Chapter 1 provides a short overview of issues Congress may consider in its oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) federal assistance during the 2017 hurricane season (e.g., Harvey, Irma, and Maria) and other disasters (e.g., fires in California). In 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria damaged much of the electricity grids' transmission and distribution systems in USVI and Puerto Rico. Chapter 2 provides information on federal support for restoring the electricity grids in Puerto Rico and USVI and factors affecting this support. In 2017 two major hurricanes -- Irma and Maria -- caused extensive damage throughout Puerto Rico. Chapter 3 describes FEMA's Public Assistance spending in Puerto Rico and oversight efforts of federal recovery funds, and initial challenges with the recovery process. Chapter 4 provides information on DRF funding provided to Puerto Rico as a result of assistance associated with a major disaster. The primary focus of the territorial and federal efforts thus far has largely been on restoring electric power in Puerto Rico as reported in chapter 5. In September 2017, two major hurricanes -- Irma and Maria -- struck the USVI, causing billions of dollars in damage to its infrastructure, housing, and economy. Chapter 6 describes the status of FEMA's Public Assistance program funding provided to the USVI in response to the 2017 hurricanes as of October 1, 2018, and the USVI's transition to implementing the Public Assistance alternative procedures in the territory. Chapter 7 provides information on DRF funding provided to the U.S. Virgin Islands as a result of assistance associated with a major disaster. Chapter 8 provides information on DRF funding provided to Florida as a result of assistance associated with a major disaster. Chapter 9 provides a brief overview of the major disaster declaration process and federal assistance programs potentially available to those affected by the 2019 flooding in the Midwest. Following Hurricane Katrina, Congress required FEMA to establish advance contracts for goods and services to enable the government to quickly and effectively mobilize resources in the aftermath of a disaster. Chapter 10 assesses FEMA and USACE's use of advance contracts, FEMA's planning and reporting of selected advance contracts, and challenges, if any, with FEMA's use of these contracts. Chapter 11 addresses the extent to which federal agencies obligated funds on post-disaster contracts in response to the these events, and selected agencies experienced challenges in the planning of selected contracts.

Between the sixth and twentieth centuries, the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino (est. 529) experienced a cycle of atrocities which forever transformed its identity. This book examines how such a tumultuous history has been constructed, remembered, and represented from the Middle Ages to the present day. It uses this singular and pivotal case to analyse the historical process of remembering and its impact on modern representations of the past. Exactly how Monte Cassino is remembered is distinctive and diagnostic. The abbey is recognizable today as a beacon of western civilization, culture, and learning precisely because of its 'destruction tradition' over fourteen centuries. The Destruction and Recovery of Monte Cassino, 529.1964 asks how the abbey's fragmented past has been ideologically, politically, and culturally constituted and preserved; how its experience with destruction and suffering . and recovery and rebirth . has become incorporated into a modern narrative of progress and triumph.

Famine is preventable. The persistence of famine reflects political failings by African governments, western donors and international relief agencies. Can Africa avoid famine? When freedom from famine is a basic right or a political imperative, famine is prevented. Case studies demonstrate such successes but they are not often acknowledged or repeated. Who is responsible for the failures? African governments, western donors and international relief agencies all contribute to the problem. What is the role of international relief agencies? Relief has helped to fuel war andundermine democratic accountability. What is the way forward? Progress lies in bringing the fight against famine into democratic politics, and calling to account those guilty of creating famine. Published in association with the International African Institute North America: Indiana U Press

Puerto Rico lies approximately 1,000 miles southeast of Miami and 1,500 miles from Washington, DC. Despite being far outside the continental United States, the island has played a significant role in American politics and policy since the United States acquired Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898. On 20 September 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm with sustained wind speeds of over 155 miles per hour. At that time, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was already in recovery mode following the glancing blow struck by Hurricane Irma on 6 September 2017, which left 70% of electricity customers without power. Chapter 1 deals with the challenges to recovery in Puerto Rico and the role of the Financial Oversight and Management Board. Even before the 2017 hurricane season, Puerto Ricos electric power infrastructure was known to be in poor condition, due largely to underinvestment and the perceived poor maintenance practices of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA).Chapter 2 focuses on the recovery of Puerto Rico from the hurricanes, and the restoration of power. The two hurricanes that hit may have been historic, but they exposed a state of affairs in Puerto Rico that existed well before any of the hurricanes made landfall. Decades of mismanagement led to a paralyzing debt burden. Chapter 3 describes the factors that contributed to Puerto Ricos financial condition and levels of debt and federal actions that could address these factors. Chapter 4 examines the economic conditions in Puerto Rico as of the end of 2016, and (2) assesses the potential effects of applying the 2016 Overtime Rule to Puerto Rico. Chapter 5 provides policy and historical background about Puerto Ricos political status -- referring to the relationship between the federal government and a territorial one. Congress has not altered the islands status since 1952, when it approved a territorial constitution.

Japan, as recent history has powerfully illustrated, is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. Today it is also one of the best prepared to face such seismic risk. This was not always the case. Earthquake Children is the first book to examine the origins of modern Japan's infrastructure of resilience. Drawing from a rich collection of previously unexplored sources, Janet Borland vividly illustrates that Japan's contemporary culture of disaster preparedness and its people's ability to respond calmly in a time of emergency are the result of learned and practiced behaviors. She traces their roots to the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which killed over 100,000 people when it struck the Tokyo region. Beyond providing new perspectives on Japan's seismic past, the history of childhood, and everyday life in interwar Japan, Borland challenges the popular idea that Japanese people owe their resilience to some innate sense of calm under pressure. Tokyo's traumatic experiences in 1923 convinced government officials, seismologists, teachers, physicians, and architects that Japan must better prepare for future disasters. Earthquake Children documents how children, schools, and education became the primary tools through which experts sought to build a disaster-prepared society and nation that would withstand nature's furies.

This book is concerned with the causes and consequences of river and coastal floods and the ways in which people can respond to the flood hazard. Individual chapters address issues such as floods as natural hazards; impacts and interpretations of flood hazard; causes, spatial characteristics and form of river floods and coastal floods; flood estimation; flood defence; flood forecasting and warning; other responses including land use planning and insurance; and a concluding discussion of problems, policies and prospects. Floods has been written by two experienced and successful authors whose complementary skills are combined to give a broad, comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of the subject which can be used not only as a text book or learning manual but also as an authoritative reference source. This has been achieved by organising and structuring the material to demonstrate the continuity and linkages between the causes and impacts of flooding and the many possible responses to the flood hazard. At the same time the book ensures that discussion of each of the main themes and topics is, as far as is practicable, self-contained. The book is timely in several aspects. It addresses the topicality and universality of floods which are an increasing hazard at a time of global environmental change (climate, land use, population distribution etc.). It also offers the layman and practitioner alike a synthesis and clarification of many individual research efforts near the close of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.

As commercial flight is changing dramatically and its future remains unclear, a look at how we got here Grounded: Perpetual Flight . . . and Then the Pandemic considers the time leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing global plummet in commercial flight. Mobility studies scholar Christopher Schaberg tours the newly opened airport terminal outside of New Orleans (MSY) in late 2019, and goes on to survey the broad cultural landscape of empty airports and grounded planes in the early months of the novel coronavirus's spread in 2020. The book culminates in a reflection on the future of air travel: what may unfold, and what parts of commercial flight are almost certainly relics of the past. Grounded blends journalistic reportage with cultural theory and philosophical inquiry in order to offer graspable insights as well as a stinging critique of contemporary air travel.

Crisis Communication is an in-depth examination of recent tragedies and natural disasters that have occurred around the globe. The book covers three types of incidents: natural catastrophes, accidents and terror attacks. It focuses on the communication aspect of each incident and provides accounts from people handling the event. Each chapter offers a detailed description of the event and supplementary facts and illustrations from a variety of sources. With a focus on critical communication elements and lessons learned, Brataas offers valuable advice - based on personal experience with natural disasters, accidents and terror attacks - on some of the most effective ways to prepare for and deal with a crisis. Topics range from interview situations and social media to victim support and active shooter events. This book will be invaluable to those working in public relations and communications, as well as to those working with human resources and general management.

"Hunger in History" represents the culmination of two years' work in human hunger by the members of the World Hunger Program at Brown University. In bringing together original and specially commissioned articles by some of the world's leading authorities on this topic, Amartya Sen, David Herlihy, Peter Garnsey, among others, the editors have succeeded in providing a strong cross-disciplinary base for the study of hunger. The volume, which includes 16 papers, looks at the problem of hunger from the beginnings of human society, defining and redefining the problem in ancient society and again in early modern and then contemporary society, and ends with an essay by the editors on solutions to the contemporary problem of hunger.

OSHA (29 CFR 1910.119) has recognized AIChE/DIERS two-phase flow publications as examples of "good engineering practice" for process safety management of highly hazardous materials. The prediction of when two-phase flow venting will occur, and the applicability of various sizing methods for two-phase vapor-liquid flashing flow, is of particular interest when designing emergency relief systems to handle runaway reactions. This comprehensive sourcebook brings together a wealth of information on methods that can be used to safely size emergency relief systems for two-phase vapor-liquid flow for flashing or frozen, viscous or nonviscous fluids. Design methodologies are illustrated by selected sample problems. Written by industrial experts in the safety field, this book will be invaluable to those charged with operating, designing, or managing today's and tomorrow's chemical process industry facilities.

On March 28, 1979, the worst nuclear reactor accident in U.S. history occurred at the Three Mile Island power plant in Central Pennsylvania. Radiation Nation tells the story of what happened that day and in the months and years that followed, as local residents tried to make sense of the emergency. The near-meltdown occurred at a pivotal moment when the New Deal coalition was unraveling, trust in government was eroding, conservatives were consolidating their power, and the political left was becoming marginalized. Using the accident to explore this turning point, Natasha Zaretsky provides a fresh interpretation of the era by disclosing how atomic and ecological imaginaries shaped the conservative ascendancy. Drawing on the testimony of the men and women who lived in the shadow of the reactor, Radiation Nation shows that the region's citizens, especially its mothers, grew convinced that they had sustained radiological injuries that threatened their reproductive futures. Taking inspiration from the antiwar, environmental, and feminist movements, women at Three Mile Island crafted a homegrown ecological politics that wove together concerns over radiological threats to the body, the struggle over abortion and reproductive rights, and eroding trust in authority. This politics was shaped above all by what Zaretsky calls "biotic nationalism," a new body-centered nationalism that imagined the nation as a living, mortal being and portrayed sickened Americans as evidence of betrayal. The first cultural history of the accident, Radiation Nation reveals the surprising ecological dimensions of post-Vietnam conservatism while showing how growing anxieties surrounding bodily illness infused the political realignment of the 1970s in ways that blurred any easy distinction between left and right.

In this moment of unprecedented humanitarian crises, the representations of global disasters are increasingly common media themes around the world. The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action explores the interconnections between media, old and new, and the humanitarian challenges that have come to define the twenty-first century. Contributors, including media professionals and experts in humanitarian affairs, grapple with what kinds of media language, discourse, terms, and campaigns can offer enough context and background knowledge to nurture informed global citizens. Case studies of media practices, content analysis and evaluation of media coverage, and representations of humanitarian emergencies and affairs offer further insight into the ways in which strategic communications are designed and implemented in field of humanitarian action.

In " The World Food Problem, updadted in every respect since its first edition in 1985, David Grigg provides a full account of who is hungry, where and why.

Love and marriage, children and family, death and grief. Life touches everyone the same, but living under lockdown? It changes us alone. A man abroad wanders the stag-and-hen-strewn streets of Newcastle, as news of the virus at home asks him to question his next move. An exhausted nurse struggles to let go, having lost a much-loved patient in isolation. A middle-aged son, barred from his mother's funeral, wakes to an oncoming hangover of regret. Told with Doyle's signature warmth, wit and extraordinary eye for the richness that underpins the quiet of our lives, Life Without Children cuts to the heart of how we are all navigating loss, loneliness and the shifting of history underneath our feet. 'Life Without Children is boldly exhilarating, with its revelations of quiet love and the sheer charm of the characters' voices' Sunday Times 'Quietly devastating...shivers with emotion' Financial Times 'In the stripping away of everyday anxieties, the virus reveals what matters most, those qualities that are always at the heart of Doyle's fiction: love and connection' Observer 'Moving...and beautiful' Daily Mail

Famine is more than a short-lived season of hunger. It is a profound crisis of survival and order that strains social fabric, threatens political stability, and may force long-term change in economy and society. In the past, as in much of the contemporary world, famine has been a central part of human experience.

In this original and timely work, David Arnold draws upon the history of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, to explain the origins and characteristics of famine. He considers whether some societies are more vulnerable to famine than others, and contests the assumption that those affected by famine are simply passive 'victims'. He compares the ways in which individuals and states have responded to the threat of mass starvation, and the relation of famine to political and social power.

The author outlines the main theories of famine causation and tests these against historical experience. He considers the effects of famine upon a wide range of human activities and institutions - on for example systems of agriculture and patterns of migration - from the rise of the modern state in Europe to the impact of western imperialism on Asia and Africa. The western world, having rid itself of mass hunger, now tends to regard famine as evidence of backwardness and inferiority in those Third World countries in which it continues to occur: David Arnold weighs the justice of this perception.

A work of historical breadth and significance, "Famine "offers a fresh understanding of the phenomenon and critical reassessments of many established ideas about it.

The American Red Cross is the nation's largest nonprofit organisation involved in disaster relief. The organisation provides services such as sheltering and food assistance, and it has a leadership role in the federal disaster response framework. However, questions have been raised over its ability to respond effectively to large disasters. This book addresses the key factors affecting the nature and extent of the Red Cross's disaster services; how it coordinates with the federal government on disaster assistance; and what external oversight exists of its disaster services. Furthermore, the book provides a brief history of the charter of the American National Red Cross (ANRC); describes the recent congressional interest in the ANRC's governance, operations, and charter; reviews the ANRC's governance audit report and proposal to amend its charter; and describes recent congressional proposals to amend the charter.

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable areas of an increasingly disaster-impacted world, with cyclones, earthquakes, floods and droughts causing several casualties and disrupting lives and livelihoods every year. Yet the impacts of disasters are not equally distributed across the peoples of the region.Women and men experience disaster differently, and their needs in the aftermath of disaster often differ. Bringing together perspectives from academics, emergency response specialists and development practitioners, the volume investigates to what extent and in what ways gender affects the course of post-disaster reconstruction. Conversely, it also explores in what ways gender politics may be altered by disaster and post-disaster reconstruction. The study includes: a comprehensive overview of key issues facing women and men, as gendered beings, in reconstruction and development; a targeted observation of specific South Asian disaster contexts; and a sustained discussion of case studies and their implications and lessons. This book will interest scholars and researchers of disaster management, rehabilitation studies, gender, environment, ecology and sociology. It will also be useful to institutions dealing with natural and man-made disasters, non-governmental organisations and disaster recovery professionals.

Before and after a disaster strikes, it may be helpful to understand the broad outlines of the national emergency management structure and where authority rests at various stages of the process. This book provides information that can aid policy makers as they navigate through the many levels of responsibility, and numerous policy pressure points, by having an understanding of the laws and administrative policies governing the disaster response and recovery process. The book also reviews the legislative framework that exists for providing federal assistance, as well as the implementing policies the executive branch employs to provide supplemental help to state, tribal, and local governments during time of disasters. Furthermore, the book includes a summary of federal programs that provide federal disaster assistance to individual survivors, states, territories, local governments, and nongovernmental entities following a natural or man-made disaster; and reviews several key concepts about these federal assets, and highlights possible issues Congress may consider when evaluating their authorisation and appropriation.

Nearly all major roads and bridges in the United States are part of the federal-aid highway system and are therefore eligible for assistance from the Emergency Relief Program (ER) of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). ER assistance is restricted to roads and bridges on the federal aid highway system, which essentially includes all public roads not functionally classified as either local or rural minor collectors. For disaster-damaged roads that are not federal-aid highways, states may request reimbursement for emergency road repairs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA may also allow limited funding under its Public Assistance Program for such things as snow removal and related operating costs during extreme snowfalls, which are not eligible for ER funds. This book describes FHWA assistance for the repair and reconstruction of highways and bridges damaged by disasters or catastrophic failures. It begins with a brief discussion of the legislative origins of federal assistance, and then addresses eligibility issues and program operation. Moreover, this book discusses agricultural disaster assistance; presents backgrounds on emergency agricultural land assistance programs; describes snow assistance and assistance for severe winter storms, the declaration process, the criteria used to make eligibility determinations, and the types of assistance that are provided after the President has issued a major disaster declaration for the incident; discusses federal non-agricultural programs for emergency water assistance during droughts; commercial fishery disasters; and examines the Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) benefits.

The Robert T Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act authorises the President to issue "major disaster" or "emergency" declarations before or after catastrophes occur. Emergency declarations trigger aid that protects property, public health, and safety and lessens or averts the threat of an incident becoming a catastrophic event. Given their purpose, the emergency declarations may precede an event. A major disaster declaration is generally issued after catastrophes occur, and constitutes broader authority for federal agencies to provide supplemental assistance to help state and local governments, families and individuals, and certain nonprofit organisations recover from the incident. Since the decision for a declaration is at the discretion of the President, there has been some speculation regarding the influence of political favor in these decisions. Some have posited various connections between the political party of the governor requesting or the prominence of some state's congressional delegation on committee's important to FEMA. This book discusses the evolution of this process, how it is administered and recent changes enacted in law as well as amending legislation that has been introduced. The book then provides background on key elements of the Public Assistance (PA) Grant Program, which provides financial grant assistance to states, tribes, and local communities both in the response to and recovery from significant disasters. Finally, this book concludes with discussion of several policy issues that Congress may wish to consider when evaluating the PA Program in the future, including considerations of significant prospective changes to the PA Program and the role of the PA Program in the context of other federal agency disaster assistance authorities.

With contributions from a range of expert voices within the field, this book explores the use of art therapy as a response to traumatic events. Offering rare insight into ways in which art therapists have responded to recent crises, this is a unique resource for art therapists looking to coordinate interventions for large-scale disaster and resulting trauma. Chapters address a range of environmental and manmade disasters around the world, including hurricanes, typhoons, wildfires, mass shootings and forced migration, highlighting the impact of an art therapy approach in dealing with widespread trauma. Covering both community and individual cases, it provides an in-depth view into the challenges of working in these settings, including the effects on the therapist themselves, and offers practical information on how to coordinate, fund and maintain responses in these environments. The first book to focus on disaster response in art therapy, this will be an invaluable contribution to the field in an increasingly vital area.

Ireland's Great Famine of 1845-52 was among the most devastating food crises in modern history. A country of some eight-and-a-half-million people lost one million to hunger and disease and another million to emigration. According to land activist Michael Davitt, the starving made little or no effort to assert "the animal's right to existence," passively accepting their fate. But the poor did resist. In word and deed, they defied landlords, merchants and agents of the state: they rioted for food, opposed rent and rate collection, challenged the decisions of those controlling relief works, and scorned clergymen who attributed their suffering to the Almighty. The essays collected here examine the full range of resistance in the Great Famine, and illuminate how the crisis itself transformed popular politics. Contributors include distinguished scholars of modern Ireland and emerging historians and critics. This book is essential reading for students of modern Ireland, and the global history of collective action.

As humanitarian needs continue to grow rapidly, humanitarian action has become more contested, with new actors entering the field to address unmet needs, but also challenging long-held principles and precepts. This volume provides detailed empirical comparisons between emerging and traditional humanitarian actors. It sheds light on why and how the emerging actors engage in humanitarian crises and how their activities are carried out and perceived in their transnational organizational environment. It develops and applies a conceptual framework that fosters research on humanitarian actors and the humanitarian principles. In particular, it simultaneously refers to theories of organizational sociology and international relations to identify both the structural and the situational factors that influence the motivations, aims and activities of these actors, and their different levels of commitment to the traditional humanitarian principles. It thus elucidates the role of the humanitarian principles in promoting coherence and coordination in the crowded and diverse world of humanitarian action, and discusses whether alternative principles and parallel humanitarian systems are in the making. This volume will be of great interest to postgraduate students and scholars in humanitarian studies, globalization and transnationalism research, organizational sociology, international relations, development studies, and migration and diaspora studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners engaged in humanitarian action, development cooperation and migration issues.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE TELEGRAPH AND THE NEW STATESMAN "A marvellous book" Rev Richard Coles "Gripping... filled with compassion." Sunday Times "Remarkable... hopeful and uplifting." Mail on Sunday "An antidote to despair" Daily Mirror "Enthralling... vivid and humane" Observer "Exemplary" New Statesman When a plane crashes, a bomb explodes, a city floods or a pandemic begins, Lucy Easthope's phone starts to ring. Lucy is a world-leading authority on recovering from disaster. She holds governments to account, supports survivors and helps communities to rebuild. She has been at the centre of the most seismic events of the last few decades, advising on everything from the 2004 tsunami and the 7/7 bombings to the Grenfell fire and the war in Ukraine. Lucy's job is to pick up the pieces and get us ready for what comes next. Lucy takes us behind the police tape to scenes of chaos, and into government briefing rooms where confusion can reign. She also looks back at the many losses and loves of her life and career, and tells us how we can all build back after disaster. When the Dust Settles lifts us up, showing that humanity, hope and humour can - and must - be found on the darkest days.