• DISASTER PREPARATIONS Building a Fellowship that Empowers Policymakers to Leverage Science

    By Ryan Gallasch

    As all of us just saw with hurricanes Helene and Milton, extreme weather and other impacts of climate change are already affecting the fabric of our society. As evident by these recent tragedies, U.S. leaders are navigating a complex and interconnected policy landscape as they wrestle with how to confront climate change.

  • DISASTERS3 Innovative Ways to Help Countries Hit by Climate Disasters, Beyond a Loss and Damage Fund

    By Erin Coughlan de Perez

    The usual sources of disaster aid funding haven’t come close to meeting the need in hard-hit countries in recent years. So, groups are developing new ways to meet the need more effectively. In some cases, they are getting aid to countries before the damage occurs.

  • DISASTER RESPONSEEvacuating in Disasters Like Hurricane Milton Isn’t Simple – There Are Reasons People Stay in Harm’s Way, and It’s Not Just Stubbornness

    By Carson MacPherson-Krutsky

    Evacuating might seem like the obvious move when a major hurricane is bearing down on your region, but that choice is not always as easy as it may seem. Evacuating from a hurricane requires money, planning, the ability to leave and, importantly, a belief that evacuating is better than staying put.

  • DISASTER RESPONSEIntensifying Pace and Severity of Extreme Events Increases Risks of Compounding Disasters and Demands Rethinking of U.S. Emergency Management

    There is an urgent need to reimagine disaster preparedness, mitigation, and recovery strategies in the U.S., as intensifying climate and weather hazards cause successive and compounding natural disasters that current practices cannot cope with.

  • WMD PREPAREDNESSEvaluating U.S. Readiness to Prevent, Counter, and Respond to WMD

    Two new reports review the adequacy of U.S. strategies to prevent, counter, and respond to the threat of nuclear and chemical terrorism and highlight the strengths and limitations of U.S. efforts to prevent and counter threats from weapons of mass destruction (WMD), particularly in a changing terrorism threat landscape.

  • MANAGED RETREATProactively Planning for Community Relocation Before and After Climate Disasters

    Between 1980 and mid-2023, 232 billion-dollar disasters occurred in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, with the number of disasters doubling annually since 2018. As the frequency, intensity, and destructiveness of climate change-driven disasters increase, accompanied by an increase in recovery costs, more experts are calling for a managed retreat of entire communities from disaster-prone areas to safer ground.

  • RESILIENCEUK Urged to Get Ready for Disaster with New National Crises Plan – but Our Research Reveals the Dark Side of Prepping

    By Ben Kerrane, David Rowe, Katy Kerrane, and Shona Bettany

    Preppers – those who store food, water and supplies to survive impending disaster – have a bit of an image problem. Ridiculed for their delusional end-of-the world outlook, they are caricatured as “tin foil hat-wearing loons”. But is their approach to self-sufficiency so extreme? In the context of  looming (and actual) threats from climate disruption, extreme weather, global pandemics, cyberattacks, and AI have led the UK government to launch its ambitious resilience framework.

  • FLOODSNew Model Adds Human Reactions to Flood Risk Assessment

    Researchers have created a land change model that simulates interactions between urban growth, increased flooding and how humans adapt in response. The new model could offer a more realistic assessment of risk for urban planners, natural resource managers and other local government stakeholders.

  • DISASTER RESPONSEHow Big Institutions Stymie Disaster Response, and What to Do About It

    By Christopher D. Shea

    Large institutions like government, the private sector, non-profits, and academia, are unprepared for disasters—both natural and human-created—because their incentives are not well-aligned.

  • DISASTER PLANSLittle Improvement in Mandated Disaster plans, Despite Required Updates

    Hurricanes, floods, heat waves and other disasters are striking the United States with increased severity and frequency, and since 2000 the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act has required states and local jurisdictions to have plans in place to reduce damages from such events. There has been only little improvement over time to these plans, in spite of regularly required updates.

  • DISASTERSNew Tool Helps Communities Plan for and Mitigate Disasters

    When hurricanes make landfall, coastal communities are especially vulnerable to storm surges, high winds, and freshwater flooding. Residents can be left without clean water, food, shelter, electricity, and access to medical care for days.  Communities need proper tools to adequately prepare for these storms, especially as climate change worsens the impact of these extreme weather events. The Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard (PIRS), recently launched by S&T’s Coastal Resilience Center, helps local governments plan for hurricane season—and beyond.

  • DISASTER REPONSEThe Vital Role of the Civilian Community in Responding to Natural Disasters

    By Guy Boekenstein

    Disaster preparedness is not about prediction. Leaders shouldn’t get caught up in trying to define what precisely we need to prepare for and when. Instead, they need to be ready for compounding national disruptions of any kind, at any time. Given the interconnectedness of our modern world, integrating broad economic, social and environmental preparedness will be better for resilience than mapping out overly detailed contingencies.

  • DISATER PREPAREDNESSDeadly Lessons from Fukushima Changed Japan and the World

    By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy

    The strongest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history triggered a massive tsunami in 2011. Together, the two natural disasters claimed close to 20,000 lives, making the event one of the deadliest in Japan’s history. But the crisis didn’t end there.

  • U.S. RAILThe True Dangers of Long Trains

    By Dan Schwartz and Topher Sanders, with additional reporting by Gabriel Sandoval and Danelle Morton

    Trains are getting longer. Railroads are getting richer. But these “monster trains” are jumping off of tracks across America and regulators are doing little to curb the risk.Some trains stretch for 2 or even 3 miles, sometimes without regard for the delicate physics of keeping heavy, often combustible tanker cars from jumping off the tracks.

  • RAIL SAFETYOhio Chemical Spill Draws Focus on Railroad Dangers

    By Alistair Walsh

    The U.S. has one of the most extensive rail networks in the world, but diminishing safety standards puts people and the environment at risk. The latest accident has drawn sharp focus onto the safety standards of the highly profitable freight rail industry and its prolific lobbying against regulation.