| Contact Mary Bryant, RiskWorld staff, e-mail bryant@tec-com.com. |
| The Earth orbits the Sun in a sort of cosmic shooting gallery, subject to impacts from comets and asteroids. It is only fairly recently that we have come to appreciate that these impacts by asteroids and comets (often called Near Earth Objects, or NEOs) pose a significant hazard to life and property. (Studies have shown that the risk from cosmic impact increases with the size of the projectile. The greatest risk is associated with objects large enough to perturb the Earth's climate on a global scale by injecting large quantities of dust into the stratosphere.) Although the annual probability of the Earth being struck by a large asteroid or comet is extremely small, the consequences of such a collision are so catastrophic that it is prudent to assess the nature of the threat and prepare to deal with it. (Posted October 1999.) |
| http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/ |
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Coping with Natural Hazards in Canada: Scientific, Government and Insurance Industry Perspectives |
| This report is the outcome of a meeting that was held at the University of Toronto in January 1996, titled “A Round Table on the Insurance Industry, Natural Hazards and Environmental Risks”. (A list of the participants is given in Appendix A.) The purpose of the meeting was to assess the potential for further co-operation between the insurance industry (Property & Casualty) and scientists from the government and from the university with regard to catastrophic losses and environmental liability. A Steering Committee, established to pursue the matter, decided to concentrate on catastrophic losses from natural hazards as a test case for a co-operative enterprise. Within this focus, the committee identified three topics: 1) the definition of an occurrence, 2) the validation of computer models of estimates of probable maximum loss, and 3) an analysis of the patchwork of responsibility for losses from natural hazards. (Posted October 1999.) |
| http://www.utoronto.ca/env/nh/title.htm |
| This international Internet guide to crisis management, crisis communications, issues management, risk management and disaster management is an open platform for researchers, executives, journalists, and other people searching for information about these topics. A German version (Deutsch) of this web site is also available. (Posted September 2000.) |
| http://www.crisisnavigator.org/ (http://www.krisennavigator.de/) |
| Critical hurricane safety information is available at a website launched by the Institute for Business & Home Safety, a Tampa, Florida-based non-profit research and communications organization of the insurance industry. The site includes materials in both English and Spanish on how to make new and existing homes more resistant to hurricane damage; information to help small business owners identify risk and put a disaster safety plan into action; and background on the current hurricane season, including predictions, storm names, and hurricane activity, through links to other important natural disaster safety sites. (Posted June 2001.) |
| http://www.disastersafety.org/ |
| This official website of the National Flood Insurance Program will identify whether a home or business property in the United States is at risk for flooding, will help property owners find an insurance agent who sells flood insurance in their area, and will give an estimate of what the flood insurance policy may cost. The site also provides information about floods, including a definition, descriptions, statistics, and the personal accounts of persons who have experienced flooding. (Also see news release.) (Posted May 2005.) |
| http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/index.jsp |
| The Independent Insurance Agents of America (IIAA) web site includes a special section on natural disaster to provide consumers and insurance agents with valuable disaster tips that will help them before, during, and after an event occurs. Also see Project MAP: Make a Plan. (Posted November 1999.) |
| http://www.iiaa.org/consumer/disaster/default.htm |
| The web site of this comprehensive database of exotic plant names and weed distribution information for five states in the northwestern United States can display the spatial and temporal spread of weeds using historic distribution records, contains examples of how the data are used to improve weed management programs, and includes a noxious weed list section for the lower 48 United States and six southern Canadian provinces that can be searched by plant name, state name, or by clicking on a map. The software design of the INVADERS database structures and web-based query interface can be adapted to cover other regions and/or provide a national/continental scale system for early detection, tracking, and strategic management of invasive species. (Posted August 2000.) |
| http://invader.dbs.umt.edu/ |
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Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder |
| The Natural Hazards Center, located at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA, is a national and international clearinghouse for information on natural hazards and human adjustments to hazards and disasters. The center's prime goal is to increase communication among hazard/disaster researchers and those individuals, agencies, and organizations that are actively working to reduce disaster damage and suffering. The center's web site provides a variety of sources, including information about the center itself; access to the library database HazLit; periodicals, papers, and reports that the center has published; and lists and indices of disaster information that the center has compiled. (Posted February 1999.) |
| http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/ |
| The Natural Hazards Data Resources Directory is a resource for the Disaster and Hazard Management Community of Practitioners and Research Scholars. The Directory includes two types of information: 1) data resources organized by natural hazard topic, and 2) lists of hazard-related organizations. It also includes hypertext links and descriptions of organizations that provide data and information on the following hazards: Avalanche, Earthquake: Social Data, Earthquake: Technical Data, Geotechnical Data, Landslide and Mass Earth Movements, Radon, Tsunami, Volcano, Climatological Data, Coastal Management, Drought, Flood, Hurricane, Severe Storm, Snow and Ice, Tornado and Severe Winds, Water Resources Data, Wildfire Forestry, Societal Response, Building Technology, Transportation, Demographic Data, Disaster Relief, Emergency Preparedness, Information Centers, Research Centers, Libraries, Maps, Charts, Satellite Images, Professional Organizations, and State, Federal, and International Hazard-related Organizations. (Posted October 1999; updated March 2001.) |
| http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/resource/ |
| The Natural Hazards Mitigation Group at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, provides a Web site that describes natural hazards post-graduate studies, the Swiss Disaster Relief Unit, the Volcanoes Mitigation Team, and other information. (Posted November 1995.) |
| http://www.unige.ch/hazards/ |
| This cross-disciplinary journal brings together engineering, the regulatory and policy environments, and the social, behavioral, and physical sciences to natural hazards loss and cost reduction. Articles presenting detailed case studies or reporting original research findings provide innovative and practical solutions to the problems and challenges faced by all sectors of the hazards community. The American Society of Civil Engineers publishes the journal quarterly and invites the submission of articles for publication. The journal's cosponsors include ASCE's Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction and the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. (Posted February 2001.) |
| http://www.pubs.asce.org/journals/nhnews.html |
| The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was established in mid-1998 to help coordinate, and provide a focal point for, the study of those comets and asteroids that can approach (within about 28 million miles of) the Earth's orbit. This web page intends to bring together relevant information on all aspects of Near-Earth Object studies and, in particular, to explain why these objects are so important to life on Earth. (Posted October 1999.) |
| http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ |
| 1906 Earthquake Centennial Alliance |
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The 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake and fire on April 18, 2006, provides a unique opportunity to increase public awareness of seismic hazard and promote earthquake preparedness and mitigation and to explore the ways in which this major natural disaster affected the personal lives, culture, economy and development of Northern California. The website includes a calendar of events, a map of events, and a list of events. (Posted April 2006.) |
| http://1906centennial.org/ |
| The Federal Emergency Management Agency is changing the way America deals with disasters through Project Impact, which helps communities protect themselves from the devastating effects of natural disasters by taking actions that dramatically reduce disruption and loss. (Posted October 1999.) |
| http://www.fema.gov/impact/ |
| Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), a leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, has developed a web site in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Project Impact in part to provide multi-hazard maps and information to U.S. residents, business owners, schools, community groups, and local governments via the Internet. The information is intended to assist in building disaster resistant communities across the country by sharing geographic knowledge about local hazards. (Posted October 1999.) |
| http://www.esri.com/hazards/ |
| The Independent Insurance Agents of America have developed this guide to help families minimize the amount of damage from a major natural disaster by planning ahead, before it occurs. The information will be useful wherever a family lives, whether in a house, a condominium, or an apartment, since all are vulnerable to natural disaster. (Posted November 1999.) |
| http://www.independentagent.com/Project%20Map/default.htm |
| Public Entity Risk Institute |
| This not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization serves public, private, and nonprofit organizations as a dynamic, forward thinking resource for the practical enhancement of risk management. Its web site includes the Clearinghouse database, which provides information and links to hundreds of risk management, safety, disaster management, and other resources; a news center that includes PERIscope, the institute's quarterly newsletter; and information about the PERI Grant and Research Program, with descriptions of the projects it has funded or is funding. (Posted September 2000.) |
| http://www.riskinstitute.org/ |
| Storm Prediction Center |
| The Storm Prediction Center, one of nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction, which are part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, uses the most advanced technology and scientific methods available to provide timely and accurate forecasts and watches for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes over the contiguous United States. The center also monitors heavy rain, heavy snow, and fire weather events across the U.S. and issues specific products for those hazards. (Posted March 2001.) |
| http://www.spc.noaa.gov/ |
| Tropical Storm Risk |
| Founded in the year 2000, Tropical Storm Risk offers a leading resource for forecasting the risk from tropical storms worldwide. The venture provides innovative forecast products to increase risk awareness and to help decision making within the (re)insurance industry, other business sectors, government and society (Posted August 2004.) |
| http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/ |
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