Description:

Aerial photo of Hurrucane Katrina damage to a New Orleans neighborhood. (Photo by Les Harder.)

Hurricane Katrina Lecture and Discussion:
Preliminary Findings and Discussion of the New Orleans Levee Failures

Host:
Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM)

Date:
Wednesday, November 16, 2005, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Location:
Boalt Hall School of Law, Booth Auditorium
University of California, Berkeley

Description:
This session will feature four speakers who will address the legal, geotechnical, and organizational factors associated with the failure of the New Orleans Flood Protection life-safety system. The preliminary findings of the National Science Foundation-sponsored New Orleans Levee Investigation will be presented. The UCB/ASCE team investigated a number of issues surrounding the failures of flood walls at a number of sites including the 17th Street Canal, London Avenue Canal, and Industrial Canal (Lower 9th Ward). Some of the important legal dimensions associated with Hurricane Katrina as well as the lessons California can learn from the performance of the New Orleans Flood Protection System will also be discussed. Upon conclusion of the speakers' presentations, a moderated panel discussion will be conducted with questions solicited from the audience.

Senior CCRM researchers who will be speaking at this event include:

Professor Raymond Seed, Ph.D. "Preliminary findings from the New Orleans Levee Reconnaissance"

Professor Robert Bea, PE, GE, SE, Ph.D. (F. ASCE) "An Engineering Perspective on the Human and Organizational Aspects of Katrina"

Professor Daniel Farber, JD, Ph.D. "The Legal Dimensions of Katrina: Unanswered Questions"

Guest Speaker: Mr. Les Harder, Ph.D., California Department of Water Resources
"What Katrina can tell us about the Vulnerability of the California Delta Levee System"

The session will conclude with an open question-answer period.

A preliminary UCB/ASCE report is available for public review and can be downloaded in advance at http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/11/leveereport_prelim.pdf

Additional information about this event (including directions) can be found at http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~inkabi/KRTF/CCRM.

Summary:
This Wednesday at 5:30pm the newly formed and CITRIS-funded Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM) is hosting a lecture and duscussion entitled, "Preliminary Findings and Discussion of the New Orleans Levee Failures". Read more.