Staying Safe - Making Preparations for Disasters
Despite the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the spate of disasters that affected the Nation in 2005, Americans - across all demographic groups - are no more prepared for a national emergency than they were in 2003. Only 17% of all Americans have both an emergency plan that includes a meeting
place that has been discussed with family members and a basic emergency kit.
Nearly a third of all Americans say that one reason they have not taken
steps to become more prepared is because they think that, in a disaster,
events will overtake any preparations they have made. "All Americans need to know how to prepare for emergencies, whether they
simply disrupt everyday life, or cause catastrophic destruction. They should know what steps to take for the
national welfare, as well as for their own safety and security. Most
importantly, all Americans should be equally aware and equally prepared."
The guidelines of the Mormon religion advocates storing enough food for a year in case of a natural disaster or other emergency. This idea has gained in popularity around the U.S. as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis make people realize the importance of emergency supplies.
The Mormon church's Web site shows that an adult needs one 10-pound can each of oats, macaroni, pinto beans, powdered milk, white flour, sugar and shortening for one month. You'll also need three cans of wheat, two cans of rice and some salt.
Planning for an entire year is obviously much more difficult. One adult needs 400 pounds of grains, 60 pounds of legumes and 10 quarts of cooking oil — plus much more. "If you try to do a full year's supply for your family all at once, that seems overwhelming and intimidating. We encourage people to take it a step at a time and piece by piece."
A good example is to start with a 72-hour kit for each member of the family.
Stockpiling supplies and developing family response plans in case disaster strikes not only might save lives — it's also a civic duty, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.
Two months of hurricanes ravaging the Gulf Coast should prove that people need to make preparations so emergency officials can focus on those who are poor, elderly or otherwise can't help themselves. Even with a week's notice of Hurricane Wilma, many Floridians failed to evacuate areas the storm flooded or to stock up on food, water and other essentials. The cavalier attitude prompted Republican Gov. Jeb Bush to scold constituents, noting that people who sought relief from Wilma "had ample time to prepare."
2006 -
WEATHER MANIPULATION -
7/10 -
Israeli researchers are part of an international team along with American
and Belgian colleagues gearing up to produce rain.
Scientists plan to produce rain in sub-tropical areas during the cloudless
summer months by altering air currents using a unique thermal material
developed in Israel. The technique involves spreading a large black
solar-absorbing surface over several square kilometers of land to generate
intense and asymmetrical thermal emissions. Energy from sunlight is absorbed
by the material and then radiated back into the air to heat the lower
atmosphere with minimal loss into the ground. The heated air rises taking
water condensation high enough to form clouds and produce out-of-season rain.
The technique could increase crops for a given area by 40 percent. By covering
an area of between five to nine square kilometers with the black material
researchers estimate rainfall on an area of 40-100 square kilometers downwind.
Clouds will form along a strip as wide as the black surface and up to 30
kilometers long during the hours from midday till five in the afternoon. The
cost of setting up a full-size black surface would run at over 80 million
Euros, about comparable to establishing a desalinization plant. The method can
be applied to any dry region located in subtropical or tropical latitudes
within 150 km from an ocean, sea, or large lake.
Northeastern Brazil, North Africa, the Kalahari and Sahara deserts could all
benefit from the method. In southeast Spain where desertification is claiming
large swathes of agricultural land authorities have already shown great
interest in the project.
INSURANCE CRISIS-
7/7 -
FLORIDA - The incredible increases in homeowners' insurance premiums are
creating hardships for many Floridians and truly catastrophic problems for
some. This is a dramatic crisis as severe as any natural disaster. There are
now reports of people actually losing their homes or selling them against
their will because of the insurance crisis. The crisis is not just a financial
problem for individuals and families. It is increasingly becoming a social
problem affecting the general economy, health care and maintenance, peace of
mind, personal relationships and happiness. One is tempted to harmonize on the
old refrain: This cannot be happening in America. Unfortunately, it is.
CONTROLLING THE WEATHER -
7/4 -
China says its scientists make enough rain to fill the Yellow River;
Moscow claims credit for sunshine for Red Square parades - but confidence in
other nations that humans can alter the weather has almost dried up.
If it worked reliably, the use of aircraft and rockets to spread tiny
chemical particles into the sky to "seed" or disperse clouds could be the
answer to famine, drought, desertification, even global warming.
However, lack of proof that it works means that funding by many governments
has fallen sharply, after millions of dollars were spent on teasing rain from
clouds in arid regions of West Africa, or on research into trying to prevent
hurricanes. US investments in weather modification has sunk to less than
$500,000 a year from $20 million in the 1970s.
6/18/06 -
Many cities and states in the US are not prepared for a major disaster, a
new report has warned.
Washington, a target in the 9/11 attacks, was among the worst-prepared for a
catastrophe.
Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, which were devastated by Hurricane
Katrina last year, also scored low.
The best-prepared states include Florida and other coastal states which are
hurricane-prone. Despite grants of $18 billion to prepare for disasters since
the 11 September 2001 attacks, "very little of it has gone to planning,
training and exercise".
"The current status of plans and planning gives grounds for significant
national concern."
Ten states were said to have sufficient plans to respond to disasters:
Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont.
House3 -
The Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota,
Duluth, has designed a bio-based containerized house that can be assembled in
hours in disaster areas or wherever quick, reliable housing is needed.
The House3 concept is a container-like structure that can be unloaded and
assembled - in hours - into a two-, three-, or four-bedroom finished shell.
When it comes off the truck, train, or barge, a few container walls are
removed to reveal wall and roof panels that are slipped into place and secured
with a mallet. Everything from floor to roof is shipped in the container,
which itself becomes part of the house. Electrical and plumbing systems can be
built in according to local building codes. House3 is wood-based and can be
easily disassembled and stored. Although mobile, unlike most mobile homes, it
can be transformed into a permanent structure that increases in value on the
site.
1/30 -
DISASTER INSURANCE -
Even if city-destroying hurricanes become the Atlantic norm, thus wiping out most of the built up areas of the East Coast of the United States - and seas swollen by melting polar ice encroach on low-lying coastal regions - new financial products are being developed to ease the financial pain.
The traditional reinsurance industry will not provide cover against all of the possible inundation. Understandably, they do not want to be too exposed to one particular (and enormous) event.
So they are parcelling up these catastrophic risks and selling them on securities markets under the catchy brand of "catastrophe bonds" or cat bonds.
And the mighty Swiss Re, the second biggest reinsurer in the world, had the foresight to sell two tranches of securities, called Vita 1 and Vita 2 and worth $762 million in total, called mortality bonds. The repayment on them is reduced in step amounts if the mortality rate rises by 25 per cent or by 50 per cent above trend - which is precisely what would happen in a lethal avian-flu pandemic.
1/12/06 -
NORWAY - has revealed a plan to build a "doomsday vault" hewn out of an Arctic mountain to store two million crop seeds in the event of a global disaster.
The store is designed to hold all the seeds representing the world's crops and is being built to safeguard future food supplies in the event of widespread environmental collapse.
"If the worst came to the worst, this would allow the world to reconstruct agriculture on this planet." The Norwegian government is planning to start work on the seed vault next year when construction engineers will drill into a sandstone mountain on the island of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard archipelago, about 600 miles from the North Pole.
Permafrost will keep the vault below freezing point and the seeds will be further protected by metre-thick walls of reinforced concrete, two airlocks and high-security, blast-proof doors.
--------------------
2005 -
11/23 -
DISASTER RELIEF PROGRAMS -
The UN's emergency relief co-ordinator has called for changes in how the world responds to humanitarian disasters.
The traditional method of bringing relief, where aid agencies appeal for money after disaster has struck, was simply not the best way.
2005 was the year of disaster - for relief agencies, the year began with the shocking devastation of the Asian tsunami and is ending in the cold and rubble of quake-hit north Pakistan.
In between, famine in Niger and hurricanes in north and central America, and throughout it all, a constant uncertainty about which disaster would gain the sympathy of donor countries, and whether a relief operation would be properly funded. "We're over-stretched and under-funded like never before, around the globe really." The UN wants a central fund for emergency relief so it doesn't have to go round begging for money after a disaster has struck. Not all countries support giving the UN money up front. The US says it does not plan to contribute.
Where there is consensus, however, is on the need to invest more in disaster prevention. Although natural disasters are evenly spread around the world, 95% of the deaths occur in developing countries. They will need support to protect themselves better.
An international science body is calling for a rethink on the way science and society deals with natural disaster. The call comes hot on the tail of possibly one of the worst 12 months on record for natural disasters around the world, from floods and hurricanes to earthquakes and plagues. The goal is to provide a strong scientific basis for reducing the risks and consequences of natural and human-induced environmental hazards.
Recent disasters in the USA and Asia are not anomalies but are, in fact, part of a long-term and dramatic increase in natural disasters. Between 1900 and 2000, recorded natural disasters rose from 100 to 2,800 per decade, with most of the events being weather related.
Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes: Is anywhere in the U.S. safe? “Every place has some sort of vulnerability.” But consider the risks every person faces every day getting into a car or walking down the street and catastrophic weather seems less of an issue. Federal statistics show that 369 people died last year from weather hazards, while 42,636 people were killed in traffic accidents and 1.37 million were victims of a violent crime. The average number of people killed by tornadoes in the past decade is more than twice the number of hurricane deaths: 57 a year versus 21, but both are small numbers. (That number does not include the more than 1,000 people who died as a result of Katrina.)
"What if while Katrina was pounding New Orleans, California had been hit by an earthquake?
Actually, there were three that day."
"The above is an example of one of the messages that Allstate Insurance is delivering to consumers in a new national advertising campaign set to appear in major newspapers across the U.S.
In the new campaign Allstate has taken a stand to raise awareness and spur a national dialogue about better preparing and protecting Americans from catastrophic events. The campaign offers ideas about how we can all help better manage our nation's response to these devastating events before they strike and offers some startling catastrophe facts for consumers to consider."
10/20 -
Governments too often ignore risks of natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes and could save lives and billions of dollars with better planning, says an international study.
Over the past century, the number of recorded natural disasters surged to 2,800 per decade from 100.
"It's time to change the mindset of governments, who tend to plan too little for natural disasters." "Investments in reducing vulnerability are almost always significantly smaller, by a factor of perhaps 2-5, than dealing with the disaster itself."
Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to the United States House Select Committee on Hurricane Katrina.