"Can We Cope With A Terror Attack In Los Angeles?" by Reut Cohen for
Neon Tommy, May 3, 2012:
[...] There is no way to know for certain how humans react when faced with disaster. But making the unthinkable thinkable—understanding the ramifications of a disaster and methods that can help in preparing for its consequences—is a focal point of the research at USC’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE).
A team of researchers recently completed a Department of Homeland Security-funded study that assesses the regional economic impacts of a hypothetical catastrophic event like a radiological dispersal device (RDD) attack or a “dirty bomb” attack on Los Angeles’ financial district compared to a natural disaster like an earthquake. Such an attack has the potential to cause radioactive fallout across the city and surrounding areas—thereby causing a mass exodus and significant damage to commerce. After New York, Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the United States. It’s no great surprise, therefore, that the city has long been a top target for terror organizations such as al-Qaida.
“Risk assessment has everything to do with the public’s response to disasters—particularly disasters that are essentially man-made,” said Burns, who was a researcher on the Los Angeles project. “Findings indicate that terrorism is the largest because it’s malevolent. We fear terrorists the same way we fear sharks in the ocean.”
Using a carefully honed methodology, the research identifies consequences of a terror attack and the public’s reaction to it...
Read it all
here.
During the whirlwind social-political revolution of the 1970’s, Los Angeles Unified School Districts were pushed and prodded toward racial integration. The push was not always welcomed; some measures, such as mandatory busing of students from poorer neighborhoods to schools in better areas, were controversial with parents and administrators. Those who shaped integration policies of Los Angeles’ public education system, who worked diligently to accept students of various ethnic backgrounds into their public schools, were mavericks rarely recognized today for their improvement of the LAUSD and proactive steps toward equality. Perhaps no one is more of a maverick than Josephine Casanova Jimenez. Her influential career in the LAUSD where she served both as a teacher and principal spanned nearly half a century. She celebrated her 100th birthday this month.
