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?
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 Hurricanes Harvey and Irma won’t lead to action on climate change
Cross posted from The Conversation 17 September 2017 It’s not easy to hold the nation’s attention for long, but three solid weeks of record-smashing hurricanes directly affecting multiple states and at least 20 million people will do it. Clustered disasters hold our...
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...