Distinguished Leadership Forum Moderators and Speakers
In the fall of 2014, Mr. Walther was a speaker at the highly respected Northeast Risk and Resilience Leadership Forum organized and sponsored by RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences Foundation. The Forum supports advanced scientific research in atmospheric risk, the development of risk mitigation techniques to safeguard communities, efforts that reduce the economic turmoil following disaster, and organizations that preserve coastal habitats.
The day-long forum tackled a number of important issues raised by Sandy through panel discussions and keynote speeches from powerful figures in government and the environmental community. Lincoln Walther was invited panel speaker. His presentation, Long-term Recovery Planning + Plan Integration = RESILIENCE that resilience is optimized through pre-disaster planning. See www.mitigationleadership.com/
Over the past four years, the APA Hazards Planning Center worked under an agreement with FEMA to develop Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery: Next Generation (PAS 576). This updated manual offers a no-nonsense explanation of the benefits — and limitations — of planning for unpredictable events. Mr. Walther was involved in the project form outset serving as a subject matter expert and reviewer.
The updated manual offers a no-nonsense explanation of the benefits – and limitations – of planning for the unpredictable events whether it be from floods, earthquake, tornado or wildfire. Case studies from big cities and smaller towns show what it takes to come back stronger from a natural disaster. A pdf copy can be downloaded from the APA website: https://www.planning.org.
In late 2012, following the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, the New Jersey and Metro New York APA Chapters reached out to APA to learn how to protect people and strengthen their communities. APA assembled a faculty of which Lincoln Walther was one of five participants, that conducted a series of workshops focused on discussions to make communities more resilient. Participants learned about:
Connecting disaster recovery to long-range community planning
Using an Interim Recovery Ordinance to resolve land-use issues
Finding funding and meeting state and local requirements
Adopting mitigation planning for more resilient communities
APA has recently completed the first five in a series of 12 free briefing papers on post-disaster recovery.
Mr. Walther and Mr. Edward Thomas, President of the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association collaborated on a briefing paper titled, Hazard Mitigation and Post-Disaster Recovery.
These papers complement the recently released Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery: Next Generation and may be used as stand-alone resources for meetings with officials and the general public. Each paper presents a set of key points on the topic. The paper can be found at: https://www.planning.org under Blogs –Recovery News.
