Worth a look
Missing Journalist James Foley now thought held by Syrian government, report says
Foley in June, 2011
U.S. Journalist James Foley, missing in Syria since Thansgiving 2012, is now thought to be being held by the Syrian government.
"With a very high degree of confidence, we now believe that Jim was most likely abducted by a pro-regime militia group and subsequently turned over to Syrian government forces,” GlobalPost CEO and President Philip Balboni said on May 3 during a speech marking World Press Freedom Day. (Full story) This is the second time in 18 months that the 2008 Medill School of Journalism graduate has been taken captive in a war zone.
“The family appeals for the release of Jim unharmed,” his relatives said on a web site focused on getting him freed. He was kidnapped in northwest Syria on Thanksgiving Day, the family said.
Watch video archive of May 3 World Press Freedom Day event in Boston: “Silenced Voices: When Conflict Journalists Go Missing.”
Posts by Brad Stenger
Understanding political risk
(Jun. 10, 2011)Months ago, Matthew Hochstein, a project director with the Evanston-based emergency management consulting firm Hagerty Consulting, explained how the government prioritizes resources when it comes to preparing for, and then dealing with emergency events. “Prioritizing resources is a tough job,” he said. “It’s very complicated because you’re dealing with not just multiple states, but multiple regions. For example, the water/ice/MREs in the first 72 hours is probably the first and most important thing next to … (Continue reading . . .)
The marathon-EMS symbiosis
(Jun. 10, 2011)After you and thousands of others have run hundreds of miles to prepare for the big race, public safety officials are using that same big race to prepare for potential disasters. Be glad. It’s making both your race day and your community safer. Big races are a big opportunity for the city’s emergency management services (EMS). “They know this event happens. They know it’s every year on this day,” says George Chiampas, medical director for … (Continue reading . . .)
Emergency management community slow to transfer technology
(Jun. 10, 2011)Urban search and rescue robot moving through rubble in 2007 government tests. (credit: NIST) Researchers at the University of Oklahoma and at Texas Tech are developing technologies to improve disaster prediction and response, but emergency managers are not as quick to move these advances out of the lab and into the field. Oklahoma mathematician Theodore Trefalis works on artificial intelligence methods that have been shown to improve the short-term prediction of tornadoes. His methods use … (Continue reading . . .)
Catastrophe Bonds: Financial Security against Disasters
(Jun. 03, 2011)Corrected on August 3, 2011. The original version misidentified the company Mariah Re as O’Ryan Re. The Central U.S. is a tornado sweet spot. During spring and early summer, the west-to-east flow of cooler air in the upper atmosphere can slap tropical air masses traveling north from the Gulf of Mexico so violently it creates a swirling vortex that concentrates the warm air’s considerable energy, a tornado. They are inevitable. They are destructive. And they are … (Continue reading . . .)
No money for mitigation; Media not helping
(May. 27, 2011)On May 24, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the current Homeland Security appropriations bill for 2012 fiscal year, and cut $1.1 billion from its fiscal 2011 level. It’s the first time the Homeland Security budget has been cut. Looking inside the budget, there is a miniscule amount available for state and local government to take preventive disaster mitigation measures for their critical infrastructure. Those mitigation steps are intended to make sure buildings are structurally … (Continue reading . . .)
How solid are schools in the New Madrid zone?
(May. 24, 2011)Public schools in California have strict building codes for earthquake protection, but state regulators have been lax with their oversight, according to reports by California Watch, a Berkeley-based independent investigative journalism project. The Midwestern U.S. is, like California, prone to earthquakes, specifically around the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). What are the earthquake risks to public school buildings in the eight-state region? The zone, whose epicenter is New Madrid, Mo., includes Memphis, Tenn., St. Louis, … (Continue reading . . .)
ShakeOut!
(May. 02, 2011)An estimated 3 million people participated in The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut last Thursday, an exercise encouraging citizens to “drop, cover and hold on” in a simulated major earthquake drill. Drop, cover and hold on is the recommended action to take when you feel the ground shake significantly beneath you. Drop means to go to the ground yourself, before the shaking has a chance to knock you down. Cover means to seek shelter and get … (Continue reading . . .)
Designing Streets for Emergencies
(May. 02, 2011)John Norquist, President of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a Chicago group that promotes walkable, mixed-use, sustainable communities. A siren wails and the question looms, will the ambulance, fire engine or police car get where it needs to in time? The answer depends on the design of the town or city. “You could either have this suburban kind of street network or you could have the street grid,” said Jacky Grimshaw, an urban transportation … (Continue reading . . .)
