A weekly round-up of news, articles and surveys to make your next emergency better. Have a suggestion for the round-up? Contact me at abetteremergency@gmail.com.

I think what our region has not learned from the Japan earthquake and tsunami should be required reading for voters and politicians responsible for making wise disaster preparedness choices.  For who don’t live on the west coast, read about New Madrid.

There’s more and more effort to quantify how much, if any, radioactive contamination is in the ocean currents.  I think staying abreast of the issue is everyone’s responsibility.  We can’t use our oceans as dumping grounds. It’s time to wake up.

With the astronomical amount of money spent on community preparation for the Olympics, I suggest we hold them in depressed areas instead. Get innovative builders to design venues that can host events for a couple weeks, then convert them into modest housing and community infrastructure for locals post-Olympics.

Changing the paradigm to prevent the next disaster is worth your time.

Three worthwhile articles to consider. The first looks at how natural disasters affect the economy, from a positive and negative perspective.  The second offers a simple attempt to enhance people’s ability to survive disasters. The last is a sobering view of the long-term impacts developed nations suffer after disaster strikes. It includes terms like “almost homeless.”

The goal of any earthquake resistant structural design is to ensure the building does not kill the occupants.  Hopefully this new feature will result in lives saved through better testing and building.

[GARD]