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Summary Of 2008 Homeland Security Symposium At The National Academies: Fostering Public-Private Partnerships, George H. Baker, Cheryl J. Elliott Jun 2008

Summary Of 2008 Homeland Security Symposium At The National Academies: Fostering Public-Private Partnerships, George H. Baker, Cheryl J. Elliott

George H Baker

Recent U.S. high consequence events have made clear the importance of government collaboration with industry. The benefits of such collaboration were clearly seen as a lesson from Hurricane Katrina. The resources owned and controlled by American industry dwarf those available to local, state and even the federal government departments. Better agreements and incentives to bring the full capabilities of industry squarely into the national response agenda will be indispensable in effectively responding to large-scale catastrophes. General Russel Honoré who led the National Guard response to Katrina has said, “We need the partnering between local, state, and federal governments; but the …


Achieving Urban Resilience: Understanding And Tackling Disasters From A Local Perspective, Christine Wamsler Jan 2008

Achieving Urban Resilience: Understanding And Tackling Disasters From A Local Perspective, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

The damage caused by a dramatic worldwide increase in so-called natural disasters is staggering, with the poor in developing countries being most at risk. This paper analyses: (a) the key variables and their causal relations that underlie the complex system of risk and disaster occurrence in slums; (b) the impacts of disasters on slums; (c) the strategies used by local people to cope with risk and disasters; and (d) the reasons for weak coping. The views and knowledge of slum dwellers in El Salvador are the focus of this analysis. On this basis, five complementary ex ante risk-reduction measures have …