Hurricane Sandy was far worse than most people expected, but that should have been no surprise. One of the key lessons we’ve learned from natural disasters, as well as terrorist attacks, is that you should “expect the unexpected.” Anticipate the unusual. Black swans are rare, but they exist.
That’s one message of a fine new book, “Local Planning for Terror and Disaster: From Bioterrorism to Earthquakes,” edited by Leonard A. Cole and Nancy D. Connell (Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, 2012).
Cole, a Ph.D. and DDS, is an adjunct professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark and director of the program on terror medicine and security at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of the New Jersey Center for Biodefense. A resident of Ridgewood, he is a former president of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. Connell, a Ph.D., is a professor of infectious disease at the Medical School of UMDNJ.
