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May 28, 2014
Increasing Disaster Resilience of Critical Infrastructure By Public/Private Partnerships Through Locally Funded Initiatives
By Mary Lou Zoback, Consulting Professor, Stanford University Friday, October 17, 2014 will mark the 25th anniversary of the M6.9 Loma Prieta/World Series earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area at 5:04 PM. The shaking lasted 25 seconds. When it stopped, 62 people had lost their lives, largely the result of bridge and overpass collapse (43 deaths) as well as collapse of San Francisco homes built in a region …
May 9, 2014
Tornadoes and Climate Change: Challenges in Interpreting the Record and Looking Forward
By Harold E. Brooks, Senior Research Scientist, NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory With the release of the new National Climate Assessment, the scientific community has put forward our best understanding of the changes that have occurred and are expected to occur as the planet continues to warm. Noticeably, little is said about tornadoes in this document. There’s good reason for this absence. Despite a wide variety of speculation in the online …
April 23, 2014
Keep calm, carry on and prepare
Written by John Schelling, Washington State Emergency Management The invitation to contribute my perspective on tsunami risk reduction efforts to “The Bridge” arrived on my tablet as I sat in the Snohomish County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Everett, Washington. There I was—working as part of the response and recovery effort to a major landslide (the Oso landslide, which occurred at 10:37 a.m. on March 22)–and presented with the question, …
September 19, 2013
Resilient Communities Move Forward with the Help of Science
September marks the 10th annual National Preparedness Month. The President, FEMA, and disaster organizations encourage communities to prepare for and become more resilient to emergencies. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate recognizes that preparedness seems difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. “Preparedness is more about a state of mind than a stack of supplies,” he suggested during a recent National Academies meeting on Disaster Resilience in America. This includes using the information around us …
June 14, 2013
Asteroids and Tsunamis and Space Weather, Oh My!
What are the odds that tomorrow you walk out of your home to see a meteor burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as it hurtles toward our planet at breakneck speed? Luckily, chances are pretty low. But, as evidenced by the recent large fireball – or “superbolide” if you speak Astrophysics – seen by many (and captured by many video cameras) near Chelyabinsk, Russia, this does happen. That relatively small meteor …
June 10, 2013
Risky Business
We only have to turn on the news to see the need for better risk reduction in the United States and worldwide. Recent tornadoes in Oklahoma have killed dozens, and many people across the country were surprised to learn that sometimes local policy does not require tornado shelters in areas known for tornado outbreaks. Natural disasters can destroy livelihoods as well. On average, extreme weather events, including hurricanes, tornadoes, …
