From: HAZARDS@VAXF.COLORADO.EDU
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Subject: Disaster Research
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:38:53 GMT
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Here's the latest from DISASTER RESEARCH  April 10, 1992

                DISASTER RESEARCH 87
                 TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1)  Ice Jams and Flooding
    A Correspondent in Canada Writes . . .
2)  The Hazard Specialty Group of the AAG
3)  Another Group You Might Be Interested In:
    The SRA Risk Communication Specialty Group
4)  A Call for Papers
5)  Decade Happenings I:
    Summary Report of the Third Session of the IDNDR
    Scientific and Technical Committee
6)  Decade Happenings II:
    CUSEC Establishes U.S.-Latin American Partnership
7)  New NHRAIC Publications
8)  Two Publications Catalogs
9)  This Just In: A Request for Information on
    Flood Hazard Mitigation in Developing Countries

1)----------
                         Ice Jams and Flooding
                    A Correspondent in Canada Writes . . .

[Received the following from JOE_SCANLON@carleton.ca "JOE SCANLON"]

ECRU, the disaster research unit at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, is
looking at the response of the town of Peace River in northwest Alberta to
flash floods caused by ice jamming on the Peace River on February 28. The
project is being funded by Alberta Public Safety Servcies, the provincial
agency. ECRU has done one previous ice jam study. Any other data would be of
use. One interesting finding: many key players - the senior RCMP officer, the
fire chief, the town manager, the hospital administrator, etc., were among the
victims. Would be interested in hearing of any studies of how emergency
decision makers cope when they are victims?     Joe Scanlon, Director, ECRU

2)----------
               The Hazards Specialty Group of the AAG

[Received the following from BSOLECKI@AVM.CC.FSU.EDU  "Bill Solecki"]

The Hazards Specialty Group is made up of geographers who are members of
the Association of American Geographers. The membership currently stands
at about 120. The chair of the group is Dr. Susan Cutter, Department of
Geography, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. Membership dues
are $5 per year. It might be possible in the future that non-AAG members
also will be able to become specialty group members.

The group publishes a newsletter three times a year. The newsletter includes
notes about upcoming meetings, research and other news items. The editor of
the newsletter is Dr. William D. Solecki, Department of Geography, Florida
State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306; BITNET BSOLEKCI@FSUAVM. The editor
will accept information about meetings and other short news items (less than
150-200 words).

3)----------
               Another Group You Might Be Interested In:
               The SRA Risk Communication Specialty Group

For the past two years some members of the Society for Risk Analysis have been
developing a Risk Communication Specialty Group. The group recently came up
with a draft statement of purpose that says:

The Risk Communication Specialty Group has been formed within the [SRA] for
the purpose of improving risk information communication within and among the
general public, special interest groups, industry, government, and academia.
The group will pursue this purpose through efforts to: 1) Promote and
facilitate increased contact between individuals trained in risk communication
and those trained in technical risk analysis; 2) Encourage and facilitate
collaborative research efforts among risk communication scholars and between
risk communication scholars and those skilled in technical risk analysis; 3)
Compile and maintain a directory of risk communication researchers and their
areas of expertise for SRA members and others to use when seeking research
partners or advice on improving the communication of risk analyses; 4)
Organize panels on risk communication research and practice for national and
regional meetings of the SRA.

For further information about the focus and activities of this group, contact
Ann Fisher, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology,
Pennsylvania State University, 201 Weaver Building, University Park, PA 16802,
(814) 865-0469; fax: (814) 865-3746.

4)----------
                      A Call for Papers

[Received the following from DUKES@JCVAXA.JCU.EDU "Duane Dukes" who is
handling local arrangements and can also answer questions.]

                    Meeting Announcement
               Society for Applied Sociology

The Society for Applied Sociology will hold its 10th Annual Meeting in
Cleveland, Ohio, October 15-18, 1992. The theme of the meeting is "Sociology
in a Changing Environment." The deadline for submitting papers, abstracts,
and/or proposals for roundtable discussions on any topic related to applied
sociology is June 15. The society especially welcomes presentations from
social scientists who are employed outside colleges and universities. Please
submit papers, abstracts, or other session proposals to:

John M. Kennedy
Center for Survey Research
Indiana University
1022 E. Third Street
Bloomington, IN  47405
Phone - (812) 855-2573
Fax - (812) 855-2818
john_m_kennedy@ucs.indiana.edu.

INTERNET:  kennedy@socmail.soc.indiana.edu
           kennedyj@ucs.indiana.edu
BITNET:    kennedyj@iubacs

5)----------
                        Decade Happenings I
               Summary Report of the Third Session of
            the IDNDR Scientific and Technical Committee

The third meeting of the IDNDR Scientific and Technical Committee was held in
Geneva, March 16-20, 1992. The committee emphasized that the conceptual
framework of the IDNDR must now be turned into action. Most discussion focused
on four main topics:

1) Support for National Activities and Programs

The committee's report on support for national activities and programs
recommends three main actions. First, the Special High- Level Council should
promote acceptance of the IDNDR at the highest political levels and in
national planning ministries. Second, STC members must be encouraged and
enabled to participate in regional and scientific meetings and to extend
technical support to national committees. Third, the Secretariat should
coordinate activities of the Special High-Level Council with the STC to
improve communications with and between national committees, assist in
obtaining donor funding for national and international projects, and
coordinate information and training activities.

2) Public Information Activities

Participants discussed means for increasing the printing and distribution of
"Stop Disasters," the Decade newsletter, and also considered publishing parts
of the new UNDRO glossary and a self-help disaster mitigation column. The
group also initiated planning for the 1992 and 1993 IDNDR Days. The theme for
October 14, 1992, is "Natural Disaster Reduction for Sustainable Development,"
to tie in with the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in
Rio de Janeiro in June, and to take advantage of some of the information
materials still available from 1991. The theme for October 13, 1993, is "Stop
Disasters in Our Schools and Hospitals." A suggestion to create a series of
regional media roundtables that bring together editors, scientists, and
disaster managers was also adopted.

3) Economic Analyses

The STC considered means for improving estimates of the economic benefits of
disaster mitigation. In particular, it emphasized improving data bases on
economic losses from natural disasters and developing methods for calculating
benefits and costs of mitigation measures. The goal of this effort is to
produce economic evaluations that will compel policy makers to support
appropriate levels of investment in disaster mitigation, and the STC
recommended a series of specific actions to this end.

4) World Conference 1994

The committee also supported a world conference, in April or May 1994, as part
of the mid-term review of the Decade. The conference will stress progress at
the national level, exchange of information and views between national
committee representatives, and steps for taking maximum advantage of the
results of international demonstration projects. A host country will be
announced in the near future.

Other Matters

New international demonstration projects on droughts (ICSU) and on buildings
to withstand disasters (WFEO) were endorsed by the committee. The Secretariat
and STC members also discussed efforts to seek recognition at the UNCED
meeting of disaster mitigation activities to ensure economically and
environmentally sustainable development, especially in developing countries.
The UNCED preparatory committee currently meeting in New York has incorporated
disaster mitigation concerns into the UNCED agenda.

The STC also strongly supported plans for forthcoming regional IDNDR meetings.
The Organization of African Unity sponsored a session in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, April 13-17, 1992, and the Pan-American Health Organization is
organizing a Caribbean session in Kingston, Jamaica, May 26-29, 1992. Regional
sessions are needed in other areas, such as southeast Asia and the southwest
Pacific, in the two years leading to the world conference, and the
Secretariat was encouraged to promote and seek sponsorship for these meetings.

6)----------
                      Decade Happenings II
       CUSEC Establishes U.S.-Latin American Partnership

Earthquake specialists from 10 Latin American nations took part in the 1991
annual meeting of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC),
which was devoted to "enhancing cooperation in earthquake hazard reduction."
Representatives from the Organization of American States, the Pan American
Health Organization, the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and the
International Red Cross also participated.

Participants were divided into four groups that dealt with: 1) hazard
assessment, 2) mitigation, 3) preparedness and response, and 4) recovery and
reconstruction. Each group was charged with identifying specific projects that
address mutual problems in earthquake hazard reduction in the Americas.
Approximately a dozen were proposed, including: preparation of a handbook,
"Earthquake Recovery: Reconstruction and Rehabilitation," targeted at
community officials in the Americas who have responsibility for recovery
planning - the handbook would draw on case studies from California and Latin
America; a "sister city" strategy to jointly develop and carry out a program
to map lifelines and identify measures that can be taken at the local level to
minimize losses when an earthquake occurs; and a masonry building
vulnerability reduction project that will lead to a network of professionals
in the Americas with responsibility for masonry research, design, and
construction.

Because of this increased cooperation and understanding among hazard
specialists in the Americas, the conference organizers have formed a steering
committee to monitor the progress of these Interamerican activities. For
further information about this project, contact the Central United States
Earthquake Consortium, 2630 Holmes Road East, Memphis, TN 38118, (901)
549-3344, (800) 762-4313, (in Tennessee, call (800) 824-5817).

7)----------
                      New NHRAIC Publications

The Natural Hazards Center has another three documents available:

"Five Views of the Flood Action Plan for Bangladesh," by James L. Wescoat Jr.,
Jahir Uddin Chowdhury, Dennis J. Parker, Habibul Haque Khondker, and L.
Douglas James and Keith Pitman. Working Paper #77 (1992, 27 pp.); cost: $4.50
($5.50 if mailed outside North America).

"Action Agenda for Managing the Nation's Floodplains: A Review of 'Floodplain
Management in the United States: An Assessment Report.'" Special Publication
#25 (1992, 23 pp.); cost: $4.00 ($5.00 beyond North America).

"Selected, Annotated Bibliography of 1991 Hazards Publications," by Dave
Morton. (1992, 125 pp.); cost: $9.00 ($10.00 beyond North America). This
bibliography is also available as an ASCII and/or WordPerfect file on
IBM-compatible diskette for the same price.

Orders should be directed to the Publications Clerk, Natural Hazards
Information Center, IBS #6, Campus Box 482, University of Colorado, Boulder,
CO 80309-0482, (303) 492-6819; fax: (303) 492-2151; e-mail:
hazards@vaxf.colorado.edu. All orders must be prepaid.

8)----------
                       Two Publications Catalogs

The both the Flood Hazard Research Centre in Britain and the Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute (EERI) here in the U.S. publish extensively in
their respective areas. We suggest that interested persons write for their
complete publication catalogs at the these addresses:

Flood Hazards Research Centre               EERI
Middlesex Polytechnic                       499 14th Street
Queensway                                     Suite 320
Enfield EN3 4SF                             Oakland, CA 94612-1902
U.K.                                        (510) 451-0905
(44) 81-368-1299                            fax: (51) 451-5411
fax: (44) 81-805-0702.

9)-----------
                This Just In: A Request for Information on
              Flood Hazard Mitigation in Developing Countries

[Received the following from DISASTER@GWUVM.BITNET  "Claire Rubin"]

I am working on a project that entails citing positive examples of flood hazard
mitigation in less developed countries. I would appreciate references or copies
of reports that provide such examples. Snail mail address is P.O. Box 2208,
Arlington, VA 22202. Phone: (703) 920-7176.  Many thanks.

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        Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center
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