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.
Domestic migrants work at a construction site in Dhading, Nepal. February 2020.
(Sara Shneiderman)
Nepal’s past dealing with multiple disasters, including the aftermath of its civil war and the massive earthquake of 2015 may have helped the country prepare for the current COVID-19 crisis.
A nurse (left) operates a robot used to interact remotely with coronavirus patients while a physician looks on.
MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images
Robots are helping health care workers and public safety officials more safely and quickly treat coronavirus patients and contain the pandemic. They have something in common: They’re tried and tested.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, introduces a hand sanitizer manufactured by the state of New York.
AP Photo/Marina Villeneuve
Incarcerated Americans have been tasked with washing hospital laundry, manufacturing protective equipment, disinfecting cleaning supplies and digging mass graves.
Shelves that held hand sanitizer and hand soap are mostly empty at a Target in Jersey City, N.J. on March 2, 2020. As fears of the pandemic grow, consumers are stockpiling goods in case they’re quarantined.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, people are stockpiling essential supplies. But policy-makers may be able to influence both the supply and demand through public announcements and advisories.
There’s no need to raid the supermarket today, but gathering supplies is a reasonable response to the prospect of disaster
Medical staff strike over coronavirus concerns in Hong Kong. Hospital workers are demanding the border with mainland China be shut completely to ward off the virus.
(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
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.
The United Nations (UN) has called for the empowerment of persons with disabilities so they are not only involved but also can lead in disaster management. Their leadership is vital to ensure that every disaster response also meets the need of persons with disabilities.
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Encouraging people with disabilities to lead in the emergency response is vital if we want to prevent more people becoming disabled, or dying, as a result of disaster.
Most of the time, these operations were not urgent – unlike the one following this disaster that summoned some 600,000 people to the site of the worst nuclear accident of all time.
Red Cross forensic specialist Stephen Fonseca, right, searches for bodies in a field of ruined maize in Magaru, Mozambique, after Cyclone Idai, April 4, 2019.
AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Meet the unsung aid workers who put their lives on the line during war and natural disaster to make sure the dead are treated with respect – and that their grieving families get closure.
The aftermath of the Brumadinho dam collapse, which took place on January 25, 2019, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil.
Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama
Population growth is creating a huge demand for infrastructure, even as environmental risks grow. To detect problems early, satellites can provide rich data to help assess infrastructure “health”.
Social media helped some people cope with the Townsville floods earlier this year.
AAP Image/Andrew Rankin
A chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade helped save several items during the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. Rarely seen, fire chaplains often take enormous risks to provide support during disasters.
Mount Merapi in Central Java, one of the most active of more than 100 Indonesian volcanoes, is among the most dangerous volcanoes on earth.
Boy Triharjanto/EPA
Whether in direct response to these events or as a way of coping with their consequences, many Indonesians react to the unpredictability of the natural world with a “wait and see” attitude.
U.S. President Donald Trump is seen visiting the California town of Paradise that was devastated by forest fires. Trump has threatened to use funds allocated for disaster relief to pay for his border wall.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Donald Trump has threatened to use funds allocated for disaster relief to fund his border wall. It’s time to rethink how we frame disasters to stop politicians from using them for political gain.