FOREWORD
The Natural Disasters Roundtable seeks to facilitate and enhance communication and the exchange of ideas among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers concerned with urgent and important issues related to natural disasters. Roundtable meetings are held three times a year in Washington, DC. Each meeting is an open forum focused on a specific topic or issue selected by the NDR Steering Committee.
The NDR Steering Committee is composed of 5 appointed members and sponsoring ex officio members. At the time of this forum, the appointed members were: Rutherford H. Platt, Chair, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; James P. Bruce, Global Change Strategies International, Inc., Ottawa, Canada; Wilfred D. Iwan, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; Stephen P. Leatherman, International Hurricane Center, Florida International University, Miami; and Mary Fran Myers, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, University of Colorado at Boulder. Ex officio members were: Stephen Ambrose, NASA, Lloyd S. Cluff, Pacific Gas & Electric; Dennis Wenger, NSF; Timothy Cohn, USGS; Margaret Lawless, FEMA; James Russell, IBHS, and Helen M. Wood, NOAA.
This paper presents the rapporteur's summary of the forum discussions and does not necessarily reflect the views of the roundtable members or other participants.
For more information on the Roundtable visit our website: http://nationalacademies.org/naturaldisasters or contact us at the address below.
Natural Disasters Roundtable
The National Academies
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-334-1964
Fax: 202-334-1961.
This summary has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC's Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this summary:
Joan Aron, Science Communication Studies, Columbia, Maryland
Raymond Ban, The Weather Channel, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Benjamin Preston, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Arlington, Virginia
The review of this summary was overseen by Marvin Geller, State University of New York, Stony Brook. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this summary was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this summary rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
