Disaster University to Address Pacific Quakes and Tsunamis

[Bears Grill]

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‘Disaster University’ to Address Pacific Quakes and Tsunamis (NY Times - June 30, 2013)

The Asia-Pacific may be the biggest driver of the global economy, but it is also the runaway leader in a category that no region would covet: natural disasters.


Between 2001 and 2010, the Asia-Pacific had the most natural disasters, along with the highest number of deaths and the biggest economic losses resulting from them, of any area in the world. On average, more than 200 million people in the region were affected per year by natural disasters during that span, including more than 70,000 killed annually, according to a 2011 report by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.


Economic losses from disasters are significant. In 2011, the region suffered $294 billion in losses, or 80 percent of the total worldwide, because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and floods in Southeast Asia, according to a U.N. report.


The National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii has become one of the forerunners in seeking solutions for the region. The university is the main academic member of the Asia-Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience, or A.P.D.R.3, network, which grew out of the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Honolulu, hosted by President Barack Obama.


The university is also involved in an initiative to create a new field of study that covers all aspects of natural disasters, an issue that was discussed in June at the A.P.R.D.3 symposium in Yogyakarta, an Indonesian city that is susceptible to earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and lava flows from Mount Merapi, an active volcano.


Academics from the United States, Japan and Indonesia are now collaborating on a way to create an academic network that they are calling “Disaster University.” “Something like 80 percent of disasters over the last couple of decades have been in the Asia-Pacific, and one of the problems is we’ve been in response mode and recovery mode, and not in preparation mode,” said M.R.C. Greenwood, president of the University of Hawaii. “It became clear that people have to be trained differently, and somebody has to create this new field of disaster resilience, not just disaster management and disaster preparation.”

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Government agencies tasked to handle disaster recovery or anyone interested for that matter should take a course in Disaster Preparedness.

[M.A.D.]

I think it's time we, the people actually made our own non-profit organization that specializes in disaster management and coordination. We can't rely on government anymore. It would become a consortium that consists of various aid organizations such as red cross, etc. If only the operating costs of doing normal things in this country were not so prohibitive we would be able to make do without much help from government.