They have gathered together books, reports and articles on topics as diverse as Human Behavior, Federal Aid, Media, Coast Guard, Victims, Property Losses, Resilience… the list goes on and on. Books and articles are citation links only (unless you happen to be an NETC LRC patron), but many of the reports are linked directly through the LRC catalog.

If you’re a University of Richmond Library patron, feel free to contact me about getting access to any of the books and articles you find through this page.

[Image courtesy of NOAA's Environmental Visualization Program.]

Some of the best information for the field of Emergency Services Management comes from the practitioners, and the Natural Hazards Observer is no exception. A free publication from the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Natural Hazards Center, this bi-monthly newsletter takes an ‘all-hazards’ approach to disaster preparedness and hazard mitigation. The stated goal of the Natural Hazards Center is to promote information sharing between researchers, practitioners and policy makers, and their newsletter fits that mission beautifully. It also manages to do so in a funny (sometimes snarky!) way, with political-style cartoons to illustrate the articles clearly.

In-depth articles, written for those with a general overall level of knowledge in the field, cover a range of news-worthy events. January’s issue, for example, contained articles on Haiti’s recovery and the challenges that country faces, TSA scanner issues and their coverage in the news, polio in the Congo, the summer heat waves in Russia, how to communicate effectively about emergency management and natural hazards issues, and an “invited comment” from a California-based emergency manager who discussed the rationale behind a “72-hour” readiness-plan, from a psychological, physical and even PR standpoint. As useful as the articles are (they are filled with quotes, links and statistics, with endnotes where applicable), my favorite part of the newsletters come at the end, in the “Resources” section. Here, studies, websites and publications of interest are reviewed in detail. Much of my collection development work for building the ESM collection at Boatwright Library comes from this section. Finally, the “Contracts and Grants” section gives an excellent overview of who is working on what, and those types of contacts are often the best resources for researchers.

There are three places I would look immediately for these reports. The first is on the open web. Many of the individual Corps of Engineers districts have their own websites, with linked documents. This is relatively easy if the information you are seeking is geographically-specific, such as New Orleans or Portland, OR. Searching USA.gov has also been made easier by recent improvements.

For University of Richmond users, our subscription to the Homeland Security Digital Library (accessible either on-campus or by using VPN) allows us to search a number of these documents easily. I did an Advanced Search, using the words “Army Corps of Engineers” in the Publisher field, and found many interesting items.

Finally, for reports ABOUT the Corps of Engineers, it always pays to look at my favorite government research agency, the Congressional Research Service. Open CRS doesn’t allow for many tweaks to a search, so choose your search terms carefully.

*I believe it was this one: “Federal Reports Show Levee Safety Issues in Northwest”. NPR very helpfully links to the full list of USACE reports referenced in the story.

Here’s an amazing find, thanks to those good folks at the US Fire Administration Library. 290 titles are included so far, with topics ranging from technical reports on investigations of specific fires, to public education, to training manuals for firefighters and educational material for administrators. Technical overviews, such as “Fire in the United States: 1986-1995“, transcripts from Congressional hearings and special reports and analysis are also included, making this resource indispensable for researchers. Like anything from Google, it’s easy to search, either within individual titles or the entire collection; someone has also very helpfully organized the titles into a few specific subjects, such as arson, fire prevention, etc.

With U of R alumni (and former “Leader-in-Residence” at the Jepson School) Leland Melvin serving as a mission specialist on this shuttle flight, I couldn’t help but mention NASA’s great online database of hurricane and typhoon images and information. With everything from current storm outlooks to educator resources to 3-D views of historic storms, it’s a fantastic resource.

(far left) Spider Leland Melvin

CQ Researcher (available to the U of R community through Boatwright Memorial Library), offers a number of reports on topics dealing with the flu, including vaccine safety, emergency medicine, combating infectious diseases and, perhaps most relevant, one entitled, “Avian Flu Threat: Are we prepared for the next pandemic?” These reports are incredibly in-depth, giving the background, current situation and future outlook, as well as a bibliography, maps and charts, a chronology for the issue, and even contacts – people and groups who are SME’s on the material in question. My favorite part of a CQ Report, however, has to be the “Pro/Con” section, in which a question is asked relating to the topic. Two experts in the field, either from their testimony before Congress or in an essay written specifically for CQ, give their answer to the question. In the Avian Flu Threat report, for example, the question was, “Is there a serious risk of a human pandemic of avian flu?” The testimony of Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota before the House Committee on International Relations answers the “pro” side of the question; Michael Fumento of the Hudson Institute, writing expressly for CQ, answered the “con” side.

Another resource, similarly aimed at giving background information to journalists, is the Nieman Center for Journalism at Harvard. Their “Covering Pandemic Flu” page offers a treasure trove of information. There’s an introduction, which includes the definition and etymology of the word “pandemic”, and an overview of the science behind the hype; pandemic preparedness at multiple levels, from individual to global; essays on the press coverage of flu, from veteran reporters in various countries; crisis communications information from Communications Directors at WHO and CDC; and finally, a history, glossary and bibliography of pandemic influenza. All the information has been developed and vetted by the Nieman Foundation, although links to other relevant material are offered.

DISASTER RECOVERY
Experiences from Past Disasters Offer Insights for Effective Collaboration after Catastrophic Events

Highlights of GAO-09-811, a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate

In the wake of the 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes, coordination and collaboration challenges created obstacles during the government’s response and recovery efforts. Because of the many stakeholders involved in recovery, including all levels of government, it is critical to build collaborative relationships. Building on GAO’s September 2008 report which provided several key recovery practices from past  catastrophic disasters, this report presents examples of how federal, state, and local governments have effectively collaborated in the past. GAO reviewed five catastrophic disasters—the Loma Prieta  earthquake (California, 1989), Hurricane Andrew (Florida, 1992), the Northridge earthquake (California, 1994), the Kobe earthquake (Japan, 1995), and the Grand Forks/Red River flood (North Dakota and Minnesota, 1997)—to identify recovery lessons. GAO interviewed officials involved in the recovery from these disasters and experts on disaster recovery. GAO also reviewed relevant legislation, policies, and the disaster recovery literature.

What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends the Secretary of Homeland Security direct the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) to create a mechanism focused on sharing information and lessons learned regarding disaster recovery, including good collaborative practices. The Department of Homeland Security concurred with our recommendation.

The idea of looking for ‘lessons learned’ across a different types of disasters struck me as interesting. We tend to see research done on the after-effects of hurricanes, for example, but why shouldn’t there be lessons for emergency planners in all types of disaster recoveries?

Take H1N1, for instance. What is the best way to quickly disseminate authoritative information about the disease? PLoS (Public Library of Science), a leader in open-access, peer-reviewed publishing, to the rescue!

“PLoS Currents: Influenza, which we are launching today, is built on three key components: a small expert research community that PLoS is working with to run the website; Google Knol with new features that allow content to be gathered together in collections after being vetted by expert moderators; and a new, independent database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) called Rapid Research Notes, where research targeted for rapid communication, such as the content in PLoS Currents: Influenza will be freely and permanently accessible. To ensure that researchers are properly credited for their work, PLoS Currents content will also be given a unique identifier by the NCBI so that it is citable.”

While the postings are not subject to the same rigorous peer-review process as formally published scientific journals use, “inappropriate” submissions are being screened out by two experts in the fields of microbiology and infectious disease. While many of the articles listed are focused specifically on the biology of the virus, other topics can be found here as well, such as “Swine origin influenza A (H1N1) virus and ICU capacity in the US: Are we prepared?” and “Reducing influenza spreading over the airline network“, which uses different models to determine the most effective method for containing the spread of disease through air travel.

The National Library of Medicine maintains a collection of more than 30 environmental health websites under the auspices of the Environmental Health and Toxicology SIS (Specialized Information Services). Topics covered range from the specific (Health effects from the collapse of the World Trade Center) to the general (Tornadoes).  The links contained within each page vary, but most begin with a set of ‘Overview’ links, all from US Government sites, and then may go on to include links to glossaries, data and research sites, and law and policy. Almost all include links to specialized research from the National Library of Medicine’s databases, such as Pubmed, Toxline, Hazardous Substances Data Bank, ChemID Plus, Household Products Database, Tox Town and Medline Plus.