Latest news on Disaster Risk Reduction

The U.S. Drought Monitor has declared California officially drought free for the first time in more than seven years, following unusually abundant winter rains and snowfall. The announcement reflects an astonishing turnaround from a prolonged dry spell that reduced irrigation supplies, forced strict household conservation measures and stoked devastating...

Three Indian institutes have collaborated on a vulnerability map. For the first time, all twelve Indian Himalayan Region states used a common framework that resulted in comparable inter- and intra-state level vulnerability assessments. This information will help officials understand and address vulnerabilities, as well as allocate resources.

Regularly-occurring hazards are displacing vulnerable residents throughout Bangladesh's coastal islands. Many families have moved to one of Dhaka's ever-expanding slums, where they struggle to support themselves. But Bangladesh has also become one of the most climate-aware and resilient countries in the world, and projects are in the works...

Small-scale farmers, herders and fishermen, who produce the majority of the world's food, are living with worsening extreme weather. Greatly increased spending on adaptation measures can help small-scale farmers in Africa and across the world to strengthen the resilience of their communities. Critically, such measures must consider women's needs...

The United Nations Development Programme has released a new report on early warning that aims to support innovation and the development of systems by highlighting methods that have been successfully tested in southeast Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. The report also addresses a number of challenges and obstacles to successful systems.

Australian researchers and health professionals are creating computational models that simulate infectious disease scenarios. The team has also developed the Pandemic Impact Assessment Framework, which helps with disease assessments. Australia now has a necessary policy toolkit to prepare for and mitigate the whole-of-society risks associated with these...

Uganda has East Africa's highest number of internally displaced people, in part because past relocation efforts failed due to exorbitant costs and unsuitable living areas. While the government will implement a new resettlement project, the plan risks leaving some people behind. An ecosystem restoration project that would curtail displacements has...

Extreme event attribution has gained momentum as a research topic in recent years, and Carbon Brief has conducted an analysis suggesting that 68 percent of extreme weather events studied to date were made more likely or more severe by human-caused climate change. Carbon Brief has also developed a map that tracks every attribution study from a peer-reviewed...

Early warning systems build community resilience to disasters, with the potential to save lives and livelihoods. Women and marginalized gender groups face unique barriers in disasters, and EWS that do not explicitly consider gender are likely to increase marginalisation. This research extracts key findings and recommendations to ensure no one is left...

Extreme heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States. Many individuals, however, fail to perceive this risk, which will be exacerbated by global warming. Given that awareness of one’s physical and social vulnerability is a critical precursor to preparedness for extreme weather events, understanding Americans’...