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• Seismic Waves: Safely Spreading the Benefits of Precast Construction

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  Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. "Should scientific research advance knowledge, commercial activity, or the public good? These objectives are sometimes viewed as competitors in a zero-sum game or as rivals for increasingly scarce societal resources. The Diaphragm Seismic Design Methodology (DSDM) Project is serving all of these objectives, however, and that is just one of several attributes that make this a remarkable research effort."

  National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)

  2009-07
• Seismic Waves: The NEHRP 'Recommended Provisions' and the National Model Building Codes: How NEHRP Interacts with the Code-Making Bodies

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  Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "There is no single mandatory national building code or standard for designing and constructing buildings and other structures in the United States. Building codes are adopted and enforced by individual States, by local jurisdictions within the States, or by both State and local authorities. State or local building codes are usually based on a 'model' building code or other voluntary consensus standards. State and local governments may either directly adopt the model code or adopt the code with amendments. Today, the model building code that is predominantly adopted in the United States is the 'International Building Code' (IBC), which is promulgated by the International Code Council (ICC). The ICC also promulgates other model codes that impact the building process, such as the 'International Residential Code' (IRC). In addition to the IBC and IRC, some localities have adopted the 'NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code', which is promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association."

  National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)

  2007-06
• Operationalizing Mobile Applications for Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief Missions

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  From the thesis abstract: "When a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, has occurred, the critical information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure is often completely destroyed or damaged to a point of ineffectiveness. For first responders, such as the military, government relief agencies, and non-governmental organizations, quick and reliable communication tools are essential for carrying out their missions. As technology continues to evolve, more tools are becoming available to first responders in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) missions. These tools are improving relief strategies in many ways by providing real-time or near real-time situation updates and data essential to the mission. There are mobile applications under development and commercially available are aimed at improving the ability of HA/DR responders to make assessments. This research assesses the implementation of applications used on mobile devices while enhancing the ICT of the disaster area for first responders during HA/DR missions. This includes a setup of a hastily formed network in order to establish a wide area network to provide a network for the applications to work. The use of such applications can drastically improve information sharing, interoperability, command and control, and coordination among responders between all agencies involved."

  Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)

  Summerville, Carlton B.

  2014-03
• Privacy Compliance Review of the NOC Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative, April 16, 2014

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  "The Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS), National Operations Center (NOC), has statutory responsibility to (1) provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture for the federal government, and for state, local, and tribal governments as appropriate, in the event of a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster, and (2) ensure that critical terrorism and disaster-related information reaches government decision-makers. […] In January 2010, to help fulfill its statutory responsibility to provide situational awareness and to access the potential value of public information within the social media realm, the NOC launched the first of three Media Monitoring Capability (MMC) pilots using social media monitoring related to specific incidents and international events. The NOC pilots occurred during the 2010 Haiti earthquake response, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill. Prior to implementation of each social media pilot, the DHS Privacy Office and OPS developed detailed standards and procedures for reviewing information on social media web sites. A series of pilot-specific Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) document these standards and procedures. In June 2010, the Department released its Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative PIA, which incorporated these protections. OPS/NOC and PRIV [DHS Privacy Office] subsequently updated the PIA in January 2011, and published a Privacy Act System of Records Act Notice (SORN) on February 1, 2011, to allow for the collection and dissemination of personally identifiable information (PII) in a very limited number of situations in order to respond to the evolving operational needs of OPS/NOC."

  United States. Department of Homeland Security

  2014-04-16
• U.S. Embassy Science Fellows Support to Japan: Observations and Commentary on Remediation of the Areas Off-Site from the Fukushima Daiichi Reactors

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  "Following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, Japan's Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered damages resulting in the release of radiological contamination. This release is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and only the second disaster (along with Chernobyl) to be rated Level 7 (the highest level) for safety significance on the logarithmic International Nuclear Event Scale. Japan was profoundly impacted. The radioactive material settled around the Daiichi plant and caused major contamination over large areas of the Fukushima Prefecture. The contamination level (predominantly Cs-137 [Caesium-137] and Cs-134 [Caesium-134]) was high enough to require decontamination of the surrounding areas to protect human health and the environment. Fourteen nearby cities were evacuated […], and more than 100 cities beyond those will require remediation…"

  United States. Environmental Protection Agency

  2014?
• Role of Military Forces in Disaster Response: Remove the Impediments

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  From the thesis abstract: "Hurricane Katrina and the events that unfolded on 11 September 2001 continue to raise the issue of timely responses to disasters by the state and federal government. Two recent natural disasters-the devastating tornadoes that struck multiple states in April 2011 and the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan affirm that catastrophes strike unexpectedly and can quickly overwhelm the capabilities of local and state authorities to respond. Since 2005 Congress has passed and amended laws to improve the military's responsiveness to disasters, including better structures for command and control. However, some restrictions and command and control issues still impede defense support to civil authorities (DSCA). This SRP [Strategy Research Project] recommends two further changes that will facilitate better military responses to domestic crisis: amend the Posse Comitatus (PCA), and allow federal forces to serve in a tactical control (TACON) relationship under the governor of a state while supporting civil support operations inside of the United States."

  Army War College (U.S.)

  Bentley, Michael

  2012-03-08
• Measurement Science R&D Roadmap for Windstorm and Coastal Inundation Impact Reduction

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  "The impetus for the project was the extensive property losses and casualties that have occurred over the last several decades as a result of damaging hurricanes, such as Hurricane Katrina, and severe tornadoes affecting the coastlines and interior portions of the nation. NIST's [National Institute of Standards and Technology] interest in the project stemmed from the agency's desire to expand its existing research and development capabilities in earthquake hazard reduction and fire engineering to include efforts to reduce the impacts of other hazards. The roadmap development process included a review of the literature that identified research needs in the area of windstorm and coastal inundation hazards reduction, two workshops to obtain input from the nation's specialists in windstorm and coastal inundation hazard reduction, and an extensive roadmap preparation and review process. The roadmap identifies a broad range of research and development activities for reducing the impacts of severe windstorms and coastal inundation hazards. The report includes: [1] A vision for windstorm and coastal inundation resilient communities; [2] A list of grand challenges in windstorm and coastal inundation impact reduction; [3] Detailed descriptions of thirty priority research and development topics; and [4] A proposed program of prioritized research and development activities, and their associated benefits."

  National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.); National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)

  2014-01
• Crisis Abroad Involving American Citizens

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  This document from the State Department outlines basic procedures for emergencies, evacuation, and crises abroad. From the document: "Earthquakes, hurricanes, political upheavals, acts of terrorism, and hijackings are only some of the events threatening the safety of Americans abroad. Each event is unique and poses its own special difficulties. However, for the State Department there are certain responsibilities and actions that apply in every disaster or crisis. When a crisis occurs, the State Department sets up a task force or working group to bring together in one set of rooms, all the people necessary to work on that event. Usually this Washington task force will be in touch by telephone 24 hours a day with our Ambassador and Foreign Service Officers at the embassy in the country affected."

  United States. Department of State

  2007
• Demands of Humanity: Army Medical Disaster Relief

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  "The term disaster usually evokes images of massive material damage and great human distress caused by some swift catastrophe. In offering a more rigorous definition, a leading sociologist has defined a disaster as a sudden event that disrupts the social structure, and prevents execution of some or all of its essential functions. Commonly, disasters caused by natural forces or events are distinguished from those that man brings upon himself. With one exception, the disasters examined in this study are natural, though they may have been provoked or exacerbated by human customs or follies. Specifically, the study examines how Army medical personnel have responded to such events and shows how they aided disrupted civil societies or communities by furnishing health care. Studies of disaster relief usually focus on fires, floods, storms, and earthquakes. Two other types of calamities- famines and epidemics- are included here. Such happenings are in truth disasters since they disrupt the social structure and interrupt some of its essential functions. They often occur as direct results of natural upheavals or of war, and a story of medical assistance that excluded them would obviously be incomplete. Significant changes in the response to disaster have developed over the past two centuries. Disasters of all types awed early Americans, who did not understand their causes; settle interpreted disaster as a supernatural message, while others sought an elusive natural explanation, Since the eighteenth century, the search for causes has revealed disasters to be understandable natural occurrences that scientists have tried with increasing sophistication to explain, predict, and- especially for epidemics- prevent."

  United States. Department of the Army. Office of the Surgeon General

  Foster, Gaines M.

  1983
• Authority of FEMA to Provide Disaster Assistance to Seattle Hebrew Academy, Memorandum Opinion for the General Counsel, Federal Emergency Management Agency [September 25, 2002]

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  "The Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1974 and its implementing regulations permit FEMA to provide federal disaster assistance for the reconstruction of Seattle Hebrew Academy, a private religious school that was damaged in an earthquake in 2001. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does not pose a barrier to the Academy's receipt of such aid."

  United States. Department of Justice. Office of Legal Counsel

  2002-09-25
• Victims of Violence in Times of Disaster or Emergency

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  "When the dust settles from an earthquake or the waters recede following a flood, communities pull together to rebuild and heal. The survivors must cope not just with the trauma of the disaster itself, but also with the ongoing upheaval in their lives. Understandably, they are concerned about what the future holds. The stress and trauma that survivors experience are played out in a number of ways (e.g., alcohol and substance use, sleep disturbance, aggression and short-temperedness, domestic violence), and post-traumatic stress disorder and depression make it difficult to feel hopeful amidst the destruction. Hurricane Katrina reminds us that, despite the lessons learned from tragic events like the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and the Mount St. Helen's volcanic eruption of 1980, much progress remains to be made in applying those lessons to foster change and implement more responsive practices. Sexual violence against women and children who become displaced is historically documented, with the collapse of societal supports, overall increased vulnerability, a lack of companion support, feelings of powerlessness and anger, and unsafe shelter being cited as contributing factors (New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, 2005). During the chaos that accompanies destructive natural or human-induced disasters, some see the opportunity to prey on those who are affected and vulnerable, perpetrating violent crime. We saw evidence of this in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where survivors of the storm experienced muggings, identity theft, aggravated assault, sexual violence, and gang rape (unconfirmed claims of murder have also been reported)."

  United States. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

  West, Helga; Benitez, Judy

  2006-07
• Civil Support: Actions Are Needed to Improve DOD's Planning for a Complex Catastrophe, Report to Congressional Requesters

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  "The United States continues to face an uncertain and complicated security environment, as major disasters and emergencies, such as the Boston Marathon bombings and Hurricane Sandy illustrate. DOD supports civil authorities' response to domestic incidents through an array of activities collectively termed civil support. In July 2012, DOD began to plan for federal military support during a complex catastrophe--such as a large earthquake that causes extraordinary levels of casualties or damage, and cascading failures of critical infrastructure. GAO [Government Accountability Office] was asked to assess DOD's planning and capabilities for a complex catastrophe. This report assesses the extent to which DOD has (1) planned for and identified capabilities to respond to complex catastrophes, and (2) established a command and control construct for complex catastrophes and other multistate incidents. To do so, GAO analyzed civil support plans, guidance, and other documents, and interviewed DOD and FEMA officials. GAO recommends that combatant commands (1) work through the defense coordinating officers to develop an interim set of specific DOD capabilities that could be provided to prepare for and respond to complex catastrophes, as FEMA completes its five-year regional planning cycle; and (2) develop, clearly define, communicate, and implement a construct for the command and control of federal military forces during multistate civil support incidents such as complex catastrophes. DOD concurred with both recommendations."

  United States. Government Accountability Office

  2013-09
• Trauma and Retraumatization

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  "The trauma that is the focus of the 'After the Crisis: Healing from Trauma after Disasters' initiative is not the trauma of emergency medicine -- traumatic bodily injury, whether from accidents, beatings, or disasters -- although it certainly intersects with such injury. A distinction is often made between a traumatic event and 'psychological trauma' (e.g., Herman, 1992b), the impact on the individual of experiencing a traumatic event. Frequently, the word 'trauma' is used as a short-hand for both. Attention is paid in the literature to distinguishing between traumatic life events and stressful life events, with the line often drawn, in keeping with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), between those events that involve 'threat of death or serious injury' and, according to the current edition of the DSM (DSM-IV-TR [Text Revision]) (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000), also an 'emotional response of fear, helplessness, or horror at the time of the precipitating event' and other 'painful and stressful events that constitute the normal vicissitudes of life, such as divorce, loss, serious illness, and financial misfortune' (McHugo et al., 2005a, p. 114-115). Today's world is replete with examples of extreme life events, including war, ethnic cleansing, genocide, terrorist attacks, as well as tsunami, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes -- so-called 'natural disasters' whose impact is frequently shaped by past and present human actions and inactions."

  United States. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

  Kammerer, Nina; Mazelis, Ruta

  2006-07
• Seismic Waves: Keeping the Containers Moving Through U.S. Ports

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  Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "In the United States, container ports have become an important segment of the commercial infrastructure, a critical element of the economy, and a key gateway for exports and imports. However, the growing value of these facilities has generally not been accompanied by commensurate advances in their seismic risk management practices. This observation led to a major research effort initiated in 2005 by the Georgia Institute of Technology and partnering institutions. This work, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF, a NEHRP agency), significantly advanced seismic risk-assessment and risk-mitigation knowledge applicable to container ports, an effort since furthered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) through its work as NEHRP's lead agency."

  National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)

  2013-05
• Managing Airborne Relief During International Disasters

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  From the thesis abstract: "Major rapid onset disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and terrorist acts have the ability to overwhelm even the most prepared and robust of countries. In such cases, the value of agile airborne relief from global donors cannot be overstated. Despite its usefulness however, airborne relief can create other logistical issues such as surpassing airport capacity to park and offload aircraft. Airflow management, or the ability to coordinate aircraft arrival slot times to optimize use of airport ramp space and offload capacity, is an invaluable remedy to this malady. Though local civil aviation authorities in an affected country retain responsibility for airspace/airflow management, no self-exporting civilian entity currently exists with the ability to coordinate airflow if host nation entities are unable to do so and request assistance. This paper highlights this airflow management capability gap and sets forth several alternatives for resolving this gap based on criteria obtained through the use of a case study methodology. Without an entity to assist an affected nation with airflow management (if needed and requested), smooth logistical flow of relief goods to those in need can be catastrophically impeded."

  Air Force Institute of Technology (U.S.). Graduate School of Engineering and Management

  Morales, Michael

  2013-06
• FEMA's Progress in Clarifying its '50 Percent Rule' for the Public Assistance Grant Program

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  "FEMA's Public Assistance program provides financial assistance to recover from a wide variety of events, including hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, and terrorist attacks. FEMA obligates an average of $10 billion in Disaster Relief Funds annually, with the majority being for Public Assistance grants. Much of these funds are for the repair or replacement of damaged facilities. One of the most important recovery eligibility decisions FEMA makes following a declared disaster can be whether to fund the repair or replacement of damaged buildings. Generally, FEMA will replace a facility if the estimated cost to repair it exceeds 50 percent of the estimated cost to replace it. For this calculation, repair estimate is the numerator and replacement estimate is the denominator. FEMA uses its '50 Percent Rule' to calculate this percentage."

  United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General

  2014-08
• Radiation Dose Assessments for Fleet-Based Individuals in Operation Tomodachi, Revision 1

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  "This report provides the radiation dose assessments for the Department of Defense fleet-based population of interest that was potentially exposed to radioactive fallout resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station units' radiological releases that followed the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The associated Department of Defense disaster relief operation to the citizens of Japan was entitled, 'Operation Tomodachi.' Finalized radiation dose assessments for the population of interest have been loaded into an Operation Tomodachi Registry, which will support public inquiries."

  United States. Defense Threat Reduction Agency; Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (U.S.)

  Marro, Ralph; McKenzie-Carter, Michael; Rademacher, Steven . . .

  2014-04
• California Geological Survey Information Warehouse [website]

  Show summary     Open resource [html]     (open full abstract)

  The California Geological Survey (CGS) Information Warehouse website contains over 3100 maps, 1400 reports, and 600 geographic information system (GIS) datasets. The information products are organized by topic into several categories including regulatory maps (as required by Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act of 1972 and the Seismic Hazards Mapping Act of 1990, landslide maps, tsunami maps, and SMARA (Surface Mining and Reclamation Act) maps.

  California. Department of Conservation
• Chemical Weapons Disposal: Understanding Scheduled Downtime at Disposal Facilities

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  "The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) is responsible for protecting and safely storing the nation's aging chemical weapons, while working toward the effective recovery, treatment and ultimate elimination of the nation's chemical warfare materiel and to enhance national security. Aging chemical weapons, many created during World War II, Korean and Cold War eras are safely stored in eight secured sites within the continental United States. The weapons pose risks to our nation and those communities surrounding the storage sites, the longer they remain in storage. These risks include ones posed by natural events, i.e., earthquakes, lightening and tornadoes, weapon degradation and the threat of terrorist attack. CMA has been charged by Congress to eliminate this risk to our nation using approved disposal technologies. These technologies are part of on-site disposal facilities designed to destroy chemical weapons in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. Facilities are designed with engineering controls and safeguards to ensure the protection of workers, the public and environment. Once a facility begins destroying chemical agent, it will stop operations periodically for pre-scheduled preventative maintenance, and/or preparations for destroying a new type of munition [a 100-pound spray tank vs. an 8-inch projectile] or a different kind of chemical agent. Preventive maintenance and preparation for destroying a new type of munition or a different chemical agent are important aspects of CMA's mission to safely and effectively eliminate chemical weapons."

  U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency

  1997
• Annual Review of the United States Coast Guard's Mission Performance (FY 2010)

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  "This report presents our annual review of the United States Coast Guard's mission performance, as required by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. To address the Act's requirements, we reviewed the Coast Guard's performance measures and results for each non-homeland security and homeland security mission, as well as resource hours used to perform the various missions from fiscal years 2001 through 2010. We did not verify the accuracy of the Coast Guard-provided data. Coast Guard data show that in fiscal year 2010, the Coast Guard dedicated about the same number of resource hours to both non-homeland security and homeland security missions. However, this parity was not by design but rather due to several major events, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and Haiti earthquake relief efforts. In addition, the total number of resource hours available for all missions has been declining since fiscal year 2005. This is attributable, in part, to aging cutters and aircraft and increased support functions, such as training. The Coast Guard performance measurement information indicates that it met more non-homeland security mission performance measures than homeland security mission performance measures. The Coast Guard's budget information for fiscal year 2011 and projections for fiscal year 2012 show a slight increase in homeland security mission spending and a slight decrease in non-homeland security mission spending from fiscal year 2010. This report contains no recommendations."

  United States. Department of Homeland Security. Office of Inspector General

  2011-09
• Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG): Resilience Program [website]

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  "The Association of Bay Area Governments [ABAG] is the regional planning agency for the nine counties and 101 cities and towns of the San Francisco Bay region. ABAG is committed to leading the region through advocacy, collaboration, and excellence in planning, research, housing, and member services to advance the quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. ABAG's planning and service programs work to address regional economic, social, and environmental challenges. Working in concert with the Planning Department of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Resilience Program assists Bay Area local governments and residents in planning for earthquakes, the effects of climate change, and other hazards. ABAG's Resilience Program supports recovery and mitigation research, planning and action for a resilient Bay Area." ABAG's objectives are to "Work to develop a regional land use pattern which reduces the risk of natural hazards; Provide a platform for local governments to come together to jointly plan, share best practices and develop a shared understanding of regional needs for an effective recovery; Disseminate scientific information about natural hazards in an understandable and usable way that facilitates good policy and planning decisions; [and] Provide tools for local governments to develop and implement mitigation and recovery plans."

  Association of Bay Area Governments
• 2010 Sector CIKR Protection Annual Report for the Healthcare and Public Health Sector

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  This document is a Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIRK) protection report on the Healthcare and Public Heath Sector for 2010. "In the past year [2010] the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector has been impacted by major events including the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak, the tsunami in American Samoa, and the earthquake in Haiti. The sector has responded to protect HPH infrastructure and the public's health while continuing to plan for future threats. The 2010 HPH Sector Annual Report summarizes the numerous activities that have taken place between May 1, 2009, and April 30, 2010, to improve the preparedness of the HPH Sector. This report was written through a collaborative process between the HPH Sector Coordinating Council (SCC) and Government Coordinating Council (GCC), with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which coordinated the process as the Sector-Specific Agency (SSA)."

  United States. Department of Homeland Security; United States. Department of Health and Human Services

  2010-06
• FEMA Benefit-Cost Analysis Reengineering (BCAR): Tornado Safe Room Module Methodology Report

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  "The Tornado Safe Room Module provides a methodology for determining life safety benefits (injury and death prevention) from tornado safe rooms within the updated Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) software. This module is an update to the Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) software included in the 1st Edition (July 2000) of FEMA 361, Design and Construction Guidance for Community Shelters (FEMA 361). The original software focused on the reduction of injuries and deaths from safe rooms for tornados and hurricanes. Beginning in 2007, in parallel to revisions to FEMA 361, FEMA initiated a redesign of all BCA software associated with their grant programs, including flooding, earthquakes, hurricane winds, and tornadoes. The decision was made by FEMA to develop new BCA software for life safety benefits of safe rooms with separate modules for tornado and hurricane hazards. As the new Tornado Safe Room and Hurricane Safe Room Modules software are finalized, they will be used in place of the original safe room (shelter) BCA software. This document provides detailed information on the Tornado Safe Room Module methodology."

  United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency

  2009-05
• Manufactured Homes Exposure to Wind: Hurricane Charley (Updated 2008)

  Show summary     Open resource [pdf]     (open full abstract)

  This map from HAZUS-MH shows distribution of manufactured home parks, storm track and wind speeds. "The HAZUS-MH map series templates serve many purposes. HAZUS User Groups (HUGs) can use the maps for public awareness and outreach. Emergency managers and decision makers can use the maps to show the application of HAZUS-MH to support rapid impact assessment and disaster response for earthquake, hurricane and flood emergencies. Some of the potential uses for this map include: (Pre-event) update inventory of mobile home parks in HAZUS-MH; Identification of mobile home parks with moderate to high probability of wind damage; Combine with SLOSH/surge analysis to identify mobile home parks vulnerable to flooding (and wind damage.")

  United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Design Level Exceedance- Peak Gust Wind Speeds: Hurricane Katrina

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  This map illustrates the peak wind speeds across the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. "The HAZUS-MH map series templates serve many purposes. HAZUS User Groups (HUGs) can use the maps for public awareness and outreach. Emergency managers and decision makers can use the maps to show the application of HAZUS-MH to support rapid impact assessment and disaster response for earthquake, hurricane and flood emergencies. Some of the potential uses for this map include: Identify counties with the highest probability of sustaining residential damage from wind; Identify and quantify manufactured housing sites and other vulnerable structures -- by county; Identify counties that likely will require Individual Assistance, including home repair and rental assistance."

  United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Estimated County Loss Ratios- Wind Damage: Hurricane Ivan

  Show summary     Open resource [pdf]     (open full abstract)

  "The HAZUS-MH map series templates serve many purposes. HAZUS User Groups (HUGs) can use the maps for public awareness and outreach. Emergency managers and decision makers can use the maps to show the application of HAZUS-MH to support rapid impact assessment and disaster response for earthquake, hurricane and flood emergencies. Some of the potential uses for this map include: Identification of counties with significant losses relative to assets; Prioritization of ESF 14 (Long-Term Recovery) outreach and recovery efforts."

  United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
• NIST: Disaster Resilience [website]

  Show summary     Open resource [html]     (open full abstract)

  This is the Disaster Resilience section of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). "NIST research focuses on the impact of multiple hazards on buildings and communities and conducts post-disaster studies to provide the technical basis for improved standards, codes, and practices used in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure systems. [...] NIST leads several national efforts to develop guidance and tools to help communities improve the resilience of their buildings and infrastructure systems: Community Resilience, National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP), Fire Protection and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), Wind Engineering, Progressive Collapse, and Disaster and Failure Studies." This website includes access to the following information: Recent Activities related to disaster resilience, Disaster & Failure Studies Data Repository; FAQs & Presentations; Impacts and Recommendations; National Construction Safety Team (NCST); Studies by Hazard Types Expand or Collapse; and World Trade Center Disaster Study.

  National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.)
• CrisisCommons [website]

  Show summary     Open resource [html]     (open full abstract)

  "CrisisCommons seeks to advance and support the use of open data and volunteer technology communities to catalyze innovation in crisis management and global development. CrisisCommons actively supports CrisisCamp, a barcamp event, which seeks to connect a global network of volunteers who use creative problem solving and open technologies to help people and communities in times and places of crisis. CrisisCampers are not only technical folks like coders, programmers, geospatial and visualization ninjas but we are also filled to the brim with super creative and smart folks who can lead teams, manage projects, share information, search the internet, translate languages, know usability, can write a research paper and can help us edit wikis. CrisisCamp began in March 2009 as a barcamp event to connect crisis management and global development practitioners to the technology volunteer community. During the Haiti response, CrisisCamp became a movement and added a response mechanism to the community. In 2010, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars granted a planning grant and a Trustee Grant to support the development of CrisisCommons to help curate a new body of knowledge, document lessons learned from volunteer response and to convene communities to support the growth of CrisisCamps at the local level and the partnership capacity of CrisisCommons to provide infrastructure and other resources to the CrisisCamp and other volunteer technology communities. Since 2009, CrisisCommons has coordinated crisis event responses such at the Haiti, Chile and Japan Earthquakes and the floods in Thailand, Nashville and Pakistan. Over 3,000 people have participated worldwide in over 30 cities across 10 countries including France, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Chile and Colombia."

  CrisisCommons
• Tsunamis: Are Our Communities Truly Prepared for the Unexpected?

  Show summary     Open resource [pdf]     (open full abstract)

  "The problem is that although the threat of tsunami has been rated as low for Orange County Fire Authority's [OCFA] coastal communities, due to the high probability of earthquakes along the Southern California coast, the necessity to be fully prepared for the potential disaster of tsunamis remains. The purpose of this research project is to determine the actions that have been taken to prepare for tsunamis and identify if additional preparations by OCFA and its coastal communities appear to be needed. Through these project efforts, the ultimate goal is to evaluate levels of community preparedness for the purpose of supporting optimum safety of OCFA personnel and the served citizens. For purposes of the project, a descriptive research method was utilized. The procedures for compiling and analyzing research data, consisted of using the National Fire Academy's Learning Resource Center (LRC), personal interviews, multi-agency and city based information, as well as the worldwide web. Based on that data, results indicated that it appears that the OCFA and members of its coastal communities can do a better job of preparation for the threat of tsunami. Finally, it is recommended that the OCFA work with members of its coastline communities to implement the identified recommendations and actions to improve the level of preparation. Those actions will serve in doing a better job of protecting citizens, tourists and employees."

  National Fire Academy

  James, Roger L.

  2009-04
• EMR-ISAC: InfoGram 35-11 [September 1, 2011]

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  This document from the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center is "distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures." Sections include: "Earthquake Preparedness"; "Emergency Vehicle Responses during Hurricanes"; "Pipeline Emergencies"; and "National Strategy for CBRNE [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives] Standards".

  Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (U.S.)

  2011-09-01