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achieve them. Two major observations on the status of disas- ter avoidance actions worldwide warrant careful consideration by political and scientific leaders of nations at risk: . many known procedures cannot be applied worldwide because experience in their application or critical data for their effective use in a particu- lar region are not available, and ~ many promising approaches lack the ongoing research effort required to develop them for future application. Research on catastrophic natural disasters is hampered by the fact that they are relatively rare occurrences in any given region. But globally they are not rare. Because advances in the science and engineering of hazard mitigation require repeated observation of individual hazards, progress re- quires an international approach. Though there are some very successful bilateral and multinational research efforts, they are usu- ally narrowly focused on country-specific objec- tives. For example, the United States/Japan testing program on seismic performance of concrete frames has functioned well, but it does not include the types of structures likely to be used in other countries. Nor does it incorporate the experience and data of New Zealand, Mexico, Chile, Italy, the Soviet Union, and other seismically knowl- edgeable countries. Similarly, the Tsunami Warn- ing System has performed well, but its focus is solely on estimating arrival times in the Pacific 29 @ I " " ~ z ~ ~ " ~ " ;J: Firemen patrol flood-stricken Lincoln Park, New Jersey, invaded in spring 1983 by the rain-swollen Passaic River, 3 meters (10 feet) above flood stage. Often the first to respond after a disaster, police and fire personnel must freque1ltly perform tasks outside their normal routine. Prior training and rehearsal of disaster response skills are essential to community readil1ess for l1atural hazards. Basin, not on mllllmlzlllg tsunami damage by sound land use and building practices. As stated earlier, technologies developed for application in one country are often applied in another without adaptation. The Applied Tech- nology Council (ATe) developed recommended building practices for earthquake-resistant design for use in the United States. One of the first implementors - even before the United States- was Colombia. Building practices and materials in Colombia are somewhat different, and the tectonic nature of Colombian earthquakes is different from that of California earthquakes, for which the ATC recommendations were prin- cipally formulated. Fortunately, contacts between Colombian and U.S. engineers involved in the ATC effort are strong. Colombian engineers were able to adapt the guidelines - with advice from U.S. developers - to their circumstances. Many others who have applied these findings have not had this advantage. From this discussion it can be seen that global efforts toward natural hazard reduction are piece- meal, and nations' research and information dissemination programs are fragmentary and narrowly focused. Further, these limited national efforts will not lead to the rapid development and application of new approaches to avoiding and managing catastrophes. Though comprehensive programs of research and application are rare in any country, the components of such an effort are often present within a group of countries and could yield real research progress if they were