Latest news on Disaster Risk Reduction

Zoonotic diseases are a group of communicable diseases that are transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans through direct contact or through food, water, and the environment (WHO, no date).

Non-international armed conflict is defined as protracted armed confrontations occurring between governmental armed forces and the forces of one or more armed groups, or between such groups arising on the territory of a State. The armed confrontation must reach a minimum level of intensity, and the parties involved in the conflict must show a minimum of organisation (ICRC, 2008).

Ground fissures form in response to tensional stresses, most commonly in unconsolidated sediment, but also in rock (Arizona Geological Survey, 2020).

An invasive weed is an alien species that by its establishment or spread has become injurious to plants, or that by risk analysis is shown to be potentially injurious to plants (adapted from FAO, 2017).

Cryptosporidium is a microscopic parasite that causes the watery diarrhoeal disease cryptosporidiosis (WHO, 2013).

Waterborne diseases are those diseases that are transmitted by ingestion of contaminated water (WHO, 2012).

Marine toxins (biotoxins) are naturally occurring chemicals, mostly caused by certain types of toxic algae, but also by bacteria. These toxins can accumulate in fish and shellfish and present a human health hazard (WHO, no date). When people consume such contaminated aquatic products, depending on the toxins, they can evoke a variety of gastrointestinal and neurological illnesses (paralytic…

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium commonly found in the gut. Some strains can cause serious food poisoning, leading to diarrhoea and sometimes to life-threatening complications including haemolytic uraemic syndrome (WHO, 2018).

Violence refers to the intentional or unintentional use of force whether physical or psychological, threatened or actual, against an individual, oneself, or against a group of people, a community, or a government. Violence can either be targeted or indiscriminate, motivated by certain aims, including political, religious, social, economic, ethnic, racial, or gender-based, or unintentional and can…

A meteorite is an object that survives a trip through Earth’s atmosphere and hits the ground (adapted from NASA, no date).