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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.

Strong waves overrun the seawall in Havana, Cuba, resulting in heavy flooding in the city
Update

How a small Caribbean island is trying to become hurricane-proof

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the Caribbean, and for small islands such as Dominica (not to be confused with the much larger Dominican Republic) it is an existential threat.
Conversation Media Group, the
A cooling center sign in Vancouver, Canada amidst a heatwave
Update

Living in a +50°C world: Cooling must be considered critical infrastructure, says new report

Experts from the University of Birmingham are calling for global cooling and cold chain to be considered as critical infrastructure.
University of Birmingham
Young African boy sitting in heat on water tanks.
Update

As disasters and heat intensify, can the world meet the urgency of the moment at the COP28 climate talks?

This week, the COP28 climate talks will begin against a backdrop of evermore strident warnings from climate scientists and world leaders. Watch for these three key issues facing negotiators.
Conversation Media Group, the
Rain clouds at the coastline
Research briefs

When is a dangerous El Niño coming?

Physicists from Giessen and Potsdam develop a method for the early prediction of El Niño events with high hazard potential.
Justus Liebig University Giessen
People ride their motorcycle in a flooded street in Ho Chi Minh City
Update

Climate change’s impact on coastal flooding to increase 5-times over this century, putting over 70 million people in the path of expanding floodplains, according to new UNDP and CIL data

Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are at the forefront, projected to lose significant land and critical infrastructure to permanent inundation.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Submarine telecommunication cable
Research briefs

Measuring earthquakes and tsunamis with fibre-optic networks

Geophysicists at ETH Zurich have shown that every single wave of a magnitude 3.9 earthquake registers in the noise suppression system of fibre-optic networks. This method can be used to set up close-​meshed earthquake and tsunami early warning systems.
ETH Risk Center
Migrants walk towards Türkiye’s Pazarkule border crossing with Greece’s Kastanies, Edirne, Türkiye
Update

Responding to climate risks in conflict settings: in search of solutions

Over the last few years, the ICRC has carried out analysis on reducing the impacts of the climate and environment crisis on people enduring conflict, notably captured in a new report, Weathering the Storm.
International Committee of the Red Cross
A family fetches water from a stream during a drought in Madagascar
Research briefs

Extreme poverty rendering Madagascar highly vulnerable to underreported extreme heat that would not have occurred without human-induced climate change

Madagascar, in particular the most populated region around the capital of Antananarivo experienced in 2023 its hottest October ever, breaking many high and low temperature records.
World Weather Attribution
Hungarians stack sandbags to protect against the Danube floods
Update

We rarely hear about the disasters that were avoided – but there’s a lot we can learn from them

We frequently see headlines about disasters. But where are the headlines covering the good news of lives saved and damage averted when disasters do not happen? Our work, now published, offers examples we can learn from.
Conversation Media Group, the
Stranded boats on the Amazon riverbanks as drought hits the Amazon river
Update

Amazon region hit by trio of droughts in grim snapshot of the century to come

The forecast for November 2023 through January 2024 is for drought across almost the whole region. Some projected rain in Peru may help with water levels in the Amazon River, but the wider region remains exposed to drought stress and forest fires.
Conversation Media Group, the
illustration
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