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All lectures held at 4:00PM, Goodell, Bernie
Dallas Room, reception to follow each talk.
Free and open to the public. (Directions
to Campus , Campus
Map)
2005 was a terrible year for natural disasters
in the United States and around the world. Two epic catastrophes
abroad, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and the Pakistan Earthquake, killed
hundreds of thousands and caused ongoing misery for millions. In
the United States, 2005 brought the longest and most damaging hurricane
season on record. The Category 5 Hurricane Katrina, followed shortly
by Rita, comprised the worst natural disaster in American history
in terms of number of people displaced, property and economic loss,
and projected costs of recovery. Florida, as in 2004, was hit by
several hurricanes, and other parts of the nation were afflicted
by floods, mudslides, wildfires, and winter storms.
Recent findings by climate researchers indicate that weather-related
disasters––particularly hurricanes––are
worsening in frequency and severity. And with urbanization spreading
in hazardous areas of the nation and world, disaster impacts and
costs will continue to rise. Public policies, informed by research
in the physical, natural, health, and social sciences, must seek
to stem rising vulnerability to hazards in the natural environment.
The
interaction of disasters, environment, and public policy will be
explored in four lectures this spring. The series will be
begin on Feb. 27 with Ronald Speakes who will discuss his experience
directing the American Red Cross response to Katrina in Mississippi.
Next on March 13, Dr. William Hooke of the American Meteorological
Society in Washington, D.C., will discuss the interaction of science
and policy at the federal level. On April 10, sociologist
Dr. Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Research
Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder will speak on the
role of social scientists in better understanding the impacts of
disasters. Finally, on May 2, UMass Amherst geographer and land
use lawyer Dr. Rutherford H. Platt will discuss the synergy of
geography and public policy and how it applies to disaster management.
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Download
a PDF of Series Flyer
Monday, February 27
Responding to Hurricane Katrina - Disaster and
Politics at Ground Level
Ronald P. Speakes
 Ronald
Speakes is currently the Executive Director of the Hampshire County
Chapter of the American Red Cross and served as the Operations Director for
the Red Cross relief effort for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He did his
graduate studies in philosophy at Georgetown University and after ten years
in academia began work with the American Red Cross. He has had Red Cross
leadership roles on many major disaster relief operations, to include Hurricane
Andrew, Midwest Floods, Hurricane Floyd, various super-typhoons in the Pacific
Islands, and 9/11 World Trade Center.
Abstract (Download PDF)
If the interactions of disaster relief agencies during the emergency
response phase of Hurricane Katrina, including those of local, state
and federal governments and NGO’s, were to be described in “musical’ terms,
it would be a cacophony at best. In a world of interdependency,
with accelerating risks from natural disasters, terrorist attacks and
pandemics, collaboration and cooperation in catastrophic disaster planning,
preparedness and responses are essential. The lesson from Katrina: collaboration
and cooperation occurred but was resoundingly discordant.
Links:
Hampshire County
Red Cross
American Red Cross Disaster Services
Monday, March 13
Natural Disasters and the Environment: The Outlook for the
21st Century
William H. Hooke
 Dr.
William H. Hooke is a Senior Policy Fellow and the Director of the Atmospheric
Policy Program at the American Meteorological Society in Washington,
DC as well as Chair of the Disasters Roundtabel of the National Academies.
Prior to arriving at AMS in 2000, he worked for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and antecedent agencies for 33
years. After six years of research with NOAA he moved into a series of
management positions of increasing scope and responsibility including
Chief of the Wave Propagation Laboratory Atmospheric Studies Branch,
Director of NOAA's Environmental Sciences Group (now the Forecast Systems
Lab), Deputy Chief Scientist, and Acting Chief Scientist of NOAA. Between
1993 and 2000, he held two national responsibilities: Director of the
U.S. Weather Research Program Office, and Chair of the interagency Subcommittee
for Natural Disaster Reduction of the National Science and Technology
Council Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Dr. Hooke holds
a B.S. from Swarthmore College and an S.M. and Ph.D. from the University
of Chicago.
Abstract (Download PDF)
The human race is on a roll. In the span of a
single human lifetime, we have: greatly increased our numbers, substantially
elevated our quality of life, and greatly accelerated the pace of technological
advance and accompanying social change. As a result, disasters of the future
promise to be quite different, and inflict harm in different ways, than
did disasters of the past. Recent experience with the tsunami of December
2004 and hurricane Katrina’s impact on the United States foreshadow
some of the challenges to come. To cope successfully, we will have to be
innovative in our approach, and resolute in our efforts to build resilience
with respect to hazards – whether
extremes of nature, disease outbreaks, industrial accidents, or willful
acts. (Download the PowerPoint presentation
of Dr. Hookes talk.)
Links:
Disasters
Roundtable of the National Academies
American Meteorological
Society
Monday, April 10
Disaster Readiness in the U. S.: Katrina and the Shape of Things to Come
Kathleen J. Tierney
 Dr.
Kathleen Tierney is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Natural
Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. With over
twenty-five years of experience in the disaster field, she has been involved
in research on the social aspects and impacts of major earthquakes in California
and Japan, floods in the Midwest, Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew, and many
other major natural and technological disaster events. Since September
11, 2001, she has been directing a study on the organizational and community
response in New York following the terrorist attack on the World Trade
Center. Her other recent research projects include studies on public perceptions
of the earthquake threat in the Northern California Bay Area, sociobehavioral
aspects of real-time warning systems for earthquakes, risk communication,
and the business impacts of disasters. Kathleen is the author of dozens
of articles, book chapters, and technical reports on the social aspects
of hazards, disasters, and risk. She is a member of the National Construction
Safety Team Advisory Committee, which is overseeing the official federal
investigation of the World Trade Center disaster, and serves on Leaders
Working Group on Biodefense of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
on Biosecurity/Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense
Strategies and the executive committee of the Multidisciplinary Center
for Earthquake Engineering Research.
Abstract (Download PDF)
The Hurricane Katrina disaster vividly demonstrates the extent to which
the nation is unprepared to respond to catastrophic and near-catastrophic
extreme events. The Katrina debacle is rooted in the current state of emergency
management and homeland security policies and programs that are incapable
of making the nation safer and that actually have the opposite effect.
The roots of the nation's lack of effective response capability can be
traced to several factors: (1) institutional changes that accompanied the "war
on terrorism"; (2) the "9-12" syndrome, one of the characteristics
of which is the assumption that knowledge and practices developed prior
to September 11, 2001 have no relevance in the post-9-11 world; (3) accompanying
changes in the manner in which consequence management for extreme events
is framed and conceptualized; and (4) the creation of organizational forms
and frameworks that are divorced from the realities of extreme event management.
(Download PowerPoint Presentation)
Links: Natural Hazards Center
Tuesday, May
2
Learning From Disasters: The Synergy of Geography and Public Policy
Rutherford H. Platt
 Dr.
Rutherford H. Platt is a geographer and lawyer on the faculty of the UMass
Amherst Department of Geosciences and director of the Ecological Cities
Project. He is the author of Disasters and Democracy: The Politics of Extreme
Natural Events (Island Press, 1999) and chaired the Natural Disasters Roundtable
of the National Research Council from 2000-2003.
Abstract (Download PDF)
Since Noah's Flood, humans have struggled to anticipate, survive, and recover
from natural catastrophes. Such events result from the vulnerability of
people and their artifacts to geographic hazards (e.g., floods, hurricanes,
earthquakes, tsunami, wildfire). Learning from disasters is fundamental
to reducing future vulnerability to risk from natural (or human) causes.
Examples from history such as the1666 Great Fire of London and the sinking
of the Titanic in 1912 demonstrate how laws and policies may be revised
in response to enlightened assessment of the reasons why tragedy occurred.
But politics may obstruct or distort efforts to understand and change unwise
practices. This sadly has been the case with Katrina -- no comprehensive
investigation of what went wrong (or right) at each level of government
has been conducted, and important lessons remain unlearned.
Links:
Ecological
Cities Project
Department of Geosciences
Other Links of Interest
Collaborative Adaptive
Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA)
American Meterological
Society
American Red Cross
FEMA
National Hurricane Center
Town of Amherst Katrina Relief Website
Five College Katrina Website
Reports
After Katrina: New
Solutions for Safe Communities and a Secure Energy Future
Related Courses, Spring 2006
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