Second Blog Post

Hello GIN Delegates! As we get closer to the date of the conference we will have to ask more of your cooperation and we thank you for your timely responses to our tasks.  On the last blog post we asked for you to choose your preferred vision for each of the compass groups, these visions have been narrowed down to the following-

Nature: The minimization of damage to reefs and corals during typhoons

Economy: The improvement of international relationships for support in times of natural disasters

Society: The establishment of collective individuals who can organize and lead preparation for natural disasters

Well-Being: The prevention of injuries and deaths caused by the hazards of natural disasters

At this stage we will be providing you with five to ten indicators for each compass point that you will need to complete your next task. These indicators allow us to further understand the trends and the visions that we will be dealing with for the SAP Plan. They are quantity-based measureable values that relate to our planning as variables. The indicators that we have chosen for each of the compass visions are-

Nature: The minimization of damage to reefs and corals during typhoons

• Area coverage of destroyed coral reefs
• Distance of dislodged coral pieces from original reef
• Concentration of disturbed sand/sediment around coral reefs
• Severity of coral bleaching by the influx of temperate hurricane waters
• Amount of present “live rock” (or the calcareous, coral base of the reef) left after the storm as compared to the amount prior

Economy: The improvement of international relationships for support in times of natural disasters

• The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of a country after a natural disaster, as compared to the amount prior
• The access to local or imported natural resources in high demand (eg. grain, oil, water)
• The cost of imported resources vs. the cost of local resources
• The cost of using international technology to identify and prevent natural disasters
• The cost of the mitigation and evacuation of people after natural disasters

Society: The establishment of collective individuals who can organize and lead preparation for natural disasters

• The amount of people employed in natural disasters prevention or related work (eg. Meteorologists, UN Disaster Response relations etc.)
• The number of schools that adopt a form of natural disaster education within the curriculum
• The amount of people able to recover from a natural disaster (continue normal life) within weeks
• The number of educated individuals in (or are able to access) rural communities to respond to natural disasters
• The number of government policies that address effective national disaster management

Well-Being: The prevention of injuries and deaths caused by the hazards of natural disasters

• The amount of deaths that are caused as a result of natural disasters
• The amount of natural landforms that erode as a result of human development
• The number of construction sites that implement hazard protection in the architecture of buildings
• The number of people prepared or aware for incoming natural disasters
• The vulnerability of minority groups during hazards compared to the vulnerability of high class members (pertaining to the risk to injury/death, risk of property damage, amount of awareness)
• The amount of people able to access essential resources following a major natural disaster

From these indicators we ask that you create four behavior graphs, from the top indicator of your choice for each compass group vision.  These behavior graphs are a visual representation of the trends of indicators, involving the y-axis as the value of the indicator and the x-axis as a representation of time. The graphs do not require specific data values, but rough estimates gathered from research of the global issue. The time axis should be plotted in terms of past, present and future conditions, while the indicator axis is a relative assumption of the figure. More information about behavior graphs  and the indicators we provided can be found here: https://ginmanila2012.wordpress.com/sap-methodology/stage-0-2/indicators-and-behavior-graphs/. The following graph models the example of a behavior graph using ‘the number of acres of forest cut down per year’ indicator.

You may create your behavior graphs via computer design, drawing or whatever method suits you. But in order for us to view them please take a picture/save the graphs and post them on photobucket.com (the password and username will be sent via email to all of you- so watch out for it!) by January 26. If you are unable to do so or have any other indicators or suggestions you would like to share please contact us via email.

Thank you and we look forward to working with you!