BerkeleyLaw Library

"With seas rising, storms getting stronger, and ground subsiding, another disaster like Katrina seems inevitable. Yet some residents would rather run that risk than leave the place they call home.

"Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in United States history, was also a warning shot. Right after the tragedy, many people expressed a defiant resolve to rebuild the city. But among engineers and experts, that resolve is giving way to a growing awareness that another such disaster is inevitable, and nothing short of a massive and endless national commitment can prevent it."

"The legal system ostensibly plays a central role in disaster prevention, response, and management. Attorneys, members of the judiciary, and decision-makers at every level of government must anticipate and respond to disasters in a coordinated manner. It is increasingly clear, however, that the law is woefully unprepared to handle disasters. A growing community of academics recognizes this problem, and is formulating solutions under the rubric of disaster law. This emerging legal academic field encompasses a wide-ranging, intra- and inter-disciplinary body of thought, research and dialogue which seeks to inform and improve disaster-related decision-making.

"On June 25th, 2007, eighteen law professors and legal practitioners who count disasters among their primary research interests, gathered at U.C. Berkeley Law School to chart disaster law's course for the immediate and long-term future. Appendix A, Workshop Participants and Agenda. Over the course of the day, participants highlighted a wide variety of important intellectual concerns and potential problem-solving strategies regarding disaster management.

"In a series of productive discussions, participants first addressed central normative issues of disaster law, including terminology and the role of the legal academy. The group then addressed four sub-areas of disaster law: international collaboration, social justice, compensation and insurance, and prevention and response. Participants' recommendations for action included the creation of an annual disaster law conference, the integration of disaster law into law teaching, and an increased internet presence.

"This white paper, a record of the milestone June 25th workshop, is intended as a tool for use by disaster law practitioners and academics in mapping the direction and future of the field."—Executive Summary.

"After several decades of supporting the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet despite its economic inefficiency and negative environmental impacts, the United States Army Corps.of Engineers has been charged with the task of assessing various proposals to deauthorize the passage to deep-draft navigation. In reality the passage has been closed to deep-draft travel since Hurricane Katrina destroyed many of the levees bordering the MRGO and dumped a tremendous amount of material into the channel. Whereas continuing to dredge the channel in the past simply maintained the status quo, it would now be a very large undertaking with little legitimate justification considering that the MRGO's negative impact on the region was made perfectly clear by Hurricane Katrina. The Army Corps of Engineers is currently in the process of exploring various plans of action regarding the MRGO. The focus of this assessment is flood control, seen both as a product of wetland protection and direct storm surge channeling. Though the importance of wetland preservation in protecting the region from flooding may finally be afforded appropriate weight during this process, the correct policy must still be funneled through the politics of both Congress and the Corps. To a large extent, the politics of water projects have prevented the development of a comprehensive policy for flood prevention in the region and though Hurricane Katrina may have heightened Congress' sense of urgency in reevaluating the MRGO, it certainly did not alter the pitfalls inherent to the legislative process."—Abstract.

"CDG is a new initiative launched by the Institute of Development Studies and Christian Aid investigating climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction governance at a national and sub-national level.

"CDG is currently focusing on four research themes. Each theme is a potential governance arena for linking climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction policy processes, institutional development, finance flows and policy implementation: (1) Citizen engagement and accountability in policy processes; (2) The role of established social protection policy instruments applied to differentiated vulnerability analysis; (3) Opportunities for building institutions for CCA, DRR and humanitarian assistance in fragile states; (4) Implications of international policy frameworks on national and sub-national responses to climate change and disasters.

"CDG will contribute to a better understanding of the extent to which international policies inhibit or support national and sub-national responses to climate change's research agenda by addressing critical gaps.

"In particular, CDG is examining the implications of international agreements reached under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the current and upcoming development phase of a post-Kyoto agreement." —About CDG.

"Damage to or destruction of the nation's water supply and water quality infrastructure by terrorist attack or natural disaster could disrupt the delivery of vital human services in this country, threatening public health and the environment, or possibly causing loss of life. Interest in such problems has increased greatly since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

"Across the country, water infrastructure systems extend over vast areas, and ownership and operation responsibility are both public and private, but are overwhelmingly non-federal. Since the attacks, federal dam operators and local water and wastewater utilities have been under heightened security conditions and are evaluating security plans and measures. There are no federal standards or agreed upon industry practices within the water infrastructure sector to govern readiness, response to security incidents, and recovery. Efforts to develop protocols and tools are ongoing since the 2001 terrorist attacks. This report presents an overview of this large and diverse sector, describes security-related actions by the government and private sector since September 11, and discusses additional policy issues and responses, including congressional interest.

"Policymakers have been considering a number of initiatives, including enhanced physical security, better communication and coordination, and research. A key issue is how additional protections and resources directed at public and private sector priorities will be funded. In response, Congress has provided $794 million in appropriations for security at water infrastructure facilities (to assess and protectfederal facilities and support security assessment and risk reduction activities by nonfederal facilities) and passed a bill requiring drinking water utilities to conduct security vulnerability assessments (P.L. 107-188). When Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002 (P.L. 107-297), it gave DHS responsibilities to coordinate information to secure the nation's critical infrastructure, including the water sector. Under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the lead federal agency for protecting drinking water and wastewater utility systems.

"Recent congressional interest has focused on two legislative issues: (1) security of wastewater utilities, and (2) whether to include water utilities in chemical security regulations implemented by DHS. In the 109th Congress, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved legislation to encourage wastewater treatment works to conduct vulnerability assessments and develop site security plans(S. 2781), but there was no further action on this bill. Similar legislation has been introduced in the 110th Congress (S. 1968). Also in the 110th Congress, bills to extend DHS's Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards are being considered. One bill (H.R. 5533) would preserve an existing exemption for water utilities, while another (H.R. 5577) would include them in the scope of DHS security rules. Continuing attention to these issues is possible, along with interest in how the federal government coordinates its own activities and communicates policies and information to the water infrastructure sector."

"The aim of this report is to provide decision-makers with a systematic way of answering these questions. Focusing specifically on the economic aspects of adaptation, it outlines a fact-based risk management approach that national and local leaders can use to understand the impact of climate on their economies - and identify actions to minimize that impact at the lowest cost to society.

 The report is based on the initial findings of a study by the Economics of Climate Adaptation Working Group, a partnership between the Global Environment Facility, McKinsey & Company, Swiss Re, The Rockefeller Foundation, Climate Works Foundation, the European Commission, and Standard Chartered Bank." — Executive Summary

"The Emergency Information Infrastructure Project is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to enhancing the practice of emergency management, and thereby public safety, through offering professional development opportunities to practitioners and other interested persons. The principal way we work to achieve this goal is through presentation in the 'Virtual Forum' of timely, disaster-related topics by experts in their fields, by means of Internet-based 'Live Chat' (text) technology. There is no charge to participants, and all are welcome."—Website.

Site includes transcripts and podcasts of discussions among experts on disaster response and prevention issues.

"[The] record suggests that we are doomed to a future in which increasingly complex organizations fail, causing unnecessary death and injury, large scale economic disruption, political haggling, and years of rebuilding. Hurricane Katrina exemplified this failure to learn from the past, and the odds are good that the future will provide yet more tragic examples of this syndrome. We may be doomed to repeat these failures, even though preventing disasters is cheaper than recovery. We may be doomed to this future—despite the fact that we know that technological failures virtually always occur within the context of management failures, and despite the growing body of literature that describes management concepts that could reduce large scale failure. But planning for disaster seems to challenge our organizational capacities.

"We are doomed—unless. This article deals with 'unless.' The investigation of the New Orleans levee failure in which all of us participated revealed that the destruction of New Orleans was a manmade disaster, caused by the organizational structures that designed, built, and maintained the New Orleans flood control system. Levees failed, not because of the unavailability of the information needed to build them properly, but because of organizational inability to act on that information. Our focus here, however, is not on what went wrong: it is on how to make things go better in the future."—Introduction.

"One of the primary goals of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the prevention, or mitigation, of this country's losses from natural hazards. To achieve this goal, we as a nation need to ask what level of performance do we expect from our buildings during an event such as an earthquake. In order to answer this question, FEMA is exploring the possible development of "performance-based seismic design" criteria. Such criteria could be voluntarily used by this nation's engineers and designers to improve the performance of critical classes of buildings that are currently only designed to a "lifesafety" level to avoid collapse, but would infact probably still suffer significant damage in a design event.

"FEMA contracted with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) (contract number EMW-92-K-3955, Task 13) to solicit the input of the nation's leading seismic professionals in developing an action plan that could be used to develop performance- based seismic design criteria. This project and the resulting action plan have gone a long way in identifying key issues that will need to be addressed in this process.

"This action plan builds upon a similar effort that FEMA funded in 1993 with the Earthquake Engineering Research Center, now the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER). The end product of that study was a similar plan, "Performance Based Seismic Design of Buildings" (FEMA-283), published by FEMA in September 1996. The material in that plan had an emphasis on the research that would be required, and has in fact been used by PEER inthe last several years as the basis for their research work inthis arena. While this action plan does an excellent job of describing the requirements that would be needed to successfully develop performance based seismic design criteria, FEMA does has some concerns, such as the proposed budget, which exceeds what FEMA is capable of devoting within the recomended time frame. FEMA is planning to identify some of the key elements of the plan and to begin to address them through a series of projects under its Problem Focused Studies program. However, without additional specific funding for this plan, it will be very difficult to accomplish the entire plan. To avoid further delay, FEMA has decided to publish this document as a "final draft for informational purposes only. Publication of this document in no way obligates this or any other Federal agency to any portion of plan contained herein. The information and opinions contained in this document are solely those of EERI and the project participants and do not necessarily represent the views of FEMA.

"In closing, FEMA sincerely wishes to express its, gratitude to all who were involved in this project. The results of their hard work will play an important role as this country moves forward towards performance-based seismic design and reducing the losses suffered by this nation's citizens after the next earthquake."—Foreward.

"After viewing the destruction wrought by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State in May 1980, President Carter became concerned about the impacts of a similar event of low probability but high damage potential, namely a catastrophic earthquake in California, and the state of readiness to cope with the impacts of such an event.

"As a result of the President's concern, an ad hoc committee of the National Security Council was formed to conduct a government review of the consequences of, and preparation for such an event. In addition to the FEMA, the Committee included representatives from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the United States Geological Survey of the Dept. of the Interior, the Dept. of Defense, the Dept. of Transportation, and the National Communications System, at the Federal level; State of California agencies and California local governments at the State and local levels; and consultants from the private sector." —Executive Summary.

"The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs present a critical opportunity to protect individuals and property from natural hazards while simultaneously reducing reliance on Federal disaster funds. The HMA programs provide pre-disaster mitigation grants annually to States, Territories, Tribes, and local communities. The statutory origins of the programs differ, but all share the common goal of reducing the loss of life and property due to natural hazards.

"The Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program is authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Assistance and Emergency Relief Act (Stafford Act) and focuses on mitigation project andplanning activities that address multiple natural hazards, although these activities may also address hazards caused by manmade events. The Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program, Repetitive Flood Claims (RFC) program, and Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) program are authorized by the National Flood Insurance Act (NFIA), and focus on reducing claims against the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

"For the current application cycles, FEMA's Mitigation Directorate is unifying the multi-hazard PDM program with the FMA, RFC, and SRL programs into a unified HMA program application cycle. The intent of this alignment is to enhance the quality and efficiency of grant awards on an allocation and competitive basis to State, Territory, Tribal, and local entities for worthwhile, cost-beneficial activities designed to reduce the risks of future damage in hazard-prone areas. Best practices from the programs will be identified and adopted as the standard for all programs throughout this unification process. In addition, a unified process achieves economies of scale and portfolio management for Federal, State, and local officials by allowing resources to be dedicated to program training and technical assistance as needed. At the same time, unification streamlines FEMA's program delivery and review processes, which offer new opportunities and additional resources to expand national outreach for all types of mitigation." —Introduction.

"Throughout this post-Katrina period, FEMA has remained dedicated to helping Louisiana families and communities recover. To date, in partnership with and in support of the state of Louisiana, we have provided more than $15.2 billion in assistance. We maintain our steadfast commitment to the resilient survivors of Louisiana as they continue along the path to full recovery.

"So, on the 5th anniversary of this unprecedented event, we can say that a lot has been accomplished, but we an also say that a lot remains to be done. FEMA is committed to being here for as long as it takes to fully recover, and we’re working to do so in a way that builds, sustains and improves south Louisiana’s capability to protect against future hazards."—Mike Karl, EMA Louisiana Recovery Office Interim Director, "Unprecedented Disaster, Unprecedented Recovery."

"The series of recent large-scale catastrophes casts doubt on the ability of the private insurance and reinsurance markets alone to absorb losses resulting from large-scale disasters in the future. And 'mega-risks' are beyond the capacity of the insurance industry or even governments to insure and clearly call for privatepublic partnership and international co-operation.

"Preparing to deal effectively with the hugely complex threats of the 21st century and their financial consequences is a major challenge for decision makers in government and the private sector alike, and one that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency."—The issues at stake.

"The vulnerability of California's Delta region to massive flooding stands as one of the state's most urgent policy issues. One of the state's few tools in place to curb urbanization in the Delta is the Delta Protection Act. Adopted in 1992, the Act created the Delta Protection Commission as the regulatory body charged with overseeing development in the Delta. Reflecting a spirit of political compromise, however, the Act limits the jurisdiction of the Commission to the Delta's primary zone while development in the secondary zone goes unregulated. The Delta Protection Commission was called into action for the first time in the fall of 2006 when the Yolo County Board of Supervisors approved a plan for residential development on land presumed to be within the primary zone. In February of 2007 the Commission voted to officially reject the development as a violation of the Delta Protection Act. The primary basis for the Commission's decision was that the Old Sugar Mill Project would 'expose the public to increased flood hazards.' The Commission's decision is, however, appealable in court, and, reflecting the Commission's grossly insufficient regulatory authority, it is uncertain whether the decision will withstand a legal challenge.

"Even if the Delta Protection Commission's decision is ultimately upheld in court, however, the Clarksburg situation demonstrates the irrationality, and unacceptability, of California's Delta land-use regulatory scheme. At present, developments that pose a clear risk to public safety and the long run health of both the Delta and state economy go unchallenged simply because certain land is designated as the secondary zone and, thus, falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of local governments. In order to alleviate this untenable situation California must create a dominant regulatory body with the authority to strictly oversee land-use throughout the Delta region."—Abstract.

"This study examines some key issues about information support to policymakers that have arisen in the information age. The challenge of providing the right information to the right people has been compounded by the challenge of terrorism and shifts in governments' priorities and in governmental organization that deal with various threats to national and human security. This problem set is not unique to the United States, and the study looks at the European Union and selected EU member states as an important point of comparison, and as a critical partner for information sharing and problem solving.

"The Stimson Center, in collaboration with the Swedish Emergency Management Agency (SEMA)and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, embarked on a year-long exploration of three distinct information cultures ??? terrorism, public health, and natural hazards ??? to illuminate problems within and between those distinct expert communities in providing information to key decision-makers and crisis managers. We are grateful to SEMA and to DHS for their financial support, and for their expert participation in a series of workshops and conversations that contributed to this report. Several dozen people of diverse expertise, in government and out, agreed to be interviewed for this study, and we are indebted to them for the insights and information they provided.

"The Stimson team included: Julie Fischer, Senior Associate and director of our work on global health security, Jesper Gronvall, former representative of the Swedish Institute for International Affairs resident at Stimson, Aditi Hate, Research Associate, Rebecca Bornstein, Scoville Fellow, summer interns Amanda Greenland and Anita Ravishankar, and Peter Roman, former Senior Associate responsible for homeland security analysis." —Preface.

"Recent events such as Hurricane Katrina and the global SARS outbreak underscore the importance of having public health and medical systems that are prepared to increase surge capacity in a variety of emergency scenarios. A core component to increasing surge capacity is the availability of skilled health professionals to supplement the existing health workforce.

"This article examines the legal context volunteer health professional find themselves in during public health emergencies and disasters. In addition, the article makes several recommendations about how to refine the law to increase the availability of volunteer health professionals during public health emergencies and disasters. First, states should incorporate advance registration systems and protections for volunteers into laws that authorize emergency preparedness and response efforts. These laws should explicitly define the powers of state government during emergencies and clarify the legal provisions applicable to VHPs and the entities or organizations that may rely on them. Second, a floor of legal protections for volunteers is essential to achieve a minimum level of uniformity among the states and facilitate multi-jurisdictional cooperation in emergency response. Third, the scope and breadth of state based volunteer registries must be expanded to ensure comprehensive and coordinated emergency response efforts among states. Fourth, laws must ensure balanced civil liability protections for VHPs and their host entities by creating responsible immunity protections and alternative mechanism to compensate injured patients. Fifth, states are encouraged to enact laws and regulations providing for license portability during emergencies. Sixth, VHPs should be vested with workers' compensation protections for injuries, disabilities, or deaths experienced while carrying out their duties. Finally, state and federal laws should confer robust privacy protections on volunteer registries, implement fair information practices to allow VHPs and patients to access and verify registry data, and simultaneously ensure responsible access to and use of registry information to mount an effective response." —Abstract.

"The physical security of nuclear power plants and their vulnerability to deliberate acts of terrorism was elevated to a national security concern following the events of September 11, 2001.

"Title VI of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 regarding nuclear security amended the Atomic Energy Act with the addition of new provisions for security evaluations and rulemaking to revise the 'Design Basis Threat.' The act included provisions for fingerprinting and criminal background checks of security personnel, their use of firearms, and the unauthorized introduction of dangerous weapons. The designation of facilities subject to enforcement of penalties for sabotage expanded to include treatment and disposal facilities.

"As part of security response evaluations, the act requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to conduct 'force-on-force' security exercises at nuclear power plants at least once every three years, and revise the 'design-basis threat' to consider a wider variety of potential attacks.

"The NRC has strengthened its regulations on nuclear power plant security, but critics contend that implementation by the industry has been too slow and that further measures are needed. Vulnerability to a deliberate aircraft crash remains an outstanding issue, as the latest NRC rulemaking addresses only newly designed plants. Shortcomings in the performance of security contractors has drawn the attention of Congress.

"This report will be updated as events warrant."—Summary.

• Integration of programme, resource management and coordination, and
• Streamlining and standardization of operational, administrative and financial practices related to disaster reduction and response."

"IBHS puts forth key fndings and recommendations for reducing future property losses in all hurricane-exposed areas. The three key fndings and recommendations are based on both post-Ike IBHS feld research on the Bolivar Peninsula and a thorough review of building code requirements – and laid out in much more detail in the full research report.

A Texas-specifc hurricane retroft guide based on the research fndings following Hurricane Ike can be found in this report. Geographically specifc hurricane retroft solutions for property owners and residents in other states along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts are in development and will be published by IBHS in 2010." — Executive Summary

"This paper examines the human and organizational failures that have plagued the design and construction of the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, drawing comparisons to the failures of the New Orleans Flood Defense System before and during Hurricane Katrina. It also suggests what lessons can be learned from the successes of 'high reliability organizations,' so that more integrity and reliability can be built into the leadership and decision-making processes of future projects of this magnitude."

"Communities facing a substantial risk of natural disaster require individual landowner cooperation with detailed building codes to ensure safety. Beyond increasing public expenditures on enforcement action, I propose that limitations on personal property ownership through increases in minimum parcel sizes and restrictive covenants can also facilitate individual compliance with regulation. Deployment of such solutions in existing residential property will require substantial use of eminent domain and political will, most likely available in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster."—Abstract.

"Southern California is at high risk for a major natural disaster. Yet, few assessments have been made to discover how communities with large populations of Limited English Proficient (LEP) immigrants would fare in such an event. It has also not been established whether LEP immigrants who may be poor and have low levels of education have the information necessary to prepare for and survive a disaster, or whether the social networks, formats, and language in which they can successfully receive and respond to emergency information are in place.

"To address these issues, examine past efforts, and build policy recommendations for the future, the Tom?s Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC) undertook a joint project that examined several LEP immigrant communities in Southern California. After conducting interviews with emergency service personnel, both in local governments and in nonprofit organizations, and holding focus groups with LEP community members in their native languages, we are able to provide the following findings about this important issue." —Executive Summary.

"Two years after Hurricane Katrina much has become clear. We know that the devastation in New Orleans and surrounding areas was less a natural than a man-made disaster. Katrina's surge into New Orleans was the direct result of poorly constructed levees, an ill-conceived navigation channel, and the destruction of millions of acres of coastal wetlands. Furthermore, the storm's intensity itself was fueled by unusually warm waters in the tropical Atlantic due, in part, to global warming pollution.

"How have Congress and the Administration responded to these lessons of Katrina and addressed the chief causes of its tragic aftermath? A report card is due on the federal government's response to global warming, reforming the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and restoring the wetlands along the Gulf Coast that act as a natural buffer to storms."

Report from a workshop held September 28 and 29, 2006.

"California depends on a complex system of engineering structures—dams, aqueducts, and levees—for both its water supply and flood protection. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta system is the hub for California's water supply as well, providing water for twenty-three million Californians and three million acres of agricultural land, and sustaining a $400 billion economy; it is also a unique environmental asset. Because of an aging and deteriorating levee system, the city of Sacramento itself faces a greater risk of flooding than any other major city in the United States, including New Orleans. In addition, substantial seismic risks in Northern California threaten both the water supply infrastructure in the Delta and the levees that protect valuable agricultural and, increasingly, urban property throughout the Central Valley....

"The goal is not merely to develop improved scientific knowledge for its own sake, but to deliver usable and timely information to the officials who are charged with making critical decisions about the Delta. Fulfilling this goal requires the development of a new institutional structure in which policymakers and scientists can interact, so as to ensure that the scientists are asking the right questions and the policymakers are getting the most reliable and objective research findings. The Workshop participants strongly suggested that a consortium approach is needed to engage, provide products to and get feedback from policy and decision makers. What is required is an umbrella that supports the broad set of technical and policy-relevant disciplines that need to be applied. We strongly urge the creation of such an institutional structure by the State of California."—Executive Summary.

"America builds on the edge of disaster prone areas: on moveable barrier islands, fragile coastal ecosystems, shorelines subject to inundation, and next to flammable forests. Ferocious storm events focus local and national attention in the tragic moment and during short-term recovery efforts; then, too often, we return to business as usual, continuing to build and rebuild on the edge. 'Losing Ground' provides effective perspectives and prescriptions for longer-term disaster mitigation planning and action. Authors from a variety of disciplines (including law, history, geography, environmental science, and urban planning) review past policies and practices, the lessons learned from previous disasters, current approaches to disaster planning and recovery, an assessment of the proper roles and responsibilities of various levels of government in the federal system, new legal and technological tools, and a review of innovations in disaster mitigation.

"Oliver A. Houck, a renowned professor of law from Tulane University, provides a preface from the perspective of a post-Katrina New Orleans: 'Perhaps, the most striking aspect of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast, from Alabama to Texas, is the rush to rebuild in exactly the same places, a few feet back, a few feet higher, more high priced investment than ever before. Two lane bridges are replaced by six lane bridges. Modest beach homes are replaced by condominiums. The hurricane has led to a construction boom. As the Gross National Product measures these things, the hurricanes were a huge success. What is wrong with this picture?.' "—Publisher's Description.

"During the balance of 2006 and early 2007, the Memorial staff invested hundreds of hours in studying the rebuilding process after other incidents, both man-made and natural disasters. In addition, we hosted a second Collective Reflection. The study included New York City after the World Trade Center terrorist attack, Hurricanes Hugo in Charleston (SC) and Andrew in Homestead (FL) and Miami (FL), earthquakes in Northridge (CA) and Kobe (Japan), floods in Des Moines (IA), and, finally, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (LA).

"What has resulted is a collection of documents covering Municipality, Business, General Public, Non-Government Response Organizations, Faith Community, Media, and Memorializing, with some assistance for resources regarding Preparedness. During 2007, the materials were reviewed by cities and organizations in multiple states that had experienced disasters and the challenges of rebuilding and healing.

"During the research, we learned that the concept of best practices may vary with the circumstances. Thus, we have identified some universals ? needs that appear to hold true regardless of the circumstances of either the source of the incident or the magnitude. Beyond these universals, the value or need of the materials may depend on the type, magnitude and circumstance of the incident and community resources."—Website.

"The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) welcomes this report as a concrete response to its call for work to promote understanding that: protection of vital ecosystem services is fundamental to reducing vulnerability to disasters and strengthening community resilience.

"Although there is a growing recognition that natural habitats can help to mitigate disasters caused by vulnerability to hazards, we still have a great deal to learn about how to maximise the potential benefits and about what this means in terms of landscape-scale management approaches. Clear evidence linking habitat degradation to a series of so-called 'natural' disasters have added urgency to the need for further research and monitoring efforts. These problems are likely to increase as a result of the disturbance caused by climate change. Research shows that the poorest members of society consistently fare worst when disaster strikes.

"At the same time, natural ecosystems continue to be degraded at an alarming rate, so that in many countries we can no longer assume they exist in good enough condition to provide the environmental services upon which many people depend. In response, governments and local communities are setting aside and where necessary restoring natural habitats deliberately for their protective role. Although protected areas such as national parks and nature reserves are primarily designed to conserve biodiversity, most also supply important environmental services, including disaster mitigation. Whilst this is understood and acted upon by many protected area managers, it has never been systematically assessed and the current report makes a first attempt to provide a global overview.

"By focusing the case studies on major disasters in the new millennium, the authors have deliberately chosen a fairly narrow data set rather than choosing 'best case' examples. They have found cases where protected areas clearly play a major role in disaster mitigation and cases where the links are not so clear cut or where changes in management approaches within protected areas are needed. One clear result of this study is a need for specialists in disaster risk reduction, environmental management and protected areas to work together far more closely than they have in the past. There is already much that could be done through better collaboration to increase the role of natural habitats in disaster mitigation and these opportunities will continue to increase as we learn more. We call on both communities to develop talks and to take the necessary steps to ensure that natural safety measures are maintained and enhanced."—Foreword.

"Nuclear bombs in suitcases, anthrax bacilli in ventilators, tsunamis and meteors, avian flu, scorchingly hot temperatures: nightmares that were once the plot of Hollywood movies are now frighteningly real possibilities. How can we steer a path between willful inaction and reckless overreaction?

"Cass Sunstein explores these and other worst-case scenarios and how we might best prevent them in this vivid, illuminating, and highly original analysis. Singling out the problems of terrorism and climate change, Sunstein explores our susceptibility to two opposite and unhelpful reactions: panic and utter neglect. He shows how private individuals and public officials might best respond to low-probability risks of disaster--emphasizing the need to know what we will lose from precautions as well as from inaction. Finally, he offers an understanding of the uses and limits of cost-benefit analysis, especially when current generations are imposing risks on future generations.

"Throughout, Sunstein uses climate change as a defining case, because it dramatically illustrates the underlying principles. But he also discusses terrorism, depletion of the ozone layer, genetic modification of food, hurricanes, and worst-case scenarios faced in our ordinary lives. Sunstein concludes that if we can avoid the twin dangers of over-reaction and apathy, we will be able to ameliorate if not avoid future catastrophes, retaining our sanity as well as scarce resources that can be devoted to more constructive ends." —Publisher's Description.

"Losses from hurricane catastrophes have accelerated in recent years, with seven of the top nine hurricanes ranked by insured losses occurring during 2004 and 2005. Hurricane losses have affected the availability of insurance in coastal states and contributed to enormous growth in state residual wind markets. Of particular policy concern is the possibility that homeowners, businesses and insurance companies are not investing in the efficient amount of mitigation to reduce hurricane losses.

"This paper examines some of the potential barriers to the adoption of efficient mitigation and reviews specific state insurance regulation and legislation that impedes and encourages mitigation. Premium discounts and hurricane deductibles, which are waived if property owners invest in mitigation, provide incentives for mitigation, but mitigation discounts mandated by legislators potentially could represent disguised insurance subsidies. Irrationalities in decision-making such as low-probability event bias, myopia, and inertia might make it difficult for insurers to convince property owners to invest in mitigation. But this is not different in type from the problem entrepreneurs face in general in making consumers aware of the value of products. Restrictions on contractual mechanisms insurance companies can use to encourage mitigation, like requiring mitigation as a condition for renewal of coverage or funding mitigation after a disaster through long term loans or contracts, could prevent insurers from using effective incentives for mitigation, and could reduce the supply of insurance in coastal areas."—Abstract.

"This report finds that on some measures, significant progress has been made in the nation's preparedness. There are important areas, however, where continued, concerted action is needed. From assuring an adequate stockpile of pandemic influenza countermeasures to having a public health workforce large enough and trained enough to respond to an emergency, federal and state policies still fall short of their stated goals.

"Almost half the states do not provide sufficient legal protection from liability for health care volunteers who respond to the nation's call for assistance in an emergency. In many other areas, a lack of transparency makes it hard for the American people and their elected representatives to know whether their government is protecting them. The variation in preparedness among the states, while not as great as in past years, does mean that where one lives still determines how well one is protected. Until all states measure up, the United States is not safe.

"Hurricane Katrina made Gulf Coast landfall on August 29, 2005, and changed what we thought we knew about hurricanes and the Southeast Louisiana hurricane protection system. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commissioned an independent team of more than 150 international and national experts from more than 50 different government organizations, universities, and private industry soon after Hurricane Katrina to analyze how the system performed during the hurricane. This team is 'IPET,' the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force.

"This site is designed to share what we have learned about hurricane risks in the Greater New Orleans area with you, so that you can make risk-informed decisions about your future. IPET has developed a state-of-the-art prototype risk assessment model to characterize current annual flood risk in the area. This prototype version of the risk assessment has been used to develop the Google Earth maps that are described below. The risk assessment method will continue to be improved upon and will be used in the near future to determine the risk associated with the hurricane protection system at its 100-year elevation level and, in the longer-term, as part of Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration study, known as LaCPR."—Welcome.

The site includes v.VIII of the IPET report, dealing with risk and reliability.

• Volume I: Executive Summary and Overview ? Summary of findings and lessons learned. Overview of performance evaluation activities and reports.
• Volume II: Geodetic Vertical and Water Level Datums ? Update of geodetic and water level references for the region and determining accurate elevations for all critical structures.
• Volume III: The Hurricane Protection System ? Documentation of the character of the hurricane protection system, including the design assumptions and criteria, as built and maintained condition.
• Volume IV: The Storm ? Determining the surge and wave environments created by Katrina and the time history and nature of the forces experienced by protection structures during the storm.
• Volume V: The Performance ? Levees and Floodwalls ? Understanding the behavior of individual damaged structures and development of criteria for evaluation of undamaged sections. Providing input to repairs and ongoing design and planning efforts.
• Volume VI: The Performance ? Interior Drainage and Pumping ? Understanding the performance of the interior drainage and pumping systems with regard to extent and duration of flooding. Examination of scenarios to understand system-wide performance.
• Volume VII: The Consequences ? Determination of the economic, human safety and health, environmental, and social and cultural losses due to Katrina. Examination of scenarios to understand implications of losses and possible recovery paths on future risk.
• Volume VIII: Risk and Reliability ? Determination of the inherent risk for all parts of the system prior to and following Katrina. Provision of capability for risk-based decision support for continuing improvement and development of hurricane protection.
• Volume IX: Supporting Appendices ? Documentation of information resources and management, program management, and communications."

"After completing its notification of levee owners, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today released the locations of the levee units nationwide with unacceptable maintenance inspection ratings.

"An unacceptable maintenance rating means a levee has one or more deficient conditions that can reasonably be foreseen to prevent the project from functioning as designed. Examples of maintenance deficiencies include: animal burrows, erosion, tree growth, movement of floodwalls or faulty culvert conditions."

"Law is a traditional public health tool for disease prevention and health promotion. For many traditional public health problems, both acute and chronic, the role of law has been crucial in attaining public health goals, even rivaling the roles of epidemiology and laboratory science. Many of the greatest successes claimed by public health, such as high childhood immunization rates, improved motor vehicle safety, safer workplaces, and reduced tooth decay, have relied heavily on law. In the past few years, law has played an important role in the control of emerging health problems such as SARS and the threat of pandemic influenza.

"In 2000, CDC formally recognized the important role of law in public health by establishing the CDC Public Health Law Program. We are located in the Office of the Chief of Public Health Practice in the CDC Office of the Director. Our mission is to improve the health of the public through law. Our strategic goals are to: develop the legal preparedness of the public health system to address terrorism and other national public health priorities; improve the understanding and use of law as a public health tool; and establish robust partnerships to join public health practitioners with partners in key law-related sectors, such as elected officials and the legal and law enforcement communities.

"The program works to: strengthen the competencies of public health professionals, attorneys, and other practitioners to apply law to public health and increase the number of attorneys active in public health; support and conduct applied research in public health law and translate findings into practice; provide consultation and analysis in public health law to CDC programs and extramural constituents; establish partnerships among CDC and other organizations active in public health law and assist in strengthening their public health law capacity and expertise; and develop and disseminate authoritative information on public health law to the public health practice, policy, research, and education communities."—Website.

"The ability to recognize quickly the signs of an intentional biological attack or naturally occurring outbreak is crucial to protecting the American public. Recognizing a gap in national biological threat analysis, in 2004, the President directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to consolidate federal agency bio-surveillance data in one system. In response, DHS began efforts to develop the National Bio-Surveillance Integration System (NBIS), the nation's first system capable of providing comprehensive and integrated bio-surveillance and situational awareness....

"Since 2001, federal agencies collectively have spent an estimated $32 billion on electronic surveillance systems and various other IT initiatives to address bio-defense. Bio-defense is defined as procedures involved in taking defensive measures against attacks using biological agents. Defensive measures include research on vaccines and medications, hospital preparedness, and protection of water supplies.... Although these individual programs have helped in gathering and reviewing sector-specific data, the federal government has had no single system for consolidating and examining bio-surveillance across federal, state, and local lines."—Executive Summary.

"The primary objectives of our assessment were to identify key areas for preparing for a catastrophic disaster, and determine the progress FEMA has made in the key areas since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. We reviewed pertinent reports, including those of our office and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), as well as congressional testimony. We identified nine key areas critical to successful catastrophic preparedness efforts. We collaborated with FEMA officials to identify two to five critical components within each key area. We interviewed FEMA officials and evaluated documents provided by them. We assessed FEMA's progress in each of the areas using a four-tiered scale: substantial progress, moderate progress, modest progress, and limited or no progress.

"Given the scope and limitations of our review, we did not perform an in-depth assessment of each of the nine key preparedness areas. We used the critical components within each area, as well as our broader knowledge of the key preparedness areas, to gauge FEMA's overall progress in those areas."—Executive Summary.

"The Office of University Programs, Science and Technology Directorate is sponsoring a summit to showcase key research and education priorities of the Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence, the Science and Technology Directorate and the Department of Homeland Security at large. The Summit highlights the efforts of the Office of University Programs as it continues to rise to the challenges associated with helping to protect the Nation. Subject matter experts from academia, industry, government and the international community will address the latest homeland security research and education issues in the following areas: Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events; Security of Agriculture and the Food System; Studies of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism; Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response; Chemical and Biological Threats and Countermeasures; Emerging Threats; University Programs Homeland Security Education Initiatives; International Homeland Security Research Challenges."—Website.

This website includes pdf files of speakers' presentations and facts sheets produced in conjunction with the conference.

"This memorandum presents our findings and recommendations based on our review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) housing strategy for future disasters. Our objective was to determine the efficacy of FEMA’s strategic plans for providing emergency housing to future disaster survivors.

We based our findings and recommendations on discussions with FEMA staff and reviews of the National Disaster Housing Strategy, FEMA’s 2009 Disaster Housing Plan, and other FEMA and congressional reports. We also reviewed FEMA’s disaster housing response activities following Hurricane Ike in 2008 and other housing-related requirements of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (Post-Katrina Reform Act)." — Introductory letter

"The NIPP meets the requirements that the President set forth in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7), Critical Infrastructure Identifcation, Prioritization, and Protection, and provides the overarching approach for integrating the Nation’s many CIKR protection initiatives into a single national effort. It sets forth a comprehensive risk management framework and clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the Department of Homeland Security; Federal Sector-Specifc Agencies; and other Federal, State, regional, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners implementing the NIPP.

The 2009 NIPP captures the evolution and maturation of the processes and programs frst outlined in 2006 and was developed collaboratively with CIKR partners at all levels of government and the private sector. Participation in the implementation of the NIPP provides the government and the private sector with the opportunity to use collective expertise and experience to more clearly define CIKR protection issues and practical solutions and to ensure that existing CIKR protection planning efforts, including business continuity and resiliency planning, are recognized." — Preface

"On December 17, 2003, the President issued HSPD-8. HSPD-8 established national policies to strengthen the preparedness of the United States to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies within the United States. HSPD-8 directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a national domestic all-hazards preparedness goal in coordination with the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies and in consultation with State, local, tribal, and territorial governments. The National Preparedness Guidelines (Guidelines) finalize development of the national preparedness goal and its related preparedness tools.

"The purposes of the Guidelines are to:

• Organize and synchronize national (including Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial) efforts to strengthen national preparedness;
• Guide national investments in national preparedness;
• Incorporate lessons learned from past disasters into national preparedness priorities;
• Facilitate a capability-based and risk-based investment planning process; and
• Establish readiness metrics to measure progress and a system for assessing the Nation's overall preparedness capability to respond to major events, especially those involving acts of terrorism."—Introduction.

"We seek continually to improve the operations of the Department, to discharge our duty of safeguarding the home front. This includes:

1. Clarifying, defining, and communicating leadership roles, responsibilities, and lines of authority at all government levels;

2. Strengthening accountability systems that balance the need for fast, flexible response with the need to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse;

3. Consolidating efforts to integrate the Department's critical mission of preparedness; and

4. Enhancing our capabilities to respond to major disasters and emergencies, including catastrophic events, particularly in terms of situational assessment and awareness, emergency communications, evacuations, search and rescue, logistics, and mass care and sheltering." —Letter from the Secretary.

"Mitigation Plans form the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. The planning process is as important as the plan itself. It creates a framework for risk-based decision making to reduce damages to lives, property, and the economy from future disasters. Hazard mitigation is sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from hazards." — Website

1. Incident Management
2. Operational Planning
3. Disaster Logistics
4. Emergency Communications
5. Service to Disaster Victims
6. Continuity Programs
7. Public Disaster Communications
8. Integrated Preparedness
9. Hazard Mitigation

"As indicated in the earlier research, there is no single reason for the decline in volunteers in most departments. However, there is a universal consensus that skilled department leadership is a key to resolving the problems. Retention and recruitment problems usually can be traced to several underlying factors: more demands on people's time in a hectic modern society; more stringent training requirements; population shifts from smaller towns to urban centers; changes in the nature of small town industry and farming; internal leadership problems; and a decline in the sense of civic responsibility, among other factors. Although some regions are more affected than others, and the problems and solutions vary across regions, even within States and counties, volunteer retention and recruitment is a problem nationwide. Specifically, it is a local issue and must be dealt with locally.

"Can the trend in declining volunteerism be reversed? Information collected reveals that departments that have taken steps to deal with the problems have seen a resurgence in volunteerism. This indicates that many of the problems can be mitigated or eliminated if proper attention and resources are given to them. This text will attempt to identify and share the ideas and practices that are successful in recruitment and retention. Departments that have failed to address the problems and challenges of volunteering in today's world have been forced to hire career firefighters, consolidate, or even close their doors."—Introduction.

"GAO was asked to examine (1) constraints upon the use of antivirals and vaccines to forestall a pandemic and (2) efforts under way to overcome these constraints. GAO reviewed documents and consulted with officials of the Departments of State and Health and Human Services (HHS), international organizations, and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

"The use of antivirals and vaccines, two elements of the international strategy to forestall a pandemic, could be constrained by their uncertain effectiveness and limited availability. To use antivirals effectively, health authorities must be able to detect a pandemic influenza strain quickly through surveillance and diagnostic efforts and use this information to administer antivirals. ... Unlike antivirals, vaccines are formulated to target a specific influenza strain in advance of infection. The effectiveness of vaccines in forestalling a pandemic could be limited because such a targeted pandemic vaccine cannot be developed until that strain has been identified.

"The United States, its international partners, and the pharmaceutical industry are investing substantial resources to address constraints on the availability and effectiveness of antivirals and vaccines."—What GAO Found.

"[This report synthesizes] the results from our pandemic work over the past few years by the six key themes in our pandemic strategy, as follows:

• Leadership roles and responsibilities need to be clarified and
  tested, and coordination mechanisms could be better utilized.
• Efforts are underway to improve the surveillance and detection of pandemic-related threats in humans and animals, but targeting assistance to countries at the greatest risk has been based on incomplete information.
• Pandemic planning and exercising has occurred in the United
  States and other countries, but planning gaps remain.
• Further actions are needed to address the capacity to respond to and recover from an influenza pandemic. 
• Federal agencies have provided considerable guidance and
  pandemic-related information, but could augment their efforts. 
• Performance monitoring and accountability for pandemic
  preparedness needs strengthening." — Introduction

"This report summarizes an assessment of the risks from severe accidents in five commercial nuclear power plants in the United States. These risks are measured in a number of ways, including: the estimated frequencies of core damage accidents from internally initiated accidents and externally initiated accidents for two of the plants; the performance of containment structures under severe accident loadings; the potential magnitude of radionuclide releases and offsite consequences of such accidents; and the overall risk (the product of accident frequencies and consequences). Supporting this summary report are a large number of reports written under contract to NRC that provide the detailed discussion of the methods used and results obtained in these risk studies.

"This report was first published in February 1987 as a draft for public comment. Extensive peer review and public comment were received. As a result, both the underlying technical analyses and the report itself were substantially changed. A second version of the report was published in June 1989 as a draft for peer review. Two peer reviews of the second version were performed. One was sponsored by NRC; its results are published as the NRC report NUREG-1420. A second was sponsored by the American Nuclear Society (ANS); its report has also been completed and is available from the ANS. The comments by both groups were generally positive and recommended that a final version of the report be published as soon as practical and without performing any major reanalysis. With this direction, the NRC proceeded to generate this final version of the report.

"Volume I of this report has three parts. Part I provides the background and objectives of the assessment and summarizes the methods used to perform the risk studies. Part II provides a summary of results obtained for each of the five plants studied. Part III provides perspectives on the results and discusses the role of this work in the larger context of the NRC staff's work."—Abstract

"The Delta Initiative is a multi-year research and planning effort at the University of California - Berkeley dealing with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region of California. The fate of the Delta is crucial to California's future—it is the hub of the state's water supply system, is irreplaceable habitat for migrating birds and fish, and is the route through which critical infrastructure powers the Bay Area's dynamic economy. The Delta is also home to more than half a million people and a large agriculture industry, and is facing dramatic urbanization pressure from the Bay Area, Central Valley and Sacramento housing markets.

"The Delta is also at extraordinary risk of disaster. Much of the land in the region has subsided below sea level, and is protected only by an aging system of levees. River floods, earthquakes, and climate change all pose grave threats to the levees, the land, and the state's freshwater supply. A mass failure of the levee system (similar to that which struck New Orleans) could have immense consequences for the economy of the entire state, and even the nation.

"The Delta Initiative seeks to understand these pressures and risks, and to explore alternative futures for the Delta that would improve public safety, secure water supply and infrastructure systems, reduce state taxpayer liability, and provide habitat, open-space and recreation benefits."

See this site for reports on the Initiative's vision for the Delta and related documents and activities.

"Hurricane Katrina not only devastated a large area of the Gulf Coast, it also raised fundamental questions about how the nation can-and should-deal with the fundamental problems of risk and responsibility.

"Nearly 300 leaders from government, business, and nonprofit organizations and journalists from throughout the nation attended the National Symposium in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill December 1, 2005, sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, Congressional Quarterly, and The Communications Institute.

"Symposium Goals - The Symposium objectively examined the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on nearly every sector of society and involving leading experts from many of the nation's leading academic and research institutions as well as leaders from government and business and senior journalists.

"The National Symposium reviewed critical questions that must be addressed in coping with future risks and disasters: How can we best assess and prepare for the events we are most likely to face?;How can we develop the best strategies for reducing their costs and improving our response?;Who should do what-what partnerships can we build among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and what glue can we provide to make those partnerships stick?; How should we, as a society, weigh the question of who bears the costs?; How do we deal with the important issues of equity and fairness, and how can we create mechanisms to resolve these issues as efficiently as possible?"— Conference Website.

Website contains related publications.

"The New Madrid Seismic Zone has always been one of the top challenges from an Emergency Management planning standpoint in that the scale of a potential New Madrid earthquake based on the 1811-1812 occurrences would be so large over eight states, 4 federal regions, and would effect the nation, not just from a response perspective, but from a secondary and tertiary cascading of events to the infrastructure—it would be so large that we have to look at this nationally, knowing that we’re supporting the eight states through CUSEC individually.

What we’ve done, is we started this in 2006. It’s been ongoing for over 2 ½ years and the planning process will culminate in the 2011 national level exercise, which is also the 200^th anniversary of the 1811-1812 earthquakes. We’ve just now gone beyond the states. We finished the state plans and we’re going on to the regional plans.

This is bottom-up scenario based planning. We started at the local level, just like a response would occur. We brought it up from the local level to the state, and we’re now at the regional level. Our intentions are in the coming months, once we get beyond the regions, we will bring this to the national level. When we get the national level, we will basically take a look at all the plans, the role of these plans, and start to integrate them and understand what is going to occur from the ground up, so that at the national level we can start building in solutions to address the catastrophic nature of this." — from the Virtual Forum Presentation