Posts filed under 'Disaster Preparedness'
Huge Earthquake Test Validates Performance Based Seismic Design
As someone who lives on a very active part of the Pacific Ring of Fire ( Southern California) the advances that are occurring in design to withstand this potential disaster are extremely exciting!
Yesterday in Japan some scientists tested this design process by subjecting a 6 story condominium structure to a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and the structure survived with little damage! The piece on NPR’s All Things Considered is here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106611639.
Here is a video about the lab in Japan where the test took place. While not the video of the actual event it is very well done and present the topic with great clarity. Courtesy of National Geographic (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080922-quake-video-ap.html)
The field has advanced to the point where annual conferences are being organized and learned papers being presented like at this recent conference (http://www.ctbuh.org/EventsReferencePage/090430_ASCEStructures/tabid/680/Default.aspx).
It is looking like the old rule about earthquake building code where it is only there to make the building stand up long enough for you to get out before it falls down a thing of the past.
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment July 16, 2009
Looking at the Neighborhood around your location
Often we look only at our buildings or even campuses and wonder why we have problems or think we are prepared to the worst nature can throw at us. If we forget to look at the neighborhood and our surrounding areas we will probably be in for a nasty surprise.
Why am I writing about this now you ask? Well the American Lung Association just came out with it annual listing of the worst places to live due to air pollution (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/18099) (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30476335/) and of course I live in in one of the worst! Now I already knew this but it brings it back into focus and it serves as a reminder of how we sometimes operate with blinders on.
One of the basic ideas on this subject is of course flooding or how soon will my area experience a flood that will damage or destroy my site? There are lots of resources that cover this and the one you most need to look at is the FEMA site (http://msc.fema.gov/). These maps rate the area you are in in the standard annual, 10 year and 100 year risk categories. However if you are in California there is a new type of flood risk you need to be concerned about, that which will occur due to global warming. As part of your building permit approvals you now have to take into account potential sea level rise when building near the coast. Here is a great resource to start with on this subject (http://flood.firetree.net/?ll=43.3251,-101.6015&z=13&m=7).
The next set of resources need to be used in conjunction with Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/).
First we have the FEMA maps overlay for Google Earth (https://hazards.fema.gov/femaportal/wps/portal/NFHLWMSkmzdownload).
Next we have three overlays that deal with real time and historic earthquake activity (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/virtualtour/global.php)
And to be really topical we even have one that maps the spread of the flu! (http://declanbutler.info/blog/?p=58) or (http://www.mapcruzin.com/swine-flu/)
I also have an overlay that shows various pollution causing entities such as power plants and the like but am unable at this moment to find the link. When I do I will put it in a follow up post. However here is on that shows maps of toxic releases reported to the EPA (http://www.mapcruzin.com/toxicrisk/index.htm).
All of this technology is nice but I also encourage you to get out and walk or drive around your neighborhood and note the names of those businesses that seem to have operations that might be at cross purposes to your mission.
As an example I was noticing and receiving complaints about the amounts of dust in our offices. This was easily answered by the fact of the asphalt plant and the concrete plant both with in 3 blocks of our location, not to mention the freeway interchange visible from our front door. All of these would be important to me if I were planning for an optimal location as I am the proud possessor of life long asthma. However it is also good to know if you have a fireworks factory next door when preparing your fire fighting plans!
Lastly this information will certainly affect you organizations insurance costs and may allow you to negotiate some cost savings as situations change. FEMA occasionally updates their flood maps and you may find yourself suddenly better off!
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
2 comments May 3, 2009
Swine Flu – Time to dust off those disaster plans
It is beginning to look there might be a serious chance that we might be facing another true flue pandemic threat. This swine or Mexican flu depending on what country the news is coming from sounds pretty real from a threat perspective.
Often we concentrate on our physical assets when we create a disaster plan for our organization, forgetting that you can’t run a business without people!
It is important to have call in procedures distributed to your staff so that current and accurate information can be handed out. Also your Human Resources department should be reviewing medical leave procedures and sending out reminders in case of a general emergency.
It should also enforce as a good general practice, encouraging employees to stay home until they are well or at least non-contagious.
Here are a couple of web articles, one that gives some goo, green advice on how to reduce your overall risk from Supereco (http://www.supereco.com/news/2009/04/27/swine-flu-update-protect-yourself-naturally/) and an argument for stronger public heath systems from the NRDC (http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/gsolomon/swine_flu_the_need_for_a_stron.html)
Stay safe and help your organization weather the possible crisis!
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
Add comment April 27, 2009
If you could predict an earthquake, should you?
I just finished reading a couple of very interesting articles in Disaster Recovery Journal. They are kind of a point, counterpoint on the subject of disaster prediction. Here they are considering earthquakes and what would be the ramifications of warning a major population center of an upcoming event.
The first article which appeared in the Fall 2008 issue (http://www.drj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2335&Itemid=419&ed=48) argues in favor of not warning because of the potential for panic, looting, civil unrest and a run on the local banks. It is a pretty scary scenario.
Excerpt: “In fact, an advance prediction of any major natural disaster like an earthquake will let loose another kind of man-made disaster that can actually cause more damage than the impending natural disaster. To understand how, just imagine any densely populated city in any country containing a few million citizens. Imagine a situation where some reliable agency predicts a guaranteed major quake that will hit the city in the next 24 hours, and blasts the warning through mails, text messages, radio, TV, public address system, etc.
Now imagine what will happen next.“
Now on the other or counterpoint side is the arguement that yes you should, as long as the predicition can be made accurately. (http://www.drj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2411&Itemid=419&ed=49)
This piece carefully rebuts all of the points in the previous article using the experiance of the US hurricane and tornado warning systems showing that warnings made have saved lives, property and have not resulted in any of the panic driven scenarios drawn up in the first article.
Excerpt: “Generally, the tornado and hurricane warning systems have cut death rates (deaths per thousand population) by more than 90 percent in the last 60 years!
Storm warnings aren’t just a matter of interest just to the public: B2B warnings of high-impact weather are an essential element of business continuity. On Feb. 5, 2008, I was involved in issuing a tornado warning to the Caterpillar plant in Oxford, Miss., allowing them to move more than 80 employees on-site at the time to shelter before the storm hit. The story of Caterpillar’s people rallying to restore production in less than two weeks is the story of a feature article in The Wall Street Journal of May 19, 2008. The fact the warning kept their people safe and ready to return immediately to work underpinned the recovery effort.
In my book manuscript, “Warnings – The Remarkable True Story of Science’s Battle to Tame the Weather,” I document the development of the storm warning system in the United States that protects us every day. Other geosciences can adapt what meteorologists have learned into more effective warnings for tsunamis and volcanoes and, when scientifically possible, earthquakes.
There is no reason, given sufficient accuracy, earthquake warnings should not be made public just like warnings of tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards. Let’s hope earthquake science progresses to the point we have that opportunity to save lives and property.“
I agree with the author in that warnings should absolutely be issued when they become accurate and I sincerely hope that they become so soon as I live in Southern California!
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
1 comment January 21, 2009
Can your laptop help with earthquake research?
I came across a very interesting concept the other night while listening to a netcast called “This Week in Technology” or TWIT(http://www.twit.tv/ ) for those of you in the know on such things. Interspersed with the other tech news was a discussion about how some folks at Stanford University are going to employ peoples laptops to further earthquake research.
It is called the Quake Catcher Network and the site for the program is to be found here:http://qcn-web.stanford.edu/
Here is the site for a good general explainer on the program and the subject:
(http://crowdsourcepower.blogspot.com/)
Excerpt:
1 comment October 7, 2008
Ghost Towns – Past Present and Future?
One of the more amazing things you can visit is a so called ghost town. These are really more properly called abandoned, but ghost sounds so much cooler.
In the first part of our tour we have a site featuring 5 real life ghost towns. I have actually visited one of these listed as Bodie is a California State Park and as such is open to tourists. Some of the others listed aren’t such as Jonestown, Guyana. (http://thelistblog.com/2008/05/24/5-real-life-ghost-towns-as-eerie-as-silent-hill/)
Our next stop really isn’t an abandoned place, but it has such a neat story I had to include it. It is called the Devil’s Bridge.
Excerpt:
“Having been adequately convinced since childhood that the devil was safely locked away in the cracks of the footpath – or wherever – imagine our shock and horror when we discovered the horny beast has been hiding out in Italy the whole time.
Yes, it’s true… well, kind of. A Tuscan legend has it that during the construction of the Ponte del Diavolo, near Borgo a Mozzano, the sole stonemason building it was having a terrible time. He was convinced that he’d never be able to get the bridge finished by the set deadline, which would upset both the town’s folk and the local governor, not something highly recommended in medieval times as the consequences were often messy.
Being a man true to his word and distraught at the idea of not completing the bridge on time, the builder became anxious and despondent, until one day, while he was looking at the unfinished bridge wondering how he was going to complete it in time the devil appeared to him in the form of a respectable businessman – as he does. The builder’s new scheming friend offered to help complete the bridge overnight but, in exchange for his handiwork he demanded the soul of the first person to cross the bridge. Reluctantly, the desperate builder agreed.” The rest of the story as well as more pictures are here: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/behold-the-devil%E2%80%99s-bridge/2069
One of the more interesting items I found when researching this subject is a compendium of links about abandoned places in Flickr. It has quite an extensive listing and can be found on Web Urbanist: http://weburbanist.com/2008/08/24/abandoned-buildings-places-property-links/
Lastly tonight is an article on Forbes.com about places throughout the world that are likely to become the ghost towns of the next century due to various reasons: http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/06/11/ghost-cities-future-biz-cx_21cities_ee_0611ghostcities_slide_3.html?thisSpeed=30000
Excerpt: “Could some of the world’s cities disappear by 2100? It’s hard to predict, of course, but factors as diverse as global warming, industrial decay and aging populations mean that even as the global urban population continues to grow, some cities are facing possible extinction.”
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
1 comment September 1, 2008
Earthquake Preparedness – Are You Ready?
Since I got a 5.4 magnitude reminder today I thought that a post about earthquake preparedness would be a good subject. Yes I do live in the Los Angeles area and it seems we dodged the big one yet again…..
However there are numerous resources brought you by all manner of government agencies and private organizations. I believe that one of the most prudent is that one put together by the City of Los Angeles Fire Department (http://lafd.org/eqbook.pdf). It comes as a well thought out PDF file, easily printed out to keep with your emergency kit. You do have an emergency kit don’t you? It covers building that kit and a great many other preparedness items as well as instructions and directions that will be helpful during and after an earthquake.
Next I would like to point you toward a great collection of links and resources brought to you by the United States Geological Survey Agency (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/preparedness.php) The links include advice on how to minimize damage in and about your home as well and good child friendly explainers to help reassure your family before and after an event.
Of course FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) also has a set of resources on the subject: http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/earthquakes.shtm
I also want to include the American Red Cross’s site even though it is basically a repeat of the sources listed above except that it includes a Spanish language version of this information that the other sites lack: http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_583_,00.html
I have also found one more site that has some additional information about high frequency earthquake areas as well as skeptical analysis of some of the bad information out there like the SciFi Channel TV show that talks about an impossible 10.5 magnatude earthquake. http://www.earthquakecountry.info/
Lastly I want to mention a device that should be on all homes and businesses in earthquake country. It is an earthquake shut off valve for your natural gas line. Here is a page with a good diagram of one and a short explanation of how they work. (http://www.seismo.unr.edu/nesc/eamw/gas.pdf) Now keep in mind that these devices should be installed by a licensed contractor or plumber and that you must get the permission of the utility and city to install one. Every city and utility has their own approved devices and methods that must be followed. In Southern California a good estimate of pricing would be between $300 – $500 depending on the city. However if the device prevents a fire and saves your home the cost is more than fair and may even get you a discount on your home insurance.
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
2 comments July 29, 2008
Disaster Preparedness – Part 4 Preparing to Act
If you have been following the previous posts on this subject you have a a basic disaster plan for your site. How do you know when to activate? How do you get the latest information on potential or in process events? I will be putting forth some resources to help you with these and other similar issues.
Now a lot of things we think of as disasters have warning systems in place if we would only pay attention to them. Weather is the first one that comes to mind and has several methods ranging from almost free to ones with substantial cost. On the almost free end is NOAA’s All Hazards Radio: http://www.weather.gov/nwr/.
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NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office. NWR broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
With the use of this system monitoring of severe weather is pretty straight forward. However businesses that are effected more severely by weather may want to subscribe to more sophisticated systems such as those provided by Accuweather.com: (http://www.accuweather.com/adc2004/pub/products_services/construction.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&header=b)
The most comprehensive and expensive service is the one called Skyguard (form the web site): “Our comprehensive weather risk management and monitoring system combines a dedicated team of experienced meteorologists and business analysts with robust software to help you manage the impact of weather on your people, your property and, ultimately, your bottom-line profitability. SkyGuard®’s weather risk management solutions provide:
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Site-specific risk assessment |
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Weather Impact analysis & system design |
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SmartRAD Weather Information & Monitoring System |
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Redundant weather risk warning system |
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24×7 access to meteorologists |
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High availability with minimal impact on your infrastructure |
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Metrics to measure success |
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SkyGuard Extensions |
Another system that has been around in some form is the Emergency Alert System (http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/services/eas/). This system is that one were the local broadcasters are diverted to provide emergency news and information. Of course this is only effective if you are monitoring local radio or TV during the work day or after some emergency has already happened and you are already having to respond.
There are also numerous options at various news websites for email, or text message to your cell phone the local news headlines or breaking news. If you are the person tasked with the emergency response there is not cheaper way to be tapped into the local and national news.
These options I have been discussing should help you be more prepared to meet an emergency situation that you could possibly see coming like those related to weather and civil unrest. Items such as earthquakes (I live in Southern California), terror attacks and catastrophic infrastructure failures aren’t predictable, at least yet.
Next time I will discuss communication in the middle and after an event. Have a great week.
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
1 comment July 13, 2008
Access Control Cards – Are they really secure?
The news broke to day that over in London England hackers succeeded in cloning or duplicating the cards that most Londoner’s use to ride on mass transit. These so called Oyster Cards are a version of smart card that is used in a great many other places for access control to secured areas. The Dutch government has issued a country wide security alert due to the fact that they use the same or at least very similar technology at most of their government buildings!
Both Wired Magazine (http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/hackers-crack-l.html) and the Evening Standard in London have articles on this story (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23454596-details/Oyster+card+cloning+fears/article.do).
This is just the latest problem with this technology to come to the surface. The main problems with these systems is that they are often specified incorrectly and sometimes just installed poorly. Also they are only as good as the people who have administrative access. I took over the management of a fairly simple system at a large corporate site and was amazed that the functionality of the software wasn’t even fully enabled and the previous administrator had made no real effort to audit the system. I spent a very hectic 3 weeks auditing the system, inventorying the access rights of several hundred employees and getting the reporting module actually working!
There is a very good white paper on some best pratices for these systems here: (http://www.smart-id.com/documents/Access_Control_Industry_Best_Practices_wp_en.pdf).
The news is full of successful attempts to bypass these systems. Another story from Wired magazine: (http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/open-sesame-acc.html)
Now I am not saying that I am dead set against using these devices, just that you need to realize that they are far from perfect or fool proof. Just like any other similar system such as a burgler alarm they need to be designed carefully, used with their limitations firmly in mind and monitored constantly.
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, Stumble Upon or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
1 comment June 25, 2008
Mold Remediation – Part 3 Testing Labs
In my previous 2 posts on this subject I have laid out a fairly complete plan for dealing with this type of problem. There are a couple of areas where you could be tripped up in this process however.
The first is getting the areas tested by a reputable lab and the other is understanding the results and how that determines the overall scope of work.
Hiring a reputable lab is very important as it will determine the overall success of the remediation and have a direct influence on the total cost of the project. The method that I generally suggest is that you hire a firm with a certified Industrial Hygienist either as principal or on staff who will be developing and certifying the results and the scope of work for the remediation.
Here are three organizations who certify and list consultants in your area:
ABIH: http://www.abih.org/
ACGIH: http://www.acgih.org/home.htm
AIHA: http://www.aiha.org/Content
It is also helpful to ask for referrals from other facility professionals and always ask for references from the lab and make sure you call several of them. Ask about overall service, timeliness, and how comfortable they were with the explanations provided about why their particular scope of work was required. Also the testing lab should always be separate from the remediation contractor as they are the equivalent to the building inspector for this process and anything other than a separate firm would make me worry.
Lastly for today make sure that the report is explained to you and that you understand all that is being asked for in the scope of work, keep asking questions of the hygienist until you are completely clear.
As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com
1 comment June 6, 2008
