Watch this space for posts covering the global history of disaster, as well as up-to-the-moment discussion of disaster politics and science.

Is It Time for a National Disaster Investigation Board?

Is It Time for a National Disaster Investigation Board?

It started as a series of tweets I sent out last week--I was asking (the question I always seem to be asking): how can we do a better job learning from disaster?  What are the impediments, but also what are the historical cases to draw upon, some success stories...

Why We Need A National Hurricane Memorial And Museum

Why We Need A National Hurricane Memorial And Museum

Reposted from Huffington Post, 15 September 2017 As of today the death toll from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma stands at 151 and is likely to rise. Estimates are still murky, but experts predict combined totals in property losses might run up to $200 billion, though that...

The Deferred Maintenance Multiplier

It's clear now that deferred maintenance of infrastructure is going to be a contributing factor to a hefty price tag following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.  There aren't any models yet to predict exactly how far maintenance can lapse before a particular system will...