• Scale of 2011 disasters challenged established thinking on nature of risk

    New paper says that the scale of the catastrophes experienced in 2011 exceeded previous loss-modeling predictions and has challenged established thinking on the nature of risk; the paper says that, post-2011, companies need to re-examine their risk management strategies and introduce new methodologies to strengthen their operational and financial resilience

  • In environmental disasters, families experience conflict, denial, silence

    Environmental disasters affect individuals and communities; they also affect how family members communicate with each other, sometimes in surprising ways; the researchers say that the findings were, in some ways, counterintuitive

  • Southern sea levels rise dramatically

    Sea levels have risen about twenty centimeters in the South West Pacific since the late nineteenth century, a new scientific study shows

  • U.S. severe weather insurance losses breach $1.2 billion in March

    The estimated economic loss of a series of natural disasters in the United States in March reached approximately $2.0 billion, while insured losses are expected to breach $1.1 billion amid more than 170,000 insurance claims

  • Missouri announces additional funding for Disaster Recovery Jobs Program

    Missourigovernor announces an investment of $16.5 million in federal National Emergency Grant (NEG) funding to create temporary jobs for workers in twenty-nine Missouri counties affected by tornadoes, floods, and severe storms last year

  • Chinese monopoly on rare Earth metals a challenge for green economy

    In order for clean technologies to contribute significantly to reducing greenhouse gases, the world would require an increase of neodymium and dysprosium – two of the seventeen rare Earth elements — of over 700 percent and 2,600 percent, respectively, in the next twenty-five years; the supply of these metals is currently increasing at 6 percent a year, and is under threat from China

  • The bicycle's next frontier: disaster response

    Cities in seismically active regions are examining their emergency response policies in the wake of the March 2011 tsunami in Japan; the city of Portland, Oregon, as well as citizen-led Neighborhood Emergency Teams(NET), have been including the cargo bike in their emergency response plans

  • Nuclear power stations launches emergency operations center

    The new 12,000 square-foot facility at the Beaver Valley Power Station supports overall management of activities related to maintaining public health and safety during the emergency at the plant

  • Pattern of large earthquakes on San Jacinto fault identified

    The San Jacinto Fault (SJF) Zone is a seismically active, major component of the overall southern San Andreas Fault system; researchers have mapped evidence of past ruptures consistent with very large earthquakes along the Clark Fault, an individual strand associated with the SJF

  • Containing a tunnel flood with an inflatable giant plug

    Researchers have developed a giant plug to contain tunnel floods; the plug inflates (with water or air) to dimensions of roughly 32-feet-long and by 16-feet-wide, and holds 35,000 gallons, about the same capacity as a medium-sized backyard swimming pool

  • 2011 disasters: $116 billion in insured losses, record economic losses of $370 billion

    Figures confirm that 2011 was the second-highest catastrophe loss year ever for the insurance industry: 2011 saw the highest economic losses in history, at $370 billion; the insurance industry experienced the second-largest insured losses ever, at $116 billion; 2011 also brought the highest insured earthquake losses, at $49 billion; flooding in Thailand resulted in the highest insured losses ever for a single flood event, at $12 billion

  • Haiti implements national plan for disaster risk reduction

    The government of Haiti and the UN Development Program launch Haiti’s National System for Disaster Risk Reduction program; the UN says this is one of the first times that a developing country has taken advance measures to reduce the vulnerability of its people and economy to future earthquakes

  • A swarm of small satellites to deflect menacing asteroids

    New research suggests that the best way to divert an asteroid hurtling toward Earth is using a swarm of relatively small satellites flying in formation and cooperatively firing solar-powered lasers onto an asteroid; this would be a more effective way than the current methods being contemplated, which are focused on large unwieldy spacecraft

  • Mexico has an earthquake warning system, why not California?

    Mexico has a functioning and apparently life-saving earthquake warning system in place; California’s system is stuck in a permanent test phase due primarily to lack of funding

  • Planetary exploration vehicle for earthly search-and-rescue missions

    A researcher develops a NASA-sponsored autonomous lake lander for the purpose of exploring lakes on distant planets; this mission is many years in the future; in the meantime, the vehicle is ready to deploy on missions related to defense and security, such as harbor surveillance and cleanup operations of littoral munitions dumps and mines; it is also ideal for search-and-rescue operations in oceans, lakes, and hazardous environments, as well as for environmental research projects