Please find below a list of links to some aspects of disaster resilience that were in the news recently…
Recent emergencies/disasters
NSW and Victoria floods: rivers break banks as rain and wind lash Australia’s eastern states https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/13/major-flood-warnings-for-parts-of-nsw-and-victoria-as-rain-and-strong-winds-batter-east-coast
River towns Forbes, Cowra, Cottons Weir and Nanami brace for flooding as dam spills https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-13/inland-new-south-wales-towns-brace-for-major-flooding/100618014
Strong and shallow M6.0 and M6.4 earthquakes hit southern Iran https://watchers.news/2021/11/14/southern-iran-earthquake-november-14-2021/
Floods overwhelm Lagos communities, wreck 25 vehicles https://punchng.com/floods-overwhelm-lagos-communities-wreck-25-vehicles/
Italy – 1 Dead, Many Rescued After Floods in Sardinia https://floodlist.com/europe/italy-floods-sardinia-november-2021
Egypt – 3 Dead, Hundreds Injured After Floods Trigger Scorpion Infestation https://floodlist.com/africa/egypt-aswan-floods-scorpions-november-2021
Torrential rain, floods and mudslides cut Vancouver off from rest of Canada by road https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/torrential-rain-floods-and-mudslides-cut-vancouver-off-from-rest-of-canada-by-road/ar-AAQM7L9
Severe damage after cricket ball-sized hail hits Lydenburg, South Africa https://watchers.news/2021/11/16/severe-damage-lydenburg-south-africa-november-2021/
Canada and USA – Hundreds Rescued or Evacuated After Floods and Landslides in West https://floodlist.com/america/canada-floods-british-columbia-washington-november-2021
Bolivia – Deadly Flash Floods in La Paz Department https://floodlist.com/america/bolivia-floods-la-paz-november-2021
Destructive tornado hits Sicily, killing one and injuring 2 others, Italy https://watchers.news/2021/11/18/tornado-sicily-italy-november-17-2021/
Colombia – Floods and Landslides in Quindio, Antioquia, Risaralda and Cauca https://floodlist.com/america/colombia-floods-quindio-antioquia-risaralda-cauca-november-2021
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Pacific Island leaders vow to ‘phase up’ climate diplomacy after COP26 https://www.sbs.com.au/news/pacific-island-leaders-vow-to-phase-up-climate-diplomacy-after-cop26/2548784a-d4c5-40fc-8a53-212f4a532c39
‘You can’t live in a swamp’: Virginia fishing village threatened by rising sea levels https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/11/you-cant-live-in-a-swamp-virginia-fishing-village-threatened-by-rising-sea-levels.html
COP26 Wrap: Australian and global reactions to the ‘Glasgow Climate Pact’ https://reneweconomy.com.au/cop26-wrap-reactions-to-the-glasgow-climate-pact/
Cop26: the goal of 1.5C of climate heating is alive, but only just https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/13/cop26-the-goal-of-15c-of-climate-heating-is-alive-but-only-just
New Ways for Dynamical Prediction of Extreme Heat Waves https://www.aps.org/newsroom/vpr/dfd/2021/09-11-2021-1.cfm
‘Ultimately uninhabitable’: western Sydney’s legacy of planning failure https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/16/ultimately-uninhabitable-western-sydneys-legacy-of-planning-failure
‘Watered-down hope’: Experts wanted more from climate pact https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-business-united-kingdom-scotland-dfa88827e163534ca46c7e32d239f9ef
The Keeling Curve is a daily record of global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration maintained by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/
Greta Thunberg: ‘COP26 even watered down the blah, blah, blah’ https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-scotland-59298344
COP26 deal: how rich countries failed to meet their obligations to the rest of the world https://theconversation.com/cop26-deal-how-rich-countries-failed-to-meet-their-obligations-to-the-rest-of-the-world-171804
We need to design housing for Indigenous communities that can withstand the impacts of climate change https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-design-housing-for-indigenous-communities-that-can-withstand-the-impacts-of-climate-change-171203
Climate change is supercharging the water cycle, making the heaviest rains of each year heavier https://medialibrary.climatecentral.org/resources/record-rain
Dark roofs ditched, commercial buildings must be net-zero from 2022: NSW Planning Minister https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/dark-roofs-ditched-commercial-buildings-must-be-net-zero-from-2022-nsw-planning-minister-20211117-p599pm.html
UK Institutions Are Woefully Underestimating the Risks They Face From Climate https://floodresilience.net/blogs/uk-institutions-underestimating-climate-risks/
Global warming speeds up the frequency of extreme hot weather and rainfall https://phys.org/news/2021-11-global-frequency-extreme-hot-weather.html
Deforestation can raise local temperatures by up to 4.5℃ – and heat untouched areas 6km away https://theconversation.com/deforestation-can-raise-local-temperatures-by-up-to-4-5-and-heat-untouched-areas-6km-away-163584
Did COP26 deliver for flood prone communities across the globe? https://floodresilience.net/blogs/did-cop26-deliver-for-flood-prone-communities/
5 sustainable solutions to help tackle extreme heat in South Asia https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/climate/5-sustainable-cooling-solutions-tackle-extreme-heat-south-asia/
Climate hazards are increasing in frequency and severity across Europe; new regional overview published https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/climate-hazards-are-increasing-in/
Disaster risk reduction
Flood control lessons from the Dutch as we enter a wetter future https://www.wrvo.org/2021-11-12/flood-control-lessons-from-the-dutch-as-we-enter-a-wetter-future
Hewlett Packard Enterprise builds supercomputer to improve weather predictions for Denmark, Iceland, Ireland and The Netherlands https://www.hpe.com/us/en/newsroom/press-release/2021/11/hewlett-packard-enterprise-builds-supercomputer-to-improve-weather-predictions-for-denmark-iceland-ireland-and-the-netherlands.html
Fifth Arab Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Rabat https://www.preventionweb.net/news/rabat-declaration-disaster-risk-reduction-milestone-embodying-political-commitment-governments
Does Future Miami Really Flood Like That? https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/does-future-miami-really-flood-reminiscence-fact-check-movie-science
Natural hazards and climate change are not drivers of disasters https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11069-021-05100-1
Coastal defences need $30bn boost to prevent Australian homes becoming uninhabitable https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/17/coastal-defences-need-30bn-boost-to-prevent-australian-homes-becoming-uninhabitable
Tropical cyclone frequency https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021EF002275
Using risk management principles to protect vulnerable communities from climate-related disasters https://www.icf.com/insights/disaster-management/risk-management-principles-vulnerable
Global patterns of disaster and climate risk—an analysis of the consistency of leading index-based assessments and their results https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-021-03209-7
Seismic shockwave pattern may be redirecting earthquake damage https://phys.org/news/2021-11-seismic-shockwave-pattern-redirecting-earthquake.html
8 major cities that are threatened by wildfires right now https://www.timeout.com/things-to-do/cities-most-threatened-by-wildfires-right-now
How bad is the Pacific north-west flooding and what caused it? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/17/pacific-north-west-flooding-british-columbia-washington-state-canada
Expanding our ML-based flood forecasting https://blog.google/technology/ai/expanding-our-ml-based-flood-forecasting/
Forecasting Compound Floods in Complex Coastal Regions https://eos.org/science-updates/forecasting-compound-floods-in-complex-coastal-regions
Using Drones to Fight Floods https://www.floodpanel.com/using-drones-to-fight-floods/
Europe’s COVID death toll could rise by hundreds of thousands https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03455-w
Canada struggles to reach 18,000 stranded by flood waters https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/receding-waters-help-flood-hit-canadian-town-avoid-disaster-2021-11-18/
Valuing the Impacts of Landslides: A Choice Experiment Approach https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41885-021-00101-7
Emergency management
Covid is surging in Europe. Experts say it’s a warning for the U.S.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/covid-surging-europe-experts-say-s-warning-us-rcna4666
Experts say B.C. rainstorms highlight increasing flood risks and need to prepare https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/experts-say-b-c-rainstorms-highlight-increasing-flood-risks-and-need-to-prepare-1.5668375
Germany: Building back sustainably after a flood https://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-flooding-germany-dernau-rebuilding-homes/a-59640272
No, vaccinated people are not ‘just as infectious’ as unvaccinated people if they get COVID https://theconversation.com/no-vaccinated-people-are-not-just-as-infectious-as-unvaccinated-people-if-they-get-covid-171302
U.S. Forest Service: We do not have a ‘let it burn’ wildfire policy. We never have https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article255850681.html
Europe’s least-vaccinated countries are back in pandemic crisis https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-europes-least-vaccinated-countries-are-back-in-pandemic-crisis/
Agricultural disaster after record rains cause catastrophic floods in British Columbia, Canadahttps://watchers.news/2021/11/18/agricultural-disaster-record-rainfall-flood-british-columbia-november-2021/
It could take weeks to begin repairing ‘unprecedented’ damage to B.C.’s highway system, experts say https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-floods-highways-repairs-1.6253636
Disaster education, communications and engagement
The Behaviors and Attitudes of U.S. Adults on Twitter https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/11/15/the-behaviors-and-attitudes-of-u-s-adults-on-twitter/
cop26 Twitter NodeXL SNA Map and Report https://nodexlgraphgallery.org/Pages/Graph.aspx
Run Uphill for a Tsunami, Downhill for a Landslidehttps://issues.org/sitka-alaska-landslide-warning-system/
Mobile Alert and Warning in the United States and Japan: Confronting the Challenges of International Harmonization https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13753-021-00380-4
Psychology and disasters
B.C. farmers in a terrible dilemma: Stay to protect their animals or leave them behind https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/b-c-farmers-in-a-terrible-dilemma-stay-to-protect-their-animals-or-leave-them-behind
Correlating heatwaves and relative humidity with suicide (fatal intentional self-harm) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-01448-3
Sociology and disasters
Will the Climate Crisis Cause the Collapse of Society? https://lithub.com/will-the-climate-crisis-cause-the-collapse-of-society/
Disaster Resilience News 