Better Safe

Perspectives: Research and Creative Activities at SIUC, Spring 2008

:: research survey ::

Better Safe

SIUC is leading a $1.2 million, multi-county emergency preparedness effort funded by the federal government.

Geology professor Nicholas Pinter is directing the project, which will enable 17 Southern Illinois counties to assess their disaster risks and make plans for disaster mitigation. SIUC faculty will work with colleagues from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and with five Illinois regional planning commissions to assist local agencies with writing pre-disaster mitigation plans.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is funding the work, which will continue through 2010, via the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

"This grant from FEMA will help each of these counties identify the risks they have and make plans to deal with any of those potential disasters," Pinter says. "Southern Illinois has a history of major disaster losses—from the great flood of 1993 to the tri-state tornado to the New Madrid earthquake. It makes sense that these counties prepare for events such as these and others."

Once the assessments and plans are in place, local agencies can ask for additional funding from FEMA to reduce the dangers. Examples might include shoring up a river levee or building earthquake-resistant fire and police stations.

Pinter and Harvey Henson, a research project specialist in geology, will bring expertise in earthquake, flooding, and other geologic risks to the planning process. They and a number of SIUC graduate students also will gather and help analyze data and work with the planning commissions to help update databases, such as locations of schools, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure.

Researchers at The Polis Center at IUPUI will use computer software to model the effects of various disasters on certain geographic areas. "The software can take a specific disaster, say an F5 tornado, and look at how it would impact an area," Pinter says. "It can look at the vulnerability and help us determine how we can mitigate that risk.

"Planning for disasters, rather than just reacting when they strike, is the best way to reduce damage and loss of life."

—by Tim Crosby