FIU is a leading voice on hurricane preparedness.
Two recent examples of FIU’s impact: Associate Director of FIU’s Extreme Events Institute Erik Salna’s work and FIU’s role in the Weather-Ready Nation (WRN) program were honored during September — National Preparedness Month — by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and IMAX chose FIU’s Wall of Wind (WOW) to film for a movie on hurricanes.
Now, a video produced by FIU External Relations, which captured the WOW demonstration and the IMAX filming, is being shared by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) on its website as pre-conference material for the May 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Cancun, Mexico.
In an email invitation to attend the 2017 Global Platform, the UNISDR Team asked potential conference goers to view FIU’s video, “Why Standards Matter,” which shows how preparations that cost less than $250 can keep a house standing during Category 3 to 4 hurricane winds and water.

The UN organizers wrote: “This shows the benefits of even modest improvements in building standards — a key topic of discussion at the 2017 Global Platform.”
Salna says, “This is another example of FIU’s now global reach in hurricane research. To be so recognized by the UN is a signal achievement.”

Through these kinds of projects, FIU is doing its part to bring solutions to the local and global problem of hurricane preparedness and disaster risk reduction.
This post “FIU featured by UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction” was originally published on FIU News.