Disasterology: July 2023
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!
The State of Emergency Management… esoteric (IYKYK)
Phoenix is in a heatwave and also half of the United States (more than half depending on which map you look at). Incidentally, I spent the month in Southern Europe which is also in a heat wave. A study was released this month that found 61,000 people died in last year’s European heatwave. Only a small handful of cities around the world have heat resilience officers. In the vast majority of the United States, emergency management planning and policy are criminally behind in preparing for heat waves. They don’t even get Presidential Declarations. We are absolutely careening headfirst into staggering death tolls across the country (and the world).
The northeast decided to act up. Vermont flooded (think Irene and the 1927 flood). And New York. And Pennsylvania. And New Hampshire. And a little bit in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island… There was also flooding in western Kentucky. Canada is still on fire and the smoke is still causing problems in the US. Some fires kicked up in the western US this month, so we have that to look forward to. Some real tornado action this month too – some associated with the storms in the northeast. Chicago had a bit of a scare. Tornado sirens echoing through cities always feel particularly apocalyptic.
Oh, Florida…
I regret to inform you that we, once again, need to discuss wildly problematic emergency management in Florida. But before we get into the new horrors, I’d like to follow up on the last one.
Disaster Researchers for Justice put out a statement condemning Florida Emergency Management for participating in the immoral forced movement of migrants from the south to other states across the country. We specifically asked the International Association of Emergency Management (IAEM), the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), and FEMA to speak out about the egregious misuse of the emergency management system and the harm the agency is perpetuating.
Within the statement, we also linked to the latest proposal for an updated code of ethics for the profession of emergency management. My memory of this document is that it was compiled through a FEMA Higher Education working group and then passed around online to build consensus among practitioners. To my knowledge, no one has actually adopted this particular code of ethics. While this code of ethics goes further than IAEM’s inadequate version, and as discussion emerged on Twitter this month, it still falls short in other ways. I would love to see others pick up this issue and move it forward! This is something we talk a lot about needing but haven’t seen much progress on.
Okay, now the new horrors!
Here I am, minding my own business, when I get a New York Times news alert that immediately makes my eye twitch. You can read it here.
It’s not great.
It's important that we keep discussing what is happening with emergency management in Florida as the situation devolves for the sake of Floridians but also because DeSantis seems to think he has a future in national politics. These are not serious people! Except we must take them seriously because they are walking around with guns and also running for president!!!
Many of us in the field have said we need to be thinking not just about what needs to change in emergency management right now but also envision what the field looks like in 10, 20, 30 years. Part of that visioning is thinking about the types of hazards we are going to be dealing with, how technology will advance, and what we (and the public) want emergency management to be. But underlying all of that is the politics. It really matters for emergency management who is president, who is in state capitols, and even who is running for mayor in your small town.
Reading the article made me think of this recent reporting from Grist about how the Oathkeepers are taking advantage of disasters to pursue their agenda. Of course, bad people have always used disasters as cover to push their agendas and harm others. Naomi Klein wrote a whole book about it!
So, again, I return to my frequently asked question: What are we going to do with Florida?
I’m not immune to having moments where I want to *bugs bunny saws off Florida.gif* but as someone who spent a lot of time living in red states with insane state legislatures and evil governors, I can’t support that approach. We cannot write off entire states. The way that we as a field react to these kinds of decisions has consequences for Florida residents— including those who don’t actually get a say in who their governor is. It is important to remember that we go forth with empathy.
Now don’t think I’m only mad at Florida. I’m not thrilled with Texas either, but we’ll save that for next month!
MEME BREAK
NOW YOU KNOW…
If you started the newsletter mumbling “esoteric?” to yourself. Pull up a chair and get a load of this!
As I was scrolling through the dumpster fire the other day, I came across a tweet from a notorious Weather Twitter gnat. I’m usually not one to start shit (lol) but he was tweeting about how climate change shouldn’t be called a crisis because it’s only a minor inconvenience to most people. I am literally not exaggerating. You can read it here. He goes on to say that terms like “emergency” and “crisis” are “subjective” and therefore unscientific. Again, not exaggerating.
So, obviously, my soul left my body, and I was forced to start a bit of ~discourse~ on Emergency Management and Weather Twitter.
Long story short he ended up calling emergency management “esoteric” which sent me and seemingly the rest of emergency management Twitter to the moon. Vermont is underwater, Phoenix is sizzling, the Midwest can’t breathe, and the West is days away from igniting but, yes, sure emergency management is esoteric!
It’s giving the worst guy in your freshman lit class.
Anyway, he’s a known problem so I’m not going to lose sleep over it, and we do NOT need to start this up again, but I wanted to mention it because 1. It was funny and 2. Emergency Management Twitter really came together and stood up for emergency management. We need more of that in our field – online and off!! We have to stop letting people push us around whether that’s some random guy on Twitter, governors, or Congress.
Notable Disaster News This Month
Of note this month is this short documentary from Dream Hampton on flooding in Detroit. This series from Grist on climate change and the connection to pathogens and disease is well done.
Mitigation
City Sewers Can’t Handle Climate Change’s Intense Rains in Scientific American
Climate Change Is Increasing Stress On Thousands of Aging Dams Across the US in The Conversation
The Trillion-Gallon Question in The New York Times
Preparedness
FEMA Stretched Beyond Climate Response as Disasters Balloon in Bloomberg
Prisons Aren’t Remotely Ready for Extreme Weather in Bloomberg
Recovery
Kentucky Flood Cleanup Nets Big Payday for Debris Removal Industry from Louisville Public Media
Pajaro Valley Winter Flood Victims File Claims Against Local Governments in the Santa Cruz Sentinel
Disaster Recovery Efforts Can Serve More Than One Goal in The Messenger
Lac Megantic Has Risen From The Ashes 10 Years After Train Tragedy from News Center Maine
Something Fun
The Seattle Office of Emergency Management put out this incredible preparedness video welcoming Taylor Swift to the city for the Era’s Tour. I now involuntarily react to any mention of tsunamis with the “I feel like I might sink and drown and die”. 10/10 recommend all cities doing this for the rest of the tour.
The End Bits
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