BerkeleyLaw

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Disasters & the Law

UC Berkeley School of Law

18 entriesexpand all

+America's Wetland Resource Center, America's Wetland Resource Center

Reports, figures, and facts on Louisiana's coastal wetlands.

+Associated Press, Complete Hurricane Coverage

Includes stories, a blog by reporter Allen Breed in Florida, photos, and multimedia coverage of Katrina and Rita.

+Brown University, Katrina and the Built Environment: Spatial and Social Impacts

Funded by an NSF grant, this project will "identify which communities were most affected [by Katrina and Rita], which will be rebuilt and how they will be different from before." The project will also "incorporate perspectives from environmental science and ecology."

+C-SPAN, Hurricane Aftermath (2007)

Compiles programs, government documents, and web and other media resources.

+California Bay-Delta Program, Levee System Integrity Program

A California state government site linking to plans, policies, and video presentations relating to Bay-Delta levee issues, flood risks, funding, and other water policy issues.

+Climate and Disaster Governance, Climate and Disaster Governance

"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.

+Colorado State University, The Tropical Meteorology Project

A longstanding project led by Dr. William Gray, including annual storm forecasts, a FAQ, tools for analysis, and reports.

+Environmental Law Institute, Recovering from Katrina and Rita: Environmental Governance Lessons Learned and Applied (October 17, 2005)

"The discussion considered what lessons we can learn about environmental governance and how we can apply those lessons moving forward. We also considered land use and planning post-Katrina and post-Rita; how recovery should work across federal, state, local, private, and non-profit organizations. Our discussants suggested energetic, heartfelt, and intelligent approaches to rebuilding our Gulf Coast in a sensible, environmentally sound manner." Includes links to a RealAudio file of the ELI discussion, a PowerPoint presentation (PDF), and a compilation of governmental responses (PDF).

+Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), The National Flood Insurance Program: An Annotated Bibliography. Evaluation of the National Flood Insurance Program (completed by The American Institutes for Research; The Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation; Deloitte & Touche LLP) (January 2006) (PDF — 2061K)

Over 300 pages of annotated sources on topics such as floodplain management, environmental effects of flooding, insurance, rebuilding and emergency response.

+Google Earth, Hurricane Katrina Imagery

"The Google Earth team is working on adding imagery of the impact of Hurricane Katrina. We will be posting links to this imagery for viewing as 'image overlays' in Google Earth."

+National Public Radio (NPR), Hurricane Season

"Compilation of radio programs and related material about the 2005 hurricane season, which included Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma (which hit Mexico, Cuba, and Florida). Also includes an article about the operation of the evacuation plans in Texas and Louisiana prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."—Librarians' Index to the Internet.

+National Science Foundation, NSF's Response to the Hurricanes

News, research, and NSF resources relating to Katrina, Rita, and other disasters.

+New Scientist, New Scientist - Hurricane Katrina: The Aftermath

An XML-based feed from NewScientist.com of articles and excerpts of articles published in the magazine. Full access to longer articles requires subscription to the magazine.

+United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS),, The 2nd Annual Department of Homeland Security University Network Summit (March 19-20, 2008)

"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.

+United States Global Change Research Program, U.S. Climate Change Science Program

The Climate Change Science Program integrates federal research on climate and global change, as sponsored by thirteen federal agencies and overseen by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, the National Economic Council and the Office of Management and Budget. —Website.

+United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), GAO Reports and Testimonies Related to Disaster Preparedness, Response and Reconstruction

Topics covered include charities; Coast Guard & seaports; energy supply; environment & natural resources; flood control; infrastructure; insurance; military's role, including National Guard & Reserves; preparedness; public health; response; and recovery.

+United States National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Health and Toxicology, Enviro-Health Links, California Wildfires

"The National Library of Medicine has released a new resource focused on the health effects from wildfires. The California Wildfires web page includes information on the health effects from fires and exposure to smoke; links to air quality resources, environmental clean-up following fires, and animals in disasters.

"In addition, resources for emergency responders and information in Spanish are alsoincluded. Searches of NLM databases, such as MedlinePlus, PubMed,TOXLINE, Tox Town, and Haz-Map (occupational health) are provided for additional health information. It also provides the locations of facilities reporting to the EPA Toxics Release Inventory and Superfund sites in and around San Diego (TOXMAP).

"This web page is designed to help emergency responders, health care providers, public health workers, and the general public find authoritative and timely information about key health concerns from wildfires. Links to other federal government web sites, including USA.gov, FEMA, and the Department of Health and Human Services are included."

+United States Senate, Committee on Environment & Public Works, Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health, EPA's Response to 9-11 and Lessons Learned for Future Emergency Preparedness (Hearing) (June 20, 2007)

"This hearing is to examine EPA's response and future preparedness and to receive testimony on the Test and Clean program EPA is conducting in Lower Manhattan.

"Following September 11th, EPA was highly involved conducting air, water, and dust monitoring in Lower Manhattan for environmental hazards. EPA vacuumed street debris and disposed of hazardous wastes. EPA also conducted a voluntary clean up program from 2002 to 2003 that served more 4,100 residents in Lower Manhattan. Although EPA does not ordinarily administer worker protection regulations, it provided respirators and protective gear for workers at the World Trade Center site....

"In January 2007, EPA opened the public registration for a new Lower Manhattan Test and Clean Program. This program is designed to test for elevated levels of four contaminants associated with dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center. FEMA has provided $7 million to EPA for this work. I understand that members of the expert panel CEQ and EPA convened for this purpose are dissatisfied that a more exacting program could not be developed. However, I have an August 2006, letter from New York City Health Commissioner Frieden stating, 'The environmental investigations and testing conducted in lower Manhattan indicates that potential health impacts from any remaining [World Trade Center] dust are extremely low or non-existent.'"— Statement of Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.)

Includes an archived webcast of the hearing.