Please find below links to some recent disaster resilience news…
Recent emergencies/disasters
Summer in Tasmania brings torrential rain to dry east coast, snowfalls in Central Highlands http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-03/welcome-to-summer-in-tasmania-its-snowing-again/9221090
Sri Lanka – Floods, Rain and Strong Winds Leave 13 Dead and 5,000 Displaced http://floodlist.com/asia/sri-lanka-floods-cyclone-ockhi-december-2017?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Indonesia: At least 20 killed, 5 missing in landslides, floods https://article.wn.com/view/2017/12/03/Indonesia_At_least_20_killed_5_missing_in_landslides_floods/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Flooding in Northern and Central Albania http://copernicus.eu/news/copernicus-ems-rapid-mapping-activated-floods-albania
Terrawatch: the reawakening of Öræfajökull https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/03/terrawatch-iceland-volcano-oraefajokull-agung?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet
Homes Flooded in North Eastern Victoria After Record Rain http://floodlist.com/australia/australia-homes-flooded-in-victoria-after-record-rain?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Dramatic Trang River bank collapse hits homes https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1371803/dramatic-trang-river-bank-collapse-hits-homes Ventura County wildfire rages over 45,500 acres, destroys more than 150 structures; 27,000 flee http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-school-fire-20171204-story.html
Volcanic activity worldwide 6 Dec 2017: Fuego volcano, Karymsky, Klyuchevskoy, Shiveluch, Dukono https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-activity/news/66431/Volcanic-activity-worldwide-6-Dec-2017-Fuego-volcano-Karymsky-Klyuchevskoy-Shiveluch-Dukono-Re.html
Flooding again in Albania? http://www.albaniannews.com/index.php?idm=17117&mod=2&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
New Zealand considers creating climate change refugee visas https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/31/new-zealand-considers-creating-climate-change-refugee-visas?utm_content=buffer93ede&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Scoping for the Operation of Agile Urban Adaptation for Secondary Cities of the Global South: Possibilities in Pune, India http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/9/12/939
Extremes and Weather: Exploring Connections with Human Health http://www.weathernationtv.com/news/extremes-weather-exploring-connections-human-health/#.WiMF_ea6fG0.twitter
Our scorching sea: Marine heatwave unfolding as hot temperatures continue https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99491972/week-starts-with-a-scorcher-warm-weather-settled-in
Internet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/bix133/4644513
Unusual hot spell for Victoria and Tasmania driven by warm seas, stable systems http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/unusual-hot-spell-for-victoria-and-tasmania-driven-by-warm-seas-stable-systems-20171203-gzxzwf.html
Credit Rating Agency Issues Warning On Climate Change To Cities https://www.npr.org/2017/12/01/567843604/credit-rating-agency-issues-warning-on-climate-change-to-cities
How can climate risk insurance be linked with other forms of social protection to help vulnerable communities absorb climate impacts? https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2017/absorbing-climate-impacts
UK weather: Could La Niña phenomenon deliver Britain a record freezing winter? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/la-ni-a-uk-weather-winter-record-met-office-could-what-is-polar-vortex-a8088501.html
U.S. Disbands Group That Prepared Cities for Climate Shocks https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-04/trump-disbands-group-meant-to-prepare-cities-for-climate-shocks
With sea-level rise, waterfront owners confront their options https://www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/is/slr
New maps of climate opinions by political party http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/new-maps-climate-opinions-political-party/
November 2017 extended the spell of exceptional global warmth that has now lasted since mid-2015 https://climate.copernicus.eu/resources/data-analysis/average-surface-air-temperature-analysis/monthly-maps/surface-air-3
“Apocalyptic” Melting Transpires in Antarctica as Earth Wraps Up a Scorching Year http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/42777-pollution-and-diseases-wreak-havoc-in-a-scorching-year-with-apocalyptic-melting-in-antarctica
13,000 U.S. Archaeology Sites To Be Flooded by Rising Seas https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/thousands-of-united-states-archaeological-sites-to-be-flooded-by-rising-seas-spd/
The sleeping ice giants of Antarctica are stirring. Will we wake up before they devour us? https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/mark-kernan/Myth-and-dystopia-in-the-Anthropocene
These are the tipping points that will push us into climate disaster https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/are-we-reaching-our-climate-change-tipping-points
While Southern California battles its wildfires, we have to start preparing for our hotter, drier future http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-ventura-sylmar-wildfires-20171205-story.html?platform=hootsuite
To forecast sea level rise, a flotilla of robot subs must map the unseen bottom of a melting ice shelf—if they are not sunk by it https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ice-diving-drones-embark-on-risky-antarctic-mission/
Disaster risk reduction
“The 100-year line is too arbitrary for comfort” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/us/houston-flood-zone-hurricane-harvey.html?smid=tw-nytclimate&smtyp=cur
Lawmakers Skeptical of Trump’s $12 Billion Plan to Prevent Flooding https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-01/trump-s-12-billion-plan-to-prevent-flooding-opposed-in-congress
Fixing the broken National Flood Insurance Program http://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20171202/fixing-broken-national-flood-insurance-program
How to break the cycle of repeated flooding https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/climate-smart-flood-insurance-ib.pdf
“A dollar spent on mitigation saves society on average $4” http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nibs.org/resource/resmgr/MMC/hms_vol1.pdf
USGS on Fire: It’s not a matter of “if,” it’s a matter of “more fire science data please!” https://www.usgs.gov/news/usgs-fire-it-s-not-a-matter-if-it-s-a-matter-more-fire-science-data-please?qt-news_science_products=1#qt-news_science_products
Putting Disaster Risk Into Adaptation Plans http://www.unisdr.org/archive/56107
Do weak global stresses synchronize earthquakes? http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL074934/abstract
Resiliency Plan of the Year: Resilient Boston https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/resiliency-plan-of-the-year-resilient-boston/510151/
Almaty sits on a huge active fault, and here is why we know http://paleoseismicity.org/almaty-sits-on-a-huge-active-fault-and-here-is-why-we-know/
Modeling Volcanic Mudflow Travel Time with ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Network Analyst http://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcuser/fall-2017/modeling-volcanic-mudflow-travel-time
Damage to vulnerable infrastructure caused by climate hazards could triple by the 2020s and rise over ten-fold by the end of the century http://floodlist.com/europe/vulnerable-infrastructure-at-risk-from-climate?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Two years on from the December 2015 flooding that hit the North of England http://www.newground.co.uk/news-events-media/knowledge-centre/two-years-on-from-the-december-2015-flooding/
An innovative cloud based platform as a service solution for the Goulburn Broken CMA using HydroNET http://watertech.com.au/news/webinars/?utm_content=buffer5803e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
By spring 2020 we aim to have 100% LIDAR coverage of England https://environment.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Styler/index.html?appid=09b15081af4f48e8a2bb6415a830c1f2
This Year’s Hurricane Season Was Intense. Is It A Taste Of The Future? http://www.govtech.com/em/disaster/Thousands-Still-Await-Clean-Water-After-Harvey.html
Our thirst for drinking water is causing severe subsidence in many areas around the world, putting them at risk of flooding http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171130-the-ambitious-plan-to-stop-the-ground-from-sinking?ocid=ww.social.link.twitter
The decision of Europe to rely on weather forecasts for wildfire prediction https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/media-centre/science-blog/2017/wildfires-hazard-no-other
The lack of adequate infrastructure that can defend against the impacts of floods, sea level rise, landslides or earthquakes https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/lets-make-deal-resilient-cities
These half-million-dollar floating villas can withstand Category 4 hurricanes http://www.businessinsider.sg/waterstudio-is-building-floating-villas-in-the-netherlands-2017-12/
Space technologies key to risk reduction http://www.unisdr.org/archive/56167
People like living in hazard zones https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/people-love-to-live-in-places-that-are-at-risk-for-disasters-and-this-is-what-happens/2017/10/15/ba50ed38-b03f-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.21777cd3d38a
Rising Waters: Can a Massive Barrier Save Venice from Drowning? http://e360.yale.edu/features/rising-waters-can-a-massive-sea-barrier-save-venice-from-drowning
Boston Barrier flood defence gets the green light https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boston-barrier-flood-defence-gets-the-green-light
Towards a flood delta city index http://www.delta-alliance.org/nl/25222819-%5Blinkpage%5D.html?location=-792208859356054,10885393,true,true
Supporting the uptake of low cost resilience for properties at risk of flooding http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/32994/
A Global Outlook on Disaster Science Report https://www.elsevier.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/538091/ElsevierDisasterScienceReport-PDF.pdf
You’ll never guess where homes are the most at-risk for flooding https://therealdeal.com/2017/12/03/youll-never-guess-where-homes-are-the-most-at-risk-for-flooding/
A wave of tsunami modellers descends on Canberra http://www.ga.gov.au/news-events/news/latest-news/a-wave-of-tsunami-modellers-descends-on-canberra?utm_source=2017-promotion&utm_medium=Tsunami-Workshop-News&utm_content=ga-twitter&utm_campaign=News-Highlights
Catastrophe losses triple for P&C insurers in 2017, Fitch Ratings reports http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2017/12/06/catastrophe-losses-triple-for-pc-insurers-in-2017?eNL=5a28322a140ba01e1e9c9d21&utm_content=buffer363db&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Slow slips are silent earthquakes that occur below the Earth’s surface over a large area, unlike traditional earthquakes we feel that occur in a relatively small region https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/videos/1756-slow-slip-event-an-animation
Why shrinking glaciers could mean more volcanic eruptions https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21731814-volcanology-and-glaciology-why-shrinking-glaciers-could-mean-more-volcanic?fsrc=scn/tw/te/rfd/pe
Reviewing and visualizing the interactions of natural hazards http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013RG000445/full
More than 900 drains in York are permanently blocked – adding to flood risk https://www.yorkmix.com/life/revealed-900-drains-york-permanently-blocked-adding-flood-risk/
Emergency Management
Over 200,000 Puerto Ricans have arrived in Florida since Hurricane https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/over-200-000-puerto-ricans-have-arrived-florida-hurricane-maria-n825111?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ltMaria
75 days after Maria, this is life in St. Croix https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/12/03/us/us-virgin-islands-maria-recovery-trnd/index.html
5 steps to overcoming volunteer firefighter recruitment obstacles https://www.firechief.com/2017/11/06/5-steps-to-overcoming-volunteer-firefighter-recruitment-obstacles/
New fire trucks not yet ordered to replace ageing, dangerous vehicles, union warns http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-01/old-trucks-hoses-put-firefighters-in-danger-tas-union-warns/9213562
Victorian Premier defends flood warning language and predictions http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/5096648/premier-defends-storm-warnings-taken-to-extremities/?cs=48&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
New data shows hurricane deaths in Puerto Rico could be 20 times higher than the government claims https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/29/16623926/puerto-rico-death-toll-hurricane-maria-count
Top Emergency Management Official: Hit the ‘Reset Button’ on Disaster Recovery Roles http://www.routefifty.com/public-safety/2017/11/fema-brock-long-congress/144205/
Queensland floods: Dam engineers ‘bet against’ BOM rain forecasts, class action hearing told http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-04/2011-flood-class-action-begins-against-government-dam-operators/9223624
Quake warnings, seismic culture http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6367/1111
Cross-border agencies join in joint disaster response exercise https://www.discoverferndale.com/cross-border-agencies-join-joint-disaster-response-exercise_71118/
What happens if Mount Baker erupts? Local emergency responders are prepared http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article184033411.html
Long-term recovery narratives after natural disasters https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s10113-017-1260-z?author_access_token=syAc6M9P8ib-T85D_-y-mfe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY4ZMNZYPtSF3ZrF_cHc2YCipP4bp1n5Sko4gybkreypPq1YLwUwX6GCD0dVw4W1HUHkWsVGNp7a-XRcDruiEVO6CuxF8ZoGPB6N-ZS5_2RpCQ%3D%3D
Struggling to bounce back after Harvey’s 50-plus inches swamped water systems, subdivisions and mobile home parks across southeast Texas http://www.govtech.com/em/disaster/Thousands-Still-Await-Clean-Water-After-Harvey.html
Safety risk: waste facilities not prepared to battle fire outbreaks at Victorian centres http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/safety-risk-waste-facilities-not-prepared-to-battle-fire-outbreaks-at-victorian-centres/news-story/92e56e5e3cb683c3d5a5381e63663bd2?csp=6b069891508b7db486a7695f0b27d517
The Walking Forward Disaster Relief Team provides a secure database networking system for Equine and Pet owners across Australia https://www.tepscon.community/aboutNEDTwo years on: £70m spend on Storm Desmond repairs https://www.cumbriacrack.com/two-years-70m-spend-storm-desmond-repairs/
Fort McMurray region acts on lessons learned from 2016 wildfire http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4402496
Public Health in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria https://www.kff.org/report-section/public-health-in-puerto-rico-after-hurricane-maria-9123-issue-brief/
2017 US National Preparedness Report https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=806107
How the Internet of Things Can Prepare Cities for Natural Disasters https://hbr.org/2017/12/how-the-internet-of-things-can-prepare-cities-for-natural-disasters
Post-event review of flooding in Peru http://blog.i-s-e-t.org/2017-flooding-in-peru-identifying-effective-disaster-risk-management-and-resilience-efforts-through-a-post-event-review/
FEMA Staffers Told They Might Be Billed for Working Too Much https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-05/fema-tells-staffers-they-might-get-billed-for-working-too-much
Disaster education, communications and engagement
Selecting a quality publisher https://royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/research-practice/publishing-guidance/
What is at the heart of the rise of citizen science? https://medium.com/@kellygibbs/why-do-people-want-to-be-scientists-7cb7e550b6e5
The Fire Learning Trail https://fireadaptednetwork.org/fire-learning-trail-interview-jenifer-bunty/
Facilitating two-way public communication in crisis and disaster management https://www.crisis-response.com/comment/blogpost.php?post=366
You should never drive into floodwater – some roads are more deadly than others https://theconversation.com/you-should-never-drive-into-floodwater-some-roads-are-more-deadly-than-others-88551
The public understood the potential dangers from storm surge and took the appropriate steps to stay safe http://www.noaa.gov/news/new-storm-surge-watches-and-warnings-saved-lives
Children who were directly affected by flooding proposed a series of measures that they felt should be taken to improve flood resilience in homes, communities, schools and wider society http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/cyp-floodrecovery/outputs/
Creating maps in a more open way can generate valuable opportunities to engage with communities in more creative policy-making regarding the threats they face and how they can respond http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tran.12227/epdf
Community engagement and accountability in emergency management: Good practices from around the world http://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/56095
Strengthening community resilience through peer-to-peer learning http://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/56112
‘Learning for resilience’: Developing community capital through flood action groups in urban flood risk settings with lower social capital http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420917303138
The amount of political information communicated decreases as the number of people in the chain increases. Furthermore, the information is increasingly distorted as the length of the chain increases http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/694767
Flood Snakes & Ladders http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/cyp-floodrecovery/what-weve-produced/flood-snakes-and-ladders/
Effective flood early warning systems should be people-centered http://www.floodresilience.net/how-to-build-an-early-warning-system
Social media and emergency management
Tools that can be used to create network graphs of Twitter data https://wasimahmed.org/2015/06/14/tools-that-can-be-used-to-create-network-graphs-of-twitter-data/
One graph shows how morally outraged tweets stay within their political bubble https://qz.com/1024117/one-visualization-shows-how-morally-outraged-tweets-stay-within-their-political-bubble/
Social media can be used for identifying potential risks through environmental scanning activities, such as identifying real-time events such as a flood and communicating safety information https://www.crisis-response.com/comment/blogpost.php?post=366
Articles published in journals with any sort of Twitter presence receive more citations than those published in journals with no Twitter presence http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/12/04/academic-journals-with-a-presence-on-twitter-are-more-widely-disseminated-and-receive-a-higher-number-of-citations/
Social media tools are “democratizing” disaster response efforts, allowing people to communicate more easily with first responders http://www.rmmagazine.com/2017/12/01/technology-to-the-rescue/
The ‘poetic and whimsical’ tweets of the crisis manager handling Bali’s erupting Mt Agung volcano http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-crisis-manager-handling-balis-mt-agung-eruption-one-tweet-at-a-time-20171206-gzzw17.html
Disaster psychology
Planned and ultimate actions of horse owners facing a bushfire threat: Implications for natural disaster preparedness and survivability http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420917303369
What if consciousness is not what drives the human mind? https://theconversation.com/what-if-consciousness-is-not-what-drives-the-human-mind-86785
After Las Vegas shooting, 87 children cope with loss of parent https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/shootings/after-las-vegas-shooting-87-children-cope-with-loss-of-parent/
Only 19% think deaths from terrorist attacks are lower in the past 15 years than they were in the 15 years before that – when they are also significantly down across most of these countries, and overall they are around half the level they were https://theconversation.com/survey-shows-gloomy-public-wrong-about-crime-immigrants-and-teen-pregnancies-88665?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1512556681
Ipsos’ Perils of Perception 2017 Survey https://perils.ipsos.com/
Many are still unaware of the dangers of living in the wildland-urban interface http://www.hcn.org/articles/opinion-firefighters-your-next-mission-might-be-local
Sociology and Disasters
Through the Fog of Disaster: The Process of (Re)Creating Inequities https://hazards.colorado.edu/news/research-counts/through-the-fog-of-disaster-the-process-of-re-creating-inequities
From local community volunteers to those on the frontline of natural disasters, volunteers are quintessential to humanity https://volunteeringqld.org.au/blog/1364-international-volunteer-day-5-december-2017?platform=hootsuite
Power to the Flooded! https://www.gofundme.com/flood-fighters
Volunteers, residents work to restore Puerto Rico’s communities https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/volunteers-local-residents-work-to-restore-puerto-ricos-communities/2017/12/05/b2efb1aa-c8b3-11e7-b0cf-7689a9f2d84e_story.html?utm_term=.be6fbf78da20
Disaster Resilience News 