the corporate interests that dominate traditional media, as well as tremendous citizen pressure
on risk management decision makers. This is a blade that cuts both ways, however, with new opportunities for
demagoguery and for hijacking the . . . trust by which most people make political decisions on issues far beyond their
training." This paper illustrates both the advantages and dangers of Internet political organizing through case studies of a
technological and a natural hazard controversy.
http://www.fema.gov/emi/edu
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Higher Education Project is a major agency effort to promote emergency
management training in colleges and universities across the U.S. The project's web site offers details about this program as
well as information on available training. For example, the project maintains a list of all colleges offering (or even
considering) emergency management or disaster courses, indexed in various ways. In addition to the current listings (by
degree offered) the site is adding:
The site also now provides a compilation of college syllabi from hazards and emergency management courses.
http://www.redcross.org.uk
(Click on "Our Work," then on "International Activities")
For the past two years, a team funded by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by the
British Red Cross has been researching the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in natural disaster mitigation
and preparedness. The project's findings are now available from this web site. They comprise:
These documents can all be downloaded from the project web page indicated above; click on "NGO Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Project" for the research reports and overview paper or "NGO Initiatives in Risk Reduction" for the short case studies. Questions and comments can be directed to the project's e-mail address, dmp@redcross.org.uk, or the research team leader, John Twigg, j.twigg@ucl.ac.uk.
http://www.pep.bc.ca
(Click on "Tools for Change: Emergency Management for Women's Services")
The British Columbia, Canada, Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) web site has made an entire workbook on disaster
preparedness and response among women's services available on-line. It Can Happen to Your Agency--Tools for
Change: Emergency Management for Women's Services, prepared by the British Columbia Association of Specialized
Victim Assistance and Counselling Programs, focuses on how women's service agencies can prepare to meet the problems
and increased demands for services that will accompany any disaster.
http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis107/hazards_caucus0101.html
http://www.agiweb.org/workgroup
http://www.ucar.edu/communications/awareness/2001/hazards
On January 22nd, the Congressional Natural Hazards Caucus (see the Observer, Vol. XXV, No. 4, p. 11) kicked off its
activities in the new 107th Congress with a roundtable event to consider the impacts of the recent earthquake in El Salvador
and to discuss the broader natural hazards challenges facing the United States. In conjunction with the event, caucus
co-chairs Senator John Edwards (D-NC) and Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) released a discussion piece prepared for the
caucus, highlighting why the nation is becoming more vulnerable to natural disasters and what actions Congress could take
to address the problem. That paper is available for download from the second URL above. It identifies numerous
challenges for Congress, both in the near future and long term, and offers suggestions for dealing with them. A separate
administration transition document was prepared earlier by a working group of the caucus. Entitled A National Priority:
Building Resilience to Natural Hazards, it is available at the third URL.
http://www.iso.com
The web site of Insurance Services Office, Inc. (an insurance industry supplier of statistical, actuarial, underwriting, and
claims data) provides information such as estimates of anticipated national insured catastrophe losses for the entire
insurance industry on its news page (http://www.iso.com/docs/news.htm), as well as timely studies regarding important
issues facing the insurance industry and society as a whole on its studies and analyses page (http://www.iso.com/docs/studies.htm).
http://www.adpc.ait.ac.th/default.html
http://www.adpc.ait.ac.th/infores/ir.html
The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) web site includes a large section on "Information, Research and Network
Support" at the second URL above that offers disaster information resources (categorized as hazard specific information,
country specific information, disaster organizations, and reference resources); the center's newsletter Asian Disaster
Management News; several ADPC on-line documents; a description of ADPC library services; and a recently added
searchable, annotated database of ADPC library holdings.
ADPC staff have also created a new web section to support reconstruction following the January earthquake in Gujarat, India (click on "India Earthquake" at the bottom of the left-hand column of the main page at the first URL above). That section provides reports from various agencies, an annotated bibliography on reconstruction after disaster, information about an e-mail listserve established to support reconstruction, as well as an archive of past listserve messages. The listserve is open to anyone interested in or working on postdisaster reconstruction, development planning, and disaster management. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to rebuild_gujarat-request@ait.ac.th with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. Messages intended for list members should be sent to rebuild_gujarat@ait.ac.th.
http://www.icdds.org
The Institute of Civil Defence and Disaster Studies (ICDDS) is the United
Kingdom's oldest international learned society wholly devoted to
international disaster studies and research. Founded in 1938, the ICDDS
recently went through a reorganization and renewal. It now has an
international multidisciplinary membership, publishes a quarterly journal,
and organizes seminars and workshops, usually in collaboration with
kindred organizations (see the Conferences
and Training section of this Observer). In
addition, ICDDS is now publishing a series of disaster research papers on
various aspects of natural, technological, and other human-made hazards,
as well as nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare. For more information
about ICDDS, see the web site above, or contact G.A. Whitehead,
Honorary General Secretary and Journal Editor, ICDDS, P.O. Box 74,
Worcester, WR2 4YE, U.K.; e-mail: gw@icdds.fsnet.co.uk.
emergency-management@yahoogroups.com
Another new discussion list has been established to promote communication about all aspects of the discipline among
emergency management professionals and other interested persons. Individuals can subscribe by e-mailing emergency-management-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or consulting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Emergency-Management on the
World Wide Web. Additionally, anyone desiring more information can contact the listmaster, Steve Davis, e-mail: steve@davislogic.com.
http://www.eqnet.org
Of course there are a lot of sources and a lot of material available on the Internet concerning the February 28 western
Washington state (Nisqually) earthquake. For a helpful index to much of that information, see the EQNET site, which
provides indices regarding the recent El Salvador and India quakes as well.
http://www.wa.gov/wsem
The Washington State Emergency Management Division web site offers an extensive section on the recent Washington
earthquake. It includes official government (federal, state, and local) announcements, details about damage, and abundant
information for residents about recovery and recovery resources.
http://www.eeri.org
The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) has posted preliminary reports and photos from the EERI
reconnaissance team that examined the Bhuj earthquake that devastated the state of Gujarat, India, on January 26. The site
also offers observations and information about the recent Washington state quake and the two El Salvador events earlier
this year.
http://geoinfo.usc.edu/gees/
Similarly, the Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Server--a service supported by the National Science Foundation--has
published the Preliminary Report of the India-US Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Reconnaissance Team that
examined the Bhuj, India, quake. The team was sponsored by NSF in collaboration with EERI (see above) and the Mid
America Earthquake Center.
http://www.nicee.org/NICEE/Gujarat/iaeemanual.htm
http://64.177.169.147/NICEE/Gujarat/iaeemanual.htm
In response to the catastrophic Indian earthquake, the National Information Center for Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) at
the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India, has made the International Association for Earthquake Engineering
(IAEE) manual Guidelines for Earthquake Resistant Non-Engineered Construction available via the NICEE web site.
Non-engineered buildings are defined as those that are "spontaneously and informally constructed using traditional
techniques without the aid of an architect or engineer but that may follow a set of recommendations derived from observed
behavior of such buildings in past earthquakes and trained engineering judgment." Questions or comments about these
guidelines can be directed to NICEE via e-mail: nicee@iitk.ac.in.
http://www.cepal.org.mx
At the request of the Government of the Republic of El Salvador, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has carried out a study of the socioeconomic impact of the January 13 earthquake
that struck that country. According to the study, the total losses were approximately $1.3 billion (U.S.). The full text of the
study and a description of study methodology are available in Spanish, with an executive summary in English, from the
ECLAC web page at the address above. After a second earthquake struck El Salvador on February 13, a new evaluation
mission was organized, and the results of the second evaluation will be available soon. For further information, contact
Ricardo Zapata, ECLAC, e-mail: rzapata@un.org.mx.
http://www.oas.org/nhp/
Since the recent earthquakes, the Ministry of Education of El Salvador, with help from the Organization of American States
(OAS), has created a technical committee to review the designs, blueprints, and specifications of all prototypes used in
school construction. The Unit for Sustainable Development and Environment (USDE) of the OAS is supporting this update
of the School Vulnerability Reduction Program in El Salvador, and information on the program in English and Spanish is
available from the web site above under "Education Vulnerability Reduction." OAS/USDE would appreciate receiving any
additional information that Observer readers might have about small buildings and school construction in earthquake-,
volcano-, and flood-prone areas. Please e-mail details to natural-hazards-project@oas.org.
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/landslides/
The Washington State Department of Ecology recently launched this model site on landslides in the Puget Sound region. It
includes information about landslides generally, warning signs, what to do if you have a slide, what to do to prevent slides,
and where and how to obtain help. It also lists frequently asked questions (FAQs) and provides slope maps and a slide
show on causes, recent occurrences, repair, and prevention of landslides. Much of the information on the site could be
useful to people in other regions.
http://www.ipcc.ch/
http://www.meto.gov.uk/sec5/CR_div/ipcc/wg1/ (IPCC Group I)
http://www.usgcrp.gov/ipcc/ (IPCC Group II)
http://www.rivm.nl/env/int/ipcc/ (IPCC Group III)
Recognizing the problems posed by potential global climate change, in 1988 the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) to assess the scientific, technical, and socioeconomic information available for understanding the risk
posed by human-induced climate change. The panel has not carried out new research but has reviewed published and peer-reviewed scientific technical literature. The IPCC encompasses three working groups and a task force:
Earlier this year, for the IPCC's Third Assessment, all three working groups released their final reports summarizing more than two years of work, and those documents are available from the web sites above. Working Group I's contribution to the IPCC Third Assessment Report is entitled Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis; Group II's is Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; and Group III's is Climate Change 2001: Mitigation. Each working group report is extensive; however, brief summaries intended to provide basic information to policy makers are available from each group's web site. The complete Third Assessment Report will be a comprehensive and up-to-date appraisal of the policy-relevant scientific, technical, and socioeconomic dimensions of climate change, focusing on new findings since the second report in 1995. It will also pay greater attention to the regional (in addition to the global) scale and include non-English literature.
In addition to the reports of the working groups, the IPCC web site (http://www.ipcc.ch) also offers numerous on-line special reports, including:
Additional information about this major international effort is available from the IPCC Secretariat, World Meteorological Organization, 7 bis Avenue de la Paix, P.O. Box 2300, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland; e-mail: ipcc_sec@gateway.wmo.ch.
http://www.nacc.usgcrp.gov
http://www.gcrio.org/NationalAssessment/water/water.pdf
http://www.pacinst.org/naw.html
http://www.cop.noaa.gov
The U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, which contributed to the
global assessment mentioned above, undertook a detailed appraisal of the consequences of climate change for the nation
and examined possible mechanisms for adapting to such change. The assessment surveyed these issues both by
geographical region and by topic in order to produce a broad national synthesis entitled Climate Change Impacts on the
United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. That report is available from the first web
site above. More detailed reports from studies of specific regions and issues include the final report of the Mid-Atlantic
regional assessment and final reports of the Water Sector Assessment Team, Water: The Potential Consequences of
Climate Variability and Change for the Water Resources of the United States, available at the second and third addresses
above, and the Coastal Sector Assessment Team, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change on
Coastal Areas and Marine Resources, available from the final URL.
The report on consequences for the nation's water resources suggests that climate change may have serious impacts. It concludes that global warming has already resulted in substantial thawing of permafrost in the Alaska Arctic, unprecedented melting of mountain glaciers, an increase in sea level of 10-20 centimeters, and significant alteration of water runoff patterns. Moreover, climate models project that temperatures could increase another 3-6 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, seriously affecting U.S. water resources in several ways:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats
Annually, the National Weather Service publishes natural hazards statistics for previous years. Recently the service posted
numbers for 1999 as well as preliminary statistics for 2000 at the URL above. The statistics cover fatalities due to all
hazards, as well those due to specific risks such as severe weather, lightning, tornadoes, tropical storms, heat, floods, cold,
winter storms, and high winds. A few 1999 highlights include:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hic/nho/index.shtml
With the hounds of spring on winter's traces, many of us would like to know if it's going to flood. This National
Hydrological Assessment web page, provided by the National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Hydrology (OH)
Hydrologic Information Center (HIC), serves up a regularly updated map showing flood potential across the nation along
with explanatory text. The information does not provide specific forecasts of flood location and severity, but it does
identify areas that warrant careful monitoring. The site also provides access to more detailed information on local
conditions provided by NWS field offices.
http://www.fema.gov/msc
http://web1.msc.fema.gov
People concerned about getting their feet wet can now order National Flood Insurance Program mapping products on-line
through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Map Service Center (MSC) Flood Map Store. Products
available include flood maps issued by the NFIP, NFIP manuals, Flood Insurance Studies, community status books, Letters
of Map Change (LOMCs), the Flood Map Status Information System (FMSIS), digital flood data, and coastal barrier
resource area data. Customers can use a catalog, map search, or quick order facility to order products. This new MSC site is
just one of a suite of on-line services being implemented to expedite the dissemination of FEMA's flood map and insurance
products. The MSC Flood Map Store is now open for business customers only. Individuals wishing to purchase products
for personal use and customers exempt from fees, should call MSC customer service at (800) 358-9616. Customers exempt
from fees will be able to place orders on-line later this summer.
