A timely ethnography of how Indonesia's coastal dwellers inhabit the "chronic present" of a slow-motion natural disaster Ice caps are melting, seas are rising, and densely populated cities worldwide are threatened by floodwaters, especially in Southeast Asia. Building on Borrowed Time is a timely and powerful ethnography of how people in Semarang, Indonesia, on the north coast of Java, are dealing with this global warming-driven existential challenge. In addition to antiflooding infrastructure breaking down, vast areas of cities like Semarang and Jakarta are rapidly sinking, affecting the very foundations of urban life: toxic water oozes through the floors of houses, bridges are submerged, traffic is interrupted. As Lukas Ley shows, the residents of Semarang are constantly engaged in maintaining their homes and streets, trying to live through a slow-motion disaster shaped by the interacting temporalities of infrastructural failure, ecological deterioration, and urban development. He casts this predicament through the temporal lens of a "meantime," a managerial response that means a constant enduring of the present rather than progress toward a better future-a "chronic present." Building on Borrowed Time takes us to a place where a flood crisis has already arrived-where everyday residents are not waiting for the effects of climate change but are in fact already living with it-and shows that life in coastal Southeast Asia is defined not by the temporality of climate science but by the lived experience of tidal flooding.

For thousands of years, humanity has considered itself the earth's custodian. With our vast potential we are capable of preserving the earth for future generations or causing irreparable harm. For the first time here, environmental lawyer and activist Robert Emmet Hernan provides a comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of what happened at fifteen environmental disasters in ten countries across the globe. This Borrowed Earth is a remarkable collection of stories that cover nuclear explosions, oil spills and fires, chemical spills, polluted air, toxic substances causing awful injuries to children, destruction of rainforest and entire ecosytems. The names associated with these disasters - e.g., Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez, Minamata, Love Canal, Seveso, Bhopal and others - will haunt future generations. At the same time, the stories provide a moving tribute to the courage and persistence of ordinary people who struggled to understand what was happening to them and to protect their families and their environment against these onslaughts. Poignant, moving, and inspirational, the events narrated here show how individuals can counterbalance the negligence and criminality of narrow economic interests that threaten our planet. Their stories will provide inspiration for a new generation committed to protecting the environment, and humanity.

Terror by Rail is the compelling true story of a major catastrophic event: the Amtrak 188 accident on May 12, 2015. After the accident, Lynn's journey and passion for answers caused her to ask questions about train safety and the bigger global issues that are challenges of the rail. A must read for anyone who travels, lives, or works near a rail system, Lynn's Terror by Rail is a wakeup call. As the phrase goes: See Something Say Something, and Lynn is doing just that! A born connector as a recruiter, puts the puzzle pieces together, and readers are blown away by what could have been the headline for that day had the story gone just 50 feet differently. This story of a single mom's heartbreaking journey through hell and back will give everyone facing challenges in their life a bit of hope that nothing is permanent, and it is possible to come through the pain to the other side.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies regardless of service delivery model have sought guidance on how to better integrate their emergency preparedness and response activities into similar processes occurring at the local, regional, State, tribal and Federal levels. The primary purpose of this project is to begin the process of providing that guidance as it relates to mass care incident deployment. The World Bank reported in 2005 that on aggregate, the reported number of natural disasters worldwide has been rapidly increasing, from fewer than 100 in 1975 to more than 400 in 2005. Terrorism, pandemic surge, and natural disasters have had a major impact on the science of planning for and responding to mass care incidents and remain a significant threat to the homeland. From the attacks of September 11th, 2001, the subsequent use of anthrax as a biological weapon, to the more recent surge concerns following the outbreak of H1N1 influenza, EMS have a real and immediate need for integration with the emergency management process, and to coordinate efforts with partners across the spectrum of the response community. The barriers identified from the literature review and interviews with national EMS leadership include: lack of access to emergency preparedness grant funding; underrepresentation on local, regional, and State level planning committees; and lack of systematic mandatory inclusion of all EMS provider types in State, regional, and local emergency plans. In December 2004, New York University's Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response held a national roundtable that included experts from major organizations representing the EMS system as a whole. The report from that meeting concluded that: "EMS providers, such as fire departments and hospital-based, commercial, and air ambulance services, ensure that patients receive the medical care they need during a terrorist attack. While EMS personnel, including Emergency Medical Technicians and paramedics, represent roughly one-third of traditional first responders (which also include law enforcement and fire service personnel), the EMS system receives only four percent of first responder funding. If EMS personnel are not prepared for a terrorist attack, their ability to provide medical care and transport to victims of an attack will be compromised. There will be an inadequate medical first response." In 2007, the Institute of Medicine in its landmark report Emergency Medical Services at the Crossroads issued a recommendation that stated: "The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Department of Homeland Security and the States should elevate emergency and trauma care to a position of parity with other public safety entities in disaster planning and operations." Since the time of these reports Federal progress to address these issues has included the creation of the Office of Health Affairs (OHA) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the creation of the Emergency Care Coordination Center (ECCC) within HHS, and the creation of the Federal Interagency Committee on EMS (FICEMS) Preparedness Committee. In an effort to increase the level of preparedness among EMS agencies, the National Emergency Medical Services Management Association (NEMSMA) approached the DHS and OHA to engage them in a partnership that would provide a greater understanding of the shortfalls in EMS emergency preparedness and provide resources to fill those gaps. The primary objective of this project is to understand model policies and practices across a spectrum of disciplines and provider types that will lead to a better prepared EMS deployment to mass care incidents. This project should serve as a foundation for further development of EMS specific policies and templates that improve EMS readiness to manage the full spectrum of hazards that face their communities.

From earthquakes to tornados, elected officials' responses to natural disasters can leave an indelible mark on their political careers. In the midst of the 1992 primary season, Hurricane Andrew overwhelmed South Florida, requiring local, state, and federal emergency responses. The work of many politicians in the storm's immediate aftermath led to a curious "incumbency advantage" in the general election a few weeks later, raising the question of just how much the disaster provided opportunities to effectively "campaign without campaigning." David Twigg uses newspaper stories, scholarly articles, and first person interviews to explore the impact of Hurricane Andrew on local and state political incumbents, revealing how elected officials adjusted their strategies and activities in the wake of the disaster. Not only did Andrew give them a legitimate and necessary opportunity to enhance their constituency service and associate themselves with the flow of external assistance, but it also allowed them to achieve significant personal visibility and media coverage while appearing to be non-political or above "normal" politics. This engrossing case study clearly demonstrates why natural disasters often privilege incumbents. Twigg not only sifts through the post-Andrew election results in Florida, but he also points out the possible effects of other past (and future) disaster events on political campaigns in this fascinating and prescient book.

This is the first systematic study of famine in all parts of Europe from the Middle Ages until the present. In case studies ranging from Scandinavia and Italy to Ireland and Russia, leading scholars compare the characteristics, consequences and causes of famine. The famines they describe differ greatly in size, duration and context; in many cases the damage wrought by poor harvests was confounded by war. The roles of human action, malfunctioning markets and poor relief are a recurring theme. The chapters also take full account of demographic, institutional, economic, social and cultural aspects, providing a wealth of new information which is organized and analyzed within a comparative framework. Famine in European History represents a significant new contribution to demographic history, and will be of interest to all those who want to discover more about famines - truly horrific events which, for centuries, have been a recurring curse for the Europeans.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive - 7 (December 2003) established the requirement to protect national critical infrastructures against acts that would diminish the responsibility of federal, state, and local government to perform essential missions to ensure the health and safety of the general public. HSPD-7 identified the Emergency Services as a national critical infrastructure sector that must be protected from all hazards. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) activities support the critical infrastructure protection and resilience of Emergency Services Sector departments and agencies nationwide. The fire service, emergency medical services, law enforcement, emergency management, and 9-1-1 Call Centers are the major components of the Emergency Services Sector. These components include search and rescue, hazardous materials (HAZMAT) teams, special weapons and tactics teams (SWAT), bomb squads, and other emergency support functions. This Job Aid is a guide to assist leaders of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) with the process of critical infrastructure protection (CIP). The document intends only to provide a model process or template for the systematic protection of critical infrastructures. It is not a CIP training manual or a complete road map of procedures to be strictly followed. The CIP process described in this document can be easily adapted to assist the infrastructure protection objectives of any community, service, department, agency, or organization.

Firefighters, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and other emergency responders face many dangers daily from exposure to smoke, deadly temperatures, and stress to issues surrounding personal protective equipment (PPE), vehicle safety, and personal health. Although publicized firefighter fatalities are associated more often with burns and smoke inhalation, cardiovascular events, such as sudden cardiac death, account for the largest number of nonincident firefighter fatalities. Both the United States Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) have been tracking firefighter fatalities since 1977. According to NFPA statistics, the number of sudden cardiac deaths has averaged between 40 and 50 deaths per year since the early 1990s. USFA statistics show that firefighters, as a group, are more likely than other American workers to die of a heart attack while on duty (USFA, 2002). Additional pertinent findings in the NFPA's 2005 U.S. Firefighter Fatalities Due to Sudden Cardiac Death, 1995-2004 include: Four hundred and forty firefighters out of 1,006 (or 43.7 percent) who died on the job experienced sudden cardiac death, typically triggered by stress or exertion; Fifty percent of all volunteer firefighter deaths and 39-percent of career firefighter deaths resulted from a heart attack; Ninety-seven percent of the victims had at least a 50-percent arterial blockage; Seventy-five percent of the firefighters who died of a heart attack were working with known or detectable heart conditions or risk factors, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. While sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death among firefighters, other factors affecting firefighters' health, wellness, and safety result in multiple deaths and injuries each and every year. Through the collection of information on firefighter deaths, the USFA has established goals to reduce loss of life among firefighters (USFA, 2006). In order to achieve this goal, emphasis must be placed on reducing the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease as well as on the mitigation of other issues affecting the health and safety of the Nation's firefighters. As part of another effort to determine the specific issues affecting firefighter health and wellness, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Foundation developed a questionnaire to determine personal health, well-being, and safety practices among firefighters. A summary of findings from this study was shared with the NVFC and USFA for use in this project. The questionnaire was distributed to a study population of 364 firefighters, of which 149 were career firefighters, 165 were volunteers, and 50 indicated they were both volunteer and career. Results from the questionnaire revealed several trends in this sample firefighter population; however, the study population was not large enough to generalize these trends for all firefighters. Results from the NVFC Foundation's questionnaire are presented here. Based on these findings, it is clear that a structured personal health and fitness program, as well as safe operations to, from, and while at emergency scenes, become critical to firefighters' safety, well-being, and survival. As a result, we present this document on emergent health and safety issues for the volunteer fire and emergency services.

South-west Donegal, Ireland, June 1856. From the time that the blight first came on the potatoes in 1845, armed and masked men dubbed Molly Maguires had been raiding the houses of people deemed to be taking advantage of the rural poor. On some occasions, they represented themselves as 'Molly's Sons', sent by their mother, to carry out justice; on others, a man attired as a woman, introducing 'herself' as Molly Maguire, demanding redress for wrongs inflicted on her children. The raiders might stipulate the maximum price at which provisions were to be sold, warn against the eviction of tenants, or demand that an evicted family be reinstated to their holding. People who refused to meet their demands were often viciously beaten and, in some instances, killed - offences that the Constabulary classified as 'outrages'. Catholic clergymen regularly denounced the Mollies and in 1853, the district was proclaimed under the Crime and Outrage (Ireland) Act. Yet the 'outrages' continued. Then, in 1856, Patrick McGlynn, a young schoolmaster, suddenly turned informer on the Mollies, precipitating dozens of arrests. Here, a history of McGlynn's informing, backlit by episodes over the previous two decades, sheds light on that wave of outrage, its origins and outcomes, the meaning and the memory of it. More specifically, it illuminates the end of 'outrage' - the shifting objectives of those who engaged in it, and also how, after hunger faded and disease abated, tensions emerged in the Molly Maguires, when one element sought to curtail such activity, while another sought, unsuccessfully, to expand it. And in that contention, when the opportunities of post-Famine society were coming into view, one glimpses the end, or at least an ebbing, of outrage - in the everyday sense of moral indignation - at the fate of the rural poor. But, at heart, The End of Outrage is about contention among neighbours - a family that rose from the ashes of a mode of living, those consumed in the conflagration, and those who lost much but not all. Ultimately, the concern is how the poor themselves came to terms with their loss: how their own outrage at what had been done unto them and their forbears lost malignancy, and eventually ended. The author being a native of the small community that is the focus of The End of Outrage makes it an extraordinarily intimate and absorbing history.