The 2011 World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM) was held in Toronto on June 19-22. The theme this year was “Innovative Solutions for a Modern World.”
A summary of the proceedings can be found by Jared Wade at Risk Management Monitor.
The Ontario Science Centre has a new exhibit on natural disasters opening on February 11, 2011, Nature Unleashed.
Members can arrange for a free preview of the exhibit.
Charlie Moore, Juliana Olsson, and Ian Ferguson talks to Omar Ha-Redeye on the Rocket Lawyer Podcast about Wikileaks, reputation management, and how to deal with information leaks in the private sector.
Additional commentary on Slaw.
See Ian Ferguson’s blog post about the podcast, which includes a transcript of an excerpt:
Me: “Coming from a background in crisis communications, I’m sure defamation is something you’ve had pretty in depth exposure to, especially in sort of a private sector way. I was wondering if you could give us some actionable insights into how small business or private owners might react to that sort of exposure online.”
Omar: “Well, I think you touched on it exactly there with your last few words there, is that they shouldn’t be reacting. In my opinion, and this is I think a benchmark in the communications industry, private sector should not be reacting to defamatory statements or statements that are affecting their credibility.
What they should be doing is acting proactively and mitigating the threat from the outset. So what that means is that they should be online, they should have a web presence, they should have blogs and Twitter and all those things that we see communications people talking about because the reality is if you wait until the crisis is there it’s already too late.
And we saw that for example with the BP British Petroleum oil crisis, where BP realized that after the oil spill everybody was talking about them on Twitter, everybody, and there was even a fake Twitter account parodying BP’s response (@BPGlobalPR – still active with 182,033 followers). They came to the party late. They showed up and they tried to provide their perspective, their point of view, and at that point, it was way too late. The community of people that were already there online weren’t willing to listen to them because it was so obvious that they had just showed up to try to influence things in a different way, whereas had they been involved in communicating with the public prior to this, well in advance of any sort of incident, then they may have had a different type of relationship and a different type of communication with the public.”
Chapters from GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management are now available for purchase online in an electronic format through CRCNetBase. The e-book ISBN is 978-1-4398-2131-2.
Library recommendation forms are also available to suggest the text for a collection near you.
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Omar Ha-Redeye
Abstract – Hi-Res PDF (1903 KB) – PDF w/links (847 KB)
Pay Per View options begin at US$20 for 24-hours chapter access, and US$79.95 for the entire text.
Free access is available to the Front Matter, which includes endorsements, forward, contents, authors bios, and peer reviewers.
The G20 has proven a disaster for all parties involved, including the protesters, the City, and law enforcement.
Post-detention conditions and inappropriate conduct in facilities suggest more could have been done to prepare officers. Conduct of some officers suggest that the worst offenders were likely from outside of Toronto.
The cases of Emomotimi Azorbo and John Pruyn raises questions of competency and sensitivity among law enforcement during the G20 protests. Hundreds of police officers from across the province did receive this training in 2006, emphasizing vulnerability assessment for minorities and disabled populations.
See Slaw for more on Regulation 233/10 and whether municipalities should be given more constitutional power to avert situations like the G20. Also worth reading is a post by Jean-Marc Leclerc of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on this application of the Public Works Protection Act.
Check out Erin Bury’s The funniest #EarthquakeTO Tweets.
(click the link)
And the #1 most amazing #EarthquakeTO Tweet goes to…
Official announcement today for GIS in Hospital & Healthcare Emergency Management, scheduled for release on April 22, 2010:
Although many books have been published on the application of GIS in emergency management and disaster response, “GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management” is the first one to bring together a comprehensive discussion of the critical role GIS plays in hospital and healthcare emergency
management and disaster response.Illustrating a wide range of practical applications, GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management explores how GIS data is being used to assess need, determine surge capacity, and improve logistics in emergency or disaster scenarios. Leading experts in the field provide authoritative coverage of all areas of emergency management involving GIS and related technologies.
Making this complex subject accessible for professionals who want to improve their preparedness and response capabilities, this complete resource provides numerous examples, case studies, and proven simulation and modeling tools to aid in the development of effective and efficient emergency response plans. It also includes a CD-ROM with a user interface that supplies access to helpful forms, exercises, color versions of the figures in the book, hundreds of valuable resources, as well as a composite bibliography of all references included in the
text.In today’s technology driven environment, failure to plan is planning to fail. This accessible reference provides emergency planners, operations managers, and hospital and health administrators, with the understanding and the tools needed to create emergency management and disaster preparedness systems that
will help hospitals save lives, time, and money when the next emergency strikes.“If you want a successful system of emergency management at the local, state, tribal, or federal level, you must utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS)—period! … Ric Skinner has pulled together leaders and scientists from an incredible cross-section of those who are truly involved in the preparations for, and responses to, emergencies. These authors—leaders in their fields—have managed to explain a comprehensive range and depth of information that will prove to be critical to an organization that wants to ensure success in their planning and response. My fervent hope is that those involved in emergency planning and operations will derive invaluable benefits and lessons from this book.”
— R. Tom Sizemore III, MD, Principal Deputy Director,
Office of Preparedness & Emergency Operations,
U. S. Department of Health & Human ServicesRic Skinner (ric.skinner@gmail.com)
Phone: 508-347-1139
Special advance orders can obtain a copy at 20% off the list price, and may be eligible for free shipping. Also available on Amazon. See here for more information:
GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management
ESRI‘s bi-annual newsletter, Healthy GIS, covered an upcoming publication in their Spring 2010 newsletter. Omar Ha-Redeye has a chapter in the text, GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management, edited by Ric Skinner.
Law is Cool Slaw Canadian Health Law
