It seems you (and a lot of other folks) are a bit confused over what a "copyright" is.

You cannot copyright an idea. That is what patents are for.

You CAN copyright the form in which an idea is presented, such as the book or pamphlet, or even website. But to be clear, only the FORM of presention is copyrightable, not the material concepts conveyed.

Finally, you just blew it as far as patenting the ideas since you yourself stated these ideas "should be obvious to any experienced disaster mitigation professional." The requirements for a patent is for the idea to be non-obvious and novel. Patent attorneys love to use these arguments to nullify your patent so they can steal your ideas.

I've done a bit of research on copyright law for myself, and inquired a bit on patents due to some ideas I've had.

(caveat - my statements are US centric, so if you are in another country your laws may be different)

Brian