Please find below links to some aspects of disaster resilience that were in the news recently…
Recent emergencies/disasters
Record-breaking rainfall swamps New York City, causing widespread urban flooding https://watchers.news/2023/10/02/record-breaking-rainfall-swamps-new-york-city-causing-widespread-urban-flooding/
Tropical Storm “Philippe” threatens Leeward Islands with heavy rains and flooding https://watchers.news/2023/10/02/tropical-storm-philippe-threatens-leeward-islands-with-heavy-rains-and-flooding/
Strong and shallow M6.2 earthquake hits Nepal, leaving homes destroyed, 17 injured and 1 missing https://watchers.news/2023/10/03/strong-and-shallow-m6-2-earthquake-hits-nepal-leaving-homes-destroyed-17-injured-and-1-missing/
Tropical Storm “Philippe” causes significant flooding in Dominica and Guadeloupe https://watchers.news/2023/10/03/tropical-storm-philippe-causes-significant-flooding-in-dominica-and-guadeloupe/
High-level eruption at Shishaldin volcano, Alaska https://watchers.news/2023/10/03/high-level-eruption-at-shishaldin-volcano-alaska/
Three fires burn out of control in Gippsland, residents and campers flee https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-01/gippsland-fires-burn-briagolong-loch-sport-erica/102922014
Rain delivers much-needed relief for fire-threatened towns of Loch Sport and Briagolong, Victoria https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-04/rain-relief-fires-east-gippsland-loch-sport-potential-flooding/102928564
Tropical Storm Philippe heads toward Bermuda https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/10/tropical-storm-philippe-heads-toward-bermuda/
Devastating flash flood in Sikkim’s Lachen Valley leads to deaths and widespread damage, India https://watchers.news/2023/10/04/devastating-flash-flood-in-sikkims-lachen-valley-leads-to-deaths-and-widespread-damage-india/
Three homes destroyed by bushfire as Aussies warned to prepare for ‘horror’ summer https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-bushfires-emergency-warnings-cessnock-bega-valley/92d2b2a5-bc9f-48f6-80c6-d320a07a04a0
Towns along Macalister River evacuate as Gippsland in flood, days after battling bushfires https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-05/victoria-braces-for-floods-days-after-gippsland-bushfires/102933212
Typhoon “Koinu” hits Taiwan with record-breaking winds https://watchers.news/2023/10/05/typhoon-koinu-hits-taiwan-with-record-breaking-winds/
High-level emergency declared in Tenerife as wildfire forces 3 000 to evacuate from Santa Ursula and La Orotava https://watchers.news/2023/10/05/high-level-emergency-declared-in-tenerife-as-wildfire-forces-3-000-to-evacuate-from-santa-ursula-and-la-orotava/
Volcanic activity worldwide 4 Oct 2023: Santiaguito volcano, Fuego, Semeru, Reventador, Sangay https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-activity/news/222546/Volcanic-activity-worldwide-4-Oct-2023-Santiaguito-volcano-Fuego-Semeru-Reventador-Sangay-Ubin.html
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Type of storm that drenched New York is up to 20% wetter due to climate crisis https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/02/new-york-city-flooding-rain-storm-climate-change
Can Florida’s Coast Survive Its Reliance on Development? https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2023.2249866
Faced with more frequent flooding and worse to come, the Philadelphia environmental justice community of Eastwick is grappling with difficult questions about its future https://e360.yale.edu/features/chronic-flooding-eastwick-philadelphia
A warming planet is creating a booming, and dangerous, disaster-restoration industry https://grist.org/accountability/a-warming-planet-is-creating-a-booming-and-dangerous-disaster-restoration-industry/
The loss of our glaciers over the 21st century: a future we can control https://www.thesciencebreaker.org/breaks/earth-space/the-loss-of-our-glaciers-over-the-21st-century-a-future-we-can-control
Too hard basket: why climate change is defeating our political system https://theconversation.com/too-hard-basket-why-climate-change-is-defeating-our-political-system-214382
DeBriefed 29 September 2023: Focus on carbon offsets; UK expands oil and gas; IEA’s path to 1.5C unpacked https://www.carbonbrief.org/debriefed-29-september-2023-focus-on-carbon-offsets-uk-expands-oil-and-gas-ieas-path-to-1-5c-unpacked/
How lessons from Earth’s past can help us save the planet https://www.kalw.org/show/your-call/2023-10-02/how-lessons-from-earths-past-can-help-us-save-the-planet
Annual Twin Cities Marathon canceled due to extreme heat https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/01/us/twin-cities-marathon-canceled-weather/index.html
Lessons from California on how to adapt to sea level rise https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/09/26/lessons-from-california-on-how-to-adapt-to-sea-level-rise
As the world warms, intense tropical cyclones are starting earlier, study finds https://phys.org/news/2023-09-world-intense-tropical-cyclones-earlier.html
Australia’s national area-average mean temperature was 2.43 °C warmer than the 1961–1990 average, the third-warmest on record (since 1910) for September http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/aus/summary.shtml
Japan experiences hottest September on record https://watchers.news/2023/10/03/japan-experiences-hottest-september-on-record/
The global costs of extreme weather that are attributable to climate change https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-41888-1
Climate change is narrowing and shifting prescribed fire windows in western United States https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00993-1
Ice cores reveal Antarctica is warming twice as fast as global average https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-ice-cores-reveal-antarctica-is-warming-twice-as-fast-as-global-average/
Australia’s emissions must decline more steeply to reach climate commitment: OECD https://theconversation.com/australias-emissions-must-decline-more-steeply-to-reach-climate-commitment-oecd-214851
‘Absolutely perverse’: climate scheme could reward Australian coalmines while emissions rise https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/03/labor-coalmine-safeguard-mechanism-climate-scheme-emissions-benefits
Climate solutions are necessary. So we’re dedicating a week to highlight them https://www.npr.org/2023/10/02/1197590139/climate-change-solutions
Researchers call for urgent emissions cuts as Antarctic sea ice ‘drops off a cliff’ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/499335/researchers-call-for-urgent-emissions-cuts-as-antarctic-sea-ice-drops-off-a-cliff
Are we making progress towards a net zero future? https://www.climateforesight.eu/articles/are-we-making-progress-towards-a-net-zero-future/
Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum of the Holy Father Francis to all people of good will on the climate crisis https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/10/04/231004a.html
New Zealand records hottest September on record https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/04/new-zealand-october-temperature-record-heat-september
Deep learning shows how global warming affects daily rainfall https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02803-2
Heat Islands https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-26588-4_36
Can AI help build climate resilience in the Caribbean? Let’s look at housing https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/can-ai-help-build-climate-resilience-caribbean-lets-look-housing
Study Identifies Jet-Stream Pattern That Locks in Extreme Winter Cold, Wet Spells https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/10/04/study-identifies-jet-stream-pattern-that-locks-in-extreme-winter-cold-wet-spells/
Disaster risk reduction
Risk Data Library Standard: making it easier to work with disaster and climate risk data https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/risk-data-library-standard-making-it-easier-work-disaster-and-climate-risk-data
Argonne researchers and partners have developed a new methodology for estimating increased flood risk from climate change https://www.anl.gov/article/first-of-its-kind-dataset-shows-future-flooding-risk-at-neighborhood-level
Landslides triggered by the 5 September 2022 Ms=6.8 Luding Earthquake in China https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/luding-earthquake-1
NASA-Led Study Pinpoints Areas of New York City Sinking, Rising https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3285/nasa-led-study-pinpoints-areas-of-new-york-city-sinking-rising/
How Big Institutions Stymie Disaster Response, and What to Do About It https://news.columbia.edu/news/how-big-institutions-stymie-disaster-response-and-what-do-about-it
Sustainable protection of rapidly subsiding coastlines with mangroves https://www.nioz.nl/en/news/sustainable-protection-of-rapidly-subsiding-coastlines-with-mangroves
Risk Data Library Standard: making it easier to work with disaster and climate risk data https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/risk-data-library-standard-making-it-easier-work-disaster-and-climate-risk-data
Impact Webs are a novel methodological tool which are designed to better understand and characterize complex risks, such as compounding, cascading and systemic risks https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/understanding-and-characterizing-complex-risks-impact-webs-guidance-document
Global evidence of rapid urban growth in flood zones since 1985 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06468-9
Machine learning could help us understand the relationship between water vapour transport and the amount of rain that falls at different locations https://climateextremes.org.au/predicting-the-rain-weeks-in-advance/
Controlled burns help prevent wildfires. Climate change is limiting their use https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/climate-change-limiting-use-of-controlled-burns
Early warning systems in Shanghai and Hong Kong https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/warning-research-centre/
2022 real-time Hurricane forecasts from an experimental version of the Hurricane analysis and forecast system (HAFSV0.3S) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1264969/full
Stakeholder-focused guidance and methodologies to help mitigate landslides and improve slope stabilisation in lower income countries https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/hazard-risk-resilience/about-us/news/spotlight-on-dr-ellen-robson/
Population Surge Meets Storm Surge: Preparing Florida’s Growing Long-Term Care Homes for Inevitable Disaster https://riskandinsurance.com/population-surge-meets-storm-surge-preparing-floridas-growing-long-term-care-homes-for-inevitable-disaster-2/
Emergency management
South Coast NSW locals fear repeat of Black Summer, criticise bushfire preparedness along key routes https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-02/black-summer-bushfire-communities-concerned-road-access/102886144
FEMA’s national emergency alert test rings phones, TVs, and radios on Wednesday https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/2/23899467/fema-fcc-national-emergency-alert-test-october-4th-cell-phones-wea-eas-ipaws
Long COVID Now Looks like a Neurological Disease, Helping Doctors to Focus Treatments https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/long-covid-now-looks-like-a-neurological-disease-helping-doctors-to-focus-treatments1/
The future of volunteers in disaster preparedness and emergency response https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/future-volunteers-disaster-preparedness-and-emergency-response
The role of pre-incident information and responder communication in effective management of casualties, including members of vulnerable groups, during a decontamination field exercise https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420923002868
How floods kill, long after the water has gone – global decade-long study https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1003362
Disaster Education, Communication and Engagement
Public engagement on climate change adaptation https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/public-engagement-climate-change-adaptation
Disaster psychology
The concentric circles of individual climate action https://drawdown.org/news/insights/the-concentric-circles-of-individual-climate-action
Remember: People Are Not Paying Attention to the Weather https://www.govtech.com/em/emergency-blogs/disaster-zone/remember-people-are-not-paying-attention-to-the-weather
Sociology and disasters
Corralling a Chimera: A Critical Review of the Term Social Infrastructure https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366552678_Corralling_a_Chimera_A_Critical_Review_of_the_Term_Social_Infrastructure
Resisting climate change vulnerability: feminist and decolonial insights https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41311-023-00523-y
Re-designing social impact assessment to enhance community resilience for disaster risk reduction, climate action and sustainable development https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/re-designing-social-impact-assessment-enhance-community-resilience-disaster-risk
Disaster Resilience News 