Tsunami Relief News and Information

Campus communications
President Dynes’ remarks to Regents on UC responses to disaster
Berkeley chancellor’s letter
Berkeley campus pitching in to aid South Asia tsunami victims
Davis chancellor’s message and campus response update
Irvine campus resources
Merced
Riverside chancellor’s announcement
San Diego chancellor’s message
San Francisco chancellor's message
Santa Barbara relief efforts
Santa Cruz acting chancellor’s message
Santa Cruz tsunami relief news
UCLA chancellor's statement and resource page
UCSF grassroots effort raises $6,800 for tsunami relief

UC students in Education Abroad Program
EAP Southeast Asia program information update

UC has confirmation from India and Thailand that its EAP students are all accounted for and safe. Japan, Korea, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines were not affected; EAP Study Centers have reported that all students are accounted for and safe. EAP is discouraging students from travel to affected areas.

EAP is committed to the safety and welfare of students and staff in the operation of its programs. Our health, safety and security practices start when our students inquire about EAP and do not stop until the student returns to their UC campus.

EAP contact: Bruce Hanna, (805)893-4259, cell (805)452-5414, bhanna@eap.ucop.edu

UC Experts and Resources

The following is a list of faculty experts who are available to talk about the tsunami and its aftermath in Asia:

BERKELEY
Earthquake experts
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
EERI’s Northern Sumatra tsunami map, Dec. 26, 2004
Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center

Mary C. Comerio, a professor of architecture at UC Berkeley who specializes in disaster recovery. She is the author of Disaster Hits Home: New Policy for Urban Housing Recovery that deals with understanding large-scale housing losses and government programs for disaster assistance and recovery. She is also vice president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, a U.S. based multi-disciplinary membership organization with academics and professionals interested in earthquake issues. The institute is sending teams to the area as part of its "learning from earthquakes" program funded by NSF. We have a large network of individuals in every country who will coordinate technical information through EERI in a "virtual clearinghouse." Data will be available at www.eeri.org.
Contact: 510-642-2406 or mcomerio@uclink.berkeley.edu

DAVIS
Online experts list

Earthquake that unleashed Indian Ocean tsunami was identified in UC's 10-year forecast of likely sites.
Religion and legends deal with disasters in South Asia

IRVINE
Online experts list

Coordinating Disaster Response Efforts
DR. KRISTI L. KOENIG, professor of clinical emergency medicine and director of Public Health Preparedness at UC Irvine Medical Center, has expertise in disaster medicine, public health preparedness, emergency management and emergency medical services. She previously served for more than five years as principal advisor on emergency management and disaster medicine to the Office of the Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs where she also served as National Director of the Emergency Management Strategic Healthcare Group. With expertise in disaster-site triage, Koenig can address coordination of emergency medical care and disaster response efforts, possible health effects of water contamination, and disease treatment and prevention.
Contact: Kim Pine, 714-456-7759, 714-506-0472 or kpine@uci.edu.

Threat of Infectious Disease and Viruses
DR. DONALD FORTHAL is a virologist and the chief of the Division of Infectious Disease in UCI's Department of Medicine. Forthal has worked at the Centers for Disease Control as an epidemic intelligence service officer and has international experience with viruses in the developing world. His research interests include immune system responses to viral infections, and he can speak about respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, and mosquito-born illnesses that threaten to take more lives following the tsunami in Southeast Asia.
Contact: Christine Byrd, (949) 824-9055, (949) 533-2156 or cbyrd@uci.edu.

Coping with the Trauma of a Natural Disaster
ROXANE COHEN SILVER, professor of psychology and social behavior, has expertise in coping with trauma and grief. She examines cognitive, emotional, social and physical responses to stressful life events -- including natural disasters -- in order to identify factors that facilitate successful adjustment to them. She is currently principal investigator of a national longitudinal study of psychological responses to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and in a study funded by the National Science Foundation, Silver looked at Laguna Beach and Malibu residents' psychological responses to the 1993 Southern California firestorms. She also explores long-term effects of traumatic experiences, considering how beliefs and expectations of the social network impact the coping process. Silver is a fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.
Contact: Lori Brandt, (949) 824-5484, (949) 285-5484 or lbrandt@uci.edu.

The Risk of Cholera
Sunny Jiang, associate professor of environmental health, science and policy, studies environmental conditions that support growth of disease-causing bacteria in coastal waters. In particular, she has looked at the behavior of a deadly bacteria that causes global transmission of cholera. This bacterium, native to coastal waters, transmits to humans when the drinking water supply is contaminated from flooding or inadequate water treatment. Jiang can comment on the likelihood of drinking water contamination and a cholera outbreak as a result of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Contact: Sunny Jiang at 949-824-5527, sjiang@uci.edu.

UCLA
Online experts list
UCLA International Institute tsunami news and resources
UCLA Asia Institute, "Covering Disaster"
Center for Southeast Asian Studies tsunami programs and presentations
UCLA School of Public Health, courses on disaster relief management

Environmental impacts

Antony R. Orme, a professor of geography and a member of the UCLA Institute of the Environment, is available to talk about the environmental impact of the tsunami.
Media contact: (310) 825-1516 or orme@geog.ucla.edu.

John Vidale, UCLA professor of earth and space sciences and interim director of UCLA’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, is available to talk about tsunamis.
Media contact: Stuart Wolpert at (310) 206-0511 or stuartw@college.ucla.edu.

Psychological impacts

Robert Pynoos, co-director of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress and a professor at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, is available to talk about the psychological effects of the tsunami.
Media contact: Dan Page at (310) 794-2265 or dpage@mednet.ucla.edu.

Alan Steinberg, associate director of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress and a researcher at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, also is available to talk about the psychological impact of the tsunami.
Media contact: Dan Page at (310) 794-2265 or dpage@mednet.ucla.edu.

Public health impacts

Rick Greenwood is adjunct associate professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health and director of the UCLA Office of Environment, Health & Safety. An epidemiologist and microbiologist, Greenwood is available to discuss the threat and spread of infectious diseases following a disaster of this magnitude.
Media contact: Sarah Anderson at (310) 267-0440 or sanderson@ph.ucla.edu.

Dr. Steven Rottman is board certified in emergency medicine and an adjunct professor in both the School of Public Health and the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is director of the Center for Public Health and Disasters at UCLA’s School of Public Health and is the immediate past-president of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine.
Media contact: Sarah Anderson at (310) 267-0440 or sanderson@ph.ucla.edu.

Anthropological, historical background

Douglas Hollan, a UCLA professor and chair of the anthropology department, has extensive knowledge about Indonesia.
Media contact: Harlan Lebo at (310) 206-0510 or hlebo@college.ucla.edu.

Geoff Robinson, director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and professor of history, is available to provide commentary and background on the affected countries.
Media contact: Harlan Lebo at (310) 206-0510 or hlebo@college.ucla.edu.

RIVERSIDE
Tsunami disaster experts
Earthquake experts

SAN DIEGO
Online experts list
UCSD International Center emergency information
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Broadband Seismic Data Collection Center:
Magnitude 9.0 quake off west coast of Northern Sumatra
IGPP Project IDA Real Time Global Seismic Data Monitor
Scripps Institution of Oceanograpy - contributions to UN Oceans Atlas

SANTA CRUZ
Resources and experts
Simulation of Indian Ocean tsunami, by UCSC Professor Steven Ward

Los Alamos National Laboratory
LANL experts are available for stories about tsunami modeling, risk assessment, and current thinking in seismic, volcanic and asteroid impact causes of tsunamis. 
Media contact: Kevin Roark, (505) 665-9202 or knroark@lanl.gov.