China frequently experiences natural disasters, of which flooding is the most serious. How to monitor and control natural disasters, assess damage, and provide relief is the most urgent problem for the Chinese government and disaster experts. A national integrated system using remote sensing, geographic information systems, the Global Positioning System, and other technology for monitoring and evaluating flood disasters has been assembled and tried out for 3 years. The system has played an important role in flood mitigation during the trial and has become a key part of the flood management system at China's National Flood Control Headquarters. This paper presents an overview of the system and its use in China.
The focus of this study is public participation in the water resource and associated hazards management decision-making processes. It explores the importance, feasibility, and effectiveness of public participation in the flood management, decision-making process, with particular attention to the case of the Red River Basin of Manitoba, Canada. The nature and efficacy of public participation in the hearings conducted by the International Joint Commission (IJC) in the aftermath of the 1997 Red River flood are critically reviewed. The results of the analysis suggest that the IJC has been more sensitive to the views of the public and concerned stakeholders than the Red River Basin Task Force. The IJC incorporated a substantial portion of the opinions, suggestions, and concerns expressed by the public into the final recommendations produced by the commission for the Canadian and American federal governments. Public participation was an integral component of the IJC hearings, and was expected to contribute to flood preparedness in the future. The reasons for such accommodation of public and the stakeholders’ views in decision-making are primarily attributed to making the proposed projects and programs socio-economically and politically feasible. Because of their general characteristics, the lessons from the case of the Red River Basin could be used as an effective tool in other resource and environmental hazard management areas.
An extensive new database identifying ice storm losses allowed a first, definitive assessment of these storms in the US. During 1949–2000, 87 major ice storms each causing property losses >$1 million, occurred and resulting losses totaled $16.3 billion. Storm frequencies and losses were greatest in the northeast, southeast, and central US, and only 3 percent occurred in the nation's west. More freezing rain occurrences in the Deep South produce major storms than do occurrences elsewhere in the US, a result of variations in prevailing storm-producing conditions. Severe ice storms peaked in 1993–2000 when losses totaled $5.8 billion. Losses in the nation's west were infrequent but most occurred since 1982. Recent increases in ice storm losses in the faster growing areas of the nation reflect increasing societal vulnerability to ice storms.
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