Many out of power, water in flood-hit Japan; over 150 dead

Akira Tanimoto says his apartment narrowly survived the floods and mudslide at his residential complex over the weekend, and even if he wants to go back there with his wife and two pet birds, he can't because there is no water, power or food available. After their desperate run from floods that had hit the apartment complex where about a dozen of his neighbors were found dead, he returned to his place Monday to check on his apartment, which was almost intact. He also had to bring with him his beloved birds, which he initially had to leave behind. Tanimoto wants to go back there with his wife, Chieko, and their yellow and green parakeets, Pi-chan and Kyako-chan, but said it would take a few weeks until they get the utility services back and clean the place.

Managing the risk of urban epidemics: The case of Ebola

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the first urban Ebola outbreaks, specifically in Mbandaka, a city of over one million residents. This outbreak began in the rural town of Bikoro before spreading, and has resulted in at least 27 deaths and 58 suspected cases in total . One death and four cases have occurred in the city. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) will send over 15,000 doses of the experimental Ebola vaccines to the country, as well as safe burial body bags to prevent exposure through the spread of bodily fluids during funerals. Merck, the vaccine's developer, is providing the medication at no charge while GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance - a global public-private health partnership body - has provided one million dollars to support health workers. Vaccine delivery is logistically and operationally challenging. The outbreak began in Bikoro, which lacks basic infrastructure such as electricity and telecommunications; the vaccine requires being stored between -76 and -112 degrees Fahrenheit. The vaccines are being transported in special containers that can maintain that temperature range for six days and portable power generators are being brought in for additional energy.

Making our infrastructure more resilient to cyber-attacks | GRI Blog

As we develop the concept of CINET, one of our main challenges is to illustrate how separation of control networks from the public Internet and the existence of a dedicated channel for information sharing could help make our infrastructure more resilient to cyber-attacks. There are only a few public cases of disruptive or disruptive cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure. At this point, Stuxnet and the Ukraine power grid attacks have been beaten to death. In a series of posts, we are going to review a few less well-known ones. For those readers who treat the Verizon Data Breach Incident Report as the Bible of cybersecurity, this case study will be familiar. For the rest of you, here is a brief recap.

Long-term wildfire evacuees face holidays away from home

Ray and Curry Sawyer's Christmas tree is up, still waiting for their grandkids to decorate it. The presents are hidden away in closets, waiting to be wrapped, the ingredients for gingerbread men are sitting in cupboards, and the kindling for the fireplace has been chopped. A monster of a wildfire burning in Southern California froze the Sawyers' plans for a big family Christmas and has forced the couple from their Santa Barbara home for nearly two weeks. Even if their beloved home of five decades survives the next predicted onslaught of winds, the Sawyers are preparing for Christmas in yet another hotel. "This is getting ridiculous," said the 82-year-old Curry Sawyer from her hotel in Goleta on Tuesday. "My husband has the feeling, 'Why aren't they letting us back in?' but they've got hot spots up there and if we get more Santa Ana winds, we're going to be back to square one," Sawyer said. "I'm not sure we're out of the woods."