**July 11-22, 2005 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY \-- CALL FOR PAPERS AND STUDENT BODY
GROWTH:

July 21, 2005 \-- Received a request from Dr. Bob Jaffin, Chair, Public
Sector & Critical Infrastructure at APU to route a call for papers for a
one-day conference on \"Ripple Effects of Terrorism: Managing
Evacuation,\"

to be held May 3, 2006 at the National Conservation Training Center in
Shepherdstown, WV, to the FEMA EM HiEd Project Activity Report List
Serve and did do. In case you missed it, for information, Bob Jaffin can
be reached at: bjaffin@apus.edu.

Dr. Jaffin noted in his email that \"We continue to see significant
growth in our Homeland Security program with over 501 students currently
enrolled in the BA and 384 students enrolled in the MA, and a combined
228 students in the Emergency and Disaster Management degrees.\"

\(2\) COASTAL HAZARDS MANAGEMENT \-- GRADUATE-LEVEL COLLEGE COURSE
DEVELOPMENT

PROJECT:

July 11, 2005 \-- Received for review 3rd draft of Session 31, \"FEMA
Programs,\" by Anna K. Schwab, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, and 1st draft of course \"Preface: Notes to the Instructor.\"

July 18, 2005 \-- Received for review 2nd draft of Session 1,
\"Introduction to the Course,\" by Anna K. Schwab.

\(3\) DISASTER PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT\--AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
(Vol. 14, No. 2, 2005):

July 21, 2005 \-- Received latest edition and particularly recommend two

articles:

\"Towards the Development of a Standard in Emergency Planning\" by Dr.
David Alexander, University of Florence (pp. 158-175)

\"Why Vulnerability Matters\" by Dr. David McEntire, University of North
Texas (pp. 206-222)

\(4\) DISASTER RESPONSE OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT \-- UPPER DIVISION
COLLEGE COURSE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT:

July 15, 2005 \-- Received for review from course developer, Dr. David
McEntire, University of North Texas, 1st draft of Session 38, \"Record
Keeping, Transportation and Legal Issues.\"

\(5\) DISASTERS \-- A GROWTH BUSINESS \-- FIVE NEWSPAPER STORIES OF
NOTE:

July 12, 2005 \-- PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL (FL) EDITORIAL \-- DENNIS
REAWAKENS QUESTIONS ABOUT BEACH DEVELOPMENT: Notes that \"Dennis was no
Ivan\....But Hurricane Dennis did one thing for sure: It blew away any
lingering belief that after Ivan, we wouldn\'t have to worry for years
about being hit by another major hurricane\...we got lucky\....Yet
development on the barrier islands continues as if Ivan was a one-time
event. Many homes throughout the area on the waterfront and in low-lying
areas are being built as they were, either on grade or just above\....If
Dennis had come from another direction, and if it hadn\'t run into a
patch of cool Gulf of Mexico water shortly before landfall, we could
today be looking at beaches devastated beyond our wildest
nightmares\....We\'re past the point at which the Federal Emergency
Management Agency and federally subsidized flood insurance should
continue to pay to rebuild structures that should not have been built
where they are. And local governments should be rethinking how much
money they are willing to put into infrastructure in high-hazard
areas.\"

BWB editorial: Correct of course, but like spitting into the
\[hurricane\] wind \-- which is why disasters are guaranteed to be a
growth business for the foreseeable future.

July 14, 2005 \-- CHICKASHA EXPRESS-STAR (OK), article, \"Commissioners
Vote Not To Comply With Flood Insurance Program,\" notes: \"The people
spoke, and the Commissioners listened. In a unanimous vote Tuesday
morning, July 12, the commissioners voted no to adopting a revised set
of floodplain regulations needed to be in compliance with the National
Flood Insurance Program. Without passing the regulations, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency has threatened suspension from the program
and ultimately the cancellation of the 61 flood insurance policies held
in the unincorporated parts of the county. A large number of residents
turned out Monday night, July 11, for the Grady County Floodplain
Management Board meting to say they would rather give up the possibility
of flood insurance to prevent thee government from dictating how
structures are built on their property.\"

BWB note: Which would mean that any federally-backed mortgages on the 61
properties would be cancelled and would prevent federal aid for a
flood-related disaster. But, as one participant in this affair noted:
\"The majority of the county is ready to accept the
consequences\....What part of \'will of the people\' don\'t you
understand.\"

July 17, 2005 \-- From THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, article
entitled \"Wading into Woe,\" and subtitled \"Homeowners Often Are
Unaware Of Risks As Floodplains Shift,\" notes how floodplains are
growing and moving in Georgia, particularly in the greater Atlanta area,
leading to increasing flood-related losses:

\"When developers clear-cut trees and construct buildings and roads,
flood plains often shift and expand. That makes thousands more homes
vulnerable to rising waters and makes the old maps useless\...\'With all
the development going on, many flood plains shift within just a few
years,\' said Collis Brown, flood plain management coordinator with the
state Environmental Protection Division\....About 70 percent of the maps
for 446 Georgia counties and municipalities participating in FEMA\'s
National Flood Protection Program are as much as 20 years behind the
times\....Construction crews lay an average 28 acres a day of impervious
surface in the 16-county metro area, according to a study this year by
the University of Georgia\....The analysis of Landsat satellite data
between 1992 and 2001 also found that the region lost 54 acres of trees
a day during the decade, up from the 50-acre daily loss calculated
between 1988 and 1998. In essence, the figures show that for every two
acres of trees cut down, about one acre of roads, parking lots,
driveways and rooftops is added. Environmental experts say the
combination of tree loss and added hardtop leads to more heat, more air
pollution, higher energy bills \-- and more flooding. \'The more you
build, the more you change the floodplain\' said Brown\...In a forested
area, more than 90 percent of the rainfall may be absorbed by the
vegetation and the ground\...But in a highly impervious area, such as a
shopping mall, as much as 90 percent of the rain may flow quickly into a
stream. \'As you increase runoff, intuitively the water is going to
spill off its banks farther and farther\' \[Atlanta Regional Commission
member\].\"

July 17, 2005 \-- The PRESS-ENTERPRISE (CA) on California fire risks, in
article \"More Than 2,500 Building Permits Issued In Fire-Risk
Regions,\" By Jim Miller and Ben Goad:

\"The Press-Enterprise analyzed about 19,400 new-home permits that
Inland counties and cities issued from November 2003 through April 30,
2005. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
identifies areas of \"very high\" and \"extreme\" fire danger on maps
that reflect experts\' best assessment of vegetation, terrain and other
characteristics that influence fire risk. The analysis excluded permits
for the rebuilding of homes destroyed by the October 2003 fires.

\"In the 18 months after the firestorms of 2003, Inland cities and
counties issued permits for more than 2,500 homes in areas the state
identifies as facing \"very high\" or \"extreme\" fire
danger\....Massive blazes will inevitably rage again across Inland
Southern California. Their toll may be greater losses, both for those
who have chosen to live in harm\'s way and for the millions of taxpayers
who, as recent reports conclude, will ultimately bear the costs of
future fires.

\"Critics and experts note that\...local governments must do far more
\-- or else restrict development altogether in the region\'s most
imperiled places.

There is no place in the Inland area where residential building is
outlawed on private property because of fire threat. None of more than a
dozen local and state officials interviewed said they would back such
restrictions. \"We have no policy of a building moratorium, nor would I
support one,\" Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone said. \"We have to
respect people\'s property rights.\" The newspaper\'s survey showed that
hundreds of new homes in fire-prone places are also in areas where the
state has the primary responsibility for fire protection but has no
control over local land-use decisions\....

\"It\'s a matter of risk,\" Riverside County Fire Chief Craig Anthony
said. \"If there\'s a fire in Idyllwild on the right day, it\'s going to
be a disaster.\"\....

\"City and county treasuries received tens of millions of dollars in
fees from the permits, records show. Local government will also receive
a slice of future property-tax revenue.

\"Statewide, there was a 20-percent increase in the number of homes in
the \"wildland urban interface\" \-- where homes meet undeveloped lands
\-- from 1990 to 2000, according to the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection.

In Inland areas that overlap fire-prone places, the population more than
doubled from 1980 to 2000, according to the Southern California
Association of Governments.

\"The trend is not likely to change, said Andy McCue, managing director
of UCR\'s Edward J. Blakely Center for Sustainable Suburban Development.
\"With the population growth in the Inland Empire, people are going to
be pushing out the boundaries of where houses are built,\"\....

\"Planning for Wildfires,\" a report published in February by the
American Planning Association, concluded that at-risk communities across
the nation do a poor job of reconciling development with efforts to
stave off fires.

\"The certainty of periodic \-- and severe \-- wildfire hazards is so
great as to raise serious questions about the wisdom of permitting
development there,\" reads an excerpt\....

Neither county \[San Bernadino and Riverside\] has plans to make changes
in land-use practices to address the mounting threat. \"Zoning is not
the tool that is used to control development in fires areas,\" Riverside
County Planning Director Robert Johnson said\....

\"The American Planning Association reported that it found no reason why
private-property rights should restrict the location and density of
homes in developed wilderness areas, concluding that \"the major
institutional barrier seemed to be political will.\" \"If I were a
planner, I would not want to jettison one of the tools available to
me,\" James Schwab, co-author of Planning for Wildfires, said. \"Zoning
is one of those tools.\" Gary Thornhill, deputy city manager for
Temecula, said any attempt to restrict development in fire-prone areas
altogether would face an uphill battle.

\"They better start with the Supreme Court, because there are some
constitutional issues there,\" Thornhill said\....

\"Property Rights: Lawmakers of both parties said they would oppose any
state moratorium on construction in fire-prone areas\....\"

July 21, 2005 \-- THE NEW YORK PRESS ON \"The Big One\" by Aaron
Naparstek:

\"Experts say it\'s only a matter of time before a major hurricane
strikes New York City\....

\"\'Try to tell someone in Sheepshead Bay that they have to evacuate
immediately because within the next 24 hours they\'ll have 30 feet of
storm surge on their neighborhood,\' says Mike Lee \[Director of Watch
Command, NYC Office of Emergency Management\], before pausing to let you
think about three stories of ocean water roiling through your own
neighborhood. \"They\'ll laugh at you-absolutely laugh at you,\"\....

\"\...the strong consensus is that the metropolitan region is due for a
big one. Overdue, in fact. The 1938 Long Island Express, a borderline

category-4 hurricane that plowed into West Hampton, causing widespread
death and devastation across New York, New Jersey and New England, was
the last major hurricane to hit the region. Statistically speaking, \'a
storm of that magnitude may repeat every 70 to 80 years or so,\' Lee
says. \'So, do the math. Whether it happens this year, next year, or in
five years, it\'s going to happen.\'\....

\"Though it is rare for big hurricanes to hit the New York metropolitan
region, there are a variety of \'oceanographic, demographic and geologic
characteristics that greatly amplify any hurricane\' that comes our way,
according to Nicholas Coch, a professor of coastal geology at Queens
College. In many ways, Coch explains, \'The New York City area is the
worst possible place for a hurricane to make a landfall.\'\....

\"New York\'s first vulnerability is psychological\....The vast majority
of the city\'s eight million inhabitants simply have no idea that a
hurricane can happen here. \'We live in a complacent coastal city,\' Lee
says. \'A lot of people don\'t even think that there are beaches here,\'
never mind 478 miles of coastline. In fact, New York City is behind only
Miami and New Orleans on the list of U.S. cities most likely to suffer a
major hurricane disaster\....

\"New York\'s second vulnerability is demographic\....At the time of the
1938 storm, Long Island wasn\'t a densely populated suburban sprawl; it
was a rural home for oyster fishermen, potato farmers and wealthy
industrialists.

The same storm today would wreak incredible havoc. AIR Worldwide
Corporation estimates \$11.6 billion in New York losses alone. More than
20 million people live in the greater metropolitan region. Many live on
coastal land, reclaimed swamp and barrier islands. Much of Lower
Manhattan is built on landfill\....

\"New York City\'s biggest vulnerability is the most unyielding-geology.
The New York bight is the right angle formed by Long Island and New
Jersey with the city tucked into its apex. \'Hurricanes do not like
right angles,\' Lee says. \'\[They allow\] water to accumulate and pile
up.\' Couple this with the fact that New York resides on a very shallow
continental shelf, and as a big storm pushes north, New York Harbor
\'acts as a funnel.\' As storm surge forces its way into the harbor and
up the rivers, it has nowhere to go but onto land. New York City, it
turns out, has some of the highest storm-surge values in the country.
\'When we see a category-3 storm making landfall in Florida, it may only
have a 12-, 13-foot storm surge,\' Lee says. \'For us here, a category-1
storm can give us 12 feet of storm surge.\'\....

\"If a storm like the Long Island Express makes a direct hit on the
city, everything below Broome Street will be inundated, some parts under
as much as 20 and 30 feet of water. Chelsea and Greenwich Village are
completely flooded, with the Hudson spilling over all the way to 7th
Avenue. Likewise, the East River and East Village become one, with ocean
water surging all the way to 1st Avenue. If you haven\'t evacuated
before the storm, forget it.

During the storm, Manhattan\'s east- and west-side highways vanish.
Tunnels and bridges become unusable\....In the event of a direct hit by
a category-3 hurricane, surge maps show that the Holland and Battery
Tunnels will be completely filled with sea water, with many subway and
railroad tunnels severely flooded as well. The runways of LaGuardia and
JFK airports will get flooded by 18.1 and 31.2 feet of water,
respectively.

\"Then there are the winds. We do know that hurricane wind speeds
multiply at higher altitudes. At 350 feet, the height of high-rise
buildings on the Battery and the towers of the George Washington Bridge,
hurricane winds will be twice as fast as they are on the ground. Newer,
glass-skinned towers are not likely to do well in those conditions\....

\"Hog Island: New York City\'s version of Atlantis\....Hog Island became
a sort of 1890s version of the Hamptons\....That all ended on the night
of August 23, 1893, when a terrifying category-2 hurricane rolled up
from Norfolk, Virginia, and made landfall on what is now JFK
airport\....In Brooklyn\...\'the water in the street was up to a man\'s
waist,\' and residents used ladders to get in and out of their
houses\....The East River rose \'until it swept over the sea wall in the
Astoria district and submerged the Boulevard.\' At Coney Island, 30-foot
waves swept 200 yards inland, destroying nearly every man-made structure
in its path and wrecking the elevated railroad. \'Hog Island largely
disappeared that night,\" Coch says. \"As far as I know, it is the only
incidence of the removal of an entire island by a hurricane.\'\...\"

\(6\) DISCIPLINES, DISASTERS, AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT \-- COLLEGE
TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT PROJECT:

July 14, 2005 \-- Received for review from lead textbook developer, Dr.
David McEntire, 1st draft chapter on \"Emergency Management and Law,\"
by William C.

Nicholson, North Carolina Central University.

July 20, 2005 \-- Received for review from Dr. McEntire, 1st draft of
chapter on \"Economic Applications in Disaster Research, Mitigation, and
Planning,\"

by Dr. Terry L. Clower.

\(7\) DONA ANA BRANCH COMMUNITY COLLEGE, NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY,
LAS CRUCES NM:

July 21, 2005 \-- Talked separately with Joyce Bradley, Director of the
Emergency Medical Services Program at DABCC, and then with Juan
Hernandez, retired Dona Ana County Sheriff, in response to their emails
concerning an investigation into the development of an emergency
management or an emergency management and homeland security program at
DABCC. This investigation is pursuant to an assignment from a DEAN at
DABCC who met recently with officials from the State of New Mexico
Office of Homeland Security, where it was apparently noted that New
Mexico is one of but a small number of states in the country with no
emergency management/homeland security program. Went on a virtual tour
of the EM HiEd Project website and talked about the status of emergency
management and homeland security higher education today. Recommended
attending next year\'s EM HiEd Conference.

Sent CD ROM sets of EM & HS training courses to both Ms. Bradley and
Sheriff Hernandez. For more information, Ms. Bradley can be reached at:

jobradle@nmsu.edu; and Sheriff Hernandez at: jmh@totacc.com.

\(8\) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE, JUNE 7-9, 2005
\-- CD ROMS OF PANEL PRESENTATIONS:

July 20, 2005 \-- Received for review from EENET staff, copies of three
CD ROMS to review from the last HiEd Conference \-- containing the
presentations from four panels at the conference. When reviewed, cleared
and duplicated, these CD ROMS will be orderable from the Free College
Courses, Books and Materials section of the Project website.

\(9\) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE, JUNE 6-8, 2006:

July 21, 2005 \-- Communicated with Kevin Mickey of Indiana University
Purdue University Indianapolis and with Thomas Mueller of California
University of Pennsylvania concerning the development of a day-long
workshop on GIS in Emergency Management on Monday, June 5th in the
Computer lab classroom, prior to the start of the conference, and the
incorporation of a breakout session on the same topic during the
conference. The computer lab classroom is limited to 30 seats.

\(10\) FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT \-- GRADUATE-LEVEL COLLEGE COURSE
DEVELOPMENT

PROJECT:

July 11, 2005 \-- Received for review from lead course developer, Bob
Freitag, University of Washington, 2nd draft of Session 12, \"Management
and Restoration of Floodplain Ecology,\" by Dr. Susan Bolton.

\(11\) GRAND CHALLENGES FOR DISASTER REDUCTION REPORT:

July 18, 2005 \-- Learned, from the Boulder Natural Hazards Center\'s
\"Disaster Research\" Newsletter No. 432, of the June 2005 report:

\"Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction\" \-- a ten-year strategy for
disaster reduction through science and technology formulated by members
of the Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, an element of the National
Science and Technology Council, in collaboration with scientists and
engineers around the world. The report presents six grand challenges and
provides a framework for prioritizing the related federal investments in
science and technology to improve America\'s capacity to prevent and
recover from disasters.
[[http://sdr.gov/SDRGrandChallengesforDisasterReduction.pdf]{.underline}](http://sdr.gov/SDRGrandChallengesforDisasterReduction.pdf)

The Executive Summary notes that \"Despite significant progress in the
application of science and technology to disaster reduction\....the
costs of major disasters continue to rise. A primary focus on response
and recovery is an impractical and inefficient strategy for dealing with
these ongoing threats. Instead, communities must break the cycle of
destruction and recovery by enhancing their disaster resilience.\" (p.
1)

\(12\) GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE, PANAMA CITY, FL:

July 19, 2005 \-- Talked with Dr. Jeff Stevenson, Dean of Workforce
Development, Gulf Coast Community College, concerning his interest in
investigating the development of some sort of emergency management
training and educating program at Gulf Coast. Went through a number of
features on the Project website and made an appointment for Dr.
Stevenson and one or more staff members to meet here at EMI during a
visit to the DC area in early September, in order to further their
investigation.

\(13\) HAZARD & DISASTER FILM AND VIDEO ANNOTATION PROJECT:

July 18, 2005 \-- Received from Richard Weber, Center for Public
Management, University of North Texas, new draft of his annotation of
hazard and disaster related films and videos \-- forwarded to the EMI
Webmaster for upload to the Project website \-- Free College Courses,
Books, and Materials section \-- to replace the January 28, 2005 draft.
Should be accessible soon.

\(14\) HOMELAND SECURITY: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING, PREVENTING
AND SURVIVING TERRORISM (SAUTER AND CALAFANO):

July 12, 2005 \-- Received email from Mark Sauter, one of the authors of
this new McGraw-Hill book, noted here several weeks back \-- pasted in
below FYI:

\"Please see below instructions below on how Higher Education Project
members can get a complimentary copy of the new McGraw-Hill homeland
security textbook to consider for their courses."Homeland Security: A
Complete Guide to Understanding, Preventing and Surviving Terrorism\" is
the authoritative reference on one of the most important topics facing
our nation. From complex policy issues to common terrorist tactics,
Homeland Security provides a practical foundation for professionals,
students, and concerned citizens alike. Perfect for academic and
training classrooms, each chapter includes an overview, learning
objectives, source document, discussion topic, summary, and quiz.\"

Please pass it on as appropriate.

Thanks,

Mark

For professors:

Please visit our website at mhhe.com to see the titles McGraw-Hill has
to offer. I will also ensure you are entered into our database to
receive any email flyers we send out. At mhhe.com, you may set up an
account to request complimentary copies and specify your preferences to
receive select mailings on homeland security, criminal justice or any
course you may instruct. I can send you a copy of our textbook Homeland
Security by Mark Sauter and Dr.

James Carafano or you may make this request online. I will need the
following information:

College/University/Other

Address

Department

Discipline

Best,

John

John Kwasek

Associate Marketing Director

McGraw-Hill

Two Penn Plaza, 11th Floor

New York, NY 10121-2298

Phone: 212-904-5946

Fax: 212-904-6096

\(15\) HOMELAND SECURITY STANDARDS DATABASE:

July 8, 2005 \-- From \"Disaster Research\" No. 432, an electronic
newsletter of the Natural Hazards Center in Boulder:

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced that the
Homeland Security Standards Database (HSSD) is now operational at
[[http://www.hssd.us/]{.underline}](http://www.hssd.us/). ANSI undertook
this project on behalf of the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The first set of standards is
loaded under the following categories: Threats, Emergency Preparedness
and Response, Borders and Transportation, Information Analysis and
Infrastructure Protection, and DHS Adopted Standards. Many of these
categories have additional subcategories for further specificity.

The goal of the HSSD is to provide a single, comprehensive source for
standards that relate to homeland security. To meet this goal, ANSI is
working with DHS, standards developing organizations, and other
stakeholders to identify and classify those standards that are pertinent
to homeland security. The initial effort deals with the area of first
responders. This is being done in cooperation with the Responder
Knowledge Base
([[http://www1.rkb.mipt.org/)and]{.underline}](http://www1.rkb.mipt.org/)and)
uses the Standardized Equipment List as the basis for the classification
structure.

\(16\) HAZARDS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS WORKSHOP & HAZARDS AND
DISASTERS RESEARCHERS MEETING, BOULDER CO:

July 10-14, 2005 \-- Attended the July 10-13 30th Annual Natural Hazards
Research and Applications Workshop and the newly re-established Hazards
and Disasters Researchers Meeting, July 13-14. Roughly 400 participants,
including one person from DHS Science and Technology and three from
FEMA/DHS besides myself. Do not have time in this report for a fuller
accounting of the proceedings, but will provide a few notes:

In his Keynote Address entitled \"The Natural Hazards Center - A
Leadership Platform for Thirty Years,\" William Anderson of the National
Research Council of the National Academies, noted under the heading
\"Continuing Leadership Needs\"

\--Advocate interdisciplinary research

\--Further post disaster studies

\--Reduce barriers between researchers and practitioners \--Advocate
all-hazards research \--Enable next generation \--Build partnerships
\--Forge global alliances

Under the \"Advocate All-Hazards Research\" heading, Dr. Anderson noted
how in the US, the Cold War focus had been on nuclear attack
preparedness, then swung to natural hazards preparedness, then, after
9/11, to terrorism.

Argued that there was a need to maintain a meaningful and balanced,
all-hazards, approach that was more than lip-service.

Under the \"Build Partnerships\" heading, Dr. Anderson stated that a
clear goal of the Hazards Center ought to be trying to bring the
Department of Homeland Security into the hazards community family \[as
noted above there was but one non-FEMA DHS representative in
attendance\].

Is Zoning Up to the Natural Hazards Challenge? Breakout Session:

John Nolon of Pace University School of Law, and author of recent book
\"Losing Ground \-- A Nation on Edge,\" noted that in a recent survey he
and his grad students had conducted of communities which had experienced
a presidentially declared disaster, he and his students expected to find
that such communities, having experienced a significant disaster, would
have developed imaginative and thoughtful new environmentally-related
laws and regulations. Instead, he was surprised to find just the
opposite \[though I don\'t know why this should have been surprising\]
\-- that most communities studied just wanted to get back to normal as
fast as possible, and believed that having experienced a disaster they
were now less likely to experience another one. \[Surprise, surprise\]

In the audience and panel discussion which followed Dr. Nolon\'s
presentation and others on this panel, discussion turned to the Disaster
Mitigation Act of 2000, which requires as a basis for receiving future
FEMA funding, the development of hazard mitigation plans. Some in
attendance had actually reviewed some of these plans and found them to
be perfunctory compliance documents with little real utility \-- as one
ex-FEMA person who said he had reviewed many such plans said \-- the
ones he had reviewed looked to be mostly \"desk-written\" with \"little
or no indication of any stakeholder input.\" \[Again, is this
surprising?\] The audience, in general, was decidedly pessimistic that
sufficient political will would be found to put these tools (that is the
good plans, not the compliance documents) to meaningful use. A State
Hazard Mitigation Planner noted that none of the local plans in their
state bore any relationship to the State plan \-- were all over the
place.

Addressing the question in the title of this session, one participant
observed that it is not to be marveled at if zoning is not up to the
natural hazards challenge, in that zoning is normally the province of
local planners and that \"most college Planning Departments not only do
not address hazards in their classes, they don\'t address the natural
environment!\" \[Is it any wonder that disaster losses continue to go
through the roof.\]

Dr. Susan Cutter\'s presentation on the recent Graniteville, SC (January
6,

2005\) chlorine tanker car breach which killed 9 (Toxic Transport:
Mobile Risk breakout session, was a bit disconcerting \-- in that
governments in SC (and presumably many other states) have no idea how
much hazardous material is on their highways and rails and thus don\'t
know how many people are at risk or where.

Dr. William Hooke, American Meteorological Society gave a sobering
future-directed presentation during the Climate Change and
Unpredictability in Hazards Management plenary session on Tuesday:

We can expect a future marked by:

\--adverse climate variability

\--natural extremes that will find us unprepared \--pervasive
environmental/societal catastrophes \--declining margins \--ineffective
top-down coping strategies

Dr. Hooke also made an interesting observation that to the climate
change science community, the hazards community in attendance at this
conference were the enemy in that hazard-types preach mitigation,
preparedness, adjustment to hazard, and the climate change community
views adjustment/adaptation at giving up and just accepting the
inevitability of climate change and its consequences \-- which is
perhaps why, according to Roger Pielke, Jr. of the University of
Colorado at Boulder, so few in the hazards community have been
consulted, involved, or their work cited in IPCC reports, which tout
thousands of scientists as contributors \-- three people in the audience
of about 400 raised their hands when he asked if any of the participants
had been involved or their work cited in IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change) reports.

Robert Schwartz, Ball State University, who was on the plenary panel
\"Summer of Storms - The 2004 Atlantic Hurricanes,\" noted that during
that during his \"Quick Response\" visits to Florida after last
season\'s hurricanes to observe governmental response, he found that
\"FEMA/DHS personnel encountered in Headquarters/EOC environments were
secretive, distrustful and unhelpful, whereas FEMA \'old-hands\'
encountered in the field were very helpful, open and knowledgeable.

Victor Baker of the University of Arizona, during his presentation in
\"The Flood Challenge: Thinking Outside the Box\" breakout session,
stated, in regards to the FEMA Flood Insurance Program, that it was
\"totally un-scientific\" and that 40 years after passage and
implementation of the National Flood Insurance program, flood losses are
still going up.

Rhetorically asked if this insurance-oriented experience should be
viewed as a success or a failure.

Suzanne Frew of \"The Frew Group\" and ex-FEMA Region IX, during the
\"Social Marketing for Disaster Reduction\" breakout session, argued
that few in the disaster/emergency management community do a
professional job of communicating risk and countermeasures to people in
their jurisdictions/organizations, and argued that emergency and
disaster managers need to find out what their customers want, and then
develop, package and market it \-- hazard and disaster data does not
stand on its own two feet and sell itself.

On the same panel, Deborah Gill of the UCLA Center for Public Health and
Disasters, argued that hazard, disaster, emergency managers need to
understand their target audience and then develop campaigns that seek to
cause behavior change \-- need to understand what people feel, what are
their values, what is in their gut, and remember that people tend to
maximize their own self-interest.

Dr. Ray Burby of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, during
the closing plenary panel entitled \"Are We Safer? Have We Minimized
Losses?\", stated basically \"no\" \-- that hazard mitigation is the way
to reduce disaster losses, but this has really low salience at the local
government level, and is unlikely to change \-- thus, for hazard
mitigation, and thus hazard loss reduction, to have any chance of
success, one must turn to Federal and State governments, which can
require and work with local governments to pursue more responsible
planning. Noted, in support of this proposition, that in States which
have designed and implemented State hazard reduction goals, policies,
and regulation, that National Flood Insurance Program flood claims are
much less than in States without such.

Also on this panel, Dr. Philip Ganderton, University of New Mexico,
discussed a new and about to be released report on \"Future Savings from
FEMA Mitigation Activities - A Report of the Multi-Hazard Mitigation
Council.\"

Dr. Ganderton noted that this study and report was called for by
Congressional doubters of FEMA\'s claims concerning mitigation
cost-savings

\-- suspicious that FEMA might be \"cherry-picking\" \[no!\] data only
from among the cases that reinforced their assertions on the
cost-savings from mitigation (reducing future losses). Thus five-year,
big-deal, state-of-the-art national study was begun by funding a
\"neutral\"

organization.

Findings:

\--Overall, FEMA grants have funded activities with benefit/cost rations
greater than 1 (a positive cost/benefit ratio).

\--Deaths and injuries and property damage has been reduced as a
consequence of this activity.

\--Economic disruption has been lower.

\--Flood mitigation has been very effective, primarily by reducing
property losses.

\--Wind mitigation measures also have been effective, primarily through
reducing injuries.

\--Communities can increase mitigation effectiveness through a variety
of mechanisms.

Dr. Ganderton also noted an interesting story relating to his local
floodplain manager taking him down to the Rio Grande and in response to
Dr.

Ganderton\'s question as to the location of the 100-year flood boundary,
the floodplain manager could not comply \-- pointing out where he would
put if it was his decision, where FEMA would have him put it (someplace
else\_, and where the USGS would have him put it \-- in yet another
place \-- point made was that we need to get better specific hazard
science and mapping and modeling to about the place that earthquake
science is.

\[Out of time for this week.\]

\(17\) PARTNERING AGAINST TERRORISM \-- SUMMARY OF A WORKSHOP ON
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN THE WAR ON TERROR:

July 22, 2005 \-- Received \"Weekly Highlights From The National
Academies,\"

and found note on release of this new 146-page document, written by
Charles W. Wessner, Committee on Government-Industry Partnerships for
the Development of New Technologies, Board on Science, Technology, and
Economic Policy, Policy and Global Affairs, Nation Research Council of
the National Academies. Published by The National Academies Press, and
also readable on-line for free at:
[[http://www.nap.edu/books/0309094283/html]{.underline}](http://www.nap.edu/books/0309094283/html)

From Table of Contents:

Panel I: Partnering to Meet the New Security Challenge

\-- Partnering for Cyber Security and Infrastructure, Congressman
Sherwood L.

Boehlert

\-- Capitalizing on the Nation\'s Research Portfolio, Gordon Moore,
Intel

Panel II: Best Practices Examples of Public-Private Partnerships

\-- SEMATECH: Assessing the Contribution, Kenneth Flamm, University of
Texas at Austin

\-- Partnering for Progress: The Advanced Technology Program, Maryann
Feldman, John Hopkins University

\-- University Research and the Market: The Carnegie Mellon Experience,
Christina Gabriel, Carnegie Mellon University

Panel III: Partnerships Against Bioterrorism

\-- Partnering for Vaccines: The NIAID Perspective, Carol Heilman,
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

\-- Partnering for Counter Measures: The Private Research Perspective,
Gail Cassell, Lilly Research Laboratories

Panel IV: Partnering for National Security

\-- Overcoming Information Overload, Anna K. Altman, IBM Corporation

\-- New Technologies for New Threats, Ronald M. Sega, Department of
Defense

\-- Security Challenges in an Open Economy, Steve Flynn, Council on
Foreign Relations

Panel V: Roundtable on Partnering for National Missions: Defense, Health
and Energy

\(18\) RELIGION AND CONFLICT (TERRORISM):

July 19, 2005 \-- Received today the Spring/Summer 2005 edition of
\"Terrorism and Political Violence\" (Vol. 17, No. 3) and see that the
entire issue is devoted to \"The Question of Religion and World
Politics.\" This edition is based on papers presented at the conference
\"Religion and World Politics\"

held May 2003 at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Includes, for example:

\"Toward a Revival of Religion and Religious Clashes?\" by Tanja
Ellingsen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, pp. 305-332.

\"Religious Rage: A Quantitative Analysis of the Intensity of Religious
Conflicts,\" by Susanna Pearce, Department of Political Science, Trinity
College, Dublin, Ireland, pp. 333-352.

\(19\) RISK MANAGEMENT, VOL. 52, NO. 7, JULY 2005:

July 21, 2005 \-- Received latest edition of \"Risk Management\" and
note for

consideration:

Mark Jablonowski, \"Do Catastrophe Models Mislead?\", pp. 33-34, 36 &
38.

Andy Thompson. \"A Strategic Approach to Loss Prevention Engineering,\"
pp.

41-43.

Brian Davis and Danielle Walters. \"Coping With Catastrophe: The First
24 Hours,\" pp. 44-46, 48-49.

Haley Jorgensen. \"Methods & Elements of a Solid Risk Management
Strategy,\"

p\. 53.

\(20\) WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY, DAYTON OH \-- ANNOUNCES MASTER OF PUBLIC
HEALTH CONCENTRATION IN COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS:

July 9, 2005 \-- Received from Dr. Mark Gebhart
(mark.gebhart.wright.edu), the Director of this new Concentration at
Wright State, the following press

release:

\"New Master of Public Health Degree for Community Preparedness DAYTON,
Ohio\--The Wright State University Master of Public Health (M.P.H.)
degree program announces a new area of concentration-community
preparedness. This area of concentration has been designed to provide
public health, public safety, and health care leaders of the future with
the latest skills necessary to deal with an all-hazards preparedness
approach facing the nation\'s first responders.

Wright State\'s M.P.H. degree is a community-based, interdisciplinary
educational program in public health with collaboration from several
colleges and schools. The new area of concentration will be a
collaborative effort between the School of Medicine\'s Department of
Emergency Medicine, the new Homeland Emergency Learning and Preparedness
Center, and the M.P.H.

program. These university assets bring a wide variety of civilian and
military faculty capable of providing students with a worldwide
perspective while studying toward their degree.

\"Terror has struck on a worldwide scale since 2001 and the most recent
events in London, England, underscore the need to educate the public
health workforce of the future,\" says Mark Gebhart, M.D., assistant
professor of emergency medicine. \"This workforce of the future will be
faced with all-hazards challenges-weather related events, such as
hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe storms; terrorist incidents, such as
the recent attacks in London; and any other event where the communities
and cities across Ohio and the nation could be affected. This is an
insurance policy for the Dayton area-provided by Wright State University
and the relationships it has built with the community.\"

The program of study will rely on the core courses already the
foundation for the M.P.H. Additional concentration-specific courses will
allow students to expand their knowledge base in areas such as
biological terrorism, chemical terrorism, radiological emergencies,
principles of disaster response, refugee healthcare, incident
management, and interagency disaster operations. The program is designed
for public health practitioners, physicians, registered nurses, fire
officers, law enforcement officers, emergency managers, paramedical
personnel, and allied health personnel.

This program concentration will for the first time bring a structured
and organized curriculum in preparedness to southwestern and west
central Ohio specifically targeted at the areas public health
practitioners, first responders, emergency managers, and healthcare
providers at the graduate level.

For more information about the program, contact Petra Weaver, Program
Coordinator, at 258-5547.\"

The Project Assistant is in the process of drafting a description of
this program for upload to the \"Public Health and Related Programs\"
section of The College List on the Project website.

B.Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, N-430

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

\(301\) 447-1262, voice

\(301\) 447-1598, fax

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)