Disasters

New York businesses are doing OK regarding business continuity planning
Since the large blackout that shut down New York businesses three years ago, companies have jumped on board the business continuity train and are implementing continuity plans; AT&T surveyed these companies and found that most are taking the issue seriously
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Loral Skynet to use net optimization tool from Allot
Loral Skynet, a global communications provider, will begin using a Minnesota-based company’s optimization tool, allowing it to better track the behavior of subscribers and solve contingency problems when they arise
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U.S. BioDefense gains total control of EDS
U.S. BioDefense expands its services by gaining 100 percent control of EDS; the acquisition works well for EDS as well as the emergency preparedness and disaster recovery industry is expected to spend billions in 2007
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California prepares all-in-one business recovery and continuity plan
Hurricane Katrina was a great example of the need for states to have their own continuity plans; California has learned the lesson from the Gulf Coast region and is preparing to secure its own critical infrastructure in an all-in-one plan
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Memex offers information gathering solution to JRIC
Intelligence is important, and this is why Memex is providing an interoperable intelligence management system to the JRIC, a multi-agency terrorism and crime fighting unit
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VivoMetrics LifeShirt offers answers about firefighters; helps in setting standards
Some two decades ago, as women fighting for equal rights wanted to become firefighters, there were questions raised (mostly by men) about women’s physical ability to cope with the demands of the profession; a California company now offers a way scientifically and accurately to answer many questions about firefighters’ ability to cope with the stress and rigor of the job – and also help in setting training and safety standards for the profession
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Rotor-less helicopter holds promise for rescue missions
Israeli company designed a rotor-less helicopter which should be of great interest to first responders: Because the helicopter does not have a rotor, it can attach itself to a building’s window and have the people inside climb through the window directly into the hovering helicopter outside
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ImageWare Systems launches IWS Disaster Management solution suite
One of FEMA’s Katrina-related failures has to do with the massive fraud — worth more than $1 billion — perpetrated by thousands of people against the agency’s Katrina relief fund; ImageWare offers a solution to reduce such fraud in the wake of future disasters
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UC Irvine developing wireless emergency response backpack
University of California Irvine developing response system which may revolutionize the communication capabilities and productivity of first responders in the field
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DHS distributes ICRI interoperable communication system to 43 communities
DHS is making a point of helping small and resource-poor communicates equip their emergency and first-response forces with interoperable communication gear; in the latest round, DHS has distributed interoperable equipment from Virginia-based C-AT to 43 communities
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TekMethods does one thing right – ITAM
A business continuity company says: “We Do One Thing Right” (they mean IT Asset Management, or ITAM)
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AcXess is now trading publicly
Florida company providing small to mid-size businesses with affordable first class business continuity solutions is now being traded publicly
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Australia’s government assists businesses in pandemic planning in new business continuity guide
Their first guide in May was to prepare medically for the bird flu; now the government has released a preparations guide specifically for the business sector in response to the possibility of an avian flu pandemic
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Europeans to develop pan-European risk management solution
A major oil spill off the shore of Spain four years ago proved that lack of coordination and cooperation among European nations in meeting disasters only worsened the disaster; 16 European companies are trying to do something about it
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U.S. updates national emergency broadcast system
In 1951 President Harry Truman launched a national emergency radio broadcasting system aiming to alert Americans in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack on the U.S.; that system, thankfully, was never used, but President Bush has now ordered its upgrading so it could be used to broadcast warnings about national emergencies to Americans’ PDAs, cellular phones, Web sites, e-mail boxes, TV, and radio
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The long view

To bolster the world’s inadequate cyber governance framework, a “Cyber WHO” is needed
A new report on cyber governance commissioned by Zurich Insurance Group highlights challenges to digital security and identifies new opportunities for business. It calls for the establishment of guiding principles to build resilience and the establishment of supranational governance bodies such as a Cyber Stability Board and a “Cyber WHO.”
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Protecting the U.S. power grid
The U.S. power grid is made up of complex and expensive system components, which are owned by utilities ranging from small municipalities to large national corporations spanning multiple states. A National Academy of Sciences report estimates that a worst-case geomagnetic storm could have an economic impact of $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year, which is twenty times the damage caused by a Katrina-class hurricane.
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More than 143 million Americans at risk from earthquakes
More than 143 million Americans living in the forty-eight contiguous states are exposed to potentially damaging ground shaking from earthquakes, with as many as twenty-eight million people in the highest hazard zones likely to experience strong shaking during their lifetime, according to new research. The research puts the average long-term value of building losses from earthquakes at $4.5 billion per year, with roughly 80 percent of losses attributed to California, Oregon, and Washington. By comparison, FEMA estimated in 1994 that seventy-five million Americans in thirty-nine states were at risk from earthquakes. In the highest hazard zones, the researchers identified more than 6,000 fire stations, more than 800 hospitals, and nearly 20,000 public and private schools that may be exposed to strong ground motion from earthquakes.
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A large Ventura Fault quake could trigger a tsunami
Earthquake experts had not foreseen the 2011 magnitude-9 Japan earthquake occurring where it did, so soon after the disaster, scientists in Southern California began asking themselves, “What are the big things we’re missing?” For decades, seismic experts believed the Ventura fault posed only a minor to moderate threat, but new research suggests that a magnitude-8 earthquake could occur on the fault roughly every 400 to 2,400 years. The newly discovered risk may even be more damaging than a large earthquake occurring on the San Andreas Fault, which has long been considered the state’s most dangerous. Unlike the Ventura fault, the San Andreas Fault is so far inland in Southern California, that it does not pose a tsunami risk. A large earthquake on the Ventura fault, however, could create a tsunami that would begin “in the Santa Barbara Channel area, and would affect the coastline … of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, down through the Santa Monica area and further south.”
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Coastal communities can lower flood insurance rates by addressing sea-level rise
City leaders and property developers in Tampa Bay are urging coastal communities to prepare today for sea-level rise and future floods in order to keep flood insurance rates low in the future. FEMA, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP), is increasing flood insurance premiums across the country, partly to offset losses from recent disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Cities can reduce insurance premiums for nearly all residents who carry flood coverage by improving storm-water drainage, updating building codes to reflect projected rise in sea-levels, moving homes out of potentially hazardous areas, and effectively informing residents about storm danger and evacuation routes.
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California drought highlights the state’s economic divide
As much of Southern California enters into the spring and warmer temperatures, the effects of California’s historic drought begin to manifest themselves in the daily lives of residents, highlighting the economic inequality in the ways people cope. Following Governor Jerry Brown’s (D) unprecedented water rationing regulations,wealthier Californians weigh on which day of the week no longer to water their grass, while those less fortunate are now choosing which days they skip a bath.
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New York businesses are doing OK regarding business continuity planning

Loral Skynet to use net optimization tool from Allot

U.S. BioDefense gains total control of EDS

California prepares all-in-one business recovery and continuity plan

Memex offers information gathering solution to JRIC

VivoMetrics LifeShirt offers answers about firefighters; helps in setting standards

Rotor-less helicopter holds promise for rescue missions

ImageWare Systems launches IWS Disaster Management solution suite

UC Irvine developing wireless emergency response backpack

DHS distributes ICRI interoperable communication system to 43 communities

TekMethods does one thing right – ITAM

AcXess is now trading publicly

Australia’s government assists businesses in pandemic planning in new business continuity guide

Europeans to develop pan-European risk management solution

U.S. updates national emergency broadcast system

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Who's online

The long view

To bolster the world’s inadequate cyber governance framework, a “Cyber WHO” is needed

Protecting the U.S. power grid

More than 143 million Americans at risk from earthquakes

A large Ventura Fault quake could trigger a tsunami

Coastal communities can lower flood insurance rates by addressing sea-level rise

California drought highlights the state’s economic divide