Knowledge Base highlights and editors' picks

Top stories and editors' picks from the most recent additions. Explore the whole Knowledge Base.

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.

Petronas Towers is a high-rise building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.This tower was built in 1998. The height is 452 m.

Update

16 February 2023

Sustainable urbanisation to enhance climate resilience

In REFSA’s latest research brief, researchers investigate the ways in which climate change affects Malaysian cities, and how sustainable urbanisation measures which take on a whole-of-society approach can enhance the resilience of our cities.

Research For Social Advancement

Documents and publications

21 February 2023

Early Action: The State of Play 2022

The reports highlight examples of good practices for early action, from the global to the local level, as well as opportunities that – if used well – will enable to reach more people, more effectively.

Documents and publications

21 February 2023

Rebuilding historic urban neighborhoods after disasters: Balancing disaster risk reduction and heritage conservation after the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal

In this paper the authors use quantitative and qualitative data to investigate how traditional housing was transformed during the post-earthquake reconstruction of four historic neighborhoods in the Kathmandu Valley.

Flood aftermath in West End suburb in Brisbane, Australia on March 1, 2022

Update

20 February 2023

What Australia learned from recent devastating floods – and how New Zealand can apply those lessons now

Australia and New Zealand have faced a series of devastating floods triggered by climate change and the return of the La Niña weather pattern. So it makes sense that Australia has now sent disaster crews to help with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Conversation Media Group, the

Azerbaijani soldiers take part in search and rescue efforts after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Kahramanmaras, Turkiye on February 10, 2023.

Research briefs

16 February 2023

Earthquake scientists have a new tool in the race to find the next big one

An everyday quirk of physics could be an important missing piece in scientists’ efforts to predict the world’s most powerful earthquakes. Researchers discovered that a frictional phenomenon could be key to understanding when and how violently faults move.

The University of Texas at Austin

Drought in Germany, low water on Rhine river on August 13, 2022 in Bingen, Germany.

Research briefs

16 February 2023

European summer droughts since 2015: most severe over centuries – but not the only multi-year droughts

The 2015–2018 summer droughts have been exceptional in large parts of Western and Central Europe over the last 400 years, in terms of the magnitude of drought conditions. This indicates an influence of man-made global warming.

The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

Documents and publications

17 February 2023

Gender and Disaster Risk Management (DRM): Jamaica country profile

This desk review presents examples of results chains for project teams working on DRM-related operations to obtain the gender tag, focusing on exposure and vulnerability, preparedness, and coping capacity.

A group of five children from a village in Pakistan playing in the green field.

Update

14 February 2023

Ministry of Climate Change and UNDP building a resilient Pakistan through Early Warning Systems

Ministry of Climate Change and UNDP Pakistan held a four-day training, supported by the Green Climate Fund, for government officials and technical teams on assembling, installing, commissioning and operating Early Warning Systems (EWS).

United Nations Development Programme - Pakistan

A 7.8 earthquake struck Turkiye and Syria in February 2023.

Update

16 February 2023

We need disaster data to save lives and guide recovery

I have been horrified by the heartbreaking news and images coming out of Türkiye and the Syrian Arab Republic after the deadliest earthquakes of the century left tens of thousands of people injured and killed.

World Bank, the

Update

15 February 2023

Longer term earthquake forecasts and brief warnings are possible

Science has not yet found a way to make actionable earthquake predictions. A useful prediction would specify a time, a place and a magnitude – and all of these would need to be fairly specific, with enough advance notice to be worthwhile.

Conversation Media Group, the