Members of the National Communication Association who are experts in crisis communication and emergency preparedness messaging are available to provide insight into disaster messages.
On March 11, 2011, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck about 40 miles off Japan. Cornell University researchers who work in fields from anthropology and law to geology, soil science and the auto industry are available to talk with the media about the evolving understanding of the earthquake, the tsunami and Japan’s ongoing recovery.
Georgia Tech systems engineers are using computer models to help resource-poor nations improve distribution of breast milk and non-pharmaceutical interventions for malaria. They are also forecasting what health care services would be available in the event of natural disasters in Caribbean nations.
For the past several years, advancements in technologies have made it possible for virtual communities to provide increasing support to disaster preparedness and emergency response efforts.
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas are developing an emergency communications network that will maintain operation during natural disasters and provide critical warnings and geographic information to people affected by the disasters.
There are First Responders, and there are First Receivers. Both need a way to communicate with each other when they are expected to perform under unusual scenarios. Now they have it.
The Haiti Memory Project is working to make available to the public more than 100 firsthand accounts of the earthquake and its aftermath, as well as Haitians' thoughts on topics like politics, culture, medicine and religion.
Charles Greene, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University, is an expert on the protection of threatened marine ecosystems. Greene comments on the potential for ecological disaster posed by the 2,300 tons of fuel oil still aboard the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia.
Tulane University study of aid to Haiti finds that 36 percent of households in the directly affected area -- and 54 percent of those living in camps -- still have not recovered to their pre-earthquake levels almost two years after the disaster.
Leading up to the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, catastrophic earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, humanitarian logistics expert Dr. Jose Holguín-Veras will talk about the mishaps, successes, and challenges of getting aid and donations to Haiti and into the hands of those in need.
Officials have “made overly optimistic evacuation time predictions that could have potentially devastating consequences," according to researchers.
A grant to the University of Washington from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation could pave the way for a system to provide a warning seconds to minutes in advance of a major offshore earthquake in the Northwest.
The 2011 edition of the AUTM Better World Report is a collection of stories about technologies that originated in academic research and were brought to the public through technology transfer.
Natural disasters made 2011 a loss-filled year. A UAB psychologist says plan ahead and don’t over commit.
Dr. Krzystof Kaniasty has done extensive research on how people cope and recover from natural and human-induced disasters. The key, he says, is community.
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate First Responder Communities of Practice Website is a vetted, professional networking, project collaboration, and resource-sharing platform for first responders and other personnel working in homeland security capacities. The site is focused on emergency response, preparedness, resiliency, planning, management, and homeland-security-related matters. Site members can network with others in their fields and areas of interest; join or start new communities to collaborate “virtually” with others through wikis, blogs, discussion boards, real-time chat, and internal Website e-mail; find and share resources and contacts; store and access documents; and stay connected through e-mail notification of site activities.
An international team of researchers will begin gathering in the Indian Ocean next month to study an atmospheric pattern that affects weather worldwide. The six-month field campaign, supported in part by NCAR, will help improve long-range weather forecasts and computer models of climate change.
Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate has a new tool available for rapidly rescuing those trapped beneath concrete.
Experts can discuss dangers after floodwaters recede.
RPI Professor Jose Holguín-Veras is the leading international authority on the topic of humanitarian logistics and disaster donations. From 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake of 2010, and the Tohoku quake and resulting nuclear crisis of March 2011, Holguín-Veras has visited these sites shortly after the disaster to take careful inventory of the relief policies, procedures, preparations, and infrastructure in place.
Coastal Ecologist Jim Fraser is available to provide a scientifically informed response to how to manage damage at the North Carolina Outer Banks following Hurricane Irene.
While the earthquake in Virginia and Hurricane Irene seemed to occur almost together, an IUP geoscientist says there is no connection between earthquakes and hurricanes.
Vermont child and adolescent psychiatrist David Fassler, M.D., suggests that parents, teachers and other adults help children understand natural disasters like Vermont's recent flooding by listening and responding in an honest, consistent and supportive manner and creating an open environment where they feel free to ask questions.
Before Irene landed with wind and water, earthquake researchers had to look at waterfront structures, bridges, dams and embankments, earth-retaining systems, monuments and institutions that were damaged, and critical facilities such as major airports and the power plant.
A smartphone app developed by North Dakota State University Extension Service and Myriad Devices could help people who need to document damages from this weekend’s Hurricane Irene for their insurance claims. The Disaster Recovery Log app helps you record information about damages to your home and property using text, images and audio. Download Disaster Recovery Log from the Android Market. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension/apps/disaster-recovery-journal
Here are tips on how to use social media during natural disasters.
Six years after Hurricane Katrina, the Mardi Gras Indians have rebounded and been transformed into a reenergized community where the youth are increasingly interested in carrying on the culturally rich traditions of these New Orleans tribes. This is the key finding of University of New Hampshire anthropology student Kendra Hanlon of Auburn, who spent the summer of 2011 in New Orleans researching the Mardi Gras Indians on a summer undergraduate research fellowship provided by UNH’s Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research.
Worries that first responders will shirk duties in a disaster are overblown, but they do need assistance with family matters, University of Delaware study shows.
Using iPad™ mobile devices, emergency preparedness officials and first responders participating last month in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE-11)were able, for the first time, to make use of a new, science-based software tool that allows them to view and modify accurate models of building damage and other post-event disaster effects.
Tennessee Tech University civil engineering professor Faisal Hossain recently went to Washington, D.C. to present his research about dams' effects on local climate. He went at the invitation of policymakers who were looking to learn about the need for more flexibility when building large dams.
Millions of U.S. drivers daily use faulty or obsolete bridges, but it's too costly to fix them all or adequately monitor safety, says a University of Maryland researcher who’s developed a new, early warning system to prevent the kind of fatal bridge disaster in Minneapolis on Aug. 1, 2007. The new system is dramatically cheaper than current technology.
Social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare may be an important key to improving the public health system’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters, according to a New England Journal of Medicine “Perspective” article from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania to be published this week.
A team of scientists from The University of Alabama in Huntsville want to learn more about the physics behind the deadly outbreak of tornadoes earlier this year, as well as the psychology and sociology of storm warnings and what might be done to make warnings more effective.
When an emergency happens, many now rely on social media to call for help, stay up to date with the latest news, and share information. Social media tools also can provide the nation’s first responders with ways to share information. Now they have a place to talk about it.
An international gathering of experts has met to discuss space-based technologies -- from Earth remote sensing spacecraft to global navigation and telecommunications satellites – as potent tools in both shaping disaster preparedness and in dealing with the chaos of responding to natural disasters.
Researchers at the University at Buffalo examined more than 360 U.S. metro areas to determine which would be most likely to come out of the next recession, natural disaster or other regional “shock” relatively unscathed.
What can Waffle House teach about disaster preparedness and risk management, especially in the wake of this spring’s devastating tornadoes? Plenty, says a supply chain expert at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.
The economic impacts of routine weather events can add up to 3.4% of the nation's GDP.
Forest experts have warned for years that millions of small-diameter trees are a threat to the nation’s forests, and the massive Wallow Fire in eastern Arizona is further evidence.
Scientists from Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) are joining colleagues from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, several other U.S. academic institutions and laboratories in Japan and Spain on the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The research effort is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Jack Rozdilsky, an assistant professor in Western Illinois University's emergency management program in the WIU Department of Health Sciences, specializes in natural hazards and emergency management issues.
A list of faculty experts who can address an array of hurricane-related topics.
The wave of destructive tornadoes throughout the United States this spring has resulted in an outpouring of charitable donations. While all donations help the cause, raising funds through eBay auctions can be particularly effective, both for consumers and sellers, according to research by a strategy professor at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.
Hazards with horrific outcomes — like the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan — are not only difficult to contemplate but are also challenging to plan for financially. Especially when the odds of them happening are incredibly low, says Stuart I. Greenbaum, management expert at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.
Cities decimated by Mother Nature, largely devoid of businesses and infrastructure. In recent months, Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Joplin, Mo., have provided stark examples of how drastically life changes as a result of serious natural disasters. Rebuilding and recovery have begun in both communities and the federal government has a key role to fulfill, according to two Kansas State University business experts.
A Baylor University expert is available to comment to journalists about how people and communities respond to extreme weather related shocks like the recent deadly tornado outbreak in Missouri.
Johns Hopkins University bioethicists say disaster-response planning has generally overlooked the special needs of people who suffer from pre-existing and serious mental conditions. Survivors already diagnosed with schizophrenia, dementia, addictions and bipolar disorder are vulnerable long before a disaster strikes, they point out.
In the days immediately following Japan’s devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, survivors were grateful to have lived through it. But disasters that cause such wide-scale death, destruction and disruption to daily life also leave lingering invisible wounds.
Marine species facing threats from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico far exceed those under legal protection in the United States, a new paper finds. Researchers found 39 additional marine species beyond the 14 protected by federal law, ranging from whale sharks to seagrass, that are at an elevated risk of extinction.
Tornado victims experiencing "survivor guilt," University of Alabama at Birmingham experts say. They offer tips to healing.
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