Canadians Launch Program to Protect Children in Daycare from Disasters
In March, the Canadian Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) announced a national program, “Protecting our Kids from Disasters,” to protect youngsters in childcare centers. The program was started to ensure that daycare centers are retrofitted and become better prepared to withstand the effects of earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and winter storms. The program is similar to an initiative from the Institute for Business and Home Safety in the U.S. that has successfully retrofitted 1,400 childcare centers.
ICLR, established by the Insurance Bureau of Canada, is a consortium of insurance companies, the University of Western Ontario, and other organizations, The group has created a 51-page information kit to guide the effort that contains a step-by-step checklist for project leaders; materials to assist in publicizing a project, including sample news releases; an information video that depicts retrofit options as well as how to do them; and other informational materials.
Retrofit instructions are provided for bookcases, cabinets and drawers, large appliances and vending machines, picture frames and bulletin boards, lights and other hanging fixtures, windows and doors, plumbing and water heaters, and landscaping. A handout for families, “Being Prepared Before a Disaster Strikes,” presents recommendations for preparing a disaster kit, disposing of paint cans, and keeping poison control information on hand. A series of other handouts, called “Protecting Your Home,” provides guidance to parents in making their homes more secure from snowstorms, earthquakes, floods, wildfires, hailstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes. A three-page “Walk-Through Checklist” provides a form for evaluating childcare centers and identifying possible tools and materials that will be needed to make a center safer.
The instructions, Protecting Our Kids from Disasters: Nonstructural Mitigation for Childcare Centres (2002, 51 pp., free), and the checklist can be downloaded from the ICLR web site: http://www.iclr.org. Further details about the program are available from Tracy Waddington; (416) 362-2031 ext. 352; e-mail: twaddington@iclr.org.
Disability Organization Announces Disaster Mobilization Initiative
As the tragic events at the World Trade Center demonstrated, people with disabilities can be at greater risk in emergency situations than others. In response, the National Organization on Disability (NOD) recently kicked off its Disaster Mobilization Initiative to encourage those involved in emergency response planning to incorporate the needs of people with disabilities. NOD outlined what it believes people with disabilities and their organizations, mayor and city managers, all levels of government, the private sector, and disaster relief and emergency management organizations can do to prepare.
Among its recommendations, NOD urges:
- disability organizations to advocate for emergency plans that account for the needs of their members and others;
- government decision makers to ensure that such planning occurs and that people with disabilities are appointed to relevant boards and commissions;
- federal agencies to include people with disabilities in agency emergency planning and management and to promote best practices;
- state governors to advocate for federal grants to localities for preparedness for those with disabilities and ensure that all state emergency management staff are properly trained and that state organizations regularly conduct exercises regarding procedures for dealing with people with disabilities; and
- leaders in the private sector to ensure that businesses have appropriate preparedness procedures in place that are regularly tested and provide employees with disability-preparedness information.
The text of the Disaster Mobilization Initiative can be found on-line at http://www.nod.org. Further information can also be obtained from NOD, 910 16th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20006; (202) 293-5960; e-mail: ability@nod.org.
Florida Passes Statewide Building Code to Make Structures More Hurricane-Resistant
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew tore through South Florida, killing 43 people and leveling the communities of South Miami and Homestead. With wind speeds up to 155 m.p.h., the storm destroyed 130,000 homes and caused more than $25 billion in damage. As a result, those who were involved in reducing future losses from hurricanes initiated a comprehensive review of Florida’s complex system of building codes.
In 1996, the Florida Building Codes Commission was established to evaluate the existing code system and recommend ways to improve it. Following 16 months of study, the commission uncovered a confusing patchwork of codes and regulations that existed among the 400 local jurisdictions and state agencies with building code responsibilities. The commission made 60 recommendations to the state legislature in 1998. That same year, the lawmakers adopted a law that called for a single statewide code as well as increases in education and training and the creation of a system to approve new building products.
The new law established the Florida Building Commission and charged the group with developing the Florida Building Code, requiring that it be unified and consistent while still addressing regional and local concerns and conditions. The new statewide building code allows individual jurisdictions to amend the code to be more stringent when local conditions warrant. It took effect on March 1, 2002, nearly 10 years after Hurricane Andrew.
The new code focuses on public safety, increases local enforcement powers, and incorporates state-of-the-art hurricane protections. Minimum requirements to ensure that buildings in high-intensity hurricane areas can withstand the impact of wind-borne debris are included. Also, buildings must be designed to withstand wind pressures that occur when windows and doors are pierced in a storm. Otherwise, all exterior glass windows and doors must be made of shatter-resistant glass or protected by shutters.
The American Society of Civil Engineers national wind protection standard, “ASCE 7-98: Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Design Structures,” is incorporated into the Florida code. Among other new regulations, the state standard outlines specific requirements for mapped wind speed zones and coastal areas subject to flooding and high winds. State areas that experience winds in excess of 120 m.p.h. and/or areas within one mile of the coast where wind speeds can reach 110 m.p.h. or higher are subject to stringent code requirements that improve building safety.
For further information about the new building code, contact the Florida Department of Community Affairs, (850) 487-1824; or visit the Code’s official web site: http://www.floridabuilding.org. Dade County has created a web site that lists all products approved for wind-borne debris regions: http://www.buildingcodeonline.com. Additional information about this effort can also be obtained from Nanette Lockwood McElman, Institute for Business and Home Safety, 1408 North Westshore Boulevard, Suite 208, Tampa, FL 33607; (813) 286-3400, ext. 241; e-mail: nmcelman@ibhs.org.
Have Expertise Will Consult
Announcing Our New Referral Service
As an addition to its already considerable store of information, the Natural Hazards Center is now poised to refer inquirers to those researchers and/or practitioners who have expertise and/or practical experience in different facets of sustainable recovery from disaster. As part of the project it recently completed for the Public Entity Risk Institute (see the Observer, Vol. XXV, No. 4, p. 3), the center has compiled an in-house database of “experts” in local disaster recovery, economic vitality, environmental quality, social equity, livability, disaster resilience, and the art of combining those attributes in a local context. Persons listed on the database have indicated a willingness to respond to queries of this nature.
Individuals, groups, or local governments who need information about sustainable recovery, advice, on-site assistance, or simply moral support can query the Hazards Center with a phone call: (303) 492-5787; or an e-mail message: wanda.headley@colorado.edu. A staff person will search our database to see who might have the expertise needed and provide their contact information. The Hazards Center’s website, http://www.colorado.edu/hazards, will also have a link for submitting queries in the near future.
Table of Contents for This Issue of the Natural Hazards Observer
