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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.

Blog

21 Nov 2022

Homolata Borah: "We need to understand the importance of solution-based approaches"

Dr. Homolata Borah has been working towards reducing disaster risk for some of the most vulnerable communities living in the world’s largest inhabited river island of Majuli in the state of Assam in India.

Earthquake damage in Cianjur, West Java. November 2022

Update

23 November 2022

Why are shallow earthquakes more destructive? The disaster in Java is a devastating example

At magnitude 5.6, the earthquake at Cianjur, West Java, was relatively small, but its shallow depth of 10km made it particularly destructive. This event should serve as a wake-up call to improve building practices.

Conversation Media Group, the

A tsunami detector buoy is floated off the Nicobar Islands, India

Update

18 November 2022

Exploring the deep: drones offer new ways to monitor sea floor

Researchers have developed a novel method for monitoring the position of the seafloor with a drone-based observation device that could revolutionize oceanographic observation for earthquake risk.

University of Tokyo

AI Learning and Artificial Intelligence Concept.

Community announcement

22 November 2022

New award highlights computing's potential to help in climate change crisis: ACM Gordon Bell Prize for climate modelling now accepting nominations

To highlight and encourage more research focused on modelling the devastating impact of climate change, ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has established the ACM Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modelling.

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Update

22 November 2022

COP27 outcomes emphasize early warnings, observations

The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 emphasized the need to strengthen systematic observations and to achieve universal coverage of early warning systems – two of the World Meteorological Organization’s top priorities.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Blog

23 Nov 2022

Muliagatele Filomena Nelson: “There are seats at the climate table for Pacific women”

Muliagatele Filomena Nelson is the Climate Change Adaptation Advisor at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. She helps Pacific women become active participants in the process of international climate negotiations.

Research briefs

21 November 2022

Monitoring “frothy” magma gases could help evade disaster

Researchers have found that the composition of specific gases released from volcanic fumaroles (gaps in the Earth’s surface) can provide an indicator of what is happening to the magma deep below, and could forewarn of increased volcanic activity.

University of Tokyo

Update

20 November 2022

COP27 closes with deal on loss and damage: ‘A step towards justice’, says UN chief

After days of intense negotiations, countries at the latest UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, reached agreement on an outcome that established a funding mechanism to compensate vulnerable nations for ‘loss and damage’ from climate-induced disasters.

United Nations News Centre

Big crack in a road following an earthquake.

Research briefs

18 November 2022

Detecting smaller earthquakes could improve forecasting of larger temblors

Using machine learning techniques on ten years of seismic data from Oklahoma and Kansas, researchers identified faults that could generate large earthquakes.

Temblor

Research briefs

21 November 2022

Sea level rise to dramatically speed up erosion of rock coastlines by 2100

A new study shows that rock coasts, traditionally thought of as stable compared to sandy coasts and soft cliffs, are likely to retreat at a rate not seen for 3,000-5,000 years.

Imperial College London