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

11 August 2022

Beating the heat: Investing in pro-poor solutions for urban resilience

The recommendations provided in this report offer a basis for the Asian Development Bank to scale up extreme heat-related adaptation support in urban areas of Asia and the Pacific.

Update

10 August 2022

Multiple factors make Afghan communities vulnerable to earthquakes

When a magnitude-6.0 quake struck Afghanistan in June, long-standing vulnerabilities — including a heavily faulted region, traditional adobe-style construction, and lack of enforceable building codes — were again revealed.

Temblor

A traffic officer drinks water during a hot day in Kolkata, India

Research briefs

10 August 2022

The cost of climate change: Study examines impact of rising global temperatures on economic growth

A University of California, Davis study found that economies are sensitive to persistent temperature shocks over at least a 10-year time frame. It also found that climate change impacts economic growth in about 22% percent of the countries analyzed.

University of California, Davis

Parched land is exposed behind a dam in North Karnataka, India after a prolonged drought

Research briefs

10 August 2022

Simultaneous climate events risk damaging entire socioeconomic systems

In heatwaves where heat and drought combine, effects can destabilize interlinked sectors, including health, energy and food production systems.

University of Zurich

View from a beach in Palau as a storm approaches

Update

10 August 2022

Strengthening multi-hazard early warning in the Pacific: new research on storms, droughts

New research on early warning and early action for typhoons in Palau and drought in Tuvalu will help shape the Green Climate Fund programme enhancing climate resilience in five Pacific island nations, preparing the ground for new early action protocols.

Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Centre

An farmer crosses his field on a tractor in Cabinda, Angola

Update

9 August 2022

How not to respond to drought: lessons from Angola

Three years after a severe drought in southwestern Angola, people in the area continue to suffer. Hunger remains pervasive and they are still losing livestock. A report set out factors that made the impact of the drought worse.

Conversation Media Group, the

A group of Tour de France cyclists battling

Update

9 August 2022

Lessons from a cancelled marathon: Athletic events, heat and the effects of climate change

The cancellation of the Manitoba Marathon due to extreme heat may provide a case study for athletic event management in extreme weather.

Conversation Media Group, the

An old packhorse bridge strides a drought-stricken river in West Yorkshire, England

Update

9 August 2022

Britain’s notoriously wet and cold climate is changing – you won’t like what replaces it

The UK had the driest start to a year since the 1970s in 2022, as large parts of southern England receiving less than 50% of their normal winter rainfall. Southern England also received just 17% of its average rainfall for July, the driest since 1935.

Conversation Media Group, the

A cyclist rides past a destroyed car dealership in the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge earthquake

Research briefs

8 August 2022

Oregon State researchers develop framework for modeling post-earthquake infrastructure resilience

Oregon State University researchers developed a model to predict the resilience of local and regional infrastructure networks and the recovery time for impacted communities following a massive earthquake and tsunami in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Oregon State University

A doctor goes about in an infectious diseases ward set up in New Delhi, India at the height of COVID-19

Update

8 August 2022

58% of human infectious diseases can be worsened by climate change – we scoured 77,000 studies to map the pathways

With climate change influencing more than 1,000 transmission pathways and climate hazards increasingly globally, the world will need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change to reduce disease risks.

Conversation Media Group, the