DisasterNetwork.co.uk

In the Shadows of Just Wars: Violence, politics and humanitarian action

15 04 2008

One of the most virulent issues of modern humanitarianism is the degree of separation between military interventions and the humanitarian community that come in front, alongside and behind them. Humanitarianism was still smarting from self-deprecation after Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo when Afghanistan, Iraq and the War on Terror ripped a big whole in the established ethics of intervention. This analysis is urgently needed as one of the original ‘balls-of-steel’ moral stalwarts faces deep self-questioning.

http://www.disasternetwork.co.uk/170004.htm

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Tags : Books, Humanitarian, Morality
Categories : Humanitarian

Emergency Planning

15 04 2008

Some interesting links for all those millions of emergency planners out there protecting their pipelines, industrial sites and village halls!

Emergency Planning College

The UK college affiliated with the Civil Contingencies Secretariat

http://www.epcollege.gov.uk/

Emergency Planning Society

Professional membership organisation for emergency planners

http://www.emergplansoc.org.uk/

Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre

Links sustainable community development with disaster reduction

http://www.adpc.net/

Asian Disaster Reduction Centre

Disaster data for Asia - some good quality information

http://www.adrc.or.jp/

Federal Emergency Management Agency

US Government body coordinating emergency response

http://www.fema.gov/

London Prepared

Emergency planning resources and coordination for London

http://www.londonprepared.gov.uk/

Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness

Training resources

http://www.ccep.ca/ccepcors.html

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Tags : Emergency Planning, resources
Categories : Emergency Planning

Reinterpreting disaster

15 04 2008

RADIX

Radical Interpretations of Disaster

http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/geography_research/radix/

Benfield Hazards Research Centre

High class academic research centre based at University College London

http://www.benfieldhrc.org/

Cambridge University Centre for Risk in the Built Environment

Inter-disciplinary centre

http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/curbe/

Disaster Diplomacy

Explores the possibility of disasters uniting people who are normally enemies

http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/

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Tags : Definititions, Diplomacy, Disaster
Categories : Disaster Theory

Climate Change Links

15 04 2008

Some interesting links to climate change sites, more will follow, especially now adaptation is becoming a ‘buzz’ word…

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Top level policy body investigating climate change impacts

http://www.ipcc.ch/

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The definitive international agreement on climate change

http://www.unfccc.int/

UK Climate Impacts Programme

Research into the potential impacts of climate change in the UK

http://www.ukcip.org.uk/

Climate Change Knowledge Network

Resources and links related to climate change

http://www.cckn.net/

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Tags : UN, resources, Climate Change, Adaptation
Categories : Climate Change, Natural Hazards

Small is Beautiful: A study of economics as if people mattered

3 04 2008

Schumacher helped redefine political economics, writing with beautiful prose and ruthless moral fortitude. This is a work of art in terms of both style and content, a joy to read and an inspiring call to place society at the centre of development. It’s relevance is perhaps multiplied in the face of globalisation and geophysical interdependence and provides contextual foundations for the development-disaster paradigm. Classic in every way.