Disaster sites to tap — Uplink Archive

This article provides journalists with a curated list of Internet resources for covering natural disasters, including government agencies, relief organizations, and specialized sites for hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods.

Disaster sites to tap

By Nora Paul

This year began with dramatic proof of man's inability to control nature. When you cover the latest natural disaster, you need current information, historical references, comments from people who understand these disasters. Here are some Internet sites that can help you the next time mother nature gets angry. Remember, any address that begins with http is available on the World Wide Web, so use search programs like Mosaic and Netscape. Any address that begins with gopher is available both on the World Wide Web and through gopher programs.

General information

- The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers publications, press releases, fact sheets and guides on how to be prepared for disasters. It also features photos of disaster scenes from the Mississippi floods and the California earthquake. http://www.fema.gov/fema/index.html

-The American Red Cross includes its activities and net locations. A section for updating world crises is under construction. http://www.crossnet.org/

-Emergency Preparedness Information Exchange (EPIX) provides documents compiled by the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. It includes material on emergency management, and connections to other sites. gopher://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca:5555/11/epix

Disaster relief groups

- International Service Agencies lists groups concerned with refugee and disaster support. http://www.charity.org/

Volunteers in Technical Assistance provides information on more than 30 members of National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster. gopher://vita.org/11/disaster

Disaster updates

-EPIX's disaster reports include those from the United Nations and from InterAction. gopher://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca:5555/11/epix/curevents/intsitreps

Hurricanes and cyclones

- The National Hurricane Center includes links to other meterological sites. Maps show past tracks of tropical cyclones from 1961 to 1993. http://nhc-hp3.nhc.noaa.gov/index.html

-The National Hurricane Center's Tropical Cyclone page maps the paths of destruction from Andrew and Hugo, and a publication listing the deadliest, costliest and most intense U.S. hurricanes this century. http://nhc-hp3.nhc.noaa.gov/hurricane_info.html

Earthquakes

-U.S. National Earthquake Info Service Earthquake Lists includes key background information, like the deadliest and costliest quakes. gopher://wealaka.okgeosurveyl.g 11/other_bulletins/neis/neislists

- The Kobe Earthquake Reference Page points to a variety of Japanese and American sources. http://www.msen.com/~emv/kobe.html

Kobe earthquake news group. alt.current.events.kobe-quake

-A news group on scientific aspects of earthquakes. sci.geo.earthquakes

-General discussion of earthquakes. alt.disasters.earthquake

Floods

A Dutch site put together within days of the flooding. Maps, a chronology of events and links to other sites (most in Dutch). http://www.hvu.nl/flood/

- California Data Exchange Center Division of Flood Management, with links to flood watch sites, weather information and updates of flood conditions. http://resources.agency.ca.gov/flood2.html

Volcanoes

-Michigan Technological University Volcanoes Page provides information on most of the world's active volcanoes. http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/

-NASA's great fact sheet of information about volcanoes includes photos. http://spso2.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasa_facts/volcanoes/volcano.html

- Volcano listserv provides monthly reports from the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Network before they appear in print. To subscribe, send e-mail with the one line message "SUBSCRIBE VOLCANO your full name". listserv@asuacad.bitnet

If you have suggestions for this column, e-mail Nora Paul at npaul@poynter.org. Visit the Poynter Institute's website at http://www.nando.net/proff poynter/home.html. She also a feature called Hot News/Hot Research in the Poynter Institute's library section. It takes news stories and links you to some good sources for information to cover that story. To go directly to the page: http://www.nando.net/profi poynter/hrintro.html

Nora Paul is a former Miami Herald librarian now at the Poynter Institute. She is the author of Computer Assisted Research, available from the Poynter Institute and NICAR.