popular logistics

We’ve recently come across SEMP, which describes itself as about “Evidence-based disaster management: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.” This is a well-organized site - and has a series of articles which bespeak thorough research about important specific issues in emergency preparedness.

Once  you’ve

1. read Redlener’s Americans At Risk, or have otherwise been persuaded that we need preparation at home on the ground;
2. Gone to 3 Steps, and figured out that you can do something in your own neighborhood, your family, your town - something that will make a difference
   

Take a at look at SEMP. They’ve got, for instance, a list of short papers that concisely address specific issues - many of them research issues that have come up before in my experience - but not always susceptible to a quick Google search. Here are a few:

• What’s the deal with Swiss Civil defense? (Make all the jokes you want about Swiss Army knives; they’ve got underground hospitals under their regular hospitals; just in case). Isn’t it incredibly expensive? (Apparently about $29 annually per capita; in 2005, the U.S. spent $173 per capita on military spending; source here).
• The 2003  United States power outage;
• Charlie Wilson’s Rapture: Arming Afghan Islamists as Unintended Prelude to 9/11; (how our support of the mujaheddin in ousting the Russians had unintended consequences);
• How the Netherlands Defends the Largest Port in Europe Against Flooding;

And more.

It’s really quite remarkable. Easy to navigate and - it’s not clear what other word would do - encyclopedic. The prime mover in this seems to be Margaret O’Leary - a physician with an M.B.A. and a very impressive curriculum vitae.  (A B.S. in zoology and a separate B.A. in theology. That’s just the first section. Proof, in fact, that some people don’t need sleep). Our suspicion is that this woman put this fabulous website together mostly by herself.

Check it out.

More from SEMP as we explore the site. It’s not just for suburbanites.