Insights

Asking Untrained Volunteers to Pitch In?

• John Cornelison
• 6/10/14

While there have been numerous historical problems (victim & rescuer safety, communication and conflicted goals) with asking untrained volunteers to help out during disasters, they were invaluable in the recent Oso slide rescue effort. It is pretty clear that they are very useful in a number of situations with some supervision or initial vetting.

Many Landslides Accidentally Caused by Human Activity

• John Cornelison
• 5/12/14

According to this recent KOMO News piece, Seattle is warning residents to not inadvertently cause landslides.

Unincorporated King County to be Remapped using Lidar

• John Cornelison
• 5/12/14

According to this KOMO News piece, King County unveiled Monday, May 5th an initiative to re-map unincorporated county land over the next two years partially to help identify potential landslide areas.

NWHRN Healthcare Business Resiliency Workshop–June 10th

• John Cornelison
• 5/5/14

Join the Network’s Business Resiliency Workshop - June 10, 2014!

This one-day workshop by the Northwest Healthcare Response Network will help non-hospital healthcare organizations learn the fundamentals of business resiliency. Participants acquire 
tools to help their organization stay open, or to re-open rapidly after a disaster, to continue to care for clients. A newly updated workbook is included to assist in developing a facility’s Resiliency Plan. Each participant will receive a business resiliency workbook to assist in developing an emergency operations plan for his/her organization, and time in class to work on their plan. Business resilience teams are encouraged to come together.

New NY Times Special Report-- Promises of Preparedness Followed Devastating Earthquakes. And Yet.

• John Cornelison
• 4/15/14

Somewhat serendipitously, the New York Times Retro Report has come out with a special report on earthquake preparedness published April 13th – the same month as the Pacific Northwest’s 1949 and 1965 earthquakes.

Two Earthquake Talks at Town Hall on April 24th

• John Cornelison
• 4/14/14

Thursday, April 24, 2014, 6:00 – 7:00pm

UW Science Now

Shelley Chestler: Slow Earthquakes

Michelle Weirathmueller: Quakes and Whales

Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street. $5. Double Feature!

2014 Communications Academy - March 22-23, 2014

• John Cornelison
• 3/6/14

Calling all Radioheads … and anyone else who wants to learn more about volunteer emergency communications!

Voice of Vashon Receives Permit for New Station at 101.9 FM!

• John Cornelison
• 2/23/14

Friday February 21, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Voice of Vashon’s (VoV) application for an FM radio station – along with over 1000 other low-power FM applicants nationwide.

2013 Disasters-- Not so Expensive for the US, More so for Europe

• John Cornelison
• 1/7/14

“For the first time in two decades, the world’s costliest natural disasters in 2013 were not in the USA, according to a report released today by Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance firm. Last year, the most expensive weather disasters were in Europe, which included floods in central Europe and hailstorms in Germany.” (USA Today)

Supervolcano Eruptions More Likely, as they can be Triggered by Melt Buoyancy

• John Cornelison
• 1/6/14

A graph showing the relationship between eruption volume and time between eruptions, using the models presented in Carrichi and others (2014). Notice how for buoyancy-driven eruptions (in blue), the time between eruptions doesn’t vary much across a wide range of volumes. Image: Figure 3 from Caricchi and others (2014), Nature Geoscience.

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San Juans CenturyLinks Fiber Optic Cable Cut - No 911 Service

• John Cornelison
• 11/7/13

Similar to what happened on Vashon several years ago, CenturyLink’s main fiber optic cable to the San Juan’s got severed Tuesday and has cut 911 service to Lopez, Shaw and Orcas islands – with no estimated restoration time. See the report at: www.kirotv.com/news/news/thousands-san-juans-unable-call-911/nbkKn/ for more details.

1st Regional Climate Assessment Update Since 1999-- Grim News

• John Cornelison
• 11/5/13

The Northwest faces poorer forest health (more forest fires), earlier snowmelt (lower stream flows) and raised sea levels (eroding coasts), according to Monday’s release of the Northwest Climate Assessment Report (NWCAR, 2013). Impacts might total some $14 billion dollars regionally.