Disasters Geohazards Mapping Summit

Program for hazard and environmental mapping conference Time: December 4, 2014 at 8am to December 12, 2014 at 9pm Location: Manila Hotel, Philippines Street: 1 Rizal Park, Roxas Boulevard City/Town: City of Manila, Philippines Website or Map: http://hmesmanila.blogspot.com Phone: +6325059436 +6325058107 Mobile: +639212261611,+639174760651 Event Type: conference Organizers: Resource Recovery Movement. A project of Center for Human and Society (Centre di Humanes et Societas, Inc.)

Friday, November 22, 2013

Letter to the UN Secretary General

Open Letter to the United Nations

November 21, 2013

HIS EXCELLENCY
BAN KI MOON
Secretary General
The United Nations
UN Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
USA

Dearest Secretary General Ban:

Our warmest greetings!

Kindly please understand, I had seriously debated on whether to send this communication to you or not. I decided on going through with it since I believe that the result would turn out for the better. Nothing that transpired in the past has diminished nor degraded my respect and love for the UN. I have no intention in demeaning anyone's position or creating anything negative between myself, my group and the UN even if that can't be helped, but this has to be done, and I shall humbly embrace the consequences of my act. More > >

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preventionweb submissions

The Global Geohazard System

The paper proposes geohazard mapping to form the GGS, map out and tag risk areas to be able to engage in readiness-preparedness activities.

This geohazard map of earthquakes should form one of the several overlaying or correlational maps. Combined with a fully functional GIS on constantly updated sensing operations, monitoring of shifting (subduction, attenuation) of tectonic plates and other related inputs, this could form the seismic portion of the GGS along with a hydrological section, a section on meteorologics and a full GIS on forest, subsea activity, and overall earth crust and sub-surface movements. Other sections that will be necessary are those that relate to living organisms.

The GGS differs from the Group on Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) in that the function of said system is very broad and does not specifically intend to simply compile a GIS map relevant to disaster but to so many issues and subjects that are touched by earth observation. GGS is a very focused effort and specifically concentrates on early warning systems for all communities that will be rendered vulnerable to a coming catastrophic event, a number of which could have tragic effects such as wiping out entire populations in specific coverage areas. Despite its years of existence, GEOSS has never been able to do anything positive about minimizing the casualty at Sendai, Fukushima, Haiti and Tacloban City tragedies. The GGS is proposed precisely to correct that flaw.

View full document [PDF 1.44 MB]

On the Tacloban Declaration: A simple message for ‪#‎ASEM‬ Manila

The ‪#‎Tacloban‬ experience of ‪#‎Haiyan‬ / ‪#‎Yolanda‬ is both challenging and fraught with danger. Within the context of a world community slowly becoming more aware of the diminishing validity of certain combines that still keep going through the very same motions of guiding and leading this planet's population into their perceived state of well being. It cannot be overemphasized that the new normal will have to incorporate the very resources with which to nourish disaster preparedness, risk prevention and response. In the Tacloban experience, many governments opted to donate directly to a lot of towns outside of Tacloban and if possible, in an incognito manner whereas it is public knowledge in that area that more or less tens of thousands died in the Tacloban tragedy and only measly 20s or 50s or a few hundreds perished in the other places. Read more

preventionweb

Forecasting with confidence

This paper addresses the gain the Philippine scientific community can get from the positive, constructive use of precedents, models, patterns and trends. It highlights the Global Scale Wave Model (GSWM), put up by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to provide a better understanding and forward perspectives on hydrologic movements around the world, and the GEO System of Systems of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), from where countries and institutions can cull a huge amount of data about geohazards, past and forthcoming disasters. It argues for all these sources of data to be able to guide weather, seismic and volcanic activity forecasting around the world.

View full document [PDF 1.44 MB]

Governments distracted by Fight vs. Climate Change

After the 2005 Hyogo Conference, scientists urged the United Nations to consider that the various conflicting issues surrounding Climate Change is "distracting governments" from providing solutions to threats of disasters worldwide.

"The current UN focus on "fighting climate change," as illustrated in the Nov. 27 UN Development Programme's Human Development Report, is distracting governments from adapting to the threat of inevitable natural climate changes, whatever forms they may take. National and international planning for such changes is needed, with a focus on helping our most vulnerable citizens adapt to conditions that lie ahead. Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity's real and pressing problems."

A letter written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon ventilated sentiments of scientists and technology experts on the issue of focusing deeper into finding means to adapt to the threat of climate change.

Post-Disaster

Reconstruction and Recovery

The World Bank says thattimely reconstruction will help lessen the impact of super typhoon Yolanda. Before we digest these words, it is also significant to look back into the past.

There was a time in fairly recent past when NBC news anchor Brian Williamssounded like a broken record repeating the words over and over again that: Aviation in the United States of America is dying.

This is now true with Philippine air line companies and selected several other businesses in the Philippines right at this very moment.

During the post-Yolanda period, only at least one air line company that very enterprisingly lowered its passenger rates (presumably including for cargo) per seat-mile, notwithstanding that the Philippine government ordered that a number of fees and charges being levied in the aviation sector will be waived, among other behests in order to lessen the burden for victims of the calamity and those that had to fly to ground zero to participate in disaster relief and recovery operations. It is not difficult to hear a wisecrack such as: this suddenly successful air line company must have entered into a conspiracy with Yolanda just to boost its sales. More > >

Disaster Issues: Working with the Government

Every private individual or private sector group that engages in response during disaster cooperates and coordinates very closely with the public sector. Both the printed and the unwritten rule is always that the Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) is the chief agency on the ground during calamity.

Therefore, when operations are retarded and stunted, during sub-normal operating conditions, always the blame will go to the public sector.

The severe delay in responding to the devastated Leyte, Samar, Cebu and other areas left hundreds of thousands to millions hungry. As citizens themselves reported during the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), people were walking the streets like zombies, hungry and totally disoriented, many days following the ravaging by the calamity and yet no aid was forthcoming. More > >

Photo credit: EPA

Themes: #Haiyan, #Yolanda, #Yolandahelp, #Yolandaph, corruption, disaster response, graft, relief,corruption,politicizing disaster response

Friday, November 22, 2013

Letter to the UN Secretary General

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