Knowledge Base highlights and editors' picks

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Every week the PreventionWeb team of editors selects the latest news and research, reports and publications on disaster risk reduction – here is their selection of the latest must-read content.

Documents and publications

1 June 2023

The role of ancestral practices as social capital to enhance community disaster resilience. The case of the Colca Valley, Peru

This research aims to analyze the role of ancestral Andean practices in building community resilience in settlements exposed to volcanic risk.

Update

31 May 2023

NASA researchers detect tsunamis by their rumble in the atmosphere

New hazard-monitoring technology uses GPS signals to go wave-hunting in the Pacific Ring of Fire. GUARDIAN’s long-term objective is to augment early warning systems.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Update

26 May 2023

UAE Space Agency partners with Planet Labs to build satellite data-driven Loss and Damage Atlas for global climate resilience

In efforts towards bolstering resilience against the impacts of climate change, the UAE Space Agency has forged a collaboration with Planet Labs, a pioneer in Earth data and insights.

WAM - The Emirates News Agency

Corniche seaside street and seafront of the city of Alexandria, Egypt

Update

28 May 2023

The sinking city: Alexandria’s race against climate change

The city is sinking, and as it does so, seawater is seeping into the fertile delta. More than 90 per cent of Egypt is desert and the increased risk of saline contamination of the most productive agricultural region is potentially catastrophic.

Water Science Policy

Two Mexican women walking in front of a yellow wall.

Update

26 May 2023

Women’s and girls’ vulnerability to gender-based violence in the aftermath of disasters

During emergency evacuations, displacements and return, risks of sexual and physical violence, partner violence, forced and/or coerced prostitution, child and/or forced marriage, and trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labor are heightened.

World Bank, the

Update

29 May 2023

The role of traditional pottery in beating rural heat stress in Maharashtra

Prajkta Harishchandra Gaikwad from the Yashwantrao Chavan School of Social Work describes how communities in the Satara district of Maharashtra are using traditional earthen pots to keep drinking water cool during heat waves.

Climate and Development Knowledge Network

Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework - plenary session

Feature

30 May 2023

Inclusive disaster risk reduction means resilience for everyone

To implement DRR policies and plans, all stakeholders need to be engaged, at every stage. Those most at risk are often disadvantaged through lack of access to resources, power, and influence – like persons with disabilities, local communities, and women.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

Cover and source: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Documents and publications

30 May 2023

Career barriers and motivations for women and men working in disaster risk reduction: A snapshot in the Asia-Pacific region

This publication explores enablers and barriers to women’s careers and leadership aspirations in disaster risk reduction (DRR). The findings offer insight into what organisations and the profession more broadly can do to improve career outcomes in DRR.

River flowing through green fields and hills.

Research briefs

29 May 2023

Earthquakes can change the course of rivers – with devastating results. We may now be able to predict these threats

Flooding and earthquakes are some of the most frequent natural hazards globally. A great deal of work has been done to understand their risk – but relatively little to determine how they can occur at the same time.

Conversation Media Group, the

A woman who sells water on the street in Accra, Ghana, carries her load balanced on her head.

Update

28 May 2023

Africa is getting hotter

With extreme heat conditions increasing because of climate change, Wits scientists have been amongst the experts who have been sounding the alarm on the sometimes deadly impact of heat exposure on humans.

University of the Witwatersrand