Disasterology: August 2020

Welcome back, disaster nerds!

This newsletter is a compilation of recent disaster ~things~ that I think are cool, important, or otherwise of interest to people who are intrigued with disaster (broadly defined). There’s a little something for everyone in here.

In case you signed up for this newsletter without knowing who I am (a bold choice!) you can read more about me on my blog, listen to this episode of Ologies, or follow me on Twitter and Instagram where I impulsively narrate my every thought.

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The State of Emergency Management

This has been a hard month in a year of hard months.

The pandemic rages on with few management changes since last month. Congress still has not addressed the growing needs across the country. Black Lives Matter protests in response to police violence continue.

August began with a fire burning next to the San Andreas fault which should have been a sign that things were going to get rocky.

Western states, particularly California, are on fire with over a million acres burned and at least seven lives lost. The US saw its first-ever warning for a fire tornado. A derecho affected 43% of Iowa’s crops and left nearly all of Cedar Rapids in the dark. Not wanting to be left out, the gulf coast has been facing down two storms at once. As of this writing, Marco made landfall in Louisiana as a tropical storm. Laura is expected to intensify over the warm gulf waters before making landfall somewhere along the Texas/ Louisiana coast. Laura has already led to damage and loss of life across the Caribbean.

Elsewhere around the world flooding in China has continued with renewed concerns about the Three Gorges Dam. Flooding has also continued in Bangladesh and there was a devastating explosion in Beirut.

Things do feel grim but also this is why emergency management matters. This is why disaster research matters. This why disaster activism matters. This is why disaster journalism matters. It is why you deciding to sign up for yet another newsletter so you can learn more about disasters matters.

Research of the Month:

This month I want to highlight just a small fraction of the public-facing work that disaster researchers are doing.

This presentation, No Justice, No Resilience: Abolition of Police and Prisons as Hazard Mitigation, featuring J. Carlee Purdum, Sloan Rucker, Richard Thomas, Darien Alexander Williams, Benika Dixon, and Fayola Jacobs is a must-watch. It is an important resource for those who are looking to understand the role of law enforcement in disaster and the impact of disaster on prisons. There is also a good discussion about restorative and transformative justice. A lot packed in here!

Dr. Monica Sanders, an associate professor at the University of Delaware and the director of the Bill Anderson Fund, wrote an important reminder about racial disparities in disaster news coverage and response.

Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, an assistant professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University wrote a piece for Dissent on what current police violence suggests about the future in the context of the climate crisis.

Dr. Sam Brody, a professor at Texas A&M University and director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores did an interview about urban flooding which is particularly timely given Laura’s impending arrival.

Dr. Scott Knowles, department head and professor of History at Drexel University, was the subject of an excellent write up in Philadelphia Magazine about his COVID calls project. You can find the catalog of calls here and incidentally I was just on last week along with Aderson Francois, Professor of Law at Georgetown, offering an analysis of the Democratic National Convention from a disaster perspective.

The Book of the Month:

Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy by Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano

Gee and Anguiano are journalists at the Guardian who covered the 2018 Camp Fire. Folks, I will acknowledge that this may be a particularly grim read for you while fires in California are once again breaking records, however, I think this style of disaster writing is important so you should read it anyway.

This book is written in a traditional disaster case study narrative meaning that it provides a bit of historical set up in the beginning and briefly touches on some recovery issues but that the primary focus is on the response to a single disaster. You will note this is essentially the opposite approach of the Katrina: A History book I recommended last month. I think there is a place and audience for both approaches.

Fire in Paradise is a near minute by minute account of the response to the Camp Fire. The actual response happened quickly and survivors and responders had to make split-second, life-saving decisions.

This book is good for people who want to learn more about the Camp Fire specifically and for those who are new to disasters.

The Disasterology Monthly Newsletter gives this 10/10 of stars.

You can read more about the book here and buy it here.

~MEME~ Break: 

*stares in this month’s endless barrage of disasters*

Important Disaster-Related Media Coverage This Month:

Things were heavy on the response related reporting this month.

Response

If you only click on one link in this month’s newsletter, I hope it is this one: As Puerto Rico battles Hurricane Season, HIV-Positive Folks Begin to Brace For The Worst. A needed, powerful piece about intersecting crises and identity. This is a masterclass from Adam Rhodes in disaster journalism.

In a mere five paragraphs, Jen Coleman will give you chills with this McSweeny’s piece.

Frida Garza looks at the mutual aid efforts that are keeping people fed during the failed federal response to the COVID pandemic for The Guardian.

Lyz Lenz, a columnist for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, took to the Washington Post to call out the inadequate national coverage of the disaster in Iowa. Nearly four years to the day of similar failures following the 2016 Louisiana flooding, it is a reminder of the importance of good disaster journalism and the consequences of its absence.

This piece from Hannah Dellinger for the Houston Chronicle looks at data that supports what many anticipated as lockdowns began – domestic violence cases are on the rise. A reminder that domestic violence tends to increase during disasters. I encourage you to check out Lorena O’Neil in the Atlantic to learn more about this connection.

The mental health repercussions of the pandemic are just beginning to be understood. This Washington Post article from Alyssa Fowers and William Wan looks at the implication of the pandemic on the mental health of transgender folks specifically.

There were a few bits of FEMA specific news this month. This Buzzfeed investigation looks at the timing and extent of FEMA’s involvement in the early days of the pandemic response. There was this Vanity Fair piece that offered new insights into Jared Kushner’s involvement at FEMA. There has been widespread confusion about the decision to use the Disaster Relief Fund to cover some unemployment costs in the absence of Congress extending enhanced federal unemployment.

There have also been approximately ten thousand articles about the fires. I like this Washington Post article for context about the conditions that are leading to the fires along with this updated New York Times article. There is also a lot being written about our capacity to fight these fires. Much of that attention has focused on California’s use of incarcerated firefighters. Yessenia Funes gives a good explanation for Earther. This Huffington Post article from Sara Ruiz-Grossman looks at the impacts of the fires/COVID on people experiencing homelessness and this KQEDstory looks at how care facilities are not ready for these dual disasters.

Preparedness

Not much going on in preparedness-land this month.

The biggest issue I have been keeping an eye on is the potential future of the Department of Homeland Security. Juliette Kayyem wrote this piece for The Atlantic defending the structure of DHS while the ACLU called to abolish it. Regardless of where you fall on this issue, it is an important one for those in emergency management given FEMA’s controversial and turbulent location within the department. Certainly, a story to follow.

Somewhat relatedly there have been some important discussions this month about what the future of the profession of emergency management looks like. Check out this post in HazNet and this very needed “blistering” commentary on the lack of diversity in emergency management from Virginia’s emergency management coordinator Curtis Brown.

Mitigation

Southerly Magazine has a good piece from Xander Peters on folks along the Louisiana coast who have been left in limbo by repetitive flooding and complex government programs.

Relatedly: Please, please, please watch this really powerful TED talk by Colette Pichon, the founder and executive director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, in which she contextualizes climate displacement and migration within Katrina and the Louisiana coast.

Important look in the New York Times at how racist housing policies like redlining are in part responsible for the racial inequality of growing heat impacts in cities across the country.

More reporting rolling in on the impact of the failed COVID response’s impact on mitigation funding. This Inside Climate News piece by Kristoffer Tigue looks at how New York’s Coastal Resilience Bill has been sidelined given the state’s budget deficit and importantly considers how this delay will harm low-income communities of color most.

Perhaps better mitigation news is that some local and state elected officials are finding it easier to talk about climate change. This could be a turning point for emergency managers who are working on related mitigation projects.

Recovery

This week marks the 15-year anniversary of Katrina and the levee failure. The articles have already started and so far I have found this opinion piece from Talmon Joseph Smith to be the most honest. I am sure I will have a longer list for you next month.

Speaking of New Orleans, this New York Times piece from Jami Attenberg is a must-read for anyone who struggles (ahem, hates) the word “resilience” and does not like being asked to be resilient.

Weird Disaster Thing of The Month:

I saw someone posting about this shirt online and I have absolutely no chill, so I bought it.

I know this sounds like a joke but nuking a hurricane is an idea that many, including the current president, have suggested. To be clear, this is a remarkably terrible idea 😅! Earlier this year a representative from Texas proposed a bill that explicitly prohibits the president from using a nuclear bomb to alter weather patterns. Great.

On that note, I am going to go back to obsessively updating Hurricane Laura’s forecast.

Be kind to each other and do what you can to stay safe.

The End Bits:

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I plan on keeping it that way because eliminating barriers to disaster knowledge is important. However, several people expressed an interest in financially supporting this work. I’ve created a “paid subscriber” option for $5 a month or whatever you’d like to give. The only difference between a free sign-up and a paid subscriber option is that you’ll be able to see the full archives of the newsletters. Really, this is just a way for those who want (and can) to support the newsletter. I’ll use the money to cover administrative expenses, do things like buy books to review, and maybe one day hire a research assistant to help. Thank you to everyone who has already supported financially!