This document describes proposals for making communities better prepared and more resilient to catastrophic natural disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2006. Methods described include warning systems, data sharing, and land use decisions.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Reas. Reas grew up in Indiana and Ohio and enlisted in the Navy in 1938. After training, he boarded the USS Houston (CA-30) at Charleston, South Carolina. He was assigned to the aviation unit. On February 28, 1942, he survived the bombing and sinking of the ship. He and other survivors in life rafts were picked up by the Japanese the next day and taken to Java as a prisoner of war. He was taken to a ship and then back to an island, where he met survivors of the Australian ship HMAS Perth (D29). They were moved from Serang to Batavia. He was told to record the POW's occupations and those idenitified as skilled were sent to Japan. Inspired by this, he kept a detailed and complete list of the survivors that he kept hidden. From Java, the survivors are put on a cargo ship to Singapore. Then they went to Pynang by train. He then boarded another ship to Burma. Allied forces bombed a ship next to Reas. He describes living in bamboo huts while building the railroad. During one of the routine abuses in …

Interview with Howard L. Patton, a Army WWII veteran from Flora, Illinois. Patton discusses his family background, commissioning into the Army through ROTC, training with anti-air artillery, his marriage, deployment to New Guinea, the assault on Wakde Island, the battle of Leyte, operations at Zamboanga, and the end of the war.

Transcript of an interview with Ralph W. Nelson, a Navy veteran, concerning his experiences while aboard the submarines USS Batfish and USS Parche in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Submarine School, San Francisco, California, 1942; early torpedo problems; his responsibilities as a fire controlman; assignment to the Batfish, 1944; various patrols in the Luzon Strait and Makassar Strait; lifeguard duty off Palau for downed airmen; transfer to the Parche, 1945.

Interview with Cleon Stewart, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran and POW from Tulia, Texas, who served and was captured with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (known as the "Lost Battalion"). Stewart discusses joining the National Guard, training and the Louisiana Maneuvers, deployment to the Pacific in November, 1941, diversion to Java after December 7th, Japanese air strikes and the invasion, the American surrender and initial internement by the Japanese, experiences in internment at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, transfer to Changi Camp, Singapore, and life in captivity there, and liberation.

Interview with James W. Huffman, a Navy WWII veteran and POW from Los Angeles, California, who survived the sinking of the USS Houston (CA-30). Huffman discusses joining the Navy; service aboard the Houston and changes in training as war neared; early operations in the war; the Battle of Sundra Strait and sinking; surviving in Java; capture by the Japanese; various experiences in internment at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, Changi Camp in Singapore, Thanbyuzayat, several camps on the Burma Railway, and Tamarkan in Thailand; and liberation.

Interview with John Wisecup, a Marine Corps veteran and a survivor of the sinking of the USS Houston, concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Wisecup talks about the sinking of the Houston (1942), his capture and imprisonment at Serang, Java, Bicycle Camp in Batavia (1942), Changi Prison Camp in Singapore (1942), building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway (1942-1944), Kanchanaburi, Thailand (1944), Changi Jail (1944-1945), and his liberation.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story.