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| IAEM Asia Annual Meeting | |||||
Thursday, 8 October 2009 18.30 to 20:00
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| No blood test for influenza | |||||
Influenza is a respiratory disease, so specimens preferred for influenza testing come from But not a blood sample. You can read the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on collecting, storing, processing and testing influenza specimens. Swabs, not syringes. If medical personnel draw a sample of your blood for testing, they aren’t looking for influenza. They might be looking for bacterial infections like typhoid or sepsis, viral infections found in Asia like malaria, dengue fever, hepatitis, yellow fever, or some other blood-borne pathogen. They could also be looking for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), of course, the cause of AIDS. |
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Hong Kong will be affected by higher sea levels, more rainfall, heat waves, tidal surges, typhoons and seasonal water shortages as a result of changing climate in the future, described in a December 2008 report by Corporate Social Responsibility Asia (CSR Asia) and the University of Hong Kong. Consequences could include flooding, drought, dangerously hot weather, infrastructure damage, landslides and dangerously poor air quality, any of which could have significant business impact in the territory. Other Asian cities on seacoasts face similar risks: Karachi (Pakistan), Mumbai India), Manila (Philippines), Singapore, Shanghai (China), Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Tokyo (Japan). Story credit to the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, a partner of the International Association of Emergency Managers in Asia. |
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Where in Asia do business continuity professionals get paid that much? Find out in BC Management, Inc.’s complimentary 2008 Asia BCM Compensation Report. 3,000 professionals in 73 countries have participated in the compensation survey so far in 2009; the survey is open until December. Complete the survey in just 20 minutes. It’s anonymous. It’s free. It will make you thin, rich and good-looking. OK…that claim may be exaggerated. |
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How does your BCM program compare with other companies’ programs? That information is reported in BC Management Program Management Benchmarking Report. Here’s a summary. Only companies that complete the BCM Program Management survey can see the full report. Customized reports for your company or your country cost a few bucks. |
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| Conferences: Online, Down Under, In Town | |||||
Down Under The World Conference on Disaster Management (WCDM) comes down under at the WCDM Summit Australia 13 - 14 October, in Sydney. Here’s the conference program. A friend said of WCDM, Canada’s oldest disaster conference: “I’ve come every year for the last 8 years because I always meet at least twenty people that I should know.” Is there a better recommendation for any professional conference? Register at this link for AUD $1,500 for both days. You can get WCDM updates on Twitter. |
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On Line America’s best BCP conference for advanced professionals, Continuity Insights, goes online with the first BCM “e-Conference” from 22-24 September 2009. The conference comes to your desktop for only USD 195 for all three days. Register at this link. If you want to attend a Continuity Insights conference in person - in a historic, fun American city - the next one will be 12-14 April 2010 in New Orleans, USA. Sadly, there will probably still be plenty of opportunities to volunteer rebuild New Orleans, 5 years after Hurricane Katrina. |
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In Town Arc Media Global is hosting the Emergency Mitigation, Preparedness, Response & Recovery 2009 (EMPRR) conference and exhibition on 13-14 October in Singapore. Get it? Mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery are the four phases of emergency management. The event is supported by IAEM Asia, which will hold its annual meeting in Singapore on Thursday, 8 October in conjunction with EMPRR 2009. Register for the conference at this link for SGD $ 2,900. Arc Media has an office in Singapore if you want to contact them. |
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| Sahana: Group Cope | |||||
 Sahana is a free, web-based disaster management system that helps government agencies, aid organizations and victims collaborate to find missing persons, manage aid, manage volunteers, and track shelters. See a demo here or screen shots here. The software is open source (not owned by a company) and so can be used without paying a license fee. Started in Sri Lanka after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and still based there, Sahana is supported in Sinhala and English by contributions from a meritocracy of “committers” and by funding from IBM the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the U.S. National Science Foundation. A great example of cooperation in disaster management in Asia by the public and private sectors. |
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the respiratory system: