Monthly Archives: September 2017

Here’s Why Puerto Rico Needs an Urgent and Comprehensive Federal Response

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The combination of widespread power outages, the inability of relief teams and emergency supplies to travel overland to the island, and the inability of residents to self-evacuate to nearby unaffected areas make the humanitarian disaster in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands unprecedented in U.S. history. When local officials ask for federal help, they are not being greedy or lazy. It is what they are supposed to do.

Here are seven reasons why Puerto Rico needs an urgent and comprehensive federal response to Hurricane Maria:

  1. The National Response Framework (NRF) – which applies to local, state, and federal governments (including territories like Puerto Rico) – established a tiered response system in which disasters are managed by the lowest level of government whenever possible but also provides for support from other levels when necessary.
  2. By creating a tiered system in which larger, more capable entities (state and federal governments) support local governments, the NRF allowed a more efficient use of resources, as critical capabilities could be shared widely.
  3. Under the NRF, neither territories (like Puerto Rico) nor municipalities (like San Juan) are expected to be self-sufficient in the wake of major disasters. The Framework anticipates that local communities and states will seek and receive assistance from neighboring communities and states before significant federal assistance can be provided. Houston, Texas, – a far larger and wealthier city than San Juan – received immediate assistance from Texas, from other states, from the federal government, and from countless private sector organizations in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Unfortunately, Puerto Rico has no neighboring states and private sector aid cannot easily reach the island, placing a greater burden on the federal government.
  4. An extended power outage is the worst-case scenario for natural disasters. Loss of power complicates every aspect of emergency management and exponentially increases the number of persons who need emergency assistance. While many critical facilities (hospitals, police stations, communications centers, major financial institutions, etc.) will have their own back-up power sources; transportation systems, commercial food storage and distribution systems, civilian communications systems, nursing homes, clinics, schools, and high-rise apartment buildings typically will not. Persons dependent on home medical equipment (oxygen concentrators, home dialysis units, etc.), elevators, and other electrically-powered devices are at serious risk and may need immediate assistance.
  5. As an island, Puerto Rico is physically cut off from the the vast machinery of emergency management that exists in the continental United States. When hurricanes or tornadoes cause widespread power outages in Florida, Texas, or other U.S. states, electric utility companies from across the U.S. immediately deploy convoys of crews and equipment to the affected area to assist in restoring power as soon as possible.  Restoring power after a wind event requires repairs to thousands of individual downed lines and damaged transformers. No electric company anywhere is equipped to repair thousands of breaks without massive outside assistance.
  6. The requirement for on-the-ground assistance in Puerto Rico dwarfs any other disaster in American history. More than three million people are trapped on an island with limited power, limited food, limited water, and limited medical care.  Unlike disasters in the continental U.S., no one can hop in the car and drive to a motel, or a relative’s house, or a shelter in a neighboring state. Likewise, aid workers and providers of emergency supplies are severely restricted in their ability to get to the island.  The fleets of trucks from Wal-Mart and other donor companies that are common sights at U.S. disasters aren’t bringing bottled water and other emergency supplies to Puerto Rico.
  7. The NRF does not require that local communities prove their worthiness for assistance. It assumes that Americans will help Americans, regardless of political affiliation, religion, race, or any other factor. When local officials ask for federal help, they are not being greedy or lazy.  It is what they are supposed to do.

September 30,2017

Fourteen Facts About Kamikazes You May Not Know

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  1. The first organized Kamikaze attacks were conducted on October 25, 1944. Before that individual pilots had sometimes crashed damaged aircraft onto American ships, but suicide attacks by specially trained and organized “Special Attack” groups did not occur until the war had turned very badly for the Japanese.
  2. The Japanese resorted to organized suicide attacks when the United States captured islands within bomber range of Japan and the Japanese Navy was almost completely destroyed.
  3. The Japanese hoped that mass suicide attacks against U.S. Navy ships would discourage Americans and compel the U.S. government to negotiate a peace settlement that would avert a U.S. invasion of Japan and allow Japan to keep some of its war gains.
  4. Inaccurate, wildly exaggerated claims of success following the initial kamikaze attacks led Japanese military leaders to continue and expand the use of the tactic.
  5. Japanese Kamikaze pilots were not all volunteers. While the earliest kamikaze pilots were experienced airmen who did volunteer, once the supply of pilots was exhausted Japan resorted to coercion and eventually to drafting university students and assigning them to suicide units.
  6. Kamikaze attacks were coordinated and well-planned. Special Attack Units were formed and pilots were trained specifically to crash-dive onto Allied ships. Mass kamikaze attacks were essential elements of Japanese plans for the defense of Okinawa and mainland Japan.
  7. Kamikaze attacks were five times more likely to result in damage to a U.S. ship than conventional air attacks.
  8. Mass suicide attacks were a surprise to many American military planners, although some analysts and planners had foreseen the tactic.
  9. Kamikaze attacks were launched from airfields ashore. No kamikaze missions were flown from Japanese aircraft carriers.
  10. Kamikaze pilots were permitted to return to their base if they were unable to locate a suitable target.
  11. Most of the damage caused by Kamikaze attacks was the result of the bombs the aircraft carried, not from the crash of the actual aircraft.
  12. The Japanese developed and continually refined detailed tactics for suicide attacks. Designated observer planes often accompanied suicide attackers to report the results of the attacks to Japanese planners.
  13. In addition to suicide crashes by conventional aircraft, the Japanese employed suicide attacks by rocket planes (Ohka), small boats, manned torpedoes, and large warships.
  14. The Japanese held more than 10,000 aircraft in reserve for suicide attacks during the expected invasion of Japan.

September 28, 2017

Nothing Says ‘Land of the Free’ Like Forcing People to Stand for the National Anthem

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PHILIPPINE SEA (Dec. 7, 2011) A flag detail aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) renders honors during a remembrance ceremony for the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on the ship’s namesake, Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor and embarked Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (11th MEU) are on deployment conducting operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility as part of the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alan Gragg/Released)

Well, I guess there is something wrong with me. Even though I served 22 years on active duty in the U.S. military (including a year in Iraq) and another nine years as a police officer, somehow I feel neither disrespected, diminished, insulted, nor devalued by the modest and dignified actions of some NFL players. They didn’t yell at anybody, they didn’t threaten anybody, they didn’t break anything. Nobody missed a meal or lost their health insurance because some football players didn’t follow the customary procedure before kickoff. They didn’t even delay the start of the games. I have read their explanations of why they acted and they have been unfailingly respectful of the sacrifices of military and public safety personnel. They simply tried to draw momentary attention to an injustice that they see every day. This is their right under the United States Constitution, a governing document that I promised to defend numerous times in my military and law enforcement careers.
Unfortunately, the original message has long since been drowned out by a cascading torrent of overreaction and unhelpful vitriol. As this thing heated up, my initial reaction was pretty much “Nothing says ‘Land of the Free’ like forcing people to stand for the national anthem.” Now my reaction is just a dull sadness that people are so easily provoked into hateful and hurtful comments.
I like the flag, but I like the Constitution even more. The silent protests before football games haven’t diminished my pride in my service or interfered with my life, liberty or pursuit of happiness. If anything, the protests have reaffirmed my faith in America and its people. We are a better nation when citizens who see an injustice are willing to stand up and say, “This is not acceptable.”

September 25, 2017

U.S. Astronaut Pens Open Post to President Trump

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A heartfelt post from U.S. astronaut Leland Melvin, who is also a former NFL player. The post is a little long but it makes several significant points, including the disheartening willingness of the president and his administration to validate and encourage white supremacist extremists; the value of taking an “Orbital perspective” which recognizes Earth as a fragile and threatened home that we all share regardless of artificial and transient political boundaries; and the critical responsibility of a president to unify the nation through dignified, compassionate, and respectful behavior.

“Looking back at our planet from space really helps one get a bigger perspective on how petty and divisive we can be.”

September 24, 2017

To Donald TrumpI believe in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of this country even though at the…

Posted by Leland Melvin on Saturday, September 23, 2017

The Machine Theory of Economics

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Every day the news is filled with articles tracking, predicting, or misrepresenting the current state of the U.S. economy.  Many of these articles and posts are written with a jaunty confidence that seems to imply that the author actually understands the workings of the American economy.  Don’t fall for that nonsense.

The American economy is a massive, unplanned, uncoordinated, uncontrollable contraption that has been assembled by an uncountable gaggle of geniuses and idiots through three centuries of trial, error, invention, innovation, obsolescence, and political opportunism. While some economists understand specific elements of the economy, like the labor participation rate or the completely mythical Laffer Curve, no one understands the entire construct.  These subject matter experts are like auto mechanics who know all there is to know about fuel pumps, but who have never seen an actual automobile.

This is not to demean economists, many of whom are capable of leading normal lives. Their task is beyond Herculean. Economic activity is every activity. Get up in the morning, don’t get up.  Go to work, don’t go to work. Read a book, watch cable news, eat a grape, walk the dog, buy a house: every act, every decision, has an economic impact which mostly can’t be measured and can never be fully understood.

While the actual economy is far too vast to be accurately visualized, we can imagine a model that approximates our ability to understand and control it:

Think of the American economy as an enormous clanking machine; part colonial age, part industrial age, and part information age; rattling along in the sub-sub-basement of some marble-columned government building in Washington DC.  The machine fills several rooms, and there is no place to stand where you can see the whole thing.  Parts of it are wheezing and banging and leaking wispy streams of steam; other parts are warm and quietly vibrating; while still other parts are cold and covered with dust. New parts have been bolted, welded, or duct-taped to old parts, and nothing has ever been removed.

Assembled from mismatched pieces by millions of anonymous people over twenty generations, the machine has no blueprint, no schematics, no instructions, no technical manual, no parts list, no operator’s guide, no documentation of any kind.  There are levers and dials and switches, but most are unlabeled and no one knows what they do. A few (interest rates, money supply, and tax rates among them) are discolored from regular use, but even their effects are almost entirely guesswork.  A few display screens and gauges seem to measure something, although no one is quite sure what (GDP? Labor participation? Stock market value? Consumer confidence?). There is no on-off switch, and no discernible power source.  No one can turn it off, and no one controls it, least of all the president, who inexplicably is held accountable for the actions of three hundred and thirty million people.

So keep this picture in mind next time you read an article or post about the workings – past, present, or future – of the U.S. economy.  You won’t learn anything about the economy, but you’ll sleep better.

September 22, 2017

“The beauty of America is that when you see something broke in your country, you can mobilize to fix it.”

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See the video: This unexpected moment happened when Black Lives Matter activists were invited on stage at a pro-Trump rally (via NowThis Politics)

A worthwhile video if you have not really heard the message of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.  I certainly agree with Mr. Newsome when he says, “The beauty of America is that when you see something broke in your country, you can mobilize to fix it.”  The urge to fix things that are wrong – which has existed throughout American history – animates both the BLM movement and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.  Of course, it would be helpful if we, as a nation, could reach a consensus on what is actually wrong, but that will require less yelling and more listening, traits that are in short supply right now…. Regarding BLM, having been a police officer for nearly ten years in the big city of Cleveland, Ohio, I am inclined to agree that police should be held accountable for their actions, just like doctors, lawyers, or naval officers.  When I joined the CPD I had already served four years on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. In the Coast Guard and Navy, where I also served, accountability is a core value.  Coast Guard and Navy officers are routinely held responsible for not only their own actions, but for the actions of their subordinates.  In general, this concept is totally alien to American law enforcement.  Police work is one hard day after another. The law is complicated; America is a violent society; people are unpredictable and occasionally dangerous; and everybody thinks they know more about your job than you do. You must repeatedly make split-second decisions with little or no actual information, and these decisions are often reviewed in detail in court proceedings and occasionally in the news media.  One of the fundamental precepts of American law enforcement is that the person on the scene who had to make that split-second decision in the heat of the moment, with whatever scraps of information were available at that time, in the dark – literally and figuratively –  cannot be justly reviewed or criticized by people who weren’t there.  This is a very human and rational response, but left unchecked it is extremely corrosive to police organizations.  When we talk about killing people, the perception that there are no consequences for errors in judgement can be unsettling.

September 21, 2017

This Is What Happened When Black Lives Matter Activists Were I…

This unexpected moment happened when Black Lives Matter activists were invited on stage at a pro-Trump rally (via NowThis Politics)

Posted by NowThis on Monday, September 18, 2017

Ten Reasons Why a 22-Game Winning Streak is Better Than a World Series

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Last night the Cleveland Indians’ American League record 22-game winning streak ended when the Kansas City Royals came from behind to defeat the Tribe, 4-3.  The streak is the second longest winning streak in major league baseball history and is the longest winning streak in more than 100 years.  Here in Northern Ohio, we have hosted a World Series and a 22-game winning streak within a year, which gives us an excellent perspective on the merits of both.  For the rest of you, here are ten reasons why a 22-game winning streak is better than a World Series.

  1. The Streak came out of nowhere. Teams that make it to the World Series have almost always played well all season, and in nearly all cases were expected to contend for playoff spots before the season even began.  Nobody expects a 22-game winning streak, even when a team has already won twenty-one in a row.
  2. Every game is an elimination game. You can lose three games in the World Series and still win the thing. (Just ask the Cubs.) But there is no margin for error if you’re trying to win every game.
  3. Twenty-two is more than twelve. To win the World Series, a baseball team needs to win 12 playoff games if they entered the postseason as a wild card team, or eleven games if they have won their division.  To win 22 games in a row you have to win 22 games.
  4. Regular season prices and promotions. A winning streak takes everyone by surprise, including team management. There is no time to raise ticket prices or cancel scheduled promotions. Fireworks, dollar dogs, bobbleheads, and free shirts are still provided. Clearly, this is not the case during the World Series.
  5. No rich out-of-towners at the games. During a World Series the ballpark is littered with thousands and thousands of rich out-of-towners who have no interest in the participating teams or in baseball in general. The World Series is an “event,” and the out-of-towners’ purpose in attending is to tell their clients or friends that they were at the World Series. During the streak’s home games, virtually everyone in the ballpark was fervently hoping to see the Indians win. The atmosphere during the games was electric and when they did win, the response was an overwhelming mixture of relief and elation.
  6. No obnoxious fans of the visiting team at the games. Unless you are playing the Red Sox or the Yankees, regular season games don’t attract significant numbers of fans of the visiting team. In the World Series, they show up by the planeload. Unlike rich out-of-towners, there is nothing wrong with fans of the visiting team.  At least they know who is playing. But in large numbers they dilute the atmosphere and diminish the shared experience of the home crowd.
  7. No attention-seekers at the games. No protestors, counter-protestors, anarchists, neo-Nazis, or Social Justice Warriors show up during a winning streak. No need for armed helicopters hovering overhead, packs of bomb-sniffing dogs, strip searches, or other enhanced security measures. If only that were true during a World Series.
  8. Everybody understands a winning streak. You don’t have to understand the infield fly rule or be able to calculate a pitcher’s earned run average to fully appreciate a 22-game winning streak. Doing any positive thing twenty-two times in a row is pretty impressive.
  9. There is a World Series winner every year. There is a 22-game winning streak every century.  Even the Indians have won the World Series twice since the last time a team won 22 straight games.
  10. No Cubs fans at the games. Similar to Item #6, but clearly bears repeating.

One final note: I live in Cleveland, so I wouldn’t know anything at all about actually winning a World Series.  If by some cosmic miracle that should ever happen here, we might have to reconsider the comparison.

September 16, 2017

Collaboration and Cooperation: Keys for Effective Recovery

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Successful cities are well-equipped to recover from disasters. The characteristics that helped them grow in the first place are the same characteristics that will help them recover. But some cities are better prepared for recovery than others. Cities that have established a culture of cooperation and collaboration among all elements of the population will recover more quickly and more successfully.

 

Cities are resilient by nature. Throughout history urban areas have been struck by a horrific menu of disasters including fires, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and wars. In the United States alone, within the past 150 years San Francisco and Anchorage have suffered devastating earthquakes; Chicago was nearly destroyed by a disastrous fire; Dayton and Johnstown experienced catastrophic flooding; and Galveston, Charleston, Miami, and New Orleans were ravaged by hurricanes (Galveston twice!). Yet, despite widespread damage and significant loss of life, these cities rebuilt their neighborhoods and economies and resumed their places in the life of the nation. Their recoveries, though inspiring, are not exceptional. Historically, nearly every city that has been felled by disaster has recovered.
But not all cities recover as quickly or as completely as others. San Francisco rebuilt itself and maintained its position as the principal city of the American west. Chicago not only rebuilt itself, but took the opportunity to create a series of lakefront parks that define the city today. In contrast, New Orleans’ recovery remains incomplete and the city may never return to its previous prominence. There are many factors that determine a city’s ability to bounce back from disaster or catastrophe, including the city’s level of economic vitality, the efficiency and effectiveness of its local government, the availability of private or public funding, and the willingness of local leaders to cooperate. Taken together, these factors determine how resilient an urban area is.
The differences in resilience between cities can be significant. The most resilient cities recover more quickly, more completely, and more intelligently than do less-resilient cities. Understanding the factors that make a city resilient can help local officials set the conditions for quicker, more comprehensive recovery from disaster.
The good news for community leaders is that all cities have the basic ingredients of resilience. By their nature urbanized areas are well-equipped to recover from disasters. The characteristics that established them as centers of transportation, trade, manufacturing, education, and culture are the same characteristics that are necessary for recovery. The strength of a city lies in the degree to which it encourages human collaboration and cooperation. Cities prosper and grow when the gatherings of creative and energetic residents, the efficiency of urban infrastructure, and the density, proximity, and closeness of urban areas create physical connections between people which foster mutually beneficial interaction and information exchange. (Glaeser)
In the aftermath of large-scale disaster, successful recovery requires a high degree of collaboration and cooperation. All members of the community must participate. Unity of effort, which respects the authority and expertise of each participating organization while coordinating support of common recovery objectives, is essential. (NDRP)
Urban areas that are experienced and proficient at working together will find it easier to develop focused, community-wide recovery plans and will be better able to establish priorities and share scarce resources.
To increase the resilience of their cities, community leaders must encourage cooperation and collaboration in their daily activities. They must resist the temptation to see other areas of the urban entity as competitors and instead view the entire region as a single economic unit. Building relationships and establishing a successful process of working together to identify and solve community problems are critical. Communities that work well together before a disaster will be well-prepared to work together after disaster. Well-established, pre-disaster partnerships are critical to a successful recovery. (NDRP)
Pre-disaster planning is another critical element of resilient communities. By establishing recovery processes and protocols before disaster strikes, communities can enhance the speed and success of their recovery. The combination of effective, community-based planning and creation of a culture of cooperation and collaboration will result in a resilient community with an improved ability to withstand, respond to and recover from disasters (NRDP).
Recognizing that communities differ in their ability to respond to disaster, researchers at the University of Buffalo developed a method of measuring community resilience. By identifying quantifiable factors which they believe contribute to resilience, researchers were able to calculate the “resilience capacity” of 360 American metropolitan areas.
Key to the process was identifying measurable attributes or factors that contribute to resilience. The researchers identified 12 factors grouped in three broad categories; economic capacity, socio-demographic capacity, and community connectivity.
Economic factors include economic diversity, the level of support for business activity, the affordability of housing, and lower levels of income inequality. Socio-demographic factors include higher levels of education, income, personal health insurance, and lower numbers of person with disabilities. Community connectivity factors include the number of civic organizations and the average length of time residents have lived in their current residence as well as the region’s rates of home ownership and voter participation.
Having identified measurable factors that contribute to resilience, researchers were the able to combine the individual measurements into a consolidated score, which they termed “resilience capacity.” They then ranked 360 American metropolitan areas by their resilience capacity.
Ranking number one – the most resilient city in America – was Rochester, Minnesota. Ranking second and third were Bismarck, ND and Minneapolis, MN. Cleveland ranked 132nd of 360; just below the top third of American metropolitan areas.
The highest ranking Ohio metropolitan area was Akron, at 93rd. Close behind was Cincinnati at 97th, followed by Columbus at 102nd, Sandusky at 103rd, and Youngstown at 121st.
Kathryn Foster, director of the Regional Institute at the University of Buffalo, explained that cities in the Midwest and Northeast did quite well in the resilience capacity rankings. “The reality is that slower-growing regions actually have more capacity to withstand the shock,” she told an interviewer. “It’s counter-intuitive, but they tend to be more stable. They’re often more affordable. There are higher rates of homeownership and they tend to have greater income equality. These are places that tend to have connected residents that live there for a long time, high levels of civic capacity and they may be diversified in terms of their business climate.” (U of Buffalo)
Based on the University of Buffalo’s criertia, Greater Cleveland is fairly well-positioned to recover from potential disaster. Of course, community leaders would like to see a higher rate of economic growth, but the other factors that Dr. Foster cited – affordability, high rates of home ownership, and a thriving sense of community – are elements that make Greater Cleveland a desirable place to live.
But cities are not static entities. They are continually evolving and changing, replacing old buildings with new, creating new centers of activity and new patterns of economic and cultural activity. Resilient cities are cities that are designed to be sustainable, that minimize waste and make the most efficient use of all available resources – human, economic, and natural.
Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are no different. To increase the Cleveland metropolitan area’s resilience, community leaders should ensure that re-development efforts improve the area’s resilience capacity.
The role of community leaders in creating resilient communities cannot be overstated. While many factors are important, including a clear vision, a well-defined plan, broad and diverse funding to finance the recovery, a supportive and involved business community, and effective partnerships at the federal, state, and local, the biggest difference, is effective leadership. (Becker)
For starters, area leaders must agree on a shared vision for what they want this community to become. All communities must recognize their stake in the region’s success. Competition between communities within the region for jobs, grant funding, and other resources is inherently wasteful and counterproductive.
Redevelopment must be designed to mitigate risks and encourage resilience. Techniques that can mitigate risk include conducting a comprehensive risk assessment; developing land use policies that reduce exposure to flooding, landslides, and other risks; enforcing effective building codes; and ensuring that critical lifelines like transportation systems, gas, electric, water, and sewage distribution systems are designed and built to resist damage and to be repaired quickly. (NSTC)
Physically, a more resilient Greater Cleveland would be a denser Greater Cleveland. It would make more efficient use of infrastructure investments and it would be designed to bring greater numbers of people into greater proximity, increasing the number of connections, spurring collaboration, innovation, and creativity. Initiatives that encourage economic diversity would enhance the region’s resilience. Cities thrive – and are resilient – when their economies are diverse and when they are characterized by many small firms and skilled citizens. Policies that encourage innovation, diversification, and education should be encouraged (Glaeser)
Greater Cleveland leaders should look for ways to make government and private industry more efficient – make better use of existing infrastructure, and ensure sufficient investments in infrastructure and education.
There are strong signs that regional leaders understand the importance of cooperation and collaboration among all members of the community. In November of 2010, Northeast Ohio was awarded a $4.25 million federal grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund the development of a regional sustainability plan. In order to manage the three-year planning process, the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) was established. The NEOSCC will develop a coordinated plan for land use, transportation, economic and workforce development, and infrastructure investments for a 12-county region comprised of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Summit, Stark, Trumbull and Wayne counties. (Vibrant NEO)
The Sustainable Communities Consortium and other initiatives aimed at increasing cooperation and collaboration among all community members can increase Northeastern Ohio’s resilience and help us recovery more quickly and more completely from natural and man-made disasters.

Sources
Glaeser, Edward; Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier; Penguin Press, 2011.
Becker, Christine; Disaster Recovery: a Local Government Responsibility; ICMA Publications website; http://webapps.icma.org/pm/9102/public/cover.cfm?author=christine%20becker&title=disaster%20recovery%3a%20%20a%20local%20government%20responsibility; accessed December 10, 2012
Teaman, Rachel M., ‘Resilience’ of U.S. Metros Measured by Online Index Developed by UB Researchers; University of Buffalo website; http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2011/07/12707.html accessed December 15, 2012.
National Science and Technology Council, Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction (NSTC). Natural Disaster Reduction: A Plan for the Nation; Washington, DC; U.S. Government Printing Office; December, 1996.
National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF); Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Vibrant Northeast Ohio website; http://vibrantneo.org/neoscc/history/ accessed 2/17/13

Resilient Cities and Disaster

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Cities are resilient by nature. Throughout history urban areas have been struck by a horrific menu of disasters including fires, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and wars. In the United States alone, within the past 150 years San Francisco and Anchorage have suffered devastating earthquakes; Chicago was nearly destroyed by a disastrous fire; Dayton and Johnstown experienced catastrophic flooding; and Galveston, Charleston, Miami, and New Orleans were ravaged by hurricanes (Galveston twice!). Yet, despite widespread damage and significant loss of life, these cities rebuilt their neighborhoods and economies and resumed their places in the life of the nation. Their recoveries, though inspiring, are not exceptional. Historically, nearly every city that has been felled by disaster has recovered.
But not all cities recover as quickly or as completely as others. San Francisco rebuilt itself and maintained its position as the principal city of the American west. Chicago not only rebuilt itself, but took the opportunity to create a series of lakefront parks that define the city today. In contrast, New Orleans’ recovery remains incomplete and the city may never return to its previous prominence. There are many factors that determine a city’s ability to bounce back from disaster or catastrophe, including the city’s level of economic vitality, the efficiency and effectiveness of its local government, the availability of private or public funding, and the willingness of local leaders to cooperate. Taken together, these factors determine how resilient an urban area is.
The differences in resilience between cities can be significant. The most resilient cities recover more quickly, more completely, and more intelligently than do less-resilient cities. Understanding the factors that make a city resilient can help local officials set the conditions for quicker, more comprehensive recovery from disaster.

Read the complete article on the Archives page.

September 5, 2017