Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - Emergency response

Genesis of Recupera Chile

Doug Ahlers — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:23:52 -0500

May 14, 2013

Following Hurricane Katrina, the Belfer Center's Broadmoor Project was developed by then Belfer Center Senior Fellow Doug Ahlers to work with the Broadmoor neighborhood to rebuild the devastated community. Highly successful, Broadmoor is now a model of recovery, almost 90 percent rebuilt, with a new charter school, library, and community center. (See Broadmoor Project.)

With Ahlers vision and leadership, the Broadmoor Project has also helped other disaster-struck communities. Here, Ahlers describes how the Broadmoor model is currently assisting in the recovery of three Chilean communities nearly destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 2010. The genesis of the Recupera Chile initiative is described below.

From the Director

Graham Allison — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:17:48 -0500

"The Boston Marathon is at the heart of a day rich in meaning for the Boston community...The marathon terror attack of April 15 cut into our community at its most vulnerable. That made the suffering of the victims even more intolerable for all Americans...As the dramatic events unfolded in Boston, I was proud not only of the resilient response of our city, but also of the support the Belfer Center community was able to offer."

Q&A with Juliette Kayyem

Tue, 14 May 2013 07:12:59 -0500

Juliette Kayyem is a Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School who served as Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the first Obama administration and headed homeland security efforts for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Currently a columnist for the Boston Globe and analyst for CNN, Kayyem provided extensive analysis of the situation following the Boston Marathon bombings. We asked for her views on Boston’s response to the attack.

From New Orleans to Chile: Broadmoor Model Aids Community Recovery

Doug Ahlers — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:04:56 -0500

"When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, then-Belfer Center Senior Fellow Doug Ahlers, a former resident of New Orleans, immediately realized that he and the Kennedy School could help. The result was the Belfer Center’s Broadmoor Project, a collaboration with the Broadmoor neighborhood....Broadmoor is now a model of recovery, almost 90 percent rebuilt, with a new charter school, library, and community center....With Ahlers vision and leadership, the Broadmoor Project has also helped other disaster-struck communities. Below, Ahlers describes how the Broadmoor model is currently assisting in the recovery of three Chilean communities nearly destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 2010."

The New Normal?

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:20:26 -0500

"...[E]very aspect of the week's events from the security precautions taken at the finish line of the Marathon to the way the manhunt was conducted will provide new standards for public safety entities who learn from each other. Giving the task of performing such an evaluation to an independent assessor without past ties to Massachusetts law enforcement is essential. Public confidence will benefit because, before we know it, there will be another Marathon next year. A formal process of determining lessons learned, while memories are fresh, is part of an effective feedback loop."

China Moves Cautiously Ahead on Nuclear Energy

Hui Zhang and Shangui Zhao — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:12:18 -0500

"Although China has every intention of continuing nuclear energy development, in the aftermath of Fukushima it has approved a number of plans to enhance safety standards. All of them emphasize that the pace of growth should be controlled to minimize risk."

After the Boston Marathon bomb attacks: What we've learned

Nicholas Burns — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:40:27 -0500

Amid the shock, grief and anger, what can we learn? Nicholas Burns dissects this week's Boston Marathon bombings.

Resilient Bostonians Must Regroup, Learn, and Adapt

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:56:13 -0500

"Those actions by authorities were the product of a constant process of learning from horrors in the past. The lessons learned from the terrorist attacks on 9/11 prompted the quick reactions of first responders in Boston. The skills that soldiers mastered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan created competencies that saved lives, and limbs, at the bomb site. The plea for public participation came from a government that has learned that an insular national security apparatus is limited in its capacities."

A Spectator Event with No Doors

Juliette Kayyem — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:56:19 -0500

"The speed of evacuation, and the intensity of the response, were the products of months of planning for the Marathon. Public-safety officials were on high alert because any event with lots of people around is sure to have safety issues. But no marathon can ever be totally secure."

Is it Time to Worry?

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:16:31 -0500

"But today's scare is not just a matter of concern for China. The nation's insular government, dense population, and environmental ills have already combined to create several global pandemics. The 2003 SARS outbreak began in China, and, by its end, killed about 800 people and caused close to $50 billion in economic losses. China had originally prevented disclosure of the SARS outbreak, telling nervous global public health officials to take a hike."

The Evolution of the IAEA: Using Nuclear Crises as Windows of Opportunity (or Not)

Trevor Findlay — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:53:55 -0500

This seminar considered how the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reacted to nuclear crises. The IAEA often appears not just to have weathered such crises, but to have successfully leaped through windows of opportunity presented by them. This has resulted in periodic expansions of its mandate, capabilities, and resources. The 2011 Fukushima disaster appears to be a puzzling exception, raising the question of what concatenation of factors needs to be present for the IAEA to take advantage of nuclear crises.

UN's Cold, but Correct, Call on Haiti

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:38:04 -0600

"Putting aside whether the UN's attitude has been sympathetic enough, whether it should vet peacekeeping forces better before deploying them, and whether the organization has a moral obligation to give Haiti more help with its public health needs, Ban's decision will protect all relief efforts in the future. It is the only outcome that provides the necessary protections to those who are asked to work voluntarily in dangerous situations. Most importantly, it will maintain an incentive for nations to support UN efforts for assistance or peacekeeping missions that have, by any measure, done far more good than harm."

Snowstorm Will Provide a Blizzard of Lessons

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:58:02 -0600

"It is worth noting that the only driving-related fatalities this weekend occurred in other states; massive pileups, with drivers stuck in cars for hours on end, took place in states that failed to institute travel bans. Preventing deaths has rarely been simpler. Meanwhile, the deficiencies in the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, in particular, led to advancements in federal emergency management support, airline cancellation protocols, communications systems, and the speed of coastal evacuations, all of which came into play in this storm."

Shell's Arctic Troubles Only Buy Time

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 08:31:03 -0600

"...[T]o believe that the market will maintain its current risk assessment forever is to believe in the power of magical thinking. The economic and political stakes are overwhelmingly in favor of drilling. The White House is pushing for domestic sources of energy. Alaska's elected and tribal leadership will gain much from taxes on new economic activity. And our foreign competitors near the Arctic circle — including Russia, which sent an oil tanker through the Arctic during in December — are ready to plunge into the cold."

'Conflicting Facts' about Newtown Shootings Were Really Unverified Rumors

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:01:21 -0600

"...[A]s I watched too much television and listened to too much radio over the weekend, I recalled that cautionary saying about the unreliable content of initial reports. As a former homeland security official who now writes opinion columns, I found myself wondering: Why do so many media outlets say that there are 'conflicting facts' about what unfolded? It is wrong to describe unverified fragments of information as 'facts.' Actual facts are not conflicting."

4 Ways to Get Phone Service the Next Time a Hurricane Sandy Calls

Tolu Odumosu and Venkatesh "Venky" Narayanamurti — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:00:32 -0600

In the aftermath of a disaster such as superstorm Sandy, two-way communication is essential. People need to be able to receive news and updates, and to request assistance and provide status updates to loved ones. Yet after hurricane Sandy, large portions of New York, New Jersey, and other areas lost their communication systems — their mobile phone network, cable TV, and Internet. Some sought out the last few pay phones as the only equipment that worked. Here are four ways to better prepare our phones and other devices for the next disaster.

Why Cell Phones Went Dead After Hurricane Sandy

Susan P. Crawford — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:43:31 -0600

"...[A]fter a decade of steady deregulation, during which communications companies asserted that new wires required new rules, the companies are in charge of themselves. What's more, those that sell network connections in the U.S. are trying to claim a constitutional right to operate without any federal oversight."

After Sandy, Environmentalists, Military Find Common Cause

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 09:59:02 -0600

"Today, one hurricane (or tornado or fire or drought) does not constitute proof of climate change, but to deny the cumulative impact of extreme weather on geopolitics is no longer tenable. Changes in the environment will exacerbate destabilization in areas of deep strategic importance to the United States, including Asia, the Middle East, the Arctic, and Latin America. Facing increased temperatures, people will have to move to avoid rising sea water, tidal infiltrations, or arid soil; they will be searching for water, food, and space. The movement of people, and the fights between them over commodities, have been the causes of many wars."

Politicians Push Back

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:45:29 -0500

"...[I]f we want more from government, then government may want more from us. And that includes earlier and smarter preparations, from shoring up creaky infrastructure to securing vulnerable homes and property. That sentiment was behind all the exhortations from politicians over the past week."

Obama's Message of Tough Love

Juliette Kayyem — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:39:33 -0500

"If storms like Sandy are likely in the future, we will begin to see a move toward a more resilient infrastructure, starting with projects that are already under way. Local and state governments are likely to require that primary power cables are underground and protected."

Hurricane Solidarity Won't Last Long

Juliette Kayyem — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 07:49:37 -0500

"Hurricane Sandy will follow that familiar trajectory — politically if not meteorologically. There is a presidential election in its path, and while the campaigns were suspended Monday, the desire to win has not. What makes Sandy politically significant isn't just that Obama will be judged by the response; it's also that Mitt Romney, who has endorsed the idea of disbanding FEMA and returning its duties to the states, has good reason to keep quiet."

Science and the Civic Duty

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 07:13:58 -0500

"Science was not on trial; scientists were. The facts of the case are much more complicated than its critics care to explain. The judges did not argue that earthquake prediction is perfect; they did not demand flawless accuracy in a field that everyone knows is more an art form. Instead, they ruled that members of the so-called Great Risks Commission had not only failed to properly assess the evidence before them, but had actually communicated — and had allowed politicians to communicate — the exact opposite, despite evidence to the contrary."

Advice To The Next President: National And Homeland Security

Graham Allison and Juliette Kayyem — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:31:34 -0500

"Having a professional military means that the United States can go to war while the vast majority of citizens are not directly affected. Therefore it falls upon the president, more than any other individual, to make sure the nation goes to war only if and when absolutely necessary."

"We Shall Not Be Moved" Spotlights New Orleans' Rebuilding Efforts

Tom Wooten — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:54:14 -0500

We Shall Not Be Moved, released in August 2012, is an account of how five New Orleans neighborhoods rebuilt in the years following Hurricane Katrina. Focusing on recovery efforts in the hard-hit neighborhoods of Broadmoor, Hollygrove, Lakeview, the Lower Ninth Ward, and Village de l'Est, author Tom Wooten, a research fellow with the Belfer Center's Broadmoor Project, tells the story of this rebirth through the eyes, voices, and experiences of residents who refused to give up in the wake of one of the country’s worst disasters.

Pulling the Plug on Nation's Security

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:09:29 -0500

"But the consequences of what we fear from a cyber enemy — the downing of public and private facilities, impacts on banking, finance, and transportation, and a massive disruption to the public — are exactly what has happened already, because we haven't required more from the good old-fashioned power companies."

The Politics of Disaster

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 09:45:38 -0500

"Federal relief, like any social contract, promises those who are overwhelmed by losses outside their control that there will be support for them. It is an insurance policy against tragedies that can occur in any corner of the country."

The IAEA and Fukushima: Best Laid Plans, Reality Checks, and Doing It Better Next Time

Trevor Findlay — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:29:27 -0500

Professor Findlay analyzed the response of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the March 2011 nuclear reactor disaster at Fukushima, Japan. He compared the expectations that the Agency, its member states, and other nuclear stakeholders had of the IAEA's role in such a situation with the harsh reality. Drawing on these insights, he suggested possibilities for strengthening the Agency's capacities for handling the next Fukushima.

This is Not a Test

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:19:56 -0500

"...[P]eople traveled miles away, believing they had only a few hours before water struck. That belief, stemming from the memory of 2004, was what would have saved the most lives. Indonesians remember one fact: Those who walked away from the water in 2004 survived. Then, whole villages were saved because the memory of a 1907 tsunami had been shared from generation to generation; when the earth moves, so will the oceans. Indeed, more recently built villages, with new immigrants, were completely eviscerated in 2004 because they had no historical sense of what was to come."

Good is My Copilot

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:33:36 -0500

"...[T]hat's also why we have back-up systems. The best security measures are not ones focused on a particular threat, but adaptable to any potential problems. In this case, a secure cockpit door meant to keep an external foe at bay was used to protect against the insider."

A Dramatic Shipwreck, a Daring Rescue

Juliette Kayyem — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:17:19 -0600

"This weekend, a community celebrated a determined leader, the volunteers who followed him, and the benefits of just winging it. It is, I suspect, the same American story we honor in the name of our presidents today."