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"Disaster tolerant" environment: Going beyond contnuity, recovery
The key term in business continuity is no longer “recover” or “continue” — it is “disaster tolerant” environment
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Eminent domain hobbles Kansas recovery efforts
Eminent domain legislation was meant to protect property owners from the heavy hand of government, but in Kansas it prevents post-floods recovery efforts
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"Virtualization": IT managers look beyond server consolidation
Virtualization helps enterprises collapse their data center footprint and thus reduce all of the costs that go along with it
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House passes 911 bill
Bill facilitates migration from today’s 911 system to a IP-based 911 system to enable the public to access 911 from anywhere, anytime, and from any device
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AT&T acquires portion of 700 MHz for $2.5 billion
The 700 MHz spectrum is being vacated by TV operators, and telcoms — but also Google — vie for a portion of the valuable band; FCC to allocate portion of band for public safety
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U.K. data decryption law takes effect
As of Monday, a controversial new British law allows authorities to demand that individuals and businesses to decrypt data sought in police investigations
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Verizon Business deploys satellite network for U.S. Postal Service
The $25 million contract calls for Verizon to deploy system to provide communications for about 5,000 Postal Service sites; prepositioned assets will help during disasters
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India-Pakistan nuclear war would cause global mass starvation
An India-Pakistan nuclear war involving 100 Hisroshima-size bombs would lead to a reduction of 1.25°C in the average temperature at the earth’s surface for several years, cutting annual grain growing season in the world by 10-20 days; hundreds of millions would starve
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Climate change burdens insurance industry
Climate changes cause ever-more-severe fires, hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters; these disasters accounted for 88 percent of all property losses paid by insurers from 1980 through 2005; it is only going to get worse, and insurance companies had better prepare
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Largest, most comprehensive counterterrorism exercise to date
DHS will conduct its TOPOFF 4 exercise on 15-19 October; emphasis to be placed on prevention, mass decontamination, long-term recovery and remediation, and partnerships and communications with international allies
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Mexico City commemorates 1985 disaster with earthquake drill
Nearly 25,000 died in Mexico City’s earthquake 22 years ago; city commemorates with a large drill in which 3 million residents participate
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New York City to pilot comprehensive emergency notification system
NYC signs up a Houston, Texas company to deploy an emeregency notification system based on messages being sent via cell broadcast
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Mechanical mole seeks out disaster survivors under collapsed buildings
Robots already roll, walk, slither, and even “swarm” to locate or help survivors, so why not dig and burrow? University of Manchester rsearchers build a digging robot which imitates the common European mole
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IT is too important to leave to IT specialists
How and why the IT function needs to change its relationship with the business
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The long view
To bolster the world’s inadequate cyber governance framework, a “Cyber WHO” is needed
A new report on cyber governance commissioned by Zurich Insurance Group highlights challenges to digital security and identifies new opportunities for business. It calls for the establishment of guiding principles to build resilience and the establishment of supranational governance bodies such as a Cyber Stability Board and a “Cyber WHO.”
Protecting the U.S. power grid
The U.S. power grid is made up of complex and expensive system components, which are owned by utilities ranging from small municipalities to large national corporations spanning multiple states. A National Academy of Sciences report estimates that a worst-case geomagnetic storm could have an economic impact of $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year, which is twenty times the damage caused by a Katrina-class hurricane.
More than 143 million Americans at risk from earthquakes
More than 143 million Americans living in the forty-eight contiguous states are exposed to potentially damaging ground shaking from earthquakes, with as many as twenty-eight million people in the highest hazard zones likely to experience strong shaking during their lifetime, according to new research. The research puts the average long-term value of building losses from earthquakes at $4.5 billion per year, with roughly 80 percent of losses attributed to California, Oregon, and Washington. By comparison, FEMA estimated in 1994 that seventy-five million Americans in thirty-nine states were at risk from earthquakes. In the highest hazard zones, the researchers identified more than 6,000 fire stations, more than 800 hospitals, and nearly 20,000 public and private schools that may be exposed to strong ground motion from earthquakes.
A large Ventura Fault quake could trigger a tsunami
Earthquake experts had not foreseen the 2011 magnitude-9 Japan earthquake occurring where it did, so soon after the disaster, scientists in Southern California began asking themselves, “What are the big things we’re missing?” For decades, seismic experts believed the Ventura fault posed only a minor to moderate threat, but new research suggests that a magnitude-8 earthquake could occur on the fault roughly every 400 to 2,400 years. The newly discovered risk may even be more damaging than a large earthquake occurring on the San Andreas Fault, which has long been considered the state’s most dangerous. Unlike the Ventura fault, the San Andreas Fault is so far inland in Southern California, that it does not pose a tsunami risk. A large earthquake on the Ventura fault, however, could create a tsunami that would begin “in the Santa Barbara Channel area, and would affect the coastline … of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, down through the Santa Monica area and further south.”
Coastal communities can lower flood insurance rates by addressing sea-level rise
City leaders and property developers in Tampa Bay are urging coastal communities to prepare today for sea-level rise and future floods in order to keep flood insurance rates low in the future. FEMA, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP), is increasing flood insurance premiums across the country, partly to offset losses from recent disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Cities can reduce insurance premiums for nearly all residents who carry flood coverage by improving storm-water drainage, updating building codes to reflect projected rise in sea-levels, moving homes out of potentially hazardous areas, and effectively informing residents about storm danger and evacuation routes.
California drought highlights the state’s economic divide
As much of Southern California enters into the spring and warmer temperatures, the effects of California’s historic drought begin to manifest themselves in the daily lives of residents, highlighting the economic inequality in the ways people cope. Following Governor Jerry Brown’s (D) unprecedented water rationing regulations,wealthier Californians weigh on which day of the week no longer to water their grass, while those less fortunate are now choosing which days they skip a bath.