Wildfire smoke makes it harder for firefighters’ bodies to fight off viral invaders. But firefighting conditions make the usual protective measures nearly impossible.
A catastrophe bond that provides too little money too late — or none at all — is just financialization run amok.
(Shutterstock)
Philanthropy in the form of financial donations is not a solution to the natural disasters caused by climate change. A new philanthropy of social change is needed.
Salvaging items from a destroyed home near Lebanon, Tenn., March 3, 2020, after tornadoes ripped across the state.
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
In the Southeast US, tornadoes strike at night more often than in other regions. This poses special challenges for getting early warnings to the public.
A woman wearing a sanitary mask to guard against coronavirus checks her phone in Milan, Italy.
Claudio Furlan/Lapresse via AP
By providing users with pertinent and reliable disaster-related information, Twitter has the potential to reduce the impact of a disaster. So why aren’t public organizations using it properly?
A soldier stands guard at the damaged entrance to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida, Oct. 11, 2018, after Hurricane Michael.
AP Photo/David Goldman
Most of us are familiar with the concept of psychological trauma. But what is collective trauma, and how can we tackle it in the wake of the bushfire crisis?
Kevin Vickers, former House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms, receives the Star of Courage at Rideau Hall from Gov. Gen. David Johnston in February 2016 to pay tribute to security services members who responded to the 2014 shooting on Parliament Hill. Vickers was lauded as a hero.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
We do a disservice to survivors of major tragedies when we call them “heroes.” Instead, we should change our policies and attitudes to help them truly survive the disaster.
How could a nation like Australia came close to a humanitarian crisis during the recent bushfires? A problem-solving theory called “systems thinking” can help us find out.
Sport Australia wrote to McKenzie’s office before the election expressing concern it was being compromised by political interference.
Morrison’s hope for clear air for his messages is being stymied by the crisis around deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie, as more damaging information emerges against her in the sports rorts affair.
Satellite photo showing a river of moisture extending from Hawaii to Calfiornia, Oct. 24, 2021.
NOAA
Earth’s biggest rivers are streams of warm water vapor in the atmosphere that can cause huge rain and snowfall over land. Climate change is making them longer, wetter and stronger.
Canberra’s hazardous air quality forced its universities to close campuses.
LUKAS COCH/AAP
GDP is well suited to many things, but not to measuring the impact of disasters.
The Immaculate Conception Catholic Church lies in ruins after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, Jan. 7, 2020.
AP Photo/Carlos Giusti
Puerto Rico’s January earthquakes came after many foreshocks and have been followed by numerous aftershocks. Scientists are studying these sequences to improve earthquake forecasting.
Displaced by a landslide, Ugandan survivors could not speak the language of the region where they were relocated - but music allowed them a voice.
The ruins of Nepal’s Gorkha district after the 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and injured 22,000. Tourism helped lead the way back.
EU/ECHO/Pierre Prakash
We don’t need to send in the army every time there’s a natural disaster, or create a national fire fighting force. We need to think practically about working together in emergencies.
A collapsed building in Mayfield, Ky., after a tornado hit the town on Dec. 11, 2021.
Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
Government agencies have detailed plans for responding to disasters, like the Dec. 10-11, 2021 tornados. But one issue doesn’t get enough attention: cleaning up the mess left behind.