1. Home
  2. Knowledge Base
  1. Home
  2. Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base Highlights and editors' picks

Top stories and editors' picks from the most recent additions. Explore the whole Knowledge Base.

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.

Receive the Highlights in your inbox
Subscribe to the Highlights newsletter on LinkedIn
Disaster myths
Update

Seven myths about disasters debunked – separating the disaster facts from disastrous falsehoods

In times of disaster, myths and misinformation can spread like wildfire. To help you keep your head above the floodwaters of myth and misconception, the PreventionWeb editors have put together a life-raft of truths.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
NH
Documents and publications

Understanding fatal landslides at global scales: a summary of topographic, climatic, and anthropogenic perspectives

This observation points towards land cover changes being a critical factor in landscape dynamics, stressing the human pressure as a discriminant cause/effect term for natural vs. human-induced landslide fatalities.
A villager distributes water to be used by households during a drought in northern Kenya
Update

Why irrigation needs to think smaller to save Kenyan pastoralism

‘As policymakers consider irrigation investments in the drylands, the past disappointing experiences of large-scale schemes must be taken into account.’
The New Humanitarian
Green city with multiple green roofs
Update

Green roofs deliver critical protection from ‘severe urban heating’

As Victoria, British Columbia, removes obstacles to green roof installations and Somerville, Massachusetts mandates their inclusion in new buildings, a Seoul case study underscores the positive social and environmental outcomes these policy changes.
The Energy Mix
View of city high buildings along the river
Research briefs

Renters need better policies to cope with disasters, new research shows

Renters are an especially vulnerable population after natural disasters. They are generally less able to afford to move but are more likely to pay exorbitant markups when rental options are depleted.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Cover and source: Natural Hazards (Springer)
Documents and publications

Floods have become less deadly: An analysis of global flood fatalities 1975–2022

This study finds that the average number of fatalities per flood event has declined over time. Mortality fractions per event have decreased over time for middle- and high-middle-income countries, but increased for low-income countries.
Cover
Documents and publications

Incorporating indigenous knowledge systems-based climate services in anticipatory action in Zimbabwe: an ex-ante assessment

This publication investigates the integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)-based climate services in seasonal climate forecasting.
Powerlines, rural Victoria, Australia
Update

We can’t say yet if grid-breaking thunderstorms are getting worse – but we shouldn’t wait to find out

Are thunderstorms with extreme winds getting worse as the climate changes? It’s possible, but we can’t yet say for sure. That’s partly because thunderstorms involve small-scale processes harder to study than bigger weather systems.
Conversation Media Group, the
Cover and source: International Journal of Disaster Risk Science
Documents and publications

Assessing multidimensional vulnerability of rural areas to flooding: An index-based approach

This study aimed to examine the vulnerability of flood-prone rural communities in southern Punjab, Pakistan to external shocks by analyzing data from 365 communities.
Mangroves at a river in Costa Rice.
Research briefs

New study highlights rewilding's role in tackling flood and drought challenges

A comprehensive review of evidence led by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, has shed light on the potential of rewilding to enhance flood and drought resilience.
Queen Mary University of London
illustration
The DRR Knowledge Base
Explore the latest on disaster risk and resilience from around the world: news, research, policies and publications.

Subscribe to alerts

Get updates in your inbox

Contribute your content

The Knowledge Base is a collaborative effort of the DRR community, updated and reviewed daily by PreventionWeb editors.

Upload your content for review

Is this page useful?

Yes No
Report an issue on this page

Thank you. If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window).