Today in disaster resilience (1 March 2024)

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

Recent emergencies/disasters

Another extreme weather deluge rolls over Far North Queensland https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/qld/2024/02/24/another-soaking-for-fnq

Out-of-control Victorian bushfire destroys six homes, sparks Ballarat smoke warning https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-25/vic-fires-ballarat-beaufort-raglan-bushfires-warnings/103509258

Brazil – 8 Killed in Floods and Landslides as Rain Lashes State of Rio De Janeiro https://floodlist.com/america/brazil-floods-rio-de-janeiro-february-2024

Indonesia’s strongest tornado on record https://watchers.news/2024/02/26/indonesias-strongest-tornado-on-record/

Flash flooding in Australia’s wettest town, Tully, during 458mm downpour https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-26/australias-wettest-town-tully-inundated-by-458mm-downpour/103512644

Series of devastating wildfires hit Texas Panhandle, causing evacuations, temporary closure of critical nuclear weapons facility, U.S. https://watchers.news/2024/02/28/series-of-devastating-wildfires-hit-texas-panhandle-causing-evacuations-temporary-closure-of-critical-nuclear-weapons-facility-u-s/

Tens of thousands in Victoria urged to evacuate due to catastrophic fire danger, Australia https://watchers.news/2024/02/28/tens-of-thousands-in-victoria-urged-to-evacuate-due-to-catastrophic-fire-danger-australia/

Ash emissions from Popocatépetl affect nearby municipalities, cancel flights, Mexico https://watchers.news/2024/02/28/ash-emissions-from-popocatepetl-affect-nearby-municipalities-cancel-flights-mexico/

Widespread flooding and landslides hit Italy, deadly avalanche in Alto Adige https://watchers.news/2024/02/29/widespread-flooding-and-landslides-hit-italy-deadly-avalanche-in-alto-adige/

Smokehouse Creek Fire rapidly grows to second-largest wildfire in history of Texas https://watchers.news/2024/02/29/smokehouse-creek-fire-rapidly-grows-to-second-largest-wildfire-in-history-of-texas/

Volcanic activity worldwide 28 Feb 2024: Santiaguito volcano, Fuego, Popocatépetl, Semeru, Dukono https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-activity/news/235430/Volcanic-activity-worldwide-28-Feb-2024-Santiaguito-volcano-Fuego-Popocatepetl-Semeru-Dukono-.html

Extreme Weather and Climate Change

What Will It Take to Save Our Cities from a Scorching Future? https://e360.yale.edu/features/eleni-myrivili-interview

Antarctica sea ice reaches alarming low for third year in a row https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/24/antarctica-sea-ice-reaches-alarming-low-for-third-year-in-a-row

Youth response to climate change: Learning from Indigenous land-based camp at the Northern Saskatchewan Indigenous Communities, Canada https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1550830724000314

Significantly wetter or drier future conditions for one to two thirds of the world’s population https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44513-3

Electric vehicles will crush fossil cars on price as lithium and battery prices fall https://thedriven.io/2024/02/26/electric-vehicles-will-crush-fossil-cars-on-price-as-lithium-and-battery-prices-fall/

Mapping pedestrian heat stress in current and future heatwaves in Cardiff, Newport, and Wrexham in Wales, UK https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132324000106

No ‘statistically significant’ link between climate change and Chile’s wildfires https://www.carbonbrief.org/no-statistically-significant-link-between-climate-change-and-chiles-wildfires/

Future Changes in Global Atmospheric Rivers Projected by CMIP6 Models https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023JD039359

Paris puts people and bicycles at the heart of ambitious new climate plan https://momentummag.com/paris-puts-people-and-bicycles-at-the-heart-of-ambitious-new-climate-plan/

Torrential storms and a rising ocean are eating away at California https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/california-rainfall-landslides-drought-atmospheric-river-climate-chang-rcna139741

Australians warned to expect fewer but more ferocious cyclones https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-26/australians-warned-to-expect-fewer-but-more-ferocious-cyclones/103500624

Wetlands, parks and even botanical gardens among the best ways to cool cities during heatwaves https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/wetlands-parks-and-even-botanical-gardens-among-best-ways-cool-cities-during-heatwaves

New climate model shows more extreme rainfall in the tropics with increased temperatures https://ist.ac.at/en/news/cloud-clustering-causes-more-extreme-rain/

Sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction of dry and wet extremes for climate adaptation in India https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405880724000128

We must cut carbon from industry. Here’s how we can do it https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/02/we-must-cut-carbon-from-industry-heres-how-we-can-do-it/

After a weird summer of floods and heatwaves, scientists explain why weather extremes are ‘on steroids’ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-28/global-warming-effect-on-extreme-weather-events/103471564

Climate change is throwing the water cycle into chaos across the U.S. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/climate-change-throwing-water-cycle-chaos-us-rcna137892

Catalysing Climate Resilience with Private Sector Action https://resiliencefirst.org/news/progress-update-catalysing-climate-resilience-private-sector-action

“Turning Up the Heat”: report launch on the growing threat of heat risk in the UK https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/events/turning-up-the-heat-report-launch-on-the-growing-threat-of-heat-risk-in-the-uk/

Five reasons why mandatory flood disclosure in Florida would be a big win for Realtors https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2024/02/23/mandatory-flood-disclosure-florida-realtors-insurance-premiums-flooding-climate-resilience/

New report predicts impact of future heatwaves in Welsh cities https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/news-and-blogs/news/new-report-predicts-impact-of-future-heatwaves-in-welsh-cities/

We can’t say yet if grid-breaking thunderstorms are getting worse – but we shouldn’t wait to find out https://theconversation.com/we-cant-say-yet-if-grid-breaking-thunderstorms-are-getting-worse-but-we-shouldnt-wait-to-find-out-224148

Renewables expand to 23% of US electrical generation in 2023, with solar in the lead https://electrek.co/2024/02/27/us-renewables-2023-solar-in-the-lead/

Record-Breaking Temperatures Likely as El Niño Persists https://eos.org/articles/record-breaking-temperatures-likely-as-el-nino-persists

Green Roofs Deliver Critical Protection From ‘Severe Urban Heating’ https://www.theenergymix.com/green-roofs-deliver-critical-protection-from-severe-urban-heating/

What we know about last year’s top 10 wild Australian climatic events – from fire and flood combos to cyclone-driven extreme rain https://theconversation.com/what-we-know-about-last-years-top-10-wild-australian-climatic-events-from-fire-and-flood-combos-to-cyclone-driven-extreme-rain-224614

This report provides a summary of selected significant extreme weather and climate events which occurred across Australia in 2023 https://climateextremes.org.au/the-state-of-weather-and-climate-extremes-2023/

Changing climates: the heat is (still) on https://www.swissre.com/institute/research/topics-and-risk-dialogues/climate-and-natural-catastrophe-risk/changing-climates-heat-is-still-on.html

Disaster risk reduction

Flow intermittence prediction using a hybrid hydrological modelling approach: influence of observed intermittence data on the training of a random forest model https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/28/851/2024/

Broadband Source Model of the 2023 Mw 7.8 Türkiye Earthquake from Strong‐Motion Records by Isochrone Backprojection and Empirical Green’s Function Method https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article-abstract/95/2A/584/630585/Broadband-Source-Model-of-the-2023-Mw-7-8-Turkiye

Iceland’s Recent Eruptions Driven by Tectonic Stress https://eos.org/articles/icelands-recent-eruptions-driven-by-tectonic-stress

Natural flood management, lag time and catchment scale: Results from an empirical nested catchment study https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfr3.12717

Traditional weather forecasts: expert shares 5 ways Africa’s coastal residents predict floods https://theconversation.com/traditional-weather-forecasts-expert-shares-5-ways-africas-coastal-residents-predict-floods-223145

Fujitsu delivers new supercomputer system to Japan Meteorological Agency to improve prediction accuracy for typhoons and torrential rain https://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2024/0221-01.html

Cooler, wetter parts of Pacific Northwest likely to see more fires, new simulations predict https://www.preventionweb.net/news/cooler-wetter-parts-pacific-northwest-likely-see-more-fires-new-simulations-predict

Extreme anticyclonic anomaly linked to catastrophic rainfall in Henan and marine heatwave https://watchers.news/2024/02/26/extreme-anticyclonic-anomaly-linked-to-catastrophic-rainfall-in-henan-and-marine-heatwave/

Comparison of conditioning factors classification criteria in large scale statistically based landslide susceptibility models https://nhess.copernicus.org/preprints/nhess-2024-29/

Geospatial Liquefaction Modeling of the 2023 Türkiye Earthquake Sequence by an Ensemble of Global, Continental, Regional, and Event‐Specific Models https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article-abstract/95/2A/697/633503/Geospatial-Liquefaction-Modeling-of-the-2023

When it comes to earthquakes, prevention is the best remedy https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/when-it-comes-earthquakes-prevention-best-remedy

Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fire/special_issues/Y54K6N96DM

Wildfire risk for global wildland–urban interface areas https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01291-0

How is counterfactual thinking integrated in organizational risk and resilience practices? https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13669877.2023.2293040

Toward interpretable LSTM-based modeling of hydrological systems https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/28/945/2024/

Japan firms look to AI to bolster disaster prevention and mitigation https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/02/27/japan/society/ai-disaster-prevention-iwate/

Sendai Framework at a Glance https://www.preventionweb.net/sendai-framework/sendai-framework-at-a-glance

Compounding effects of changing sea level and rainfall regimes on pluvial flooding in New York City https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/compounding-effects-changing-sea-level-and-rainfall-regimes-pluvial-flooding-new-york

Floods have become less deadly: An analysis of global flood fatalities 1975–2022 https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/floods-have-become-less-deadly-analysis-global-flood-fatalities-1975-2022

Where does lightning strike? New maps pinpoint 36.8 million yearly ground strike points in unprecedented detail https://theconversation.com/where-does-lightning-strike-new-maps-pinpoint-36-8-million-yearly-ground-strike-points-in-unprecedented-detail-224151

Is there such a thing as ethical and safe disaster research? https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/irdr/2024/02/29/is-there-such-a-thing-as-ethical-and-safe-disaster-research/

Reactivating ancient landslides through reservoir construction – the Hoseynabad-e Kalpush landslide in Iran https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/hoseynabad-e-kalpush

Building an Operational Decision Support System for Multiple Weather-Induced Health Hazards https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119741374.ch4

An Automatic Procedure for Forest Fire Fuel Imagery: A Semi-Supervised Classification Approach Mapping Using Hyperspectral (PRISMA) https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/5/1264

Understanding fatal landslides at global scales: a summary of topographic, climatic, and anthropogenic perspectives https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/understanding-fatal-landslides-global-scales-summary-topographic-climatic-and

Emergency Management

Zimbabwe: To build a better world, we must cooperate in the face of disaster https://www.unops.org/news-and-stories/insights/to-build-a-better-world-we-must-cooperate-in-the-face-of-disaster

Locally Led Anticipatory Action https://www.gndr.org/locally-led-anticipatory-action-guide-toolkit/

Victoria’s fire alert has knocked Australians out of complacency. Under climate change, catastrophic bushfires can strike any time https://theconversation.com/victorias-fire-alert-has-knocked-australians-out-of-complacency-under-climate-change-catastrophic-bushfires-can-strike-any-time-224636

Renters Need Better Policies To Cope With Natural Disasters, New Research Shows https://research.gatech.edu/renters-need-better-policies-cope-natural-disasters-new-research-shows

Disaster Education, Communication and Engagement

Applying the results of a U.S.-based national resilient design education study in the field and the classroom during disaster recovery operations https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02807270231173656

Empowering children living in Sri Lanka’s tea estates with climate education and disaster preparedness https://www.unicef.org/srilanka/stories/building-communities-are-resilient-disaster-risks-and-climate-change-effects

Tongan weather service engaging with more people by incorporating traditional knowledge into forecasts https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/programs/pacific-prepared/pacific-prepared/103480856

Abbas’ floating home: Building back better for a flood-resilient future https://iddrr.undrr.org/faces-of-resilience#abbas

The fifth edition of the Japan-Singapore Volcano PhD Symposium: an opportunity to share volcanology research and build long-lasting connections https://www.earthobservatory.sg/news/blog/the-fifth-edition-of-the-japan-singapore-volcano-phd-symposium-an-opportunity-to-share-volcanology-research-and-build-long-lasting-connections

Seven myths about disasters debunked – separating the disaster facts from disastrous falsehoods https://www.preventionweb.net/news/seven-myths-about-disasters-debunked-separating-disaster-facts-disastrous-falsehoods

New innovative art-based toolkit for climate resilience https://weadapt.org/knowledge-base/climate-adaptation-training/new-innovative-art-based-toolkit-for-climate-resilience/

Disaster psychology

Social support, educational, and behavioral modification interventions for improving household disaster preparedness in the general community-dwelling population: a systematic review and meta-analysis https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1257714/full

Debt, missed classes and anxiety: How climate-driven disasters hurt college students https://www.npr.org/2024/02/27/1230002959/debt-missed-classes-and-anxiety-how-climate-driven-disasters-hurt-college-studen

The Unwell Pandemic: A Dangerous Aftermath Following Catastrophe, and 4 Things You Can Do About It Now https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddnordstrom/2024/02/27/the-unwell-pandemic-a-dangerous-aftermath-following-catastrophe-and-4-things-you-can-do-about-it-now/

Why do people not prepare for disasters? A national survey from China https://www.nature.com/articles/s44304-024-00001-2

Sociology and disasters

Radical interpretation of disasters: Post-colonial and capitalist nexus in Chile (and keyways to just and equitable future) https://www.radixonline.org/blog/radical-interpretation-of-disasters-post-colonial-and-capitalist-nexus-in-chile-and-keyways-to-just-and-equitable-future

Five Key Needs for Addressing Flood Injustice https://eos.org/science-updates/five-key-needs-for-addressing-flood-injustice

A Storm Blows in Inequality – 3 Solutions to Adapt to Climate Change While Fighting Poverty https://blogs.iadb.org/sostenibilidad/en/a-storm-blows-in-inequality-3-solutions-to-adapt-to-climate-change-while-fighting-poverty/

Utopian and Dystopian Explorations of Pandemics and Ecological Breakdown https://www.routledge.com/Utopian-and-Dystopian-Explorations-of-Pandemics-and-Ecological-Breakdown/Alberro-Atasoy-Castle-Firth-Scott/p/book/9781032385914

Climate Change and Wealth: Understanding and Improving the Carbon Capability of the Wealthiest People in the UK https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4723179

Assessing Multidimensional Vulnerability of Rural Areas to Flooding: An Index-Based Approach https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13753-024-00547-9

Rice farmers and floods in Ecuador: the strategic role of social capital in disaster risk reduction and livelihood resilience https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420924000943

Building Resilience In Black Communities: Sustainable Approaches https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicasanders/2024/02/29/building-resilience-in-black-communities-sustainable-approaches/

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NeilDufty

I am a Principal Scientist at Water Technology Pty Ltd, an Australian-based coastal, environment and natural hazards company - see https://www.watertech.com.au/. I specialise in the community aspects of disaster risk reduction and emergency management. Samples of my research and projects can be accessed at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Neil-Dufty Check out my latest book 'Disaster Education, Communication and Engagement' at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119569796/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i6 I am also a published fiction writer specialising in short stories and poems - see https://neilduftyfiction.com/

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