Emergency Preparedness

Is the U.S. prepared for a bioterror attack?
Some experts believe a bioterrorist attack or pandemic outbreak could be inevitable. How would the United States fight back against an infectious disease outbreak?
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Global warming will cause storms to intensify
Daniel Bernoulli’s eighteenth-century equation basically says that as wind speed increases, air pressure decreases; his equation leaves out variables that were considered difficult to deal with such as friction and energy sources; Wolverines researchers now include these additional variables and find that for every 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit that the Earth’s surface temperature warms, the intensity of storms could increase by at least a few percent
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Worry: Pandemic mutations in bird flu revealed
Despite the ability of H5N1 avian influenza virus to spread, it cannot be transmitted efficiently from human to human, indicating it is not fully adapted to its new host species, the human; new research, however, reveals mutations in the virus that may result in a pandemic
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Internet crawling helps in tracking infectious disease outbreaks
New Web crawling tool helps identify and locate outbreaks of disease around the world
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Rising sea level threatens U.K. coastal rail lines
Andrew McNaughton, Network Rail’s chief engineer: “The effects of climate change, and in particular sea level rise, are likely to increase the severity of the wave, tidal and wind effects on coastal defenses”
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Data leaks top concern for corporate computer users
New study shows that data leaks are becoming a leading source of headaches for U.S., U.K., German, and Japanese companies
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September to be U.S. National Preparedness Month
DHS says that more than 1,200 national, regional, state, and local businesses and organizations have pledged their support for the department’s initiative
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Business continuity in a globalized economy
Organizations are evolving their focus from reactive to proactive to adaptive as they prepare for and respond to crises and disruptions
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Israeli government prepares for major earthquake in north
In one three-month period this year, around 500 small tremors were recorded in northern Israel; Israeli government health officials urge hospitals, municipalities to prepare for worst
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U.S. intelligence agencies: Climate change threatens national security
Climate change could threaten U.S. security in the next twenty years by causing political instability, mass movements of refugees, terrorism, or conflicts over water and other resources in specific countries
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Protecting IT infrastructure
The U.S. National Weather Service says that 910 storms had already been recorded by mid-May, a considerable number when compared with 1,093 confirmed tornadoes for all of 2007; U.S. business had better be prepared
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Is flooding really as big a risk to Britain now as terrorism?
In 2007 the U.K. saw disastrous summer flooding in Yorkshire and the Severn valley around Gloucester and Tewkesbury. These floods caused the largest peacetime emergency in Britain since the Second World War
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The neglected aspects of business continuity planning
Most business continuity plans fail to take into consideration the fact that in the aftermath of a disruption, organizations may have to handle large volumes of telephone calls from a variety of sources including
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Lower Mississippi River region braces for major flood
Floodwaters are projected to crest at St. Louis at 38 feet on 22 or 23 June, marking the eleventh time since the Civil War that St. Louis has reached that flood stage; during the flood of 1993 waters at St. Louis crested at 49.6 feet
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Assessing landslide risk
Researchers develop new technique for assessing areas most at risk from landslides
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