The best science is not always the best engineering when it comes to building codes. It’s also a problem across the US, as an engineer who works on disaster resilience explains.
Collapsed buildings after the earthquake in Moulay Brahim, Morocco.
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Research shows gender-based violence increases in the aftermath of disasters. Governments must incorporate ways of addressing it into their disaster response plans.
Market fires cause significant upheavals in the heavily informal Ghanaian economy.
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Fire risk communication strategies must not only be supported by formal institutions such as government agencies but also be rooted in and sensitive to each market’s socio-cultural dynamics.
Disasters can happen anywhere at any time. Be prepared.
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Researchers are using mixed reality technologies to investigate how people behave in in emergency situations. The findings are helping shape disaster responses.
The real success of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency will be not only in what it does, but in how it carries out its work, in the relationships it forges, and in the trust it gains.
We can design parks, open space and public infrastructure to hold excess water when flood strikes. That means better control of where floodwater ends up, reducing the risk to lives and property.
Prisoners clearing vegetation to prevent the spread of a wildfire in Yucaipa, California.
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Relying on incarcerated workers in emergencies such as the wildfires ravaging parts of the US is a cheap alternative for states. But what protections are there for prisoners?
Workers collect seaweed and straw mixed with leaked oil from the MV Wakashio on August 15.
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Communities prepare better for flood disasters when they have been actively involved in communicating information.
When deadly tornadoes struck the Southeast in April, residents in Prentiss, Mississippi, struggled to keep up coronavirus precautions while salvaging what they could from their damaged properties.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
If the forecasts are right, the US could be facing more natural disasters this year – on top of the coronavirus pandemic. Local governments aren’t prepared.
The disasters have come one after another. While they may not be entirely preventable, we can take many practical steps tailored to local needs and conditions to reduce the impacts on our cities.
The 235 Gosford Apartments, one week after the tragic Nov. 15 2019 fire.
Jack Rozdilsky
A fire in Toronto’s Black Creek neighbourhood displaced hundreds of people. One person died of smoke inhalation. The after-disaster response reveals some of the challenges faced by urban communities.
Communications systems after a disaster can be affected by behaviour such as the number of times a person tries to access emergency systems.
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Communications networks are a crucial part of any disaster planning. Resilient communications systems determine how effective emergency responses can be.
Emergency services haven’t been able to protect people and properties against increasingly intense bushfires.
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The convergence of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality may offer hope for the way we manage future bushfire disasters.
Shoppers prepare ahead of Hurricane Dorian in Pembroke, Florida.
AP Photo/Brynn Anderson