Disaster Deferred

Disaster Deferred PDF Author: Seth Stein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231151381
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
In the winter of 1811-12, a series of large earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone-often incorrectly described as the biggest ever to hit the United States-shook the Midwest. Today the federal government ranks the hazard in the Midwest as high as California's and is pressuring communities to undertake expensive preparations for disaster. Disaster Deferred revisits these earthquakes, the legends surrounding them, and the predictions of doom following in their wake. Seth Stein clearly explains the techniques seismologists use to study Midwestern quakes and estimate their danger. Detailing how limited scientific knowledge, bureaucratic instincts, and the media's love of a good story have exaggerated these hazards, Stein calmly debunks the hype surrounding such predictions and encourages the formulation of more sensible, less costly policy.

Disaster Deferred

Disaster Deferred PDF Author: Seth Stein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231151381
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the winter of 1811-12, a series of large earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone-often incorrectly described as the biggest ever to hit the United States-shook the Midwest. Today the federal government ranks the hazard in the Midwest as high as California's and is pressuring communities to undertake expensive preparations for disaster. Disaster Deferred revisits these earthquakes, the legends surrounding them, and the predictions of doom following in their wake. Seth Stein clearly explains the techniques seismologists use to study Midwestern quakes and estimate their danger. Detailing how limited scientific knowledge, bureaucratic instincts, and the media's love of a good story have exaggerated these hazards, Stein calmly debunks the hype surrounding such predictions and encourages the formulation of more sensible, less costly policy.

Disaster Deferred

Disaster Deferred PDF Author: Seth Stein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 023115139X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12, Disaster Deferred revisits these earthquakes, the legends that have grown around them, and the predictions of doom that have followed in their wake. Seth Stein clearly explains the techniques seismologists use to study Midwestern quakes and estimate their danger.

Disaster Deferred

Disaster Deferred PDF Author: Seth Stein
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Earthquake Hazard analysis
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description


Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning

Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning PDF Author: Kay C. Goss
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 078814829X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Meant to aid State & local emergency managers in their efforts to develop & maintain a viable all-hazard emergency operations plan. This guide clarifies the preparedness, response, & short-term recovery planning elements that warrant inclusion in emergency operations plans. It offers the best judgment & recommendations on how to deal with the entire planning process -- from forming a planning team to writing the plan. Specific topics of discussion include: preliminary considerations, the planning process, emergency operations plan format, basic plan content, functional annex content, hazard-unique planning, & linking Federal & State operations.

The Edge of Disaster

The Edge of Disaster PDF Author: Stephen Flynn
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588365670
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Why do we remain unprepared for the next terrorist attack or natural disaster? Where are we most vulnerable? How have we allowed our government to be so negligent? Who will keep you and your family safe? Is America living on borrowed time? How can we become a more resilient nation? Americans are in denial when it comes to facing up to how vulnerable our nation is to disaster, be it terrorist attack or act of God. We have learned little from the cataclysms of September 11 and Hurricane Katrina. When it comes to catastrophe, America is living on borrowed time–and squandering it. In this new book, leading security expert Stephen Flynn issues a call to action, demanding that we wake up and prepare immediately for a safer future. The truth is acts of terror cannot always be prevented, and nature continues to show its fury in frighteningly unpredictable ways. Resiliency, argues Flynn, must now become our national motto. With chilling frankness and clarity, Flynn paints an all too real scenario of the threats we face within our own borders. A terrorist attack on a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas into Boston Harbor could kill thousands and leave millions more of New Englanders without power or heat. The destruction of a ship with a cargo of oil in Long Beach, California, could bring the West Coast economy to its knees and endanger the surrounding population. But even these all-too-plausible terrorist scenarios pale in comparison to the potential destruction wrought by a major earthquake or hurricane. Our growing exposure to man-made and natural perils is largely rooted in our own negligence, as we take for granted the infrastructure handed down to us by earlier generations. Once the envy of the world, this infrastructure is now crumbling. After decades of neglect, our public health system leaves us at the mercy of microbes that could kill millions in the next flu pandemic. Flash flooding could wipe out a fifty-year-old dam north of Phoenix, placing thousands of homes and lives at risk. The next San Francisco earthquake could destroy century-old levees, contaminating the freshwater supply that most of California relies on for survival. It doesn’t have to be this way. The Edge of Disaster tells us what we can do about it, as individuals and as a society. We can–and, Flynn argues, we must–construct a more resilient nation. With the wounds of recent national tragedies still unhealed, the time to act is now. Flynn argues that by tackling head-on, eyes open the perils that lie before us, we can remain true to our most important and endearing national trait: our sense of optimism about the future and our conviction that we can change it for the better for ourselves–and our children.

Catastrophic Disaster Planning and Response

Catastrophic Disaster Planning and Response PDF Author: Clifford Oliver
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1439841756
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Presenting cutting-edge domestic and international approaches, Catastrophic Disaster Planning and Response explains how to effectively plan for and manage the consequences of a catastrophe. Recognizing that a business-as-usual approach to preparing for and responding to such events is doomed to fail, the book fills a gap in emergency management education. It introduces the many considerations that influence how we plan for and respond to large-scale catastrophes and how it differs from preparing for smaller-scale emergencies. Written by a recognized expert in emergency management, this volume is a thorough study of the planning process and response procedures for catastrophic disasters. Topics discussed include: The history of catastrophic events, both in and outside the United States How catastrophes differ from disasters and emergencies and how they are all part of the emergency management continuum The varying definitions of catastrophes and their political and societal implications The main ethical and value dilemmas that one will likely face before, during, and after a catastrophe The legal framework associated with government response to catastrophes The post-catastrophic environment that an emergency manager might experience, with a focus on logistics, critical infrastructure, mass care, and mass evacuation Planning strategies and skills an emergency manager can employ to mitigate the effects of such an event The use of crisis leadership skills and how to lead and influence others in a catastrophic situation Recent major events provide valuable lessons that demonstrate the characteristics of a catastrophic disaster, the special issues of response and recovery, and the necessary preparation on international, national, and local levels. Offering best practices using recent real-world case studies, the book provides a foundation for continued study and critical reflection. Catastrophic Disaster Planning and Response is one of only two books utilized by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in their elite 2010 Flag Office/SES Executive Change Leadership Program (ECL) curriculum. The ECL program develops the executive leadership skills of USCG Admiral-selects awaiting Senate confirmation, as well as members of the Department of Homeland Security's federal Senior Executive Service (SES), which in 2010 included representatives from the U.S. Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Border Patrol, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and FEMA. Readily adaptable for classroom use, this cutting-edge professional reference provides qualifying instructors with access to teaching materials and a test bank.

The Shock Doctrine

The Shock Doctrine PDF Author: Naomi Klein
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
ISBN: 1429919485
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 721

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Book Description
The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global "free market" has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq. At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.

Acts of God

Acts of God PDF Author: Theodore Steinberg
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195309685
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This revised edition features a new chapter analyzing the failed response to Hurricane Katrina. Steinberg argues that it is wrong to see natural disasters as random outbursts of nature or expressions of divine judgment. He reveals how business and government decisions have paved the way for the greater losses of life and property.

Dynamics of Disaster

Dynamics of Disaster PDF Author: Barbara Allen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134073453
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Disasters are the result of complex interactions between social and natural forces, acting at multiple scales from the individual and community to the organisational, national and international level. Effective disaster planning, response and recovery require an understanding of these interacting forces, and the role of power, knowledge and organizations. This book sheds new light on these dynamics, and gives disaster scholars and practitioners new and valuable lessons for management and planning in practice. The authors draw on methods across the social sciences to examine disaster response and recovery as viewed by those in positions of authority and the 'recipients' of operations. These first two sections examine cases from Hurricane Katrina, while the third part compares this to other international disasters to draw out general lessons and practical applications for disaster planning in any context. The authors also offer guidance for shaping institutional structures to better meet the needs of communities and residents.

Facing the Unexpected

Facing the Unexpected PDF Author: Ronald W. Perry
Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
ISBN: 0309171970
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Facing the Unexpected presents the wealth of information derived from disasters around the world over the past 25 years. The authors explore how these findings can improve disaster programs, identify remaining research needs, and discuss disaster within the broader context of sustainable development. How do different people think about disaster? Are we more likely to panic or to respond with altruism? Why are 110 people killed in a Valujet crash considered disaster victims while the 50,000 killed annually in traffic accidents in the U.S. are not? At the crossroads of social, cultural, and economic factors, this book examines these and other compelling questions. The authors review the influences that shape the U.S. governmental system for disaster planning and response, the effectiveness of local emergency agencies, and the level of professionalism in the field. They also compare technological versus natural disaster and examine the impact of technology on disaster programs.