Latest additions to the knowledge base

Daniel was not an exceptionally big storm. The medicane with the highest wind speeds was medicane Ianos in September 2020, which killed around four people and caused more than €224 million of damage. So what made Storm Daniel different?

Dams are usually built to withstand heavy rainfall or drought. The design and construction of a dam takes into consideration all possible effects.

The disaster is Africa’s deadliest storm on record; seven of Africa’s top 30 deadliest weather disasters since 1900 have occurred in the past two years.

The international community has mounted an emergency relief operation for Libya, where devastating flooding triggered dam bursts, killing thousands of people and sweeping entire neighbourhoods into the sea.

As the devastation caused by the catastrophic flooding in the port city of Derna in Libya becomes clear, the media has focused on the damage to the urban area and the appalling stories of loss. Before and after satellite images are now available.

The floods in Libya are described by experts as a “gray swan” event — that is, an event that is rare but predictable – that points to longstanding deficiencies in infrastructure readiness and resilience.

The ICRC has explored how climate change can be relevant for combatants through its updated Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict.

This report examines five pernicious problems identified by water supply and sanitation (WSS) service providers operating in protracted crisis in the Middle East and North Africa region. The five problems are:

1. inadequately governed water resources