Toilet shortage feared in case of big Tokyo quake

Japan's disaster prevention panel studied a simulation that imagined a magnitude-7.3 quake striking Tokyo at noon on a workday. A temblor of that size would send 12 million people spilling out of their offices, forced to walk home from the city center. The panel's study said hundreds of thousands of people would be unable to find a toilet if a major earthquake were to hit Tokyo on a weekday. READ MORE

Does HAZUS need to add a "toilet" report?

What the Next President Must Do to Save FEMA

Gregory Button, a researcher at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, outlines in the October 28, 2008 issue of CounterPunch what he thinks the next administration must do to improve the operations of FEMA. READ MORE

Nearly Half of U.S. States Fail on Emergency Plan Communication

A new study by George Mason University communication professor Carl Botan concludes nearly half of U.S. states either have no state-level emergency plan or do not provide it readily to the public. READ MORE

California Is Due for a Katrina-Style Disaster

October 21, 2008 marks the 140th anniversary of the "1868 Hayward earthquake", the first great “San Francisco earthquake” and one of the most damaging earthquakes in the nation's history.

Recent work has shown that the average interval between the past five large earthquakes on the Hayward Fault is 140 years. In 1868 the "East Bay" was sparsely populated. Those in the know believe that when the Hayward fault shakes the next time it will do exponentially more damage. USGS geologist Tom Brocher says "A Hayward fault earthquake will change the Bay Area. It's likely to be one of the nation's biggest natural disasters." READ MORE

1868 Earthquake Alliance

HAZUS.org email spoofing ...

Every week or so a spammer is spoofing the hazus.org email address to send out spam.

E-mail spoofing is a fraudulent e-mail activity in which the sender address and other parts of the e-mail header are altered to appear as though the e-mail originated from a different source.

Unfortunately, there is nothing HAZUS.org can do about this. If you look at the extended email message header you can see that the spoofed email is not really originating from HAZUS.org.

Hospital Industry Report on HAZUS

HealthLeaders-InterStudy, a leading provider of managed care market intelligence, reports that hospitals in the San Diego region are using HAZUS-MH to evaluate and to better assess earthquake damage risk. READ MORE

HAZUS.org has previously reported (August 24, 2008) on how the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) is implementing a new voluntary HAZUS-MH based program to re-evaluate the seismic risk of hospital buildings in California.

Lull after the Storm: Disaster Management for Utilities

A recent article, Lull After The Storm: Disaster Management for Utilities, in the SETLabs briefings series on "Unleashing IT in Utilities" concludes that "GIS plays a pivotal role in effective disaster management for utilities"... DOWNLOAD

What is remarkable is that this article does not even mention HAZUS!

HAZUS Training Dates Firmed Up In Florida

HAZUS Comprehensive Data Management System (CDMS) FL Web Portal Training Announced In Three Florida Cities

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 - Tallahassee, FL
8:30 AM - 4:30 PM EDT
State Emergency Operations Center
2555 Shumard Oak Blvd
Tallahassee, FL

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 - Daytona Beach, FL
8:30 AM - 4:30 PM EDT
Volusia County Emergency Operations Center
49 Keyton Drive
Daytona Beach, FL

Friday, November 21st, 2008 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
8:30 AM - 4:30 PM EDT
FAU Visual Planning Technology Lab
111 East Las Olas Blvd, HE 610
Ft. Lauderdale, FL


For more information on these trainings, please visit FDEM's GIS website.

The Great Southern California ShakeOut / Golden Guardian 2008

At 10 AM on November 13, 2008 millions of Southern Californians will participate in The Great Southern California ShakeOut ... the largest earthquake prepardness exercise in U.S. history.

Visit The Great Southern California ShakeOut web site for a schedule of events and to see how you can participate, click here...

The nation’s largest state sponsored emergency exercise will take place November 13-18. Golden Guardian 2008. This exercise will test California’s capability to respond and recover during a major catastrophic earthquake, to go to the CA OES Golden Guardian 2008 web site, click here...

Applying the Land Use Portfolio Model to Estimate Natural-Hazard Loss and Risk

The Land Use Portfolio Model (LUMP), developed by the USGS, is a geospatial scenario-based tool that incorporates hazard-event uncertainties to support risk analysis. The LUPM provides an approach to estimate and compare risks and returns from investments in risk-reduction measures.

Unlike HAZUS-MH, LUMP accounts for uncertainties associated with specific natural-hazard scenarios, such as the likelihood of occurrance within a particular time period or mitigation options.

For more info see the report: Applying the Land Use Portfolio Model to Estimate Natural-Hazard Loss and Risk - A Hypothetical Demonstration for Ventura County, California

The Emergency Information Infrastructure Project (EIIP) proudly announces a new name, look, and slogan for its Website that provides educational opportunities for professionals and volunteers engaged in all hazards emergency management and allied disciplines. http://www.emforum.org

HAZUS.org is proud to be a Participating Partner in the EIIP / EMForum.