Today’s building codes were implemented as a result of devastating natural disasters that resulted in the loss of human lives and billions of dollars. But they aren’t retroactively applied.
Flooding is seen in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia after the remnants of Hurricane Ida, Sept. 2, 2021.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and that share is growing. Rapid climate change could make many cities unlivable in the coming decades without major investments to adapt.
Melizabeth Uhi, a school principal, stands in front of her destroyed home in Vanuatu, a week after Cyclone Pam tore through the South Pacific archipelago in 2015.
Nick Perry/AP
As climate change amplifies the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, evacuations are likely to become increasingly common and costly – in human and economic terms.
Small inland towns can offer a haven for people escaping coastal climate change.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
If rural communities plan carefully – and some already are – they can reinvent themselves as the perfect homes for people fleeing wildfire and hurricane zones.
Tools for a prescribed burn conducted in the Sierra Nevada in November 2019.
Susan Kocher
Susan Kocher, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Ryan E. Tompkins, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Two forest researchers whose own communities were threatened by fires in 2021 explain how historic policies left forests at high risk of megafires.
In 1989, Newcastle was hit by Australia’s deadliest earthquake, but high-rise development in the city’s CBD has continued nonetheless. Australia needs a consistent planning code for earthquake risk.
“My family has lost everything. We all live in this area, and now it’s all gone,” said Fusto Maldonado, whose home in Barataria, Louisiana, flooded during Hurricane Ida.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
As the state copes with hurricanes and climate disasters, it is figuring out how to manage the slow-motion loss of its coastal land. But its plans could endanger the cultures that define the region.
A man inspects a road destroyed by a flood in Dili, East Timor, April 6 2021.
Kandhi Barnez/AP
Overlooking people with disability in disaster preparations and responses makes them even more vulnerable. A new partnership has shown they can play meaningful and active roles.
Outages left downtown New Orleans in the dark after Hurricane Ida made landfall on Aug. 29, 2021.
Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Hurricane Ida left the entire city of New Orleans in the dark and renewed discussion of burying power lines. But there’s no way to completely protect the grid, above ground or below.
Dance and movement therapy not only holds promise for treatment of trauma, anxiety and depression but can also contribute lifelong coping skills.
kate_sept2004/E+ via Getty Images
The COVID-19 pandemic and a growing global refugee crisis have shone a light on the ever-increasing need for new approaches to mental health treatment.
At least 22 people were listed as missing in the days after flash flooding swept through communities in Tennessee in August 2021.
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
Water-related hazards are exceptionally destructive, and the impact of climate change on extreme water-related events is increasingly evident, a lead author of the new report warns.
Some of the worst damage from the EF-2 tornado that struck the Ontario city of Barrie on July 15.
(Northern Tornadoes Project)
Residents of flood-prone areas have been counting on local knowledge and community support to deal with floods for centuries. Can scientists work with them to better understand floods?
Flooding in Ahrweiler, Germany, July 15 2021.
Harald Tittel/dpa/Alamy