Please find below links to some aspects of disaster resilience that were in the news recently…
Recent emergencies/disasters
Residents forced to evacuate as ‘out of control’ fire in WA’s Chapman Valley threatens homes https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-10/out-of-control-bushfire-forces-mid-west-residents-to-flee-homes/103211650
Tennessee tornadoes leave at least 6 dead, tens of thousands without power https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tennessee-tornadoes-leave-least-6-dead-tens-thousands-without-power-2023-12-10/
No respite for Far North Queensland as record rainfall forecast to continue https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/qld-record-flooding-far-north-monday/103239260
Thousands urged to evacuate in Queensland amid severe floods, Australia https://watchers.news/2023/12/17/flood-emergency-thousands-urged-to-evacuate-in-queensland-amid-severe-floods-australia/
Severe thunderstorm wreaks havoc along Argentina’s Atlantic coast, leaving at least 13 dead in Bahia Blanca https://watchers.news/2023/12/17/severe-thunderstorm-wreaks-havoc-along-argentinas-atlantic-coast-leaving-at-least-13-dead-in-bahia-blanca/
Far North Queensland township evacuation delayed by weather, rain easing in Cairns and Cooktown https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/qld-record-flooding-far-north-monday/103239260
Record rainfall and major flooding hit Carolinas as storm moves up East Coast https://watchers.news/2023/12/18/record-rainfall-and-major-flooding-hit-carolinas-as-storm-moves-up-east-coast/
Tropical Storm “Jelawat” (Kabayan) makes landfall in the Philippines, causing widespread evacuations https://watchers.news/2023/12/18/tropical-storm-jelawat-kabayan-makes-landfall-in-the-philippines-causing-widespread-evacuations/
Parts of Tamil Nadu record 950 mm (37 inches) of rain in 24 hours, India https://watchers.news/2023/12/18/parts-of-tamil-nadu-record-950-mm-37-inches-of-rain-in-24-hours-india/
Strong and shallow M5.9 earthquake hits Gansu-Qinghai border region, China https://watchers.news/2023/12/18/strong-and-shallow-m6-0-earthquake-hits-gansu-qinghai-border-region-china/
Wujal Wujal, a rural town located in Queensland’s Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire, faces a mandatory evacuation in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Jasper https://nit.com.au/18-12-2023/9092/entire-town-of-wujal-wujal-set-to-be-evacuated-after-cyclone-jasper-leaves-residents-stranded
Earthquake kills 127 people and injures hundreds more in China’s Gansu and Qinghai provinces https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-19/earthquake-china-gansu-qinghai-province/103245630
Volcanic eruption starts near Grindavik, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland https://watchers.news/2023/12/19/volcanic-eruption-starts-near-grindavik-reykjanes-peninsula-iceland/
Strong M6.2 earthquake hits southern Peru https://watchers.news/2023/12/20/strong-m6-2-earthquake-hits-southern-peru/
The biggest blizzard ever recorded along China’s coast https://watchers.news/2023/12/21/the-biggest-blizzard-ever-recorded-along-chinas-coast/
Firefighters battle major wildfire near Cape Town, South Africa https://watchers.news/2023/12/21/firefighters-battle-major-wildfire-near-cape-town-south-africa/
Brief EF-1 tornado strikes Oroville, California, causing damage https://watchers.news/2023/12/21/brief-ef-1-tornado-strikes-oroville-california-causing-damage/
Volcanic activity worldwide 20 Dec 2023: Santiaguito volcano, Fuego, Popocatépetl, Semeru, Ibu https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-activity/news/229193/Volcanic-activity-worldwide-20-Dec-2023-Santiaguito-volcano-Fuego-Popocatepetl-Semeru-Ibu-Duk.html
‘Incredibly intense’: Parkerville fire started with a tree falling on powerlines https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/incredibly-intense-parkerville-fire-started-with-a-tree-falling-on-powerlines-20231221-p5et66.html
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Climate-driven sea level rise combines with land subsidence in some of Africa’s fastest-growing cities https://eos.org/articles/sinking-cities-and-rising-waters
Compounding natural hazards and high vulnerability led to severe impacts from Horn of Africa flooding exacerbated by climate change and Indian Ocean Dipole https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-indian-ocean-dipole-compounding-natural-hazards-and-high-vulnerability-increased-severity-of-flooding-in-the-horn-of-africa/
The blue houses of Jodhpur: Traditional wisdom for a cooler future https://www.preventionweb.net/drr-community-voices/blue-houses-jodhpur-traditional-wisdom-cooler-future
COP28 deal confirms what Australia already knows: coal is out of vogue and out of time https://theconversation.com/cop28-deal-confirms-what-australia-already-knows-coal-is-out-of-vogue-and-out-of-time-219906
Australia could be at 99 pct renewables by 2032, if green exports take off as hoped https://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-could-be-at-99-pct-renewables-by-2032-if-green-exports-take-off-as-hoped/
Future Amplification of Multivariate Risk of Compound Drought and Heatwave Events on South Asian Population https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023EF003688
North Queensland’s record-breaking floods are a frightening portent of what’s to come under climate change https://theconversation.com/north-queenslands-record-breaking-floods-are-a-frightening-portent-of-whats-to-come-under-climate-change-220039
From laggard to leader? Why Australia must phase out fossil fuel exports, starting now https://theconversation.com/from-laggard-to-leader-why-australia-must-phase-out-fossil-fuel-exports-starting-now-219912
Scotland’s climate ‘changing faster than expected’ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-67752167
Researchers discover Himalayan glaciers are cooling down, potentially slowing down effects of climate change https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-15/new-report-shows-himalayan-glaciers-cooling-and-drying/103231372
‘Not conducive to our survival’: Pacific islands on the climate frontline respond to Cop28 deal https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/20/not-conducive-to-our-survival-pacific-islands-on-the-climate-frontline-respond-to-cop28-deal
Unpacking COP28: Key Outcomes from the Dubai Climate Talks, and What Comes Next https://www.wri.org/insights/cop28-outcomes-next-steps
Integrating climate change induced flood risk into future population projections https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43493-8
How COP28 failed the world’s small islands https://theconversation.com/how-cop28-failed-the-worlds-small-islands-219938
About 3 million Americans are already “climate migrants,” analysis finds. Here’s where they left https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-america-3-million-migrants-first-street-nature/
Imagining climate resilient futures: A layered Delphi panel approach https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016328723000046
Canada to require all new cars to be zero-emission by 2035 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/19/canada-car-emissions-automaker-electric-2035
2023’s extreme storms, heat and wildfires broke records – a scientist explains how global warming fuels climate disasters https://theconversation.com/2023s-extreme-storms-heat-and-wildfires-broke-records-a-scientist-explains-how-global-warming-fuels-climate-disasters-217500
After a Decade of Planning, New York City Is Raising Its Shoreline https://e360.yale.edu/features/new-york-city-climate-plan-sea-level-rise
How El Niño and Climate Change Supercharged This Week’s East Coast Storm https://www.newsweek.com/how-el-nino-climate-change-supercharged-this-weeks-east-coast-storm-1854246
Solar and on-shore wind provide cheapest electricity and nuclear most expensive, CSIRO analysis shows https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/21/solar-and-on-shore-wind-provide-cheapest-electricity-and-nuclear-most-expensive-csiro-analysis-shows
Amid a year of record-breaking climate disaster, the U.S. broke its record on oil production https://www.salon.com/2023/12/20/amid-a-year-of-record-breaking-climate-disaster-the-us-broke-its-record-on-oil-production/
Disaster risk reduction
Precipitation inequality exacerbates streamflow inequality, but dams moderate it https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723077288
Natural Flood Management (NFM) https://thefloodhub.co.uk/nfm/
‘Green Roads’ Are Plowing Ahead, Buffering Drought and Floods https://e360.yale.edu/features/green-roads
Targeted Analysis: Improving Local Intermediate Authorities’ crises preparedness and territorial Resilience – ResiLIAnce https://www.espon.eu/targeted-analysis-ResiLIAnce
AI Meets Its Match: The Butterfly Effect https://eos.org/research-spotlights/ai-meets-its-match-the-butterfly-effect
Highly Resolved Precipitation Maps Based on AI https://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2023_099_highly-resolved-precipitation-maps-based-on-ai.php
Our cities will need to harvest stormwater in an affordable and green way – here’s how https://theconversation.com/our-cities-will-need-to-harvest-stormwater-in-an-affordable-and-green-way-heres-how-216363
Australia’s Riskscape https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/australias-riskscape
pRecipe: A global precipitation climatology toolbox and database https://connect.agu.org/hydrology/about/committees/pretech/highlights#Dec23
A new tool to better model future wildfire impacts in the United States https://news.osu.edu/a-new-tool-to-better-model-future-wildfire-impacts-in-the-united-states/
The U.S. saw 25 billion-dollar weather disasters this year — more than ever before. Next year could be worse https://grist.org/extreme-weather/2023-climate-disasters-billion-dollar-maui-fire-hurricane-flood/
Wildland-urban fire disasters aren’t actually a wildfire problem https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2315797120
Wildfires increasing across eastern U.S., new study reveals https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2023/12/18/wildfires-increasing-across-eastern-u-s-new-study-reveals/
WMO issues new guidelines on evaluation of weather and climate extremes https://wmo.int/media/news/wmo-issues-new-guidelines-evaluation-of-weather-and-climate-extremes
CAMELS-CH: hydro-meteorological time series and landscape attributes for 331 catchments in hydrologic Switzerland https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/5755/2023/
Biden-Harris Administration Announces $150 Million to Help Underserved Communities Receive Low-Interest Loans for Resilience Projects https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20231219/biden-harris-administration-announces-150-million-help-underserved
Reversal of the levee effect towards sustainable floodplain management https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01202-9
FLAMITS: A global database of plant flammability traits https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.13799
Volcanic eruption lights up Iceland after weeks of earthquake warnings − a geologist explains what’s happening https://theconversation.com/volcanic-eruption-lights-up-iceland-after-weeks-of-earthquake-warnings-a-geologist-explains-whats-happening-220193
Hydrological regimes explain the seasonal predictability of streamflow extremes https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acf678
From Silos to Synergy: Outcomes & Implications for Early Warning & Early Action from COP28 https://www.early-action-reap.org/silos-synergy-outcomes-implications-early-warning-early-action-cop28
A new way to monitor the flow of rivers from satellites could provide a valuable early warning system for flood risk https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_1032983_en.html
Number of People Affected by Tropical Cyclones Has Increased Sharply Since 2002 https://www.rand.org/news/press/2023/12/20.html
Emergency Management
First Field Exercise of the European Earthquake Geology Task Force (EuQuaGe) performed in Türkiye on the surface rupture of 06 February 2023 Elbistan (Kahramanmaraş) Earthquake https://www.preventionweb.net/news/first-field-exercise-european-earthquake-geology-task-force-euquage-performed-turkiye-surface
Lincolnshire in the UK prepares for major emergencies with digital twins and drones https://www.preventionweb.net/news/lincolnshire-uk-prepares-major-emergencies-digital-twins-and-drones
U.S. Geological Survey field crews in Maine are working December 20-23 and December 26-0 looking for evidence that will tell how high the flood waters reached from the recent heavy rains that hit New England and most of the East Coast https://www.usgs.gov/news/state-news-release/usgs-determining-extent-flooding-maine-caused-large-coastal-storm-worsened
Canada’s top 10 weather stories of 2023: Wildfires, smoky skies, a record hot summer and more https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/2023-top-10-weather-stories-1.7063022
JN.1 Covid variant: WHO charts its rapid global spread https://www.bbc.com/news/health-67772390
Off the radar: Ten disasters of 2023 you’ve likely never heard of https://www.ifrc.org/article/radar-ten-disasters-2023-youve-likely-never-heard
Disaster Education, Communication and Engagement
Nature Lab is The Nature Conservancy’s youth curriculum platform https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/who-we-are/how-we-work/youth-engagement/nature-lab/
“One community at a time”: promoting community resilience in the face of natural hazards and public health challenges https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-023-17458-x
Leveraging social media and crowdsourcing in disaster risk management processes in Europe https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/leveraging-social-media-and-crowdsourcing-disaster-risk-management-processes-europe
How social media and crowdsourcing can help build disaster resilience https://www.preventionweb.net/drr-community-voices/share-follow-and-save-lives
Preparing Canadian homes and communities to limit the growing risk of wildfire https://uwaterloo.ca/news/media/ahead-flames
Snapping a picture on your next bushwalk could now help predict and prevent devastating bushfires, thanks to an innovative new AI-powered mobile phone app https://www.adelaide.edu.au/aiml/news/list/2023/11/02/ai-phone-app-transforms-bushwalks-into-tools-for-high-tech-bushfire-prevention
Disaster psychology
As the temperature rises, so do rates of domestic violence https://theconversation.com/as-the-temperature-rises-so-do-rates-of-domestic-violence-215070
Collective Resilience and the COVID-19 Experience https://academic.oup.com/book/55279/chapter-abstract/428684801
Prolonged reminders of death from long-term disasters affect people’s choices and behaviours https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/reminders-of-death-affect-peoples-behaviours-research-finds
Who causes bushfires? https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/behaviour/bushfires-arson-climate-change/
Persistent Wildfire Smoke Is Eroding Rural America’s Mental Health https://www.climatecentral.org/partnership-journalism/persistent-wildfire-smoke-is-eroding-rural-americas-mental-health
Sociology and disasters
Covid lockdowns had ‘catastrophic effect’ on UK’s social fabric, report claims https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/10/covid-lockdowns-had-catastrophic-effect-on-uks-social-fabric-report-claims
Exploring the role of social capital in flood risk reduction: Insights from a systematic review https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376582265_Exploring_the_role_of_social_capital_in_flood_risk_reduction_Insights_from_a_systematic_review
Socio-Spatial Micro-Networks: Building Community Resilience in Kenya https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-7996-7_9
Community flood resilience assessment of Saadi neighborhood, Shiraz, Iran https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13669877.2023.2288023
2023 in Nine Charts: A Growing Inequality https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2023/12/18/2023-in-nine-charts-a-growing-inequality
The epic floods receded, but the misery remains in poor California farm towns https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-12-18/who-got-hit-hardest-in-2023-epic-floods-the-people-who-grow-your-food
New research shows that US renters are hit the hardest when a hurricane strikes https://www.sra.org/2023/11/16/ten-years-of-data-indicate-that-a-hurricane-disaster-leads-to-rent-increases-higher-eviction-rates-and-less-affordable-housing-for-renters/
Global population profile of tropical cyclone exposure from 2002 to 2019 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06963-z
Disaster Resilience News 