Bangladesh is highly susceptible to tropical cyclones. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of climatological studies on the tropical cyclones of Bangladesh. The Global Tropical Cyclone Climatic Atlas (GTCCA) lists historical storm track information for all the seven tropical cyclone ocean basins including the North Indian Ocean. Using GIS, tropical cyclones that made landfall in Bangladesh during 1877-2003 are identified and examined from the climatological perspective. For the convenience of study, the coast of Bangladesh is divided into five segments and comparisons are made among the coastal segments in terms of cyclone landfall and vulnerability. There is a large variability in the year-to-year occurrence of landfalling tropical cyclones in Bangladesh. Most of the tropical cyclones (70%) hit in the months of May-June and October-November generally show the well-known pattern of pre-and post-monsoon cyclone seasons in that region.

Social media platforms have become popular as means of communications in emergency management. Many people use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis including during disaster events. Emergency management agencies (EMAs) need to recognize the value of not only having a presence on social media but also actively engaging stakeholders and the public on these sites. However, identifying best practices for the use of social media in emergency management is still in its infancy. The objective of this article is to begin to create or further define best practices for emergency managers to use social media sites particularly Facebook and Twitter in four key areas: 1) implementation, 2) education, 3) collaboration, and 4) communication. A list of recommendations of best practices is formulated for each key area and results from a nationwide survey on the use of social media by county EMAs are discussed in this article.

This paper provides a place-based approach to the organization and analysis of historic hurricane information in the context of informing decision-making in urban planning, disaster management, and mitigation, and natural resource stewardship on the Texas coast. We discuss the climatology of Texas hurricanes by analyzing the spatial and temporal patterns and some aspects of factors that contribute to their observed variability. Finally, we construct scenarios of historic hurricanes that formed and made landfall rapidly on the Texas coastline and suggest that these storms are especially challenging for emergency planners, citizens, and public officials.

Across the US, coastal cities are threatened by many different man-made and natural hazards. From oil spill to hurricanes, tsunamis or coastal flooding, these cities should be prepared for emergency situations and should have well-organized emergency plans for their citizens. As a department that has contact with local government employees, human resource (HR) professionals understand the concepts that are important in times of crisis, including benefits management, training and development, and compensation. From mitigation to recovery, employees are vital to planning and responding to an emergency, and in a time when local government is focused on serving its citizens, local government human resource professionals serve those protecting those citizens – local government employees. The objective of this paper is to assess the roles and involvement of local government human resource professionals in emergency planning in coastal cities nationwide. Using responses collected from HR professionals in coastal cities with populations of 50,000 – 249,999, this paper investigates common HR issues included in emergency plans. Based on the analysis of their responses, gaps are identified and recommendations are made of ways in which human resources can contribute more effectively towards emergency planning for coastal cities.