Ll
<br />CONTRACTS
<br />AND
<br />GRANTS
<br />Below are descriptions of recently awarded contracts and grants related to hazards and disasters. An inventory
<br />of awards from 1995 to the present is available at http: // wives. colorado .edu /hazards/resour•ces /grants /.
<br />Development of Performance Based Tsunami Engineer-
<br />ing (PBTE). Funding Institution: National Science Foun-
<br />dation, four years. Principal Investigators: H. Ronald
<br />Riggs (Solomon Yim, Ian Robertson, Kwok Cheung, Yin
<br />Lu (Julie) Young), Department of Civil and Environmental
<br />Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2540 Dole
<br />Street, Holmes 384, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; (808) 956-
<br />6566,• e -mail: riggs@hawaii.edu.
<br />In the event of a tsunami, horizontal evacuation is of-
<br />ten not possible due to the potential local source of the
<br />tsunami or the number of people to be evacuated. It is
<br />essential that existing buildings, or new emergency cen-
<br />ters, be evaluated or designed for vertical evacuation.
<br />However, there has been a lack of research on the effect
<br />of tsunami waves on coastal infrastructure such as build-
<br />ings, bridges, and harbor facilities. Furthermore, design
<br />guidelines are lacking. To overcome this deficiency, this
<br />research will develop the methodology and tools for im-
<br />plementation of site specific Performance Based Tsunami
<br />Engineering for use in the analysis, evaluation, design,
<br />and retrofit of coastal structures and facilities.
<br />Social, Economic, and Physical Effects of a Natural
<br />Disaster. Funding Institution: National Science Founda-
<br />tion, three years. Principal Investigators: Elizabeth Frank-
<br />enberg (Duncan Thomas, Thomas Gillespie, Bondan Si-
<br />koki), Department of Sociology, University of California —
<br />Los Angeles, 264 Haines Hall, Box 951551, Los Angeles,
<br />CA 90095 -1551; (310) 267 -4967; e -mail: efranken @soc
<br />ucla. edu.
<br />Drawing on demography, economics, geography,
<br />public health, and sociology, this project will study the
<br />degree of the shock associated with the December 2004
<br />Indian Ocean tsunami, the pace and shape of the recovery
<br />process, and the roles that institutions play in helping or
<br />hindering the recovery process. Investigators will collect
<br />data on and analyze an array of environmental, social,
<br />economic, and health indicators to develop new insights
<br />into how individuals, households, and communities fare in
<br />the aftermath of a disaster. The project will document
<br />immediate- and medium -term consequences for mortality,
<br />family disruption and relocation, physical and mental
<br />health, economic resources and opportunities, housing
<br />stock and physical infrastructure, and the physical envi-
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<br />ronment. In addition, it will trace the reconstruction of
<br />lives and livelihoods, paying particular attention to the
<br />roles of social and economic resources prior to the disas-
<br />ter as well as kinship and social networks, community
<br />resilience, and receipt and leveraging of external aid. Fi-
<br />nally, the research will identify the characteristics of indi-
<br />viduals, households, and communities that are associated
<br />with mitigating the consequences of the shock on the
<br />broad array of indicators of well- being.
<br />The Sri Lankan Tsunami: Societal Resilience in Two
<br />Coastal Regions. Funding Institution: National Science
<br />Foundation, 18 months. Principal Investigator: Dennis
<br />McGilvray (Michele Gamburd, Randall Kuhn), University
<br />of Colorado at Boulder, 233 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-
<br />0233; (303) 492 -7198; e -mail: dennis.mcgilvray @colora
<br />do. edu.
<br />This project compares two culturally, linguistically,
<br />and historically different coastal regions of Sri Lanka that
<br />were both very badly damaged by the 2004 Indian Ocean
<br />tsunami. By looking at subregional differences in tsunami
<br />recovery efforts within a single nation -state such as Sri
<br />Lanka, it will be possible to distinguish the cultural com-
<br />ponents from the larger political, economic, and environ-
<br />mental dimensions of the posttsunami situation. Increasing
<br />the understanding of the role of local cultural factors in
<br />disaster recovery will provide useful information for fu-
<br />ture global disaster planning and recovery efforts.
<br />Quantifying Early Indicators of Global Climate Change.
<br />Funding Institution: National Science Foundation, one
<br />year. Principal Investigator: Diane Debinski, Iowa State
<br />University, 249 Bessey Hall, Ames, IA 50011; (515) 294-
<br />2460,• e -mail: debinski@iastate. edu.
<br />One of the voids remaining in the scientific under-
<br />standing of global climate change is the relationship be-
<br />tween climate change and the resulting changes expected
<br />in ecological communities. Because a large part of North
<br />America has been modified by human activities, it is diffi-
<br />cult to assess whether ecological changes are being caused
<br />by human activities or climate change. Thus, we must
<br />look to landscapes where the modification has been less
<br />severe. One area in North America where scientists can
<br />still study natural processes is that of the Greater Yellow-
<br />Natural Hazards Observer November 2005
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