PDC in Print
Volume 4, Issue 1
PDC Highlights
PDC Hanoi Office Opening
PDC Atlas Goes Global: Pacific Disaster Center’s Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas has been offered in two editions in the past: Asia-Pacific and Hawaii. As of January 12, the Atlas has a global edition, as well. Several data themes are new to PDC’s Atlas including International Charter activations and GLIDE events as well as PDC’s automated hazards layer and avian influenza outbreaks (animal and human cases). Additional details can be found on the Atlas launch page, http://atlas.pdc.org.

Hawaii SO2 Emissions

Volcanic Sulfur Dioxide Plumes PDC has been supporting state and county civil defense agencies for more than a decade. Recently, when volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) plumes began venting from Kilauea’s Halemaumau and Puu Oo Craters on the Big Island, PDC assisted by providing predictive modeling and visualization of the volcanic SO2 plumes, providing the needed situational awareness for emergency operational decisions like notifications and evacuations. To learn more about PDC modeling capabilities, read the Center’s fact sheet.

International Expert Panel on Climate Change

New Atlas Editions Following on the success of PDC’s Expert Working Group on Climate Change and Vulnerability, produced in collaboration with East-West Center in August 2008, the Center has been working with some of the best minds on the subject of the shifting risks of natural disasters—related to climate change—to create a standing committee to work on some of the most important question in the field. Nobel Laureate Dr. Nguyen Huu Ninh can be seen, at right in photo, talking with PDC Executive Director Ray Shirkhodai. Read more about the experts here.

Strengthening Disaster Response and Recovery in Southeast Asia

Pacific Disaster Center developed and presented a week-long “Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis” course for the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) in Manila, Philippines. The project was funded by the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), and the development was facilitated by the ASEAN-U.S. Technical Assistance and Training Facility with contributions from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Encouraging Young Techies in Disaster Risk Reduction

Pacific Disaster Center has long been involved with various internship programs such as the Maui Akamai Interns program at the Center for Adaptive Optics CfAO. One of the Akamai Interns who was sited at PDC last year was Jesse Brinkman. You can read about Brinkman and all the 2008 interns at the CfAO website and even see his final presentation about the work he did at PDC, geocoding African disasters. PDC encourages young academics to consider an intern program to get real-world, high-tech experience.

May is Flood Awareness Month

Throughout the State of Hawaii, May is Flood Awareness Month. If you are not certain that you and your family already understand the flood risks in the areas where you live, work and play, use the resources on the websites of PDC, State Civil Defense and the National Weather Service to improve your flood safety “IQ.”

PDC Publishes Upcoming Events

Want to know what the technical staff, analysts and top managers of Pacific Disaster Center are doing? Now, you can look at a list of Upcoming Events, which includes links to the websites of the conferences in which PDC is participating. This list is not necessarily comprehensive, but it includes many places where PDC is exhibiting or presenting.