New Sample Documents: Pandemic Alert Levels chart and Cold or Flu? chart

Amazing Thailand The Bank of Thailand (BoT) issued its first IT disaster recovery guidelines for banks at the end of 2005. Thailand's Foreign Bankers' Association offers this English translation of those guidelines. Mai pen rai: the Land of Smiles may also get its first BCP guidelines for banks this year. See also BOT's Operational Risk Audit guidelines, December 2003, page 32: note statement 2.3.4.3 on BCP.

Bird Flu Bahaya! The Malaysia Medical Association's Society of Occupational & Environmental Medicine released guidelines for companies to prepare for an influenza epidemic. Message: heal thyself; you cannot rely only on the government. Here's a blog by doc's: Malaysia Medical Resources

All Natural The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the Belgian Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters report that 360 natural disasters in 2005 (average one each day) caused US$160 billion in damage; however, Hurricane Katrina damage was 78% ($125 billion) of the total. This is the summary: more people were affected by more disasters, but there were fewer deaths. Here are the report's graphics. More info: UN ISDR for Asia

Not Forgotten Relief Information System for Earthquakes:Pakistan is a collaborative village-by-village database of needs and conditions in hard-to-reach villages (what is a "tehsil"?) after the October 2005 earthquake. The key to recovery turns out to be restoring the markets people depend for food, medicine, tin sheeting and clothes.

IAEM in Asia Here's the list of representatives in Asia of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and here's the IAEM in Asia web site (renovation in progress). IAEM's representative in China, Tao "Victor" Bai runs flire.biz the first emergency response web site in China in English and Chinese. Find out more about the Certified Emergency Manager ® program.