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.

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

An elderly vendor in Bangkok, Thailand takes a nap

Research briefs

9 August 2022

Risk of death rises as climate change causes nighttime temperatures to climb

Excessively hot nights caused by climate change are predicted to increase the mortality rate around the world by up to 60% by century's end, according to a new international study featuring research from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Turkana women from Kenya look at images and video

Update

8 August 2022

Kenyan youth help climate-hit communities prepare for disaster

Young volunteers in the east African nation are spreading the word about extreme weather such as drought as climate change worsens.

Thomson Reuters Foundation, trust.org

The walls of Bagerhat's sixty dome mosque are smudged white by the saline air

Update

8 August 2022

Rising salinity threatens ‘the wealth of the world’ in Bangladesh

Archaeological sites such as those in the Mosque City of Bagerhat on the coast of the country are particularly vulnerable to climate change.

The Third Pole

This image shows dead trees that were destroyed by a forest fire and are now covered with frost and rain.

Update

4 August 2022

NASA data on plant ‘sweating’ could help predict wildfire severity

A new study uses data from the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the space station to better understand why some parts of a wildfire burn more intensely than others.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Satellite view of the wildfires in a field

Research briefs

27 July 2022

Machine learning model uses social media for more accurate wildfire monitoring

Scientists have developed a new machine learning model that uses social media data to predict and monitor wildfires more accurately in real-time.

Imperial College London

A sandstorm cloud approaches the city of Khartoum in Sudan

Research briefs

4 August 2022

The global map of aridity

Aridity conditions have now been mapped for the whole globe with a very high spatial resolution. This is a knowledge tool and database that helps detailed description and informed decisions to allow better land-use planning.

Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici

A man in a reflective vest takes a break amidst hot weather

Update

4 August 2022

Business can no longer ignore extreme heat events – it’s becoming a danger to the bottom line

Businesses will need to better manage extreme heat risk. But are investors sufficiently informed on the economic toll caused by the increasing frequency of extreme weather?

Conversation Media Group, the

Update

4 August 2022

Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world 2022

In the early 2000s, a new field of climate-science research emerged that began to explore the human fingerprint on extreme weather, such as floods, heatwaves, droughts and storms.

Carbon Brief