Please find below a list of links to some aspects of disaster resilience that were in the news recently…
Recent emergencies/disasters
Floods cripple Indonesia’s capital https://phys.org/news/2021-02-cripple-indonesia-capital.html
‘Incredibly powerful’ paroxysm at Etna, lava fountains exceeding 1 000 m (3 300 feet) in height https://watchers.news/2021/02/21/incredibly-powerful-paroxysm-etna-italy-february-20-2021/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Uganda – Rain Triggers Deadly Landslide in Buhweju http://floodlist.com/africa/uganda-landslide-buhweju-february-2021
Madagascar – Hundreds Affected by Floods and Landslides http://floodlist.com/africa/madagascar-floods-february-2021
Ecuador – Deadly Landslides and Floods in El Oro http://floodlist.com/america/ecuador-landslides-floods-chimborazo-el-oro-february-2021
Record flooding affects more than 100 000 people in Acre, northwestern Brazil https://watchers.news/2021/02/22/record-flooding-affects-more-than-100-000-people-in-acre-northwestern-brazil/
More than 59 000 people flee as Dujuan brings widespread flooding and disruption to Philippines https://watchers.news/2021/02/22/dujuan-brings-widespread-flooding-and-disruption-to-philippines/
Indonesia – Floods Worsen in Greater Jakarta Region, 5 People Reported Dead, Over 30,000 Displaced http://floodlist.com/asia/indonesia-greater-jakarta-floods-update-february-2021
State of emergency declared in Madre de Dios as severe flooding leaves 15 000 people affected, Peru https://watchers.news/2021/02/23/state-of-emergency-declared-in-madre-de-dios-as-severe-flooding-leaves-15-000-people-affected-peru/
South Africa and Zimbabwe – Flash Floods in Border Towns of Musina and Beitbridge http://floodlist.com/africa/southafrica-zimbabwe-floods-musina-beitbridge-february-2021
Italy’s Mount Etna erupts https://eijournal.com/slider-images/italys-mt-etna-erupts
Indonesia – Heavy Rain Causes Deadly Landslides in Pamekasan Regency, East Java http://floodlist.com/asia/indonesia-landslide-pamekasan-february-2021
Australia – Evacuations After Rivers Rise in Northern Territory http://floodlist.com/australia/mataranka-northern-territory-february-2021
Indonesia – 3 Dead, 5 Missing After Landslide at Illegal Mine in Central Sulawesi http://floodlist.com/asia/indonesia-landslide-parigi-moutong-central-sulawesi-february-2021
Volcanic activity worldwide 25 Feb 2021: Etna volcano, Fuego, Popocatépetl, Semeru, Ibu, Dukono https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-activity/news/122800/Volcanic-activity-worldwide-25-Feb-2021-Etna-volcano-Fuego-Popocatepetl-Semeru-Ibu-Dukono-Ra.html
North coast NSW floods https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-25/flood-rescues-underway-on-coffs-coast/13190704
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Fragile cities are being inundated with people feeling the impacts of climate change. How can they cope? https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76146
Scientists are divided over whether climate change is fueling extreme cold events https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76141
Governing heatwaves in Europe: comparing health policy and practices to better understand roles, responsibilities and collaboration https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/76149
Climate Threats Could Mean Big Jumps in Insurance Costs This Year https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/climate/flood-insurance-fema.html?smid=tw-share
Beijing records warmest February day since 1951, Chinahttps://watchers.news/2021/02/22/beijing-records-warmest-february-day-since-1951-china/
Highlights from “The cost of climate: America’s growing flood risk” https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76168
Assessing Shifts in Regional Hydroclimatic Conditions of U.S. River Basins in Response to Climate Change over the 21st Century https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020EF001657Renewable energy could render five of Australia’s remaining coal plants unviable by 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/24/renewable-energy-could-render-five-of-australias-remaining-coal-plants-unviable-by-2025
Climate change: 5 places where global warming is a security risk https://news.trust.org/item/20210223112425-ykgvq/
Climate crisis hitting ‘worst case scenario’, warns Environment Agency head https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/23/climate-crisis-hitting-worst-case-scenarios-warns-environment-agency-head
Inventories of extreme weather events and impacts: Implications for loss and damage from and adaptation to climate extremes https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096321000140?via%3Dihub
Why the climate crisis is a humanitarian emergency https://unocha.exposure.co/why-the-climate-crisis-is-a-humanitarian-emergency
ESA Glaciers Climate Change Initiative https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/7ea7540135f441369716ef867d217519
A Huge Red Flag Just Popped Up in a Little-Studied Region of Antarctica https://earther.gizmodo.com/a-huge-red-flag-just-popped-up-in-a-little-studied-regi-1846345394
“We don’t have a credible climate policy:” Sport stars want stronger targets https://reneweconomy.com.au/we-dont-have-a-credible-climate-policy-sport-stars-want-stronger-targets/
Submarine Permafrost Has Been Overlooked as a Major Source of Greenhouse Gases, Scientists Warn https://e360.yale.edu/digest/submarine-permafrost-has-been-overlooked-as-a-major-source-of-greenhouse-gases-scientists-warn
Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-56175714
Climate change: West Antarctica’s Getz glaciers flowing faster https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56171302
As Deaths Surge, Scientists Study the Link Between Climate Change and Avalanches https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23022021/avalanche-climate-change-coronavirus/
Beyond simplistic metrics: assessing global progress on adaptation to climate change https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76206
What surveying 50 countries taught us about climate action https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2021/what-surveying-50-countries-taught-us-about-climate-action.html
Climate Change Risk Assessment for the Insurance Industry | Research report https://www.genevaassociation.org/research-topics/climate-change-and-emerging-environmental-topics/climate-change-risk-assessment
Disaster risk reduction
How fires have spread to previously untouched parts of the world https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/feb/19/how-fires-have-spread-to-previously-untouched-parts-of-the-world
The space–time cube as an approach to quantifying future wildfires in California https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF19062
Farmers in Western Australia’s south-west corner are adapting to a life with less water https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-22/farmers-in-australias-southwest-adapting-to-less-water/13168666
Cost of flood damage to U.S. homes will increase by 61% in 30 years https://www.investing.com/news/economy/cost-of-flood-damage-to-us-homes-will-increase-by-61-in-30-years-2425049
Why we should release New Zealand’s strangled rivers to lessen the impact of future floods https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-release-new-zealands-strangled-rivers-to-lessen-the-impact-of-future-floods-153077
3 Canadian cities more prepared for flood now than they were five years ago https://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/insurance/3-canadian-cities-more-prepared-for-flood-now-than-they-were-five-years-ago-1004204067/
Apocalypse now: Australian bushfires and the future of urban settlements https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-020-00013-7
How can we better predict extreme weather in the Mediterranean a few weeks in advance? https://tu-freiberg.de/en/department-52-media-relations/how-can-we-better-predict-extreme-weather-in-the-mediterranean-a-few-w
European Space Agency selects CGI to develop services combining artificial intelligence and earth observation for wildfire mapping https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76188
Supercomputer creates over 700,000 years of simulated earthquakes https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76181
A Looming Disaster: New Data Reveal Where Flood Damage Is An Existential Threat https://www.npr.org/2021/02/22/966428165/a-looming-disaster-new-data-reveal-where-flood-damage-is-an-existential-threat
On the Impacts of Observation Location, Timing, and Frequency on Flood Extent Assimilation Performance https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020WR028238
Urban planning and nature-based solutions, keys for reducing flood risk in Panama https://blogs.worldbank.org/latinamerica/urban-planning-and-nature-based-solutions-keys-reducing-flood-risk-panama
South Sudan: Among countries most struck by extreme weather https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76228
Emergency management
First real-world UK data shows Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides high levels of protection from the first dose https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-real-world-uk-data-shows-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-provides-high-levels-of-protection-from-the-first-dose
Anger toward Texas governor grows in deadly storm’s wake https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Anger-toward-Texas-governor-grows-in-deadly-15968231.php
The US must now commit to ensuring that COVID-19 health products will be distributed equitably and according to need at the global level https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/news-stories/news/us-government-must-prioritize-global-access-covid-19-medicines
Why Ebola is back in Guinea and why the response must be different this time https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/76160
Latest edition of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-january-2021/
The Total Flood Warning System: a review of the concept https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-january-2021-the-total-flood-warning-system-a-review-of-the-concept/
California’s coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: ‘The devil is already here’ https://news.yahoo.com/californias-coronavirus-strain-looks-increasingly-130055544.html
Ten years post the Qld-wide Flooding of 2011- Who has done what, and why? https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/ten-years-post-the-qld-wide-flooding-of-2011-who-has-done-what-and-why-tickets-141102077111
Tsunamis and tsunami warning: recent progress and future prospects https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/scp-tat020121.php
Superspreading drives the COVID pandemic — and could help to tame it https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00460-x
New Rapid Expert Consultation Offers Strategies for Navigating Disaster Response, Evacuation, and Sheltering Complicated by COVID-19 https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2021/02/new-rapid-expert-consultation-offers-strategies-for-navigating-disaster-response-evacuation-and-sheltering-complicated-by-covid-19
Disaster education, communications and engagement
Natural flood management measures: A practical guide for farmers https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/76153
NSW SES is one of Play School’s ‘Everyday Helpers’https://www.miragenews.com/nsw-ses-is-one-of-play-schools-everyday-517246/
Bushfire Survival Plan https://www.abc.net.au/btn/classroom/bushfire-survival-plan/13140722
Virtual Floodmobile Launch https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-floodmobile-launch-tickets-142673896465
Psychology and disasters
Willingness of households to reduce flood risk in southern France https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jfr3.12696
The legacy of trauma https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/02/legacy-trauma
It’s 2am, you’re sleeping, and a flash flood hits your home. Without a warning system, what do you do? https://theconversation.com/its-2am-youre-sleeping-and-a-flash-flood-hits-your-home-without-a-warning-system-what-do-you-do-154805
Sociology and disasters
The Mediating Role of Disaster Policy Implementation in Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development in Sierra Leone https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349354015_The_Mediating_Role_of_Disaster_Policy_Implementation_in_Disaster_Risk_Reduction_and_Sustainable_Development_in_Sierra_Leone
They have chronic illnesses. Then, the power went out in Texas. ‘It’s been emotionally exhausting.’ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/18/texas-snowstorm-endangers-people-chronic-illnesses-disabilities/6799170002/
Post-quake Christchurch has come a long way in 10 years, but is, in part, a confusion of contrasts and contradictions https://www.newsroom.co.nz/a-decade-on-a-tale-of-two-cities
Natural Hazards Have Unnatural Impacts—What More Can Science Do? https://eos.org/features/natural-hazards-have-unnatural-impacts-what-more-can-science-do
Assessing Social Equity in Disasters https://eos.org/science-updates/assessing-social-equity-in-disasters
Where do people fit into a global hazard model? https://eos.org/features/where-do-people-fit-into-a-global-hazard-model
COVID‐19 pandemic may have increased preferences for traditional gender roles https://www.psypost.org/2021/02/people-believed-more-strongly-in-traditional-gender-roles-after-the-start-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-59780
Is Covid at risk of becoming a disease of the poor? https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56162075
Disaster Resilience News 