We rarely hear about the disasters that were avoided – but there’s a lot we can learn from them: When a huge cyclone slammed into East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) in November 1970 it caused water in the Ganges Delta to rise by 10 metres. Entire towns were submerged. At least 300,000 people died – …
Environmental disasters and climate change force people to cross borders, but they’re not recognised as refugees – they should be: As our planet warms, we’re experiencing more frequent and severe weather events, rising sea levels, prolonged droughts and altered ecosystems. These environmental shifts directly affect people’s livelihoods by destroying crops and depleting water sources. They …
Libya floods: why cash is the best way to help get humanitarian aid to people affected by disasters: Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock The heavy rainfall that hit Libya during Storm Daniel caused two dams and four bridges to collapse in the coastal city of Derna, submerging most of the city in floodwater and claiming thousands of lives. …
Seoul Halloween crush: understanding the science of crowds could help prevent disasters – here’s how: When I was a teenager, the 1980s felt like a decade of disasters. We watched a terrible human cost being paid live on TV in a series of football-related disasters. I saw bodies stretchered away on advertising hoardings at Hillsborough …
IPCC report: how politics – not climate change – is responsible for disasters and conflict: Piyaset / shutterstock The latest UN report on the potential impacts of climate change gives a grim verdict, with some effects now deemed unavoidable. But there are also lessons on disasters and violent conflicts which could help save lives and create …
Canada’s flood havoc after summer heatwave shows how climate disasters combine to do extra damage: People living in British Columbia will feel like they have had more than their fair share of climate disasters in 2021. After a record-breaking heatwave in June, the state in western Canada has been inundated by intense rain storms in …
COP26: why politicians have little incentive to prepare for future climate change disasters: The impact of climate change and how to respond to it is the defining political debate of our era. There are two forms this response can take – reacting to environmental disasters by providing financial and technical assistance to affected areas, or …
If we don’t learn from past climate disasters, they will claim more lives in the future: Floods across Germany in July 2021 signalled the need for improved disaster preparedness. SamuelFrancisJohnson/Pixabay A central focus of discussions at the ongoing UN climate summit COP26 in Glasgow is how to adapt to a warming world, including how to …
‘Natural’ disasters are due to societal failures – so, here’s a six-point pandemic recovery plan: Chamila Karunarathne/EPA-EFE Over 3.5 million dead and counting. Long-term health problems, livelihoods destroyed and a long way yet to go. This is the age of COVID-19. Was it simply a natural disaster, part of living in a fast-paced, globalised world? …
Disasters interrupt schooling regularly in parts of Africa: here’s a solution: Students from the public school where more than 200 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 on their first day back at the school. STRINGER/AFP via GettyImages Schools are among the worst institutional casualties of complex disasters. This has been the obvious case …
South Africa in the news: The African Union needs to flex its muscles on environmental disasters: On 25 July 2020, the Japanese-flagged MV Wakashio hit a Mauritian coral reef, Pointe d’Esny, carrying 4,000 tons of fuel oil. Before it could be towed away from the wildlife sanctuary, 1,000 tons of …: “South Africa” – BingNews …
How to protect communities from natural disasters – what research tells us: On the morning of August 29 2005, one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes hit the US Gulf Coast. With sustained winds of up to 140 mph, Hurricane Katrina killed over 1,800 people and caused $ 160 billion worth of damage. The government at …
How cities can approach redesigning informal settlements after disasters: The aftermath of a huge fire in Imizamo Yethu, Cape Town, in 2017. Rebuilding has stalled. Nic Bothma/EPA Recent devastating flooding in parts of South Africa as well as the second massive cyclone to batter neighbouring Mozambique and Zimbabwe in just two months has raised alarm …
Cyclone Idai showed how some countries battle to handle disasters: British air force and aid workers offloading supplies in Mozambique. CPL Tim Laurence: MOD/Crown Copyright Cyclone Idai has caused enormous damage in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Hundreds of people have died, about 400,000 people lost their homes and an estimated 2.9 million people have been …
Cyclone Idai: rich countries are to blame for disasters like this – here’s how they can make amends: The tropical cyclone rampaging south-eastern Africa has been described as one of the worst disasters ever to strike the southern hemisphere, with up to 2.6m people potentially affected in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The death toll may not …
Brumadinho dam collapse: mining industry needs radical change to avoid future disasters: People learn by making mistakes. The same is true for firms and society – success depends on being able to internalise lessons and behave differently in future, to avoid repeating the same errors. Firms tend to review their organisational structures and routine practises …
Women bear the brunt of Africa’s urban disasters, such as the collapse of landfills: The Hulene landfill in Maputo, Mozambique. Wikipedia Commons The last 12 months have been bracketed by two catastrophic, and predictable, events: the collapse of the Koshe Garbage landfill on March 11, 2017, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the collapse of the …
Q&A: how cities can recover from natural disasters: In the space of a month, hundreds of lives have been lost due to natural disasters. Mexico was hit by two high-magnitude earthquakes within two weeks, while swathes of the US and the Caribbean have been severely damaged or destroyed by the force of three successive hurricanes: …