Monthly Archives: September, 2013
Flooding – the Billion Dollar Disaster
Last month’s flood event in Colorado, and a June 2013 event in Alberta emphasize that flooding is one of the most severe, ruthless, and destructive of disasters. Most of the natural disasters to which I have responded have been somehow related to flood waters. The SE Asia tsunami was, in essence, a flood, whose source was […]
Disaster Risk Reduction
Because of my interest in “Disaster Risk Reduction”, I am often asked its meaning. DRR emerged from the 10th anniversary of the a deadly Kobe, Japan earthquake, held in early 2005 only a few weeks after the devastating SE Asian tsunami. There was renewed emphasis on reducing the impact of disasters, rather than only the […]
The Horror of Chemical Weapons
The alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria last month should sicken all of us. What exactly is a chemical weapon, and why are they universally condemned? Chemical agents are “weapons of mass destruction” along with radiological and biological agents. WMDs cause great social upheaval, and usually the psychological effect is greater than the physical effect. Briefly, […]
Complex Emergencies R Us. (Part 2)
I call the 1980s the “naïve decade”. The cold war was ceasing. The East – West, USSR – USA struggle was ending. The Berlin Wall was tumbling down. No more nuclear arms race. Disarmament talks. Superpower chess game over. Peace at last! Nothing could be further from the truth. Seething, pent-up animosities between various ethnic groups in […]
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