I’ve just returned from sandbagging near the swollen River Parrett at Langport, a town next to the flooded Somerset Levels. There, local people are using new media to take action in the midst of a disaster…
When it comes to thinking about disease, rats are usually thought of as vermin that carry plague and pestilence. But what about rats being used to sniff out diseases such as tuberculosis in people’s saliva…
It’s good that mount Sinabung isn’t a supervolcano.
Binsar Bakkara/AP
Devastating supervolcanoes can erupt simply due to changes that happen in their giant magma chambers as they slowly cool, according to a new study. This finding marks the first time researchers have been…
Women: first to mobilise, last to be considered.
Simminch
The Philippines. Pakistan. New Orleans. Sri Lanka. All have suffered catastrophic disasters in recent times. And the emergence of “climate refugees” – populations displaced by extreme weather events…
Path of destruction: Haiyan makes landfall.
AP Photo/Nelson Salting
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The rain is ricocheting off the roads here in Manila. Early on Friday, our car’s tyres dragged in the deep puddles. Basketball courts - remnants of bygone American rule, and a staple of every district…
Firefighters have plenty of ideas about disaster management - so why don’t we listen?
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
You do not find many climate change sceptics on the end of [fire] hoses anymore… They are dealing with increasing numbers of fires, increasing rainfall events, increasing storm events. – A senior Victorian…
This rapacious little critter could actually help humans one day.
Larah McElroy
When disaster strikes, search and rescue robots could save lives by finding and retrieving people buried under rubble. But designing robots that can descend rapidly through unstable and uneven rubble has…
Blackouts remind us what life was like before cheap, readily available electricity - but it’s time to think about the true price of our power.
Candle in the dark image from www.shutterstock.com/Ronen
No lights, no power, no internet - and no easy solutions. Fumbling around in a middle of a blackout, hoping to find a torch or some spare batteries, I was struck by just how utterly dependent most of us…
Natural disasters don’t just leave those affected rebuilding their lives but also struggling to find meaning behind the tragedy.
Facebook CFA Victoria/AAP
This summer another bout of floods, fires, and cyclones has struck, culminating most recently in out-of-control fires across Victoria in which at least one home was lost. When we see the loss of property…
The floods in Queensland and Northern New South Wales and the extensive January bushfires which caused destruction across Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales confirm that we need to rethink how we plan…
Bushfire affected property at Sommers Bay in Tasmania, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Residents of the worst-hit town Dunalley in the Tasmanian bushfires returned on Friday to see the full extent of the devastation.
AAP/David Beniuk
Radical circumstances (bushfires and natural disasters) flush out the mental illness in society. Whenever there’s a disaster, there’s a rush on hospital admissions for psychiatric problems. But on the…
The profound impact caused by the storm that began as Hurricane Sandy has turned the spotlight on many issues, including forecasts. In short: how well was Sandy forecast, and where do our forecasts need…
Scientists need to feel confident to speak out about the dangers of coming extreme weather.
Ramin Talai/EPA
Last week the global landscape of mitigating and managing disasters changed forever. We heard the news of six Italian scientists charged for manslaughter and jailed for six years each for failing to predict…
The earthquake at l'Aquila was a tragedy, but blaming experts and governments doesn’t help.
EPA/Grillo
The decision of an Italian Court to convict six scientists and one government official of manslaughter for the failure to predict the magnitude of a devastating earthquake in L’Aquila in central Italy…
Robert McClelland has a roadmap for a FEMA-like disaster management authority.
AAP Image/Raoul Wegat
Who comes to the rescue when there is a disaster? Who pays the bills? It is well accepted doctrine that in Australia the primary responsibility for protecting life and property lies with the states and…
Who’s responsible for this? Better disaster law could answer that question.
AAP
On 28 March the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its full report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX). The IPCC’s essential…
People tend to think about sentimental items they’d collect when evacuating, rather than useful ones, such as medicines.
Ralph Sanderson
Disasters and extreme weather events often affect populated areas and yet few people consider that they’d be required to act as a “first responder” in their community before, during or after such events…