Resilience

100resilientcities.org - by Michael Berkowitz - December 2, 2014

Today we proudly announce the second group of cities selected to join 100 Resilient Cities – cities who have demonstrated a commitment to building their own capacities to navigate the shocks and stresses of an increasingly complex 21st Century.

During the our first 18 months, we've seen our first cohort of cities mature, appoint chief resilience officers, and embark on their own resilience strategy processes. No doubt this momentum contributed to the immense response we saw to the second round of the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge has been enormous, with 331 exceptional applications from cities around the world, submitted in seven languages.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Damage from Hurricane Sandy along the New Jersey coast. Greg Thompson/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Why not exercise plans with recovery or restoration in mind?

emergencymgmt.com - by Jim Mullen - July 22, 2014

The statement that investments in resilience pay huge dividends when disaster strikes rings true, but the conversation can’t end there. . .

. . . After a major event, the priority inevitably becomes getting people back home, rebuilding and healing. No one really wants to have an in-depth discussion about the feasibility of reoccupying or rebuilding. People want to go home again if they can, as quickly as possible, and resume life as they once knew it. Environmental concerns often pale in the face of a need for communities to rebuild and reconstitute themselves. In New Jersey and Louisiana, and almost any other place where risks have caught up with development decisions, recovery planning began too late, after the event has done its worst.

We know that government leaders, after the first few days or weeks, will appoint someone to lead a redevelopment/recovery task force, particularly if criticism about the pace of the recovery grows.

Why not do it now?

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Emergency managers need to train, encourage and empower public partners to become their own heroes. 
Flickr/Joe Loong

emergencymgmt.com - by Charisma Williams - July 15, 2014

“Be your own hero.” The words hit me like a bolt of lightning (I’ll explain why later). . .

. . . Too often the public has to be “humbled” by a tragic or devastating event before many people start to see the validity in the safety and preparedness measures that those of us in the emergency management/preparedness community work so hard to promote both in our professional and personal lives. However, once they do, it is our job to use these events to help foster the safety culture we strive for daily.

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submitted by Margery Schab

Natural gas well holding tanks sit next to a subdivision of homes in Denton, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2014. (AP Photo/LM Otero) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

huffingtonpost.com - by Emily Schmall - June 19, 2014

. . . For more than a decade, Denton has drawn its lifeblood from the huge gas reserves that lie beneath its streets. The gas fields have produced a billion dollars in mineral wealth and pumped more than $30 million into city bank accounts.

But this former farming center north of Dallas is considering a revolt. Unlike other communities that have embraced the lucrative drilling boom made possible by hydraulic fracturing, leaders here have temporarily halted all fracking as they consider an ordinance that could make theirs the first city in the state to permanently ban the practice.

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