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.

This image shows a thermometer indicating high temperatures. The sun is shining brightly in the sky.

Update

4 April 2022

What seasonal forecasts can tell us about extreme heat this summer

As daily temperatures start to climb through the northern-hemisphere spring, attention starts to turn to the summer months and the chances of seeing periods of extreme heat.

Carbon Brief

Areal view of the sand mountains in Southern Tunisia close to the Sahara desert. Some trees are growing between the sand dunes.

Update

4 April 2022

Tunisia joins Morocco, Lebanon, and Jordan in using state-of-the-art drought management technology

With the first-ever Middle East and North Africa Climate Week just concluded, learn how improved drought preparedness is helping strengthen the region’s resilience to climate change.

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Press release

31 March 2022

Volcano monitoring at Mount Etna using fibre optic cables

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has made it possible for the first time to precisely determine the volcanic signature of Etna. The method was able to identify seismo-acoustic volcanic activity and map hidden near-surface volcanic structural features.

The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

This image shows four farms harvesting their fields in Tajikistan.

Update

14 March 2022

Drip irrigation helps farmers in Tajikistan to grow crops, adapt to climate change

For the last few years, farmers in remote villages of Ayni district in Tajikistan incurred huge losses as the irrigation canals get damaged due to climate change-induced events like rapid snowmelt and excessive rainfall.

United Nations Development Programme - Tajikistan

People cleaning up a muddy Brisbane street after the flood event

Update

30 March 2022

Australian floods: Insurance claims rise higher than 2011 floods

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) reports that the unrelenting recent severe rainfall and subsequent flooding across Queensland and New South Wales in Australia have generated 163,853 insurance claims at an estimated cost of AU$2.451 billion.

Risk Management Solutions

Documents and publications

31 March 2022

Measuring disaster crop production losses using survey microdata: evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper exploits plot-level panel data for almost 20,000 plots on 8,000 farms in three Sub-Saharan African countries to provide new insights into the reliability of survey-based crop loss estimates and their attribution to disasters.

Aerial picture of a flooded Texan residential area

Update

30 March 2022

Nature-induced catastrophes in 2021: the floodgates are open

In 2021, there were more than 50 severe flood events around the world, resulting in combined economic losses of more than USD 80 bn. Insured losses were "just" USD 20 bn, further evidence of what has for many years been a large global protection gap.

Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re)

Pink water tube on the shore in Frederikssund in Denmark to prevent flooding from Storm Malik.

Update

30 March 2022

Rising sea levels, storm surges and heavy rainfall: Outlining the impacts of climate change on flood risk in Denmark

As one of the most developed countries in Europe with a high per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it is important to understand the scale of flood risk in Denmark.

Ambiental Technical Solutions Ltd

Documents and publications

30 March 2022

Actionable and understandable? Evidence-based recommendations for the design of (multi-)hazard warning messages

This study addresses the challenges of mulit-hazard early warning platforms from a societal perspective with the aim to provide recommendations on how to design actionable and understandable hazard overviews and messages with clear time indications.

This image shows a pink umbrella laying on a rainy street. Leaves are flying around.

Research briefs

28 March 2022

Chaos theory provides hints for controlling the weather

Researchers have used computer simulations to show that weather phenomena such as sudden downpours could be modified by making small adjustments to certain variables in the weather system. They did this with the “butterfly attractor” in chaos theory.

Institute of Physical and Chemical Research