Anticipating Future Disasters

The Recovery 2.0 movement, which began as a way to use wiki technology to coordinate hurricane relief efforts, has evolved into a full-blown disaster management virtual workgroup.

In light of the recent hurricanes, as well as this past weekend's devastating earthquake in Pakistan, the question on everyone's mind is, what's next? An upcoming article in The Wave magazine suggests the following unpleasant scenarios:

• An eruption of Mt. Rainier that devastates the Pacific Northwest


• Tornadoes that strike metropolitan areas in Texas, namely the Dallas/Ft. Worth area


• A tsunami that strikes the US eastern seaboard, triggered by landslides on the other side of the Atlantic


• Flash flooding in Boulder, Colorado, among other places


• An avian flu pandemic

This isn't to mention other, highly unpredictable events such as earthquakes and the remote but ever-possible meteor strike. But the next question beyond exploring what might happen is what do do about these potential catastrophes. We can't realistically prevent them, but we can take more proactive steps to mitigate losses and enact emergency plans when necessary.

Source: Future Salon