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.

The coast of an atoll, with palm trees on a sandy beach

Research briefs

16 September 2021

Coastal flooding could save atoll islands from rising seas – but only if their reefs remain healthy

A recent study suggests that hugely disruptive and potentially life-threatening extreme weather events may actually be required for the long-term survival of atoll islands and their communities.

Conversation Media Group, the

Burned mobile home park in Phoenix Talent Medford, Oregon (2020)

Research briefs

16 September 2021

AI system developed by Stanford researchers identifies buildings damaged by wildfire

A deep learning approach to classifying buildings with wildfire damage may help responders focus their recovery efforts and offer more immediate information to displaced residents.

Stanford News Service

Documents and publications

20 September 2021

United In Science 2021: A multi-organization high-level compilation of the latest climate science information

This report presents the very latest scientific data and findings related to climate change to inform global policy and action.

Sandbags positioned on a road to protect against floods

Update

15 September 2021

Forecast-based Financing for flash floods: a Flash Flood Confidence Index to improve flood reporting

Researchers developed a method to assign a flash flood confidence index for each event in an historical flood dataset, based on ‘text mining’ of disaster reports and a flash flood susceptibility index extracted from the location of the events.

Anticipation Hub

Two African women weeding a salad plantation in a West African farming village

Research briefs

17 September 2021

To understand hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa, consider both climate and conflict

Warfare exacerbates the impacts of drought to produce food insecurity crises that last long after the drought has passed, new research documents.

Eos - AGU

Documents and publications

16 September 2021

Climate change risk assessment 2021

This short report summarizes climate risks and their consequences for people, food and water security, as well as national and international security, migration, economies and trade.

Person walks next to a fountain during a heatwave, in Athens, Greece on July 16, 2021.

Update

15 September 2021

New forecasting models could help prevent heat-related deaths

New accurate and reliable weather prediction models could help regions better ‘anticipate, prepare for, respond to and recover from’ these increasingly extreme weather events.

Horizon - The EU Research & Innovation Magazine

Old Residential High rise towers from North America of the 1970s

Update

15 September 2021

Contrary to popular belief, Eastern Canada is more at risk of earthquakes than perceived

Some of the worst risk is where Canadians are probably least expecting it: in a zone running from the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River that includes major cities like Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Montréal and Québec City.

Conversation Media Group, the

Eruption of the Tungurahua volcano above the city of Ambato, Equador (2016)

Research briefs

14 September 2021

The understudied risks of low-magnitude eruptions

Volcanologists have historically focused on the risks of large-scale eruptions, but new research highlights how small eruptions can combine with human-made vulnerabilities to cause catastrophic impacts.

Eos - AGU

Blog

16 Sep 2021

Kevin Blanchard

LGBTQIA+ people and disasters; A need for policy guidance

Specific health considerations related to the LGBTQIA+ community are often overlooked, and there is little planning on how to engage with the community after a disaster and how to cater to specific, non-binary and non-nuclear family units.