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As Terry Cannon implies, it is important to connect with others who have been working on these issues for a long time. I append below the response that I had sent to Paul Grundy (although I am not adding to this email the attachment mentioned) which includes the work and people mentioned by Terry, including Ben Wisner's tireless endeavours and impressive publications. I should also emphasise that the work listed below is only a sample. There are wonderful people out there doing excellent work and they deserve credit for that. Terry's comment that "We also know from much research that Paul Grundy's point 5...is not really relevant if the political will is in place" is important too, especially because another slew of sources could be provided on that topic. On corruption, James Lewis http://www.livingwithflooding.eu for example has investigated this issue. I append below a message which he sent on the topic to another email list. We must continue asking the questions which Paul Grundy sent, but we must also recognise that many others have spent their careers contributing to answers. A strong basis already exists for moving well beyond the basic questions. Ilan ---------- Dear Paul and Walter, Thank you for this information and interest in school safety. Perhaps these efforts could join forces with other work and could base their work on already known successes. Some examples, often overlapping school safety with disaster risk reduction education: -Coalition for Global School Safety http://www.interragate.info/cogss -OECD "School safety and security" http://www.oecd.org/document/41/0,3343,es_2649_39263294_8002921_1_1_1_1,00.html including "Keeping Schools Safe in Earthquakes". -The report "School Seismic Safety: Falling Between the Cracks?" http://www.radixonline.org/resources/school-seismic-safety-august2004.doc -The report "Let Our Children Teach Us!" http://www.unisdr.org/eng/partner-netw/knowledge-education/docs/Let-our-Children-Teach-Us.pdf -The book "Promoting community resilience in disasters: the role for schools, youth, and families" http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/publications/v.php?id=577 -Risk Reduction Education for Disasters http://www.riskred.org -Disaster Risk Reduction Education Network listserve http://groups.preventionweb.net/scripts/wa-PREVENTIONWEB.exe?A0=ENDRR-L -An upcoming issue on school earthquake safety of UNCRD's journal "Regional Development Dialogue" which is being printed now, the editorial of which is attached, summarising the articles. -UN Chronicle article http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2005/issue4/0405p59.html which lists some further sources too. With best wishes for your continuing endeavours and with thanks for your continuing motivation on making the world safer. Ilan --------------- Dear Radix readers, This message follows my yesterday's message (via Ben) on corruption in Chinese (and other) construction. So as to get closer to information on Chinese construction procurement systems it would be very useful to have contact with someone knowledgeable on such Chinese matters. Does anyone have a student or colleague who could advise or know of a credible source ? School building procurement is obviously my specific aspect of interest, but any system for government funded building construction would be relevant. I would like to find information about the following: Design and specification: centralised, regionalised, local, standard or specific to site ? Tendering / bidding / contractor selection Funding process: source - central, regional or local ? Contract cost management: eg; lump sum payments or stage by stage Construction contract management: Construction inspection - for quality conformance to specification; for payment purposes ? Regulation and control Site administration Sub-contracting procedures. I once worked on construction in Hong Kong (before it's hand-over to China); high quality construction in China is historic and traditional. What probably has happened, as it has in so many parts of the world, is an erosion of that quality for purposes of speed and political pressure to achieve. Also, as in all countries, construction invites corrupt practice. The world famous RIBA library internet catalogue has come up with one reference so I would especially be interested in any helpful suggestion towards my purpose. With regards - James www.livingwithflooding.eu _________________________________________________________________