Experts Discuss Managing Disasters at Pardee Seminar

On Thursday, April 8, 2011, The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future held a lunch seminar on ‘Managing Disasters: Turning Knowledge into Action’. Part of the ‘Pardee House Seminars’ series, the event featured Dr. Hani O. Mowafi (BU School of Medicine), Prof. Enrique R. Silva (BU City Planning and Urban Affairs) and Dr. Pablo Suarez (BU Pardee Center). The seminar was moderated by Pardee Faculty Fellow, Prof. Muhammad H. Zaman, from the Boston University School of Engineering.

Enrique R. Silva is Assistant Professor of Urban Affairs and City Planning at Boston University. He began the conversation by sharing his initial experiences in Haiti right after the January 2010 earthquake. He highlighted the need for different stakeholders to come together and communicate and work together. He also pointed out that although most disaster workers are trained to be apolitical, they need to be politically savvy to be able to create spaces for collaboration.

Hani O. Mowafi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Emergency Medicine and Co-Director of Section of Public and Global Heath at Boston University. He is also affiliated faculty at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. He discussed the role of data versus usable information in disasters and the need to plan for displacement when planning for crises. He also pointed out the role social networking can play in disaster planning.

Pablo Saurez is a visiting scholar at Boston University and a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He began his remarks by agreeing with Dr. Mowafi’s comments on usable information and talked about how there is a pressing need to transform data to usable information to decisions and then, to actions that can save lives.

Following the presentations the audience engaged in a lively discussion with the panelists. Prof. Zaman began the Q&A session by asking the panelists how to best prepare the next generation of students to work in the field of disasters. The panelists responded by stressing the need for a multi-disciplinary education.  Some of the other issues discussed included the role of volunteer networks and youth in the field of disasters, examples of disaster management done right, the need for capacity building and sustainable funding for disaster planning.