Hurricanes and other coastal hazards

Hurricanes and other coastal hazards

Hurricanes and other coastal hazards

NOAA's Coastal Services Center (CSC)http://www.csc.noaa.gov/http://www.csc.noaa.gov/products/nchaz/startup.htm

The Web site of NOAA's Coastal Services Center (CSC) is entitled "Living on the coast: smart growth tools on the Internet". One of those tools is the CSC's "Community vulnerability assessment methodology" (CVAM).

Provided on CD-ROM, this tool is designed to aid federal, state, and local coastal resource managers in conducting community- and state-level hazard risk and vulnerability assessments to mitigate potential damage. Having developed the methodology, the CSC is now preparing related training material and programs. To obtain background information, to see an example of how this tool is being used in one location (New Hanover County, North Carolina), or to request the CVAM CD-ROM, see the second URL above. Additional information about the project is also available from the NOM Coastal Services Center, 2234 South Hobson Avenue, Charleston, SC 29405-2413; (843) 740-1200; Fax: (843) 740-1224; e-mail: clearinghouse@csc.noaa.gov

"Coastal Hazards Information Clearinghouse"coastalhazards.wcu.edu

The "Coastal Hazards Information Clearinghouse" is a joint project of Western Carolina University and the State University of West Georgia. With support from the Public Entity Risk Institute and Federal Emergency Management Agency, these two schools have created a Web site that contains a ten-chapter monograph on coastal hazards, detailed coastal hazard maps for all coastal states, photographs of property damage from several recent hurricanes, and a list of coastal hazard links for each state.

US Geological Surveycoastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/mappingchange/

US Geological Survey scientists, in partnership with NASA, have developed a new extreme-storm hazards map. Created using data gathered by a high-tech, airplane-mounted laser, the map shows critical elevations of the southern Atlantic coast that indicate relative vulnerabilities of the coast to storm surge and inundation by hurricanes and severe storms. The new data provided by the map are intended to help local emergency managers and natural resource officials prepare for storms. The scientists have also developed a new scale that categorizes expected coastal change (erosion and accretion) that will occur during storms. The map and scale are now available on the Web site above. In the future, similar maps will be prepared for the Gulf of Mexico and northeast US coastlines.

Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Program (PED)http://www.disaster.info.desastres.net/saludca/desastresCR www.paho.org/English/PED/ped401e.pdf

The Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Program (PED) of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in collaboration with the Regional Disaster Information Center (CRID) for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Costa Rican nongovernmental organization FUNDESUMA, has undertaken a major project on "Vulnerability reduction and disaster preparedness in countries affected by Hurricane Mitch". Background information in Spanish is available from the first Web page listed above, and an article about the program appears in the latest issue of the PAHO newsletter Disasters: Preparedness and Mitigation in the Americas, available at the second address. More information is also available from PAHO, Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Program, 525 23rd Street, N Washington, DC 20037; (202) 974-3520; Fax: (202) 775-4578; E-mail: disaster@paho.org; www: paho.org/disasters/ (extracted from Natural Hazards Observer, Vol XXV Nos. 4, 5).