A weekly round-up of news, articles and surveys to make your next emergency better. Have a suggestion for the round-up? Contact me at abetteremergency@gmail.com.

Like a number of readers, I’m working through the arctic blast in the Midwest. I can only guess at the horror stories that will emerge over the next week about stranded motorists, elderly shut-ins, and homeless people who have suffered. We like to blame these cold fronts on our Canadian neighbors, though we should cut them some slack after this costly disaster.

Perhaps reading about the slugfest at climate talks will help you warm up.  As bad as the severe cold is, can you imagine what it would be like to have a power blackout coincide with a storm like this? Read up on Tokyo’s power supply projections for their next, big and highly probable, earthquake occurrence.

You have to give credit to the emergency planners in Japan. I have never seen planning to this level of detail,  vulnerability of elevators to quakes latest concern for Tokyo residents, occur in the United States.   What the Philippines can learn from Japan about preparedness is good article where we can learn from what others have done.

Speaking of good planning practices, Australians are making use of hazard maps. These should help localities better prepare for predictable events.  I posted about Geofencing Alerts some time ago, and this new system that could warn of impending disaster faster caught my eye.

It’s good to hear that classes resume tomorrow in Yolanda-hit areas. I found the new program designed to support disaster preparedness among kids to be interesting.  Does it bother anyone else that we always seem to do after disasters, what we should have done before?  I think Building “storm-resilient” shelters is a great example of trying to adapt to challenges as opposed to arrogantly assuming we can build to withstand anything.

We often focus on the immediate care needs of disaster survivors. However, reading about the long-term health problems after natural disasters strike helps you appreciate that efforts are likely to continue well past the point of media interest.  Initially, I thought that Japan’s homeless recruited to clean up Fukushima nuclear disaster zone could be a good thing. The people are unemployed, and older so there’s less chance for a cumulative dosage problem of radiation. Unfortunately, it only reinforces the concept of people taking advantage of others. It also makes me question how good the clean-up job is.

On the lighter side of disasters, shark now tweet to help keep swimmers safe.  I wonder if it’s possible to affix similar devices to obnoxious people?

[GARD]