Permanent post-disaster housing in honduras: aspects of vulnerability to future disasters

To some degree it is unfair to evaluate a post-disaster housing program as to its effectiveness in decreasing vulnerability and preventing future disasters. As Burton states, "With rare exceptions, administrators and techniques have been trained to cope with disaster rather than to prevent it" [reference (2), p.197]. These were certainly not goals articulated by the agency responsible for constructing housing after Fifi. However, the authors feel that failure to evaluate specific projects by persons knowledgeable of the projects functioning, will only forestall the shift which Cuny calls for, "… from disaster response to disaster mitigation and prevention" [reference (4), p.123). In doing this we hope to add some specific case study data to the growing literature on disaster mitigation and prevention. Disaster vulnerability in Honduras is overwhelmingly related to flooding. More crucial than the materials and construction of housing is the issue of siting. If appropriately sited, houses made of bajarique, wood, or concrete block are able to withstand the heavy rains associated with a hurricane. Regarding the siting of the projects, the Honduras Project clearly has one positive and one negative accomplishment in the cases of Santa Rica and Flores, respectively. San Jose is less clear but is certainly a much safer site than those formerly occupied by the residents, in that there is no danger of flooding. The present site was not flooded during Fifi nor did it experience mudslides. However, the future is not so clear regarding the latter. Within the village proper a large amount of vegetation has been added which will tend to stabilise the soil on the steeper slopes. The streets, however, are seriously eroded and probably can not be maintained for vehicle usage, which does not pose a serious problem to the residents as none possess automobiles or trucks. One large gully bisects the village and receives run-off from the adjacent hills. It has been expanding, which would suggest that the slopes above the village could prove problematic in case of a Fifi-sized storm. Flores is located on a very poor site in reference to prevention and mitigation. It is located in a portion of the Sula Valley which is prone to flooding and, as mentioned before, was inundated by over 2m of water during hurricane Fifi. No prevention techniques were possible by NAEA/HEA and the houses were built on earthen mounds barely adequate to keep water out during the rainy season. The nearby dike which could possibly provide protection is non-functional due to poor maintainance. Given a storm of Fifi's magnitude, or possibly smaller, this site will again be flooded. Santa Rica is clearly well sited concerning flooding: it did not experience flooding during Fifi and is not flood prone. However, houses did experience some wall damage due to earthquakes following and associated with the Guatemalan quake of 1976. Due to the size and nature of the latter much "re-adjustment" occurred in the neighbouring fault system; however, damage to the houses was all superficial. We feel the residents were vocal about their concern due to the severity of the Guatemalan disaster and their lack of experience with concrete block houses. That the two sites (particularly Flores and partially San Jose) are vulnerable to future disasters cannot be considered solely the fault of an outside agency without local knowledge and understanding. In the engineering report issued during the construction it was explicitly stated that in Flores, "Future flooding remains a danger," [reference (6), p.49]. The future residents of Flores had gained access to the land from the National Agrarian Institute and were anxious to receive assistance in building homes. In fact, CARE, which had previously given these people tin roofing for houses, was threatening to take it back since the people had not yet started building. NAEA/HEA were responding to people in a rather desperate situation. But, on the other hand, they were responding to people who had been promised (not given) land by an agency of the Honduran national government which would be cognizant of the potential flooding at this site. Likewise, in San Jose, where mudslides and erosion remain a threat, the land was provided by a local government agency, the municipality. Although our goal in this discussion has not been to establish blame, we feel it imperative to mention the sequence of events that resulted in the questionable siting of Flores and San Jose. It is very easy and often accurate to place blame on outsiders who lack sophistication and knowledge about such matters. In this case local input did not result in post-disaster planning that is actually precautionary. This, we feel, illustrates the extreme complexity of cross-cultural aid, especially in the post-disaster period. It also points to the need for precautionary planning with reference to permanent post-disaster reconstruction.     

CAN SCRAP SAVE US FROM DEPLETION?

Old scrap constitutes varied proportions of consumption of different metals. The authors construct a model in which the share of scrap in total supply is explained by three factors, the growth rate in overall demand for the metal; the share of metal contained in scrapped products actually recovered; and the durability of metal containing products. The model is used to study the impact on the share of scrap in total supply from changes in each of the factors. The strongest impact appears to follow from changes in the growth rate of overall demand. Inserting empirical data for copper into their model, the authors suggest, for instance, that in the long run old scrap could satisfy 100 per cent of copper demand, provided that this demand contracted by 1 per cent per year. La ferraille constitue des proportions variées d'utilisation de différents métaux. Les auteurs de cet article ont construit un modèle dans lequel la part de ferraille dans 'approvisionnement total est expliquée par le jeu de trois facteurs: le taux de croissance de la demande globale pour le métal, la part de métal contenue dans des débris de métaux effectivement récupérés et la durabilité des métaux renfermant des produits. Le modèle est utilisé pour étudier les incidences des changements dans chacun des facteurs sur la part de ferraille dans 'offre totale. L'incidence la plus importante semble provenir de modifications dans le taux de croissance de la demande globale. En introduisant des données empiriques pour le cuivre dans leur modèle, les auteurs suggèrent par exemple, qu' à longue échéance, la ferraille pourrait répondre à la demande totale en cuivre pourvu que cette demande se réduise d'un pour cent par année. El uso de chatarra representa una proporción variable del consumo de los diferentes metales. En este artículo los autores presentan un modelo en el que la proción de la chatarra en la oferta de un metal depende de tres factores: la tasa de crecimiento de la demanda global del metal, la proción del metal contenido en la chatarra recuperada, y la durabilidad o vida económica de los productos que contienen el metal en cuestión. El modelo se utiliza para estudiar el impacto sobre la proporción de chatarra en la oferta total causado por las variaciónes de cada uno de estos factores. El mayor impacto parece ocurrir debido al cambio en la tasa de crecimiento de la demands global. Al utilizar el modelo con datos para el cobre, los autores sugieren, por ejemplo, que en el largo plazo la chatarra de cobre podría satisfacer el cien por ciento de la demanda de este metal siempre que dicha demanda se contraigo en uno por ciento por año.     

2003年美国安防企业排行榜

说明:本次排名是综合美国的100家安防界企业而制作的,这些企业中的多数都是从事产品销售、安装及监控服务的,也有少数企业仅仅提供监控服务。由于篇幅有限,仅选取其中前25名的排名公司列表。 总体来说2002年是风平浪静的一年,各大企业的收入状况并没有大起大落的现象,对应的企业排名也没有太大的变化。今年排行榜的特点可以概括为一个字,那就是“稳”。从文中所附的图表可以看出,2002年排名Top 10的公司本年度都在前11名之内。     

铁路运输安全事故灰色预测方法研究

近年来 ,我国铁路运输发展迅猛 ,尤其是列车运行多次提速 ,列车运行密度加大 ,对铁路运输安全管理不断提出了新的要求。依靠科技进步 ,尽量防止或减少安全事故的发生 ,要应用安全信息技术 ,使安全管理人员对铁路运输安全现状及未来事故发展趋势有所了解 ,提高安全防范意识及事故处理能力 ,同时还要不断提高员工的安全意识和安全文化素质 ,这些方法对于提高安全管理水平 ,降低事故的发生 ,保护人民的生命安全与健康具有重要意义。铁路运输安全事故预测技术就可很好解决上述问题。笔者应用灰色预测理论 ,建立了铁路运输安全事故预测模型 ,开发了安全事故预测软件系统 ,并以某铁路运输企业为例 ,介绍了研制的灰色预测系统软件的应用效果     

用伴随方法对毒气泄漏事件进行危害评估

由于自然、人为等因素造成的有毒气体泄漏事件随时威胁着人们的生命安全。对于这类突发事故进行危害评估 ,在应急救援中 ,可以给决策者提供参考 ,使之采取有效措施 ,最大限度地降低事故危害程度 ,减少事故恶果及引起的恐慌。由于毒气泄漏位置事先无法确定 ,如果用常规方法进行逐点评估 ,将面临着巨大的计算量而难以进行。笔者发展了一种伴随方法 ,对风险函数的表达式进行等价变形 ,通过求解伴随方程 ,可以一次求得任意位置的毒气泄漏的风险值 ,大大降低计算量和工作量。此法在化学工厂和仓库设置 ,煤气网铺设和监测点选取 ,城市应急中心设置等多种安全规划中均有重要价值 ,为快速危害评估 ,降低化学事故危害提供了有力的研究工具和实用方法。     

低床层烟炱吸附法脱硫试验及机理探讨

研究了以锅炉烟气沉降物为吸附剂的烟炱吸附法脱除SO2的工艺条件，结果表明该法较适宜的工艺条件为SO2浓度小于2400mg/L,烟气流速小于36m/h，烟气温度低于100℃，此时脱硫效率可达30％以上。初步探讨了烟炱吸附法脱硫的作用机理。