Twitter users caught up in any emergency situation are usually quick to share their experience with followers. That information can be useful to authorities.
Tim Curran, Lincoln University, New Zealand; George Perry, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Sarah Wyse, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
You might think having trees around your home is the worst idea during a bushfire, but some plants can actually help repel fire.
The earthquake shattered buildings and communities, with many residents left feeling even more powerless by the government’s approach to recovery.
Reuters/Simon Baker
By removing elected officials and installing a powerful command-and-control agency, the government’s approach to recovery has left many of the city’s people feeling disenfranchised and excluded.
116 houses were lost at Wye River in Victoria, but nobody was killed.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
As the fire season returns, insurance claims against disasters will only increase. But new research suggests that under-insurance is a major problem facing many Australian households.
Six people are dead and more than 20 missing following the Samarco mine disaster in Brazil. But in the rush to blame we must consider the complexity of such failures.
Victor Ponta quits in the wake of a tragedy in Bucharest.
EPA/Alexandru Dobre
Assam state suffers from severe flooding every few years but authorities still aren’t prepared.
Children from a village in Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands Province stand in one of countless sweet potato gardens destroyed by frost across the country, August 2015.
Kud Sitango
Papua New Guinea is now facing a drought and frosts that look set to be worse than 1997, when hundreds of people died. So how can memories of 1997 save lives over the next few months?
Atomic cloud over Hiroshima.
By 509th Operations Group via Wikimedia Commons
Any nuclear weapon exchange or major nuclear plant meltdown will immediately lead to a global public health emergency. What can we learn from past events to help prepare?
People in Vanuatu were quick to make the most of the resources they had after Cyclone Pam hit their homes – including these boys, Manu and Leo, photographed a week after the cyclone at a school housing residents evacuated from Teouma.
AAP/NEWZULU/Jeff Tan
This Sunday marks 100 days since Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu, with ceremonies in villages across the nation to mourn the 11 people who died. Meanwhile, islands left brown in the aftermath are green again.
With many people in need of shelter and schools only now re-opening, Nepal is not yet ready to restart the lucrative tourism industry that will help its recovery.
EPA/Narendra Shrestha
While some operators have prematurely suggested it’s safe for tourists to return, Nepal’s recovery from the earthquake has barely begun. In the longer term, though, tourism will be vital to this process.