Please find below links to some aspects of disaster resilience that were in the news recently…
Recent emergencies/disasters
Yemen – Over 90 Killed in Floods, More Rain Forecast https://floodlist.com/asia/yemen-floods-july-august-2022
India – Over 20 Killed in Floods and Landslides in Himachal Pradesh https://floodlist.com/asia/floods-himachal-pradesh-india-august-2022
Pakistan – Monsoon Rains and Flooding Leave Almost 700 Dead, Thousands Displaced https://floodlist.com/asia/pakistan-monsoon-floods-august-2022
Portugal wildfires: State of alert begins amid third heatwave https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62623333
Dallas area hit by 1-in-1,000-year flood; cars float in water-filled roads https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/aug/22/dallas-area-hit-by-1-in-1000-year-flood-cars-float/
USA – Deadly Flash Floods in Texas After 385mm of Rain in 24 Hours https://floodlist.com/america/usa/floods-texas-august-2022
Volcanic activity worldwide https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-activity/news/190090/Volcanic-activity-worldwide-25-Aug-2022-Fuego-volcano-Shiveluch-Ibu-Reventador-Sangay-Pavlof-.html
Indonesia – Deadly Floods and Landslides in West Papua; Floods Affect Thousands in Sumatra https://floodlist.com/asia/indonesia-floods-west-papua-sumatra-august-2022
Sudan – Flood Death Toll Rises, Nile Climbs Above Alert Level in Khartoum https://floodlist.com/africa/sudan-floods-update-late-august-2022
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Solar briefly overtakes coal in Australia as number one source of power nationally https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-20/solar-briefly-overtakes-coal-australia-number-one-source-power/101354054
‘Not prepared for current climate changes.’ Officials sound alarm on NYC’s struggling infrastructure https://bronx.news12.com/not-prepared-for-current-climate-changes-officials-sound-alarm-on-nycs-struggling-infrastructure
Climate threat to food supply chains creates ‘domino effect’ https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2022/08/19/climate-threat-to-food-supply-chains-creates–domino-effect-.html
Annual summaries dataset of Heatwaves in Europe, as defined by the Excess Heat Factor https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340922007053
China’s unrivalled 70-day heat wave https://www.axios.com/2022/08/22/china-heat-wave-drought-unprecedented
The world’s roads aren’t ready for a hotter planet https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/22/world/climate-change-road-infrastructure/
New Zealand’s flood-prone areas not ready to cope with climate crisis, Ardern says https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/22/new-zealands-flood-prone-areas-not-ready-to-cope-with-climate-crisis-ardern-says’
Migrants share lessons with U.S. to improve climate resilience https://news.trust.org/item/20220819091003-r90hp/
Rise in heart disease may be explained by extreme weather conditions: Study https://abcnews.go.com/US/rise-heart-disease-explained-extreme-weather-conditions-study/story
Combatting the Climate and Nature Emergency https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/about-us/combatting-climate-and-nature-emergency
Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32412-y
Five 1,000-year rain events have struck the U.S. in five weeks. Why? https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/23/flood-united-states-climate-explainer/
The Magnitude and Risk of Extreme Regional Heatwave Events in China Increase Rapidly under Global Warming http://english.iap.cas.cn/home/News/202208/t20220822_311673.html
Renewables provided more than 25% of electrical generation in the United States during the first half of 2022 https://electrek.co/2022/08/25/us-renewables-first-half-2022/
Rare and Severe Weather Events Are Now More Common Thanks to Climate Change https://blog.ucsusa.org/brenda-ekwurzel/rare-and-severe-weather-events-are-now-more-common-thanks-to-climate-change/
Why we should abandon the concept of the ‘climate refugee’ https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-abandon-the-concept-of-the-climate-refugee-182920
What is a Chief Heat Officer? https://onebillionresilient.org/project/chief-heat-officers/
Disaster risk reduction
Lower Warragamba before floods, locals say https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7869311/lower-warragamba-before-floods-locals-say/
Performance-Based Hurricane Engineering under Changing Climate Conditions: General Framework and Performance of Single-Family Houses in the US https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003447
Droughts Hurt World’s Largest Economies https://www.wsj.com/articles/droughts-hurt-worlds-largest-economies-11661087554
After FEMA overhaul, hundreds of thousands of Americans are forgoing federal flood insurance https://grist.org/extreme-weather/after-fema-overhaul-hundreds-of-thousands-of-americans-are-forgoing-federal-flood-insurance/
The Art of Landslides: How Stochastic Mass Wasting Shapes Topography and Influences Landscape Dynamics https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022JF006745
Warragamba Dam conversations should have happened four years ago https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/warragamba-dam-conversations-should-have-happened-four-years-ago/video/c4c0e46d10b941e7d5497a38ba7bd087
Tonga volcano eruption released more energy than the most powerful nuclear bomb https://phys.org/news/2022-08-tonga-volcano-eruption-energy-powerful.html
Advanced Real-Time Prediction of Storms With 30-Second Refresh https://eos.org/editor-highlights/advanced-real-time-prediction-of-storms-with-30-second-refresh
Towards Daily High-resolution Inundation Observations using Deep Learning and EO https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.09135
5 lessons from Houston and Harris County 5 years after Harvey https://floodcoalition.org/2022/08/5-lessons-houston-and-harris-county-after-hurricane-harvey/
One disaster after another: why we must act on the reasons some communities are facing higher risks https://theconversation.com/one-disaster-after-another-why-we-must-act-on-the-reasons-some-communities-are-facing-higher-risks-189217
Understanding the interconnectedness of drought is vital for ecosystem resilience https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2022/understanding-the-interconnectedness-of-drought-is-vital-for-ecosystem-resilience
As ‘flash floods are getting flashier,’ communities worry about aging infrastructure https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/as-flash-floods-are-getting-flashier-communities-worry-about-aging-infrastructure
Australian wildfires cause the largest stratospheric warming since Pinatubo and extends the lifetime of the Antarctic ozone hole https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15794-3
NIWA meteorologists say last week’s atmospheric river (AR), which was responsible for widespread devastation in both the North and South Islands, was a record-breaker https://niwa.co.nz/news/exceptional-august-atmospheric-river-sets-record
Cities need to become more ‘spongy’. Auckland is leading the way https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220823-how-auckland-worlds-most-spongy-city-tackles-floods
Emergency management
NSW SES Commissioner defends volunteers and calls for more funding in wake of flood report https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-20/nsw-ses-commissioner-defends-volunteers-calls-more-funding/101354150
The one bright spot out of the Lismore floods points way to a better disaster response https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-one-bright-spot-out-of-the-lismore-floods-points-way-to-a-better-disaster-response-20220818-p5bb2k.html
‘Tinnie army’ leads to NSW flood inquiry call to train community members as first responders. How will that work? https://theconversation.com/tinnie-army-leads-to-nsw-flood-inquiry-call-to-train-community-members-as-first-responders-how-will-that-work-188900
So what has America learned since Hurricane Katrina? Not enough https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/evacuation-planning-study
Dangerous combination of extreme heat and smoke affected 16.5 million Californians https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/dangerous-combination-of-extreme-heat-and-smoke-affected-16-5-million-californians/
Disaster education, communications and engagement
Updated fire danger rating system will be rolled out next month. Here’s what you need to know https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-08-21/bushfire-fire-danger-rating-system-updated-with-four-levels/101324830
Effect of disaster training on knowledge regarding flood risk management amongst families with older people https://jamba.org.za/index.php/JAMBA/article/view/1262
Fears over climate change trigger a boom in A-level geography https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/eb9a0834-1f25-11ed-add4-d333562d46fb
Could your phone save your life? Public emergency alerts amongst new measures to bolster UK resilience https://nationalpreparednesscommission.uk/2022/08/public-emergency-alerts/
Enhancing Emergency Communication With Social Media: Identifying Hyperlocal Social Media Users and Information Sources https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332601981_Enhancing_Emergency_Communication_With_Social_Media_Identifying_Hyperlocal_Social_Media_Users_and_Information_Sources
Strengthening European disaster resilience by consolidating knowledge and generating learning on the uses of social media and crowdsourcing (SMCS) in disaster management processes http://links-project.eu/a-snapshot-on-how-social-media-and-crowdsourcing-are-currently-used-by-disaster-management-organizations-in-europe-the-first-results-from-the-links-cases/
Citizen science in environmental and ecological sciences https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-022-00144-4
Encouraging community members to photograph wildfire ash as part of the citizen science initiative #Ashfall https://www.cafiresci.org/partners-tools-source/category/ashfall
Sociology and disasters
With a surge of natural disasters in Timor-Leste, women’s leadership helps save lives https://www.care.org.au/blog/womens-leadership-helps-save-lives-eng/
Differences in County-Level Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Rates due to Damage Caused by Hurricane Matthew and the Moderating Effects of Social Capital: A Natural Experiment https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1617844/v1
Vulnerable communities face a higher risk of socio-economic injustice due to flood hazards https://uwaterloo.ca/environment/news/vulnerable-communities-face-higher-risk-socio-economic
Resilient future belongs to the youth https://app.adpc.net/news/resilient-future-belongs-to-the-youth/
What has America learned Since Hurricane Katrina? Evaluating evacuation plans for carless and vulnerable populations in 50 large cities across the United States https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420922004459
Impact of Farmers’ Participation in Community-Based Organizations on Adoption of Flood Adaptation Strategies: A Case Study in a Char-Land Area of Sirajganj District Bangladesh https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8959
Social inequalities in climate change-attributed impacts of Hurricane Harvey https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31056-2
Disaster Resilience News 