Editors: Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend the workshop. For a complete schedule of events, please e-mail liguori@colorado.edu or call (303) 492-3117.
The roles of the military and the media in natural disaster response as well as the effects and recovery from Hurricane Katrina will be among topics discussed by more than 400 officials and researchers attending the 31st annual workshop hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder's Natural Hazards Center.
The July 9-12 event, which includes invited participants from across the United States and several other nations, also will address challenges facing the federal emergency management system.
The Annual Hazards Research and Applications Workshop will be held at the Millennium Harvest House at 1345 28th St. in Boulder. The event is not open to the public.
For 30 years, the CU-Boulder workshop has attracted academic researchers from a range of social science disciplines, engineers, emergency managers, insurers, planners, government officials and students working toward degrees in the study of hazards, disasters and risk. The workshop is aimed at bringing together researchers, frontline managers and representatives of the public and private sectors who deal with the human and economic impacts of extreme events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorism and tsunamis.
"This year's hazards workshop will have the largest attendance of any of the previous workshops - well over 400 researchers, practitioners and decision makers are expected to attend," said center Director Kathleen Tierney, a CU-Boulder sociology professor. "The workshop will feature major sessions on Hurricane Katrina and its impacts, and on ways of assessing the state of the nation's preparedness efforts."
Margareta Wahlstrom, United Nations assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, will give the opening keynote address at 9:15 a.m. on July 10. Wahlstrom is a senior official who played a key role in relief efforts after the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake.
Patrick Leahy, acting director of the United States Geological Survey, will offer a keynote address at 9:15 a.m. on July 11 about grand challenges for disaster reduction.
July 12 will feature a 10:30 a.m. plenary session titled "The State of Federal Emergency Management." Panel members will include Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Craig Fugate, Florida Division of Emergency Management; Eric Holdeman, Office of Emergency Management in King County, Wash.; and Robert Zitz, Department of Homeland Security's Preparedness Directorate.
The Natural Hazards Center, part of CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science, is funded by a consortium of agencies including the National Science Foundation and FEMA. The center serves as an information clearinghouse for disaster researchers and professionals, and publishes several periodicals including a newsletter sent to more than 15,000 recipients around the world.
The annual workshop was launched in 1976 by Distinguished Professor Emeritus Gilbert White, founder of the CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center, and at that time was unique in its interdisciplinary approach to the topic. In providing a model for how to encourage the sharing of knowledge across disciplines, the workshop has had a significant influence on the evolution of the hazards field.
For information visit the center's Web site at .