Today in disaster resilience (14 July 2023)

Please find below links to some aspects of disaster resilience that were in the news recently…

Recent emergencies/disasters

Red flag, dry conditions, multiple wildfires worry Northwest fire managers after July Fourth holiday https://www.knkx.org/environment/2023-07-07/red-flag-dry-conditions-multiple-wildfires-worry-northwest-fire-managers-after-july-fourth-holiday

370 000 urged to evacuate as heavy rains hit western Japan https://watchers.news/2023/07/09/370-000-urged-to-evacuate-as-heavy-rains-hit-western-japan/

Raging flash floods hit Zaragoza, causing widespread damage to infrastructure and crops, Spain https://watchers.news/2023/07/07/raging-flash-floods-hit-zaragoza-causing-widespread-damage-to-infrastructure-and-crops-spain/

Severe flooding hits Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, over 128 000 people affected https://watchers.news/2023/07/09/severe-flooding-hits-mongolias-capital-ulaanbaatar-over-128-000-people-affected/

Five rescued, nine missing after massive landslide in central China’s Hubei Province https://watchers.news/2023/07/09/five-rescued-nine-missing-after-massive-landslide-in-central-chinas-hubei-province/

Delhi experiences highest July rainfall since 1982, floods and landslides claim 15 lives across India https://watchers.news/2023/07/09/delhi-experiences-highest-july-rainfall-since-1982-floods-and-landslides-claim-15-lives-across-india/

Torrential rain, floods kill 22 across northern India https://www.reuters.com/world/india/torrential-rain-floods-kill-22-across-northern-india-2023-07-10/

Heavy rainfall triggers floods and landslides in Bali, leaving at least 5 people dead, Indonesia https://watchers.news/2023/07/10/heavy-rainfall-triggers-floods-and-landslides-in-bali-leaving-at-least-5-people-dead-indonesia/

Record-breaking rainfall hits southwestern Japan, leaving at least 5 people dead and 3 missing https://watchers.news/2023/07/10/record-breaking-rainfall-hits-southwestern-japan-leaving-at-least-5-people-dead-and-3-missing/

USA – State of Emergency After Deadly Floods in New York https://floodlist.com/america/usa/floods-new-york-july-2023

USA – Disaster Declared After “Historic and Catastrophic Flooding” in Vermont https://floodlist.com/america/usa/floods-vermont-july-2023

Brazil – Severe Floods in Alagoas and Pernambuco, 14 Killed in Building Collapse https://floodlist.com/america/brazil-floods-alagoas-pernambuco-july-2023

Turkey – One Dead, Hundreds Displaced After Floods in Black Sea Region https://floodlist.com/asia/turkey-black-sea-floods-july-2023

Russia – Hundreds Evacuated After Floods Damage 200 Homes in Sochi https://floodlist.com/europe/russia-hundreds-evacuated-after-floods-damage-200-homes-in-sochi

Volcanic activity worldwide 13 Jul 2023: Fuego volcano, Popocatépetl, Merapi, Reykjanes, Reventador https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-activity/news/215880/Volcanic-activity-worldwide-13-Jul-2023-Fuego-volcano-Popocatepetl-Merapi-Reykjanes-Reventador.html

Over 100 lives claimed by record monsoon rains in northern India https://watchers.news/2023/07/13/over-100-lives-claimed-by-record-monsoon-rains-in-northern-india/

Multiple tornadoes touch down in northeastern Illinois, disrupting air travel https://watchers.news/2023/07/13/multiple-tornadoes-touch-down-in-northeastern-illinois-disrupting-air-travel/

More than 40 000 evacuated in China’s Sichuan province following severe flooding https://watchers.news/2023/07/13/more-than-40-000-evacuated-in-chinas-sichuan-province-following-severe-flooding/

Extreme Weather and Climate Change

Climate change drives disaster risk https://www.preventionweb.net/understanding-disaster-risk/risk-drivers/climate-change

The planet is getting hotter fast. This is what happens to your body in extreme heat https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/09/health/what-happens-to-your-body-extreme-heat-xpn/index.html

Heat record after heat record will be broken in 2023. Here’s how to make sense of it all https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/09/2023-heat-breaking-records-climate-change/70384382007/

‘It’s not climate change, it’s everything change’: sci-fi authors take on the global crisis https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/09/climate-change-sci-fi-authors-global-crisis-atwood-mccarthy

Sorry, Honey, It’s Too Hot for Camp https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2023/07/sorry-honey-its-too-hot-for-camp/674621/

What makes South Asia so vulnerable to climate change? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/8/what-makes-south-asia-so-vulnerable-to-climate-change

Here’s why climate change isn’t always to blame for extreme rainfall https://theconversation.com/heres-why-climate-change-isnt-always-to-blame-for-extreme-rainfall-206958

Preliminary data shows hottest week on record. Unprecedented sea surface temperatures and Antarctic sea ice loss https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/preliminary-data-shows-hottest-week-record-unprecedented-sea-surface-temperatures-and

Adapting to climate change: Lessons for Swiss Civil Protection https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/adapting-climate-change-lessons-swiss-civil-protection

Where will sea level rise most from ice sheet melt? https://nsidc.org/learn/ask-scientist/where-will-sea-level-rise-most-ice-sheet-melt

How four cities are building resilience to extreme heat https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-four-cities-are-building-resilience-to-extreme-heat/

The Health Care Costs of Extreme Heat https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-health-care-costs-of-extreme-heat/

New book: The Heat Will Kill You First https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jeff-goodell/the-heat-will-kill-you-first/9780316497572/

How fast are the seas rising? https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/07/how-fast-are-the-seas-rising/

The “new abnormal”: The rise of extreme flooding, briefly explained https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/7/11/23791452/vermont-flooding-climate-change

How climate change intensifies the water cycle, fueling extreme rainfall and flooding – the Northeast deluge was just the latest https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-intensifies-the-water-cycle-fueling-extreme-rainfall-and-flooding-the-northeast-deluge-was-just-the-latest-209476

California launches new heat initiative ahead of next heatwave https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/state-launches-new-heat-initiative-ahead-of-next-heatwave/

Climate Change Is Making Travel That Much Harder https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/07/11/climate-change-is-making-travel-that-much-harder/

Biden-⁠Harris Administration Takes Action to Protect Communities from Extreme Heat Fueled by the Climate Crisis https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/07/11/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-takes-action-to-protect-communities-from-extreme-heat-fueled-by-the-climate-crisis/

Cooling the Heat: Can India Lead the World in Green Cooling Innovation https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2023/07/11/cooling-the-heat-can-india-lead-the-world-in-green-cooling-innovation

Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02419-z

Disaster risk reduction

Nigeria experiments with wildfire risk management https://www.fairplanet.org/story/nigerians-experiment-with-wildfire-prevention-methods/

Crisis management for critical infrastructure https://resiliencefirst.org/news/crisis-management-critical-infrastructure

The State of the Art in Deep Learning Applications, Challenges, and Future Prospects: A Comprehensive Review of Flood Forecasting and Management https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10543

Northeast flooding puts the spotlight on rainfall data https://www.axios.com/2023/07/12/northeast-flooding-puts-spotlight-on-rainfall-data

Addressing justice in wildfire risk management https://iiasa.ac.at/news/jul-2023/addressing-justice-in-wildfire-risk-management

Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal https://www.kansasforests.org/fire_management/wrap.html

The UN Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2023) highlights how resilience can be strengthened to withstand and respond to shocks https://www.undrr.org/gar/gar2023-special-report

Adding Snow to Estimates of Spring Flooding https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/adding-snow-estimates-spring-flooding

New research suggests that insurance could incentivize homeowners to take mitigative action and help prevent their neighborhoods from going up in smoke https://www.sra.org/2023/07/11/why-dont-more-californians-protect-their-homes-against-wildfires/

Five risk-reduction strategies updated with age-old knowledge https://www.undrr.org/news/five-risk-reduction-strategies-updated-age-old-knowledge

Words into Action guidelines: Multi-hazard early warning systems https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/words-action-guidelines-multi-hazard-early-warning-systems

A qualitative review of tsunamis in Hawaiʻi https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-023-06076-w

Emergency management

Between November 2022 and the end of June 2023, crisis-affected populations in more than 37 countries were experiencing high to extreme access constraints, making it challenging for them to meet their basic needs https://www.acaps.org/en/thematics/all-topics/humanitarian-access-1

New Study Shows Robust Pandemic Preparedness Strongly Linked to Lower COVID-19 Mortality Rates https://www.nti.org/news/new-study-shows-robust-pandemic-preparedness-strongly-linked-to-lower-covid-19-mortality-rates/

Extreme flooding seen across the world so far this summer – video report https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2023/jul/11/extreme-flooding-across-world-summer-video-report

Disaster reparations? Rethinking disaster recovery through the politics of affect https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geoj.12526

The field hospitals from the European Union played a vital role in the earthquake zone https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/t%C3%BCrkiye/field-hospitals-european-union-played-vital-role-earthquake-zone_en

Private-public partnerships needed for firefighting https://www.orovillemr.com/2023/07/12/private-public-partnerships-needed-for-firefighting-editor-for-a-day/

FireGen is getting more young and Indigenous people involved in wildfire policy https://www.teenvogue.com/story/wildfires-us-firegeneration-collaborative

Extreme wildfires are here to stay. Can human beings really fight them? https://www.ft.com/content/540fa28d-9590-4ea2-99d7-453e3e2c3086

Disaster education, communications and engagement

WMO 2024 Calendar Competition https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/world-meteorological-day/wmo-2024-calendar-competition

An Iowa meteorologist started talking about climate change on newscasts. Then came the harassment https://apnews.com/article/meteorologist-harassment-threats-climate-change-iowa-bf91adbd26ca5e97507406947b47d684

Heatwave resources from the WHO https://www.who.int/health-topics/heatwaves

“Protect your home from” Booklets https://www.iclr.org/homeowner/

Conceptualising risk communication barriers to household flood preparedness https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266432862300027X

Time to say goodbye to “natural” disasters https://www.preventionweb.net/blog/time-say-goodbye-natural-disasters

Geology of the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes: Earth science meets cycling https://www.uu.nl/en/news/geology-of-the-tour-de-france-2023

Our World Our Say 2023: National youth survey on disaster risk and climate change open until 31 August https://survey.ysquares.com.au/ys/230420

Disaster psychology

Self-uncertainty and conservatism during the COVID-19 pandemic predict perceived threat and engagement in risky social behaviors https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13684302231180525

Indicators of community disaster fatigue: A case study in the New South Wales Blue Mountains https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420923003114

Sociology and disasters

When homes flood, who retreats and to where? We mapped thousands of FEMA buyouts and found distance and race play a role https://theconversation.com/when-homes-flood-who-retreats-and-to-where-we-mapped-thousands-of-fema-buyouts-and-found-distance-and-race-play-a-role-206590

It’s not the heat, it’s the inhumanity https://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/its-not-the-heat-its-the-inhumanity/

Frailty in the concrete jungle: Why are the urban poor more vulnerable to multimorbidities? https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/frailty-in-the-concrete-jungle-why-are-the-urban-poor-more-vulnerable-to-multimorbidities/

Trust but verify: Validating new measures for mapping social infrastructure in cities https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221209552200205X

Heat-related deaths ‘56% higher among women’ during record-breaking 2022 European summer https://www.carbonbrief.org/heat-related-deaths-56-higher-among-women-during-record-breaking-2022-european-summer/