Welcome to the Crisis Response Journal Blog 

Welcome to the Crisis Response Journal blog, which we’ll be using to update you with news, event launches, event reviews and emerging themes and topics. We’ll also be giving you updates on our editorial board members and partners.
At the moment, we’re putting the next issue (Volume 6:4) together for a publication date of February 18 – please look at the ‘next issue’ section for a detailed round-up of what’s going to be included.

_{December 2010's deadly wildfire was the worst that Isreal has ever experienced - this issue contains a report from Professor Jay Levinson on the response} 

The themes of self-reliance, or citizen resilience, appear to be emerging as a recognisable trend worldwide – ie the need for communities, businesses and individuals to take part in preparing for and mitigating against disasters. Our urban resilience feature – guest edited by Mostafa Mohaghegh of the Iranian Red Crescent Society – includes an article from Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga, w1hich discusses stakeholder participation in post-disaster reconstruction. In it, she and her co-author discuss how involving communities from the very start can help to fight against inappropriate reconstruction, and even against corruption and waste of funds.
Christo Motz, an expert in self-reliance, interviews Bernd Noggler from Tirol in Austria. In the remote valley villages, self-reliance has always been a way of life.
And I’m just putting the finishing touches to an interview with Helena Molin Valdes, Deputy Director of the ISDR Secretariat in Geneva, in which she talks about how local governments must become more involved in urban resilience projects, as they are best connected to the local populace.
Other highlights include an interview with Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, in which she outlines how the European Commission is developing its capacities in this arena.
We are also publishing an extremely interesting comparison of how two countries dealt with motorists becoming stranded by heavy snow – Kevin Ehaver-Probert looks at Estonia and Scotland. This is followed by an article examining how Moscow’s air transport system failed when an ice storm cut power to three of its main airports – the lessons in communication and continuity are profound.
We shall be continuing this theme of transport resilience in our next issue – published in May 2011.