Charlie on business and avalanches
On the role of Business in Disaster Reduction:
One of the overarching themes within the presentations and the discussions that ensued at this session, was that of speaking the same language. In some sense the humanitarian community needs to come to grips with the lingo of the private sector. I would also say that the reverse should also be true. However, in some cases we are getting better at this - and I have to say that I challenge Terry Jeggle's comment that he has never heard an NGO speak the word "METRICS." - GASP!!! Clearly he has not yet heard of ECB!
I liked the fact that a professor acutely challenged the panelists - pointing out a lack of representatives (specifically any CEOs) from the business sector. I would add that there were no humanitarian agencies on the panel either!
On Artificial Avalanche Release:
One of the beautiful elements of being located in Davos for a risk reduction conference is that Davos has plenty of examples of DRR. The Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research gracefully hosted a technical excursion today - taking us to 3 avalanche zones in the area. The Swiss are extremely organized when it comes to avalanche DRR - everything from defense structures to acute warning systems (including personal sms's to individuals) to artificial avalanche release. The latter I found fascinating because one could wonder what criteria you would use to release an avalanche to prevent a larger one later? Michael Brundl (our host) provided us with a schema or flow chart that considered different elements like type of snow, airspeed, wind direction, etc. These elements were plugged into a decision flow chart that led to a yes or no decision regarding an artificial release.
Such a schema got me thinking about some of our own decision making processes- do any NGOs currently utilize such schema to help us make decisions? If so - what kind? I realize much of what we do tends to lie in gray areas, but I would pose the question as to whether or not a tool like this could have a purpose for us. What do you think?
Charlie Ehle
One of the overarching themes within the presentations and the discussions that ensued at this session, was that of speaking the same language. In some sense the humanitarian community needs to come to grips with the lingo of the private sector. I would also say that the reverse should also be true. However, in some cases we are getting better at this - and I have to say that I challenge Terry Jeggle's comment that he has never heard an NGO speak the word "METRICS." - GASP!!! Clearly he has not yet heard of ECB!
I liked the fact that a professor acutely challenged the panelists - pointing out a lack of representatives (specifically any CEOs) from the business sector. I would add that there were no humanitarian agencies on the panel either!
On Artificial Avalanche Release:
One of the beautiful elements of being located in Davos for a risk reduction conference is that Davos has plenty of examples of DRR. The Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research gracefully hosted a technical excursion today - taking us to 3 avalanche zones in the area. The Swiss are extremely organized when it comes to avalanche DRR - everything from defense structures to acute warning systems (including personal sms's to individuals) to artificial avalanche release. The latter I found fascinating because one could wonder what criteria you would use to release an avalanche to prevent a larger one later? Michael Brundl (our host) provided us with a schema or flow chart that considered different elements like type of snow, airspeed, wind direction, etc. These elements were plugged into a decision flow chart that led to a yes or no decision regarding an artificial release.
Such a schema got me thinking about some of our own decision making processes- do any NGOs currently utilize such schema to help us make decisions? If so - what kind? I realize much of what we do tends to lie in gray areas, but I would pose the question as to whether or not a tool like this could have a purpose for us. What do you think?
Charlie Ehle
posted by Emergency Capacity Building Project Team Blog at 7:22 AM
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