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GHI Sponsors Bay Area Visit of Jean-François Rischard
We will begin the new year by sponsoring the January 8-11 San Francisco Bay Area visit of global economist Jean-François Rischard, former World Bank Vice President for Europe (1998-2005). Mr. Rischard, who serves on several corporate boards and as an advisor to heads of state, has agreed to join GHI's Board of Advisors. We have invited him to the Bay Area so that the GHI community can get to know him and his ideas, and so that he can get to know us. In his best-seller High Noon: 20 Global Problems and 20 Years to Solve Them (Basic Books, New York, 2002), he discusses the need for new global governance mechanisms in an increasingly complex and inter-linked world. During his visit to the Bay Area, he will share his unique perspectives on current global problems (including natural disasters) and suggest new ways to solve them. If you would like to attend his lecture and discussion on The Urgent Need for New Approaches to Global Problem-Solving at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 9 in Palo Alto, please contact GHI at (650) 614 9050 for information on the location.
Tsunami Preparedness Guidebook
In a project funded by personal contributions of the staff of the National Research Council
and by matching funds from the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering,
and the Institute of Medicine, GHI has assembled an all-star multi-disciplinary group to review
GHI’s Tsunami Preparedness Guidebook that will be used to improve tsunami safety in
developing countries. Joining GHI staff led by Laura Samant, the review team met in Palo Alto
for an all-day workshop on November 30.
GHI Staff and the Project Review Team (Kneeling, l to r) Kerry Sieh,
Bill Anderson, Hari Kumar, Brian Tucker, and Richard Eisner: (standing, l to r) Tom Tobin, Laura Samant,
Corinne Shefner-Rogers, Lori Dengler, Eddie Bernard, Lori Peek, James Goltz, Michael Lindell, Dennis Mileti,
George Crawford, Costas Synolaki, and Janise Rodgers (not pictured, Laura Kong).
The team explored how their collective knowledge and experience from a variety of disciplines could be
combined to help local non-technical people—tsunami safety advocates—prepare their communities for tsunamis.
Team members are collaborating on a manual that includes the best available earth science, social science
and emergency preparedness information for use around the world.
The manual will assist people who want to organize and lead local tsunami preparedness campaigns,
whether individuals, government officials or staff at non-government organizations. After review by some
of the intended users, the guidebook will be available online without charge at www.geohaz.org and other
websites, and will be shared with interested organizations in electronic format. Only a limited number of
hard copies will be made. Lutheran World Relief has expressed interest in translating it into Indonesian.
It will be used next year in a workshop to build "Tsunami Resilient Communities" in the Indian Ocean.
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