Emergency Management magazine

When it comes to recovering from a natural disaster, it’s important for small businesses to get back on their feet as soon as possible because they are massive contributors to local economies. Unfortunately, many small businesses are not risk-ready because business are reluctant to commit to something as tentative as a disaster, and they thus fail during recovery.

The National Hurricane Center will launch storm surge inundation maps for the first time this summer, predicting where and how deep flooding will hit. While previous measurements focused on wind speed, the new maps turn attention to flooding. The inundation maps were tested during Hurricane Arthur two years ago and accurately forecast severe flooding.

The Joplin tornadoes impact revealed that poor communication of warnings led to high death toll. With this in mind, as well as with the reality of alarm fatigue, business partners came up with a weather alert system that functions through fire alarms and is connected to the Internet.

Much of today’s infrastructure needs rebuilding. What needs to be done before catastrophe strikes? 'There’s a window of opportunity to think differently after a disaster, and unfortunately a disaster is often the motivating factor for thinking differently,' Robert Freudenberg, director of the Regional Association’s Division of Energy and Environment (US), told Emergency Management. 'That starts to wear off after a while and things go back to business as usual.'...

'The real-time nature of reporting on a football game lends itself to rapid information broadcasting though different channels and also to immediate feedback from many interested parties. During a real earthquake or volcanic sequence, we need to be able to produce and distribute not only data and automated analysis but also interpretations and responses to legitimate questions and concerns'...

People with disabilities experience a disproportionately high level of disaster-related injury and death because their needs are neglected by the official planning process in most situations. Deborah Hayes has collected the most important advice to emergency managers...

It is essential to have plans and processes in place before a natural disaster event. Who will make decisions? Which individuals and groups will have input? How will differences be resolved? These are big issues to be sure. It's better to start tackling them now when you don't have the pressures of catastrophic damages staring you in the face...

Key components of disaster preparedness in Shiyuoka, Japan include disaster risk reduction education, early warning systems and an information-gathering and idssemination system to identify blocked routes and devastated areas in real time as well as a satellite-based communication line in case the other system would be out due to strong winds or landslides...