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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Social impact of disasters
Earthquakes are a serious threat to safety in multifamily apartment
buildings and pose a significant potential liability to building
owners. Multifamily buildings in 39 states are vulnerable to
earthquake damage. Unsafe existing buildings expose multifamily
building owners and tenants to the following risks: Death and
injury of tenants, occupants, and visitors; Damage to or collapse
of buildings; Damage to and loss of furnishings, equipment, and
other building contents; Disruption of rental and occupancy
functions and other building operations. The greatest earthquake
risk is associated with existing multifamily buildings that were
designed and constructed before the use of modern building codes.
For many parts of the United States, this includes buildings built
as recently as the early 1990s. Although vulnerable multifamily
buildings need to be replaced with safe, new construction or
rehabilitated to correct deficiencies, for many building owners new
construction is limited, at times severely, by budgetary
constraints, and seismic rehabilitation is expensive and
disruptive. However, incremental seismic rehabilitation, proposed
in this manual, is an innovative approach that phases in a series
of discrete rehabilitation actions over a period of several years.
It is an effective, affordable, and non-disruptive strategy for
responsible mitigation actions that can be integrated efficiently
into ongoing facility maintenance and capital improvement
operations to minimize cost and disruption. This manual and its
companion documents are the products of a Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) project to develop the concept of
incremental seismic rehabilitation-that is, building modifications
that reduce seismic risk by improving seismic performance and that
are implemented over an extended period, often in conjunction with
other repair, maintenance, or capital improvement activities. It
provides owners of Class A, B, or C multifamily buildings, be they
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), pension funds, partnerships,
individuals, or other forms of ownership, with the information
necessary to assess the seismic vulnerability of their buildings
and to implement a program of incremental seismic rehabilitation
for those buildings.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed FEMA 459,
Incremental Protection for Existing Commercial Buildings from
Terrorist Attack, to provide guidance to owners of existing
commercial buildings and their architects and engineers on security
and operational enhancements to address vulnerabilities to
explosive blasts and chemical, biological, and radiological
hazards. It also addresses how to integrate these enhancements into
the ongoing building maintenance and capital improvement programs.
These enhancements are intended to mitigate or eliminate long-term
risk to people and property. FEMA's Risk Management Series
publications addressing security risks are based on two core
documents: FEMA 426, Reference Manual to Mitigate Potential
Terrorist Attacks Against buildings, and FEMA 452, Risk Assessment:
A How-To Guide to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against
Buildings. FEMA 426 provides guidance to the building science
community of architects and engineers on reducing physical damage
caused by terrorist assaults to buildings, related infrastructure,
and people. FEMA 452 outlines methods for identifying the critical
assets and functions within buildings, determining the potential
threats to those assets, and assessing the building's
vulnerabilities to those threats. This assessment of risks
facilitates hazard mitigation decision-making. Specifically, the
document addresses methods for reducing physical damage to
structural and nonstructural components of buildings and related
infrastructure and reducing resultant casualties during
conventional bomb attacks, as well as attacks involving chemical,
biological, and radiological agents. FEMA 459 can be used in
conjunction with FEMA 452. This manual presents an integrated,
incremental rehabilitation approach to implementing the outcomes of
a risk assessment completed in accordance with FEMA 452, Risk
Assessment: A How-To Guide to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks
Against Building. This approach is intended to minimize disruption
to building operations and control costs for existing commercial
buildings. The integrated incremental approach to risk reduction in
buildings was initially developed in relation to seismic risk and
was first articulated in FEMA's Risk Management Series in the
widely disseminated FEMA 395, Incremental Seismic Rehabilitation of
School Buildings (K-12), published in June 2003. In 2004 and 2005,
FEMA also published Incremental Seismic Rehabilitation manuals
(FEMA 396-400) for hospitals, office buildings, multifamily
apartments, retail buildings, and hotels and motels. This manual
outlines an approach to incremental security enhancement in four
types of existing commercial buildings: office buildings, retail
buildings, multifamily apartment buildings, and hotel and motel
buildings. It addresses both physical and operational enhancements
that reduce building vulnerabilities to blasts and chemical,
biological, and radiological attacks, within the constraints of the
existing site conditions and building configurations.
This primer, FEMA 429, Insurance, Finance, and Regulation Primer
for Terrorism Risk Management in Buildings, is a part of the
Multihazard Risk Management Series of publications that addresses
terrorism risk in buildings. The objective of this primer is to
introduce the building insurance, finance, and regulatory
communities to the issue of terrorism risk management in buildings
and the tools currently available to manage that risk. Insurance,
finance and regulation are considered the 'change levers' of the
built environment. They are the principal mechanisms for the
evaluation and management of risk exposure in buildings. These
change levers play a critical role in introducing and maintaining
standards for risk management and public safety.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has developed this
publication, Site and Urban Design for Security: Guidance against
Potential Terrorist Attacks, to provide information and design
concepts for the protection of buildings and occupants, from site
perimeters to the faces of buildings. The intended audience
includes the design community of architects, landscape architects,
engineers and other consultants working for private institutions,
building owners and managers and state and local government
officials concerned with site planning and design. Immediately
after September 11, 2001, extensive site security measures were put
in place, particularly in the two target cities of New York and
Washington. However, many of these security measures were applied
on an ad hoc basis, with little regard for their impacts on
development pat-terns and community character. Property owners,
government entities and others erected security barriers to limit
street access and installed a wide variety of security devices on
sidewalks, buildings, and transportation facilities. The short-term
impacts of these measures were certainly justified in the immediate
aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, but traffic
patterns, pedestrian mobility, and the vitality of downtown street
life were increasingly jeopardized. Hence, while the main objective
of this manual is to reduce physical damage to buildings and
related infrastructure through site design, the purpose of FEMA 430
is also to ensure that security design provides careful attention
to urban design values by maintaining or even enhancing the site
amenities and aesthetic quality in urban and semi-urban areas. This
publication focuses on site design aimed to protect buildings from
attackers using vehicles carrying explosives. These represent the
most serious form of attack. Large trucks enable terrorists to
carry very large amounts of explosives that are capable of causing
casualties and destruction over a range of many hundreds of yards.
Perimeter barriers and protective design within the site can
greatly reduce the possibility of vehicle penetration. Introduction
of smaller explosive devices, carried in suitcases or backpacks,
must be prevented by pedestrian screening methods. Site design for
security, however, may impact the function and amenity of the site,
and barrier and access control design may impact the quality of the
public space within the adjacent neighborhood and community. The
designer's role is to ensure that public amenity and the aesthetics
of the site surroundings are kept in balance with security needs.
This publication contains a number of examples in which the
security/ amenity balance has been maintained through careful
design and collaboration between designers and security experts.
Much security design work since September 11, 2001, has been
applied to federal and state projects, and these provide many of
the design examples shown. At present, federal government projects
are subject to mandatory security guidelines that do not apply to
private sector projects, but these guidelines provide a valuable
information resource in the absence of comparable guidelines or
regulations applying to private development. Operations and
management issues and the detailed design of access control,
intrusion alarm systems, electronic perimeter protection, and
physical security devices, such as locking devices, are the
province of the security consultant and are not covered here,
except as they may impact the conceptual design of the site.
Limited information only is provided on some aspects of chemical,
biological and radiological (CBR) attacks that are significant for
site designers; extensive discussion of approaches to these threats
can be found in FEMA 426.
Relief after a natural or man-made disaster may come from what many
might consider an unlikely source: the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).
The IRC includes several tax relief provisions that apply to
affected taxpayers. Some of these provisions are permanent. The
following are among the permanent provisions discussed in this
report: casualty loss deductions, IRC Section 165; exemption from
taxation for disaster relief payments to individuals, IRC Section
139; exemption from taxation for certain insurance payments, IRC
Section 123; and deferral of gain from the involuntary conversion
of homes destroyed or damaged by a disaster, IRC Section 1033. In
recent years, Congress has enacted tax legislation generally
intended to assist victims of specific disasters; as a result,
these laws were temporary in nature. One act, however, provided
more general, but still temporary, relief for any federally
declared disaster occurring prior to January 1, 2010. The acts
providing temporary relief include the following: The Job Creation
and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, P.L. 107-147, which provided tax
benefits for areas of New York City damaged by the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001; The Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act
of 2005 (KETRA), P.L. 109-73, which provided tax relief to assist
the victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005; The Gulf Opportunity Zone
(GO Zone) Act of 2005, P.L. 109-135, which provided tax relief to
those affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in 2005; and
The Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008, P.L. 110-343, which
provided tax relief to assist recovery from both the severe weather
that affected the Midwest during the summer of 2008 and Hurricane
Ike. This act also included general disaster tax relief provisions
that applied to federally declared disasters occurring before
January 1, 2010. This publication provides a basic overview of
existing, permanent provisions that benefit victims of disasters,
as well as past, targeted legislative responses to particular
disasters. The relief is discussed without examining either the
qualifications for or the limitation on claiming the provisions'
benefits. In light of Hurricane Sandy, this publication is designed
to help Congress identify previous legislative responses to recent
disasters.
One of the goals of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is to
encourage design and building practices that address the earthquake
hazard and minimize the resulting risk of damage and injury.
Publication of the 2009 edition of the NEHRP Recommended Seismic
Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures (FEMA P-750)
reaffirms FEMA's ongoing support of efforts to achieve this goal.
First published in 1985, the 2009 edition of the Provisions marks
the seventh in a series of updates to the document and several
complementary publications. FEMA is proud to have sponsored this
project conducted by the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) of
National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and continues to
encourage the widespread dissemination and voluntary use of this
state-of-art consensus resource document. In contrast to the
earlier editions of the Provisions which resulted from three-year
update projects, the 2009 edition is the first resulting from a
five-year update effort that allowed the BSSC's Provisions Update
Committee (PUC) to make some major changes in both the substance
and the format of the Provisions document. The most significant
change involves the adoption by reference of the national consensus
design loads standard, ASCE/SEI 7-05, Minimum Design Loads for
Buildings and Other Structures, including the related consensus
standards referenced therein and Supplements 1 and 2. Part 1 of
this document includes consensus-approved modifications of the
seismic requirements in the standard. Among these modifications is
the adoption of new seismic design maps based on seismic hazard
maps issued in 2008 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) along with
some design-related adjustments. Another major change has been made
to the accompanying Commentary, previously issued as a separate
volume but now included as Part 2 of the 2009 Provisions. The
content of the Commentary has been completely rewritten to provide
users with an up-to-date, user friendly explanation of how to
design using the Provisions and the reference standard. Part 3 of
the 2009 Provisions consists of a series of resource papers
intended to clarify aspects of the Provisions, stimulate
consideration of and feedback from the design community on new
seismic design concepts and procedures, and/or encourage the
development and adoption of new requirements in ASCE/SEI 7 and the
standards referenced therein. Thus, the 2009 Provisions serves as a
national resource intended for use by both design professionals and
the standards- and codes-development community in fostering
development of a built environment designed and constructed to
protect building occupants from loss of life and serious injury and
to reduce the total losses from future earthquakes.
Few natural disasters come bigger than the 2004 tsunami. It left a
trail of destruction from one side of the Indian Ocean to the
other. Hardest hit was Aceh in Indonesia's west where the tsunami
killed almost a quarter of a million people and left half million
homeless as it smashed into a strip of coastline 800 kilometres
long and several kilometres wide. The global community rallied to
help in the largest military deployment since World War II. It then
spent billions rebuilding Aceh in one of the most challenging
reconstruction programs of its kind. "Tsunami Chronicles:
Adventures in Disaster Management"tells the inside story of
recovery. Written by the Indonesian Government's senior advisor for
tsunami recovery, Bill Nicol, it lays bare the tectonic political
and managerial forces that swept along the rebuilding program with
no less force than the tsunami itself. This is a powerful,
first-hand narrative from a highly experienced journalist, author
and consultant who played a pivotal role in the recovery
operations. A series of six books in one book, "Tsunami Chronicles"
offers rare and unique insights that will annoy some, anger a few,
excite others and inspire many. It will appeal to anyone with an
interest in international development and disaster
recovery-humanitarian volunteers, aid workers, consultants,
engineers, agency staff, institutional managers, policy makers and
political leaders-as well as academics, students of management,
business leaders and the general public.
Not many people realize it, but the world is coming apart-and
it's probably not going to get better anytime soon. Terrorism,
natural disasters, economic collapses, riots, and civil unrest
continue to spread throughout cities, states, and nations. It's
more important than ever to prepare to survive such events.
David Browne, a Vietnam veteran who was assigned to the CIA and
flew out of Udorn Thailand along the Ho Chi Minh trail with Air
America, relies on his experiences during the war and after to help
you survive the tough times ahead. As the former operator of
Pioneer Survival School, he has lived "off the grid" with his
family for twelve years, and he's an expert on survival.
This guidebook to family preparedness can teach you how to
survive riots and civil unrest; decide when to ignore governmental
orders; plan an escape from the city where you live; and protect
your family even when you don't have guns.
You'll also learn what foods and other tangible goods to have on
hand in order to keep yourself and your loved ones alive. When the
going gets tough, this guide can help you to survive this new
millennium.
Veterans in rural communities face unique challenges, who will step
up to help?
Beginning with a brief scenario of a more gentle view of rural
life, the book moves through learned information about families,
children, and our returning National Guard and Reserve civilian
military members. Return experiences will necessarily be different
in rural and frontier settings than they are in suburban and urban
environments. Our rural and frontier areas, especially in Western
states with more isolated communities, less developed communication
and limited access to medical, psychological and social services
remain an important concern. This book helps provide some informed
direction in working toward improving these as a general guide for
mental health professionals working with Guard and Reserve members
and families in rural/frontier settings. An appendix provides an
in-depth list of online references for Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI).
Specific areas of concern include: Morale, deployment abroad, and
stress factors Effects of terrorism on children and families at
home Understanding survivor guilt Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) and suicide Preventing secondary traumatization Resiliency
among refugee populations and military families Adjustment and
re-integration following the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Vicarious
trauma and its effects on children and adults How rural and remote
communities differ from more urban ones following war experiences
in readjusting military members Characteristics important in
therapists/counselors working with returning military
Doherty's second volume in this new series "Crisis in the American
Heartland" explores these and many other issues. Each volume
available in trade paper, hardcover, and eBook formats.
Learn more at www.RMRInstitute.org
PSY022040 Psychology: Psychopathology - Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder
SOC040000 Social Science: Disasters & Disaster Relief
HIS027170 Military - Iraq War (2003-)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) encourages State and
local governments, tribal authorities, and private non-profit
organizations to take a proactive approach to coordinating and
managing debris removal operations as part of their overall
emergency management plan. Communities with a debris management
plan are better prepared to restore public services and ensure the
public health and safety in the aftermath of a disaster, and they
are better positioned to receive the full level of assistance
available to them from FEMA and other participating entities. The
core components of a comprehensive debris management plan
incorporate best practices in debris removal, reflect FEMA
eligibility criteria, and are tailored to the specific needs and
unique circumstances of each applicant. FEMA developed this guide
to provide applicants with a programmatic and operational framework
for structuring their own debris management plan or ensuring that
their existing plan is consistent with FEMA's eligibility criteria.
This framework: 1. Identifies and explains the debris removal
eligibility criteria that applicants must meet in order to receive
assistance under the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) Program; 2.
Provides a blueprint for assembling an effective and responsive
plan for the entire debris management cycle; 3. Outlines the FEMA
Public Assistance debris removal organizational structure and
strategy.
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