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Disaster Risk Reduction

IDF Hosts Int’l Conference on Emergency Planning

submitted by Mike Kraft

jpost.com - by Yaakov Lappin - September 4, 2012

The IDF Home Front Command is hosting a five-day international seminar in Tel Aviv this week, to share working models on how to manage civilian populations during times of crisis.

Delegates from 19 countries and the United Nations are attending the conference, the ninth of its kind, which is being held at the Dan Panorama hotel in Tel Aviv.

“The aim is to share our information and experience in Israel on how to handle crises, whether caused by war or natural disaster,” said Col. Itai Peleg, of the Home Front Command. “We also want to hear from participants on how they tackle the challenges.”

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Survival Guide Application

Screenshot of application

Image: Screenshot of application

submitted by Albert Gomez

sites.google.com - SusaSoftX

Survival skills are techniques a person may use in a dangerous situation (e.g. natural disasters) to save themselves or others (see also bushcraft). Generally speaking, these techniques are meant to provide the basic necessities for human life: water, food, shelter, habitat, and the need to think straight, to signal for help, to navigate safely, to avoid unpleasant interactions with animals and plants, and for first aid. In addition, survival skills are often basic ideas and abilities that ancient humans had to use for thousands of years, so these skills are partially a reenactment of history.


(VIEW AND DOWNLOAD APPLICATION FOR iPHONE OS 3.0 AND ABOVE)

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Fukushima Disaster “a Profoundly Man-Made Disaster”: Investigative Commission

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - July 5, 2012

Executive Summary - Slideshare

Executive Summary - (88 page .PDF file)

NAIIC Report

The commission investigating the Fukushima disaster of March 2011 concluded that although the combination of the tsunami and earthquake was unprecedented in its ferocity, the disaster was largely man-made because it was amplified by what came before it and what followed it. The disaster itself, the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, said was sandwiched by practices and conduct which were the result of government-industry collusion and the worst conformist conventions of Japanese culture.

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Russia: Warnings Did Not Reach People Before Flood

submitted by Samuel Bendett

      

A priest conducts a funeral ceremony, while acquaintances of Pyotr Ostapenko, 35, a flood victim, stand nearby, at the central cemetery in Krymsk in theKrasnodar region, southern Russia, July 9, 2012. Russia began a day of mourning on Monday for the 171 people killed in floods that drove thousands from their homes, with the causes of the disaster posing hard questions for the authorities, including President Vladimir Putin.
Photo By EDUARD KORNIYENKO/REUTERS

yahoo.com - Associated Press - by Nataliya Vasilyeva and Sergey Ponomarev - July 9, 2012

KRYMSK, Russia (AP) — Authorities failed to properly warn residents in the Black Sea region of floods that killed at least 171 people and left others scrambling for safety, Russia's emergencies minister acknowledged Monday, adding to public outrage fueled by widespread mistrust of the government.

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Elsevier Launches New Journal: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

submitted by Joyce Fedeczko

www.elsevier.com - June 25, 2012

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of a new quarterly journal, External link  International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.

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How Crises Model the Modern World

submitted by Robert G. Ross

atlantis-press.com - Journal of Risk Analysis and Crisis Response - May 2012

Abstract:

Crises are our new reality. “Black swans” are increasingly becoming the norm; our systems, environments, contexts are structurally prone to crises. Doing more of the same will not be the appropriate way to deal with modern crises: a paradigm shift is needed, based on a more accurate understanding of the dynamics of complex systems. This paper is an invitation to change the theoretical vision of crisis and crisis management, and the education and training of all actors involved.

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Simulating the Effects of Different Actions to Minimize Disaster’s Consequences

submitted by Linton Wells

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 1, 2012

The European CRISMA project prepares for disasters by developing a decision-support tool to help the authorities, responders, communities, and private parties to prioritize the most important measures for saving lives and mitigating the effects of the crisis.

The CRISMA project, coordinated by VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, is developing a planning tool for crises which have immediate, extensive, and often irreversible consequences to the population and society. Crises of this type include natural disasters, toxic emissions, forest fires, and aircraft accidents.

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How To Make Cities More Resilient - A Handbook For Local Government Leaders

submitted by Kay Goss

unisdr.org - March 2012

A contribution to the global campaign 2010-2015 Making Cities Resilient – 'My City is Getting Ready!':

This handbook provides mayors, governors, councillors and other local government leaders with a generic framework for risk reduction and points to good practices and tools that are already being applied in different cities for that purpose. It discusses why building disaster resilience is beneficial; what kind of strategies and actions are required; and how to go about the task. It offers practical guidance to understand and take action on the "Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient" as set out in the global campaign "Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!".

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION)

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Climate Change, Disaster Risk, and the Urban Poor - Cities Building Resilience for a Changing World

scribd.com/WorldBankPublications - April 2012

Poor people living in slums are at particularly high risk from the impacts of climate change and natural hazards. They live on the most vulnerable lands within cities, typically areas that are deemed undesirable by others and are thus affordable. Residents are exposed to the impacts of landslides, sea-level rise, flooding, and other hazards.

Exposure to risk is exacerbated by overcrowded living conditions, lack of adequate infrastructure and services, unsafe housing, inadequate nutrition, and poor health. These conditions can turn a natural hazard or change in climate into a disaster, and result in the loss of basic services, damage or destruction to homes, loss of livelihoods, malnutrition, disease, disability, and loss of life.

This study analyzes the key challenges facing the urban poor given the risks associated with climate change and disasters, particularly with regard to the delivery of basic services, and identifies strategies and financing opportunities for addressing these risks.

Several key findings emerge from the study and provide guidance for addressing risk:

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Improve Tsunami Warnings by Placing GPS on Commercial Ships

While in transit from Hawaii to Guam, the research vessel Kilo Moana detected the February 2010 Chilean tsunami. Credit: University of Hawaii, SOEST

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - May 8, 2012

Researchers find that commercial ships travel across most of the globe and could provide better warnings for potentially deadly tsunamis; this finding came as a surprise because tsunamis have such small amplitudes in the deep water, in contrast to their size when they reach the coastline, that it seemed unlikely that the tsunami would be detected using GPS unless the ship was very close to the source and the tsunami was very big

Commercial ships travel across most of the globe and could provide better warnings for potentially deadly tsunamis, according to a study published by scientists at the University of Hawaii – Manoa (UHM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

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