VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2, (MAY 2002) of the Natural Hazards Review contains the following papers:

Investigating the Disaster in New York City: Conducting Field Research Following the Collapse of the World Trade Center
by David M. Simpson and Steven D. Stehr

Impacts of Super Typhoon Paka's (1997) Winds on Guam: Meteorological and Engineering Perspectives
by Samuel H. Houston, Gregory S. Forbes, and Arthur N. L. Chiu

Abstract:  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) convened a group of experts on Guam soon after Super Typhoon Paka left the island in December 1997.  The primary mission of this team, which consisted of two meteorologists (a hurricane researcher and a severe-weather expert) and a civil engineer, was to gather data related to the destruction caused primarily by Paka’s winds.  This group collected all available recorded wind observations and conducted surveys of damage from the ground and air.  There was particular interest in collecting data in the vicinity of Andersen Air Force Base on the extreme northern end of Guam, where a wind gust to 105 m £ s 21 was reported by a ‘‘hot-filament’’ wind instrument within Paka’s eyewall.  The multidisciplinary background of the NOAA team made it possible to determine the validity of this extreme gust and other ambiguous situations across the island.  Meteoro-logical perspectives of Paka’s impact on Guam are shown using the wind data gathered, including composites of the sustained wind speeds and damaging wind gusts and directions.  These winds are related to examples of the damage (or lack thereof) found in buildings, structures, utilities, and vegetation on the island that provide an engineer’s perspective of Paka’s effects on Guam.  Recommendations are made regarding future major tropical cyclone landfalls, including the need for rapid deployment of multidisciplinary data-gathering teams.

Market-Focused and Open-Systems Approaches to Earthquake Loss-Reduction:  Contextualizing Role of Engineering Research
by Michel Bruneau and Kathleen Tierney

Abstract: To achieve loss-reduction objectives and to enhance community and societal resilience in the event of earthquakes and other disasters, researchers and practitioners must take into account the broader societal environment in which loss-reduction solutions are applied.  For that purpose, researchers at the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) have developed two conceptual frameworks that clarify the linkages that need to be made between earthquake research and the application of loss-reduction solutions: an open-systems approach as a strategy for organizing a large-scale coordinated research agenda applied to a significant public problem, and market-based metaphors to introduce a new way of conceptualizing the loss-reduction process. This paper presents these proposed conceptual frameworks, which have been used by MCEER to formulate its research agenda, for consideration as potentially helpful tools for researchers and for the management of large multidisciplinary research endeavors in earthquake engineering, as well as for discussion and possible enhancements by others within the research community.

Making It Work in Berkeley: Investing in Community Sustainability
by Arrietta Chakos, Paula Schulz, and L. Thomas Tobin

Abstract: The city of Berkeley, California, has piloted seismic and fire safety efforts in all sectors of the community.  The municipal government, the local school district, and the University of California, Berkeley, campus have instituted mitigation policies and safety programs that collectively have reduced community risk.  Using innovative political, financial, and legislative approaches, Berkeley is systematically reconstructing or eliminating its most hazardous buildings.  Much of this progress can be attributed to an atmosphere in which leaders take responsibility for reducing risk.  Each of the three stories described in this case study began with individuals who understood the risk and had the courage to press three independent agencies to consider these hazards seriously in their agendas.

Mapping Extent of Floods: What We Have Learned and How We Can Do Better
by Yong Wang

Abstract:  Much attention has been given to mapping the extent of a flood by using optical, radar, digital elevation model (DEM), and river gauge data.  The mapped extent is often supported and verified by ground observations.  The popularity of methods that use these data sets has arisen due to effectiveness, availability, and low cost.  This paper summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of the individual and combined use of optical, radar, DEM, and river gauge data to map flood extent.  The 1999 flood associated with Hurricane Floyd in eastern North Carolina is used as an example throughout the paper.

Discussion of ''Second Hazards Assessment and Sustainable Hazards Mitigation: Disaster Recovery on Montserrat''
by Jack L. Rozdilsky

Abstract:  The author emphasizes the central role that social forces play in the sustainable development of the Northern Safe Zone on Montserrat.   Having just re-turned from fieldwork on Montserrat (June/July 2001), it is overwhelmingly apparent that societal and cultural factors are key components in the recovery process.  The author highlights some of the lessons that disaster experts in the developed world can learn from the experience of developing countries.

Book Review of Impact of hazardous waste on human health: Hazard, health effects, equity, and communications issues
by Barry L. Johnson