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.

Two people who are helping a woman who is feeling unwell due to the heat in the city.

Update

26 August 2022

Researchers warn of potential threat to heart health from extreme weather

An analysis in nearly 2.3 million Europeans has found detrimental associations between cold weather and deaths from heart disease, particularly in poor neighbourhoods.

European Society of Cardiologists

Young African boy sitting in heat on water tanks.

Research briefs

25 August 2022

If you thought this summer’s heat waves were bad, a new study has some disturbing news about dangerous heat in the future

As global temperatures rise, people in the tropics, including places like India and Africa’s Sahel region, will likely face dangerously hot conditions almost daily by the end of the century – even as the world reduces its emissions, a new study shows.

Conversation Media Group, the

People wade through a flooded road in Assam, India (2019)

Update

24 August 2022

Traditional building techniques could mitigate flood damage in Assam

Indigenous construction methods offer a solution to floods that are becoming more frequent and destructive in the Indian state of Assam

The Third Pole

Sand storm hitting the city of Basra in Iraq, 2022

Research briefs

25 August 2022

Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East face rapid climate change

This interview details answers from authors about the rapid climate change in the EMME, advances in climate modelling in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East as a prominent climate change hotspot, and what challenges remain.

Eos - AGU

A security officer takes a break in the middle of a hot afternoon in Bangkok, Thailand

Research briefs

25 August 2022

‘Dangerous’ and ‘extremely dangerous’ heat stress to become more common by 2100

New research from the University of Washington and Harvard University gives a range of heat impacts worldwide by the end of this century, depending on future emissions of greenhouse gases.

University of Washington

Bangladeshi woman washing clothes in a flooded house

Update

24 August 2022

Sounding the alarm, bolstering defenses

An early warning system to help mitigate the impact of climate disasters in the world’s most vulnerable regions.

MIT Technology Review

MIT News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cello taxis in the flooded streets in China.

Update

24 August 2022

Extreme weather in China highlights climate change impacts and need for early warnings

The summer of extremes – in China as in Europe – has underlined the importance of the WMO community’s commitment to Early Warning and Early Action and reinforced the need for the ongoing campaign to provide Early Warnings for All in the next five years.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Update

24 August 2022

Predicting—and preparing for—the worst

Improving local risk prediction—and studying how extreme weather could affect renewable energy systems—will be critical to building resilience into vulnerable communities and the growing green energy sector.

MIT News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Update

23 August 2022

As drought dries up the Yangtze river, China loses hydropower

No rain and a 70-day heat wave spur crop failures, power cuts, and dangerously-low reservoirs across parts of China.

Grist Magazine

Update

23 August 2022

Climate change will cause more African children to die from hot weather

The research estimates that between 2011 and 2020 there were between 12,000 and 19,000 heat-related child deaths per year in Africa. Additional deaths due to climate change cancel out the recent reductions due to developmental improvements.

Conversation Media Group, the