The HKH Snow Update 2025 highlights a significant decline in seasonal snow across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, with snow persistence 23.6% below normal — the lowest in 23 years. This trend, now in its third consecutive year, threatens water security for nearly two billion people. All twelve major river …
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Local Government and Community Development Noel Arscott is scheduled to open debate on the recently tabled Disaster Risk Management Bill in the House of Representatives Tuesday afternoon. The bill seeks to strengthen the country’s overall national disaster preparedness, emergency management and response processes and mechanisms …
Scientists searching for a way to predict earthquakes have uncovered the most promising lead yet, after uncovering tell-tale chemical spikes in groundwater up to six months before tremors struck. Major earthquakes can kill hundreds of thousands of people, as in Haiti in 2010, but they are the only natural disaster …
Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges the world faces today. It affects all aspects of the development agenda, from poverty eradication to health care, to economic growth and disaster risk reduction. Meanwhile, the success of global action on climate change will depend on the development path taken …
The cracked ground beneath Charles Brett's boots is so dry that even the weeds have capitulated in the fading soil. While Sydney endured its wettest August in 15 years, a few millimetres of rain has barely made a dent for farmers in north-west NSW who are enduring their worst drought …
KATHMANDU: The United States, through its US Agency for International Development, has announced three new programmes worth up to $70 million (approx Rs 6.85 billion), aiming to help Nepali communities recover from natural disasters and other stressors. US Ambassador Peter W Bodde announced the support at a Resilience Summit organised …
This report makes the case for addressing ecosystem degradation as one of the root causes of risk and vulnerability and for opting for ecosystem-based solutions as a way to reduce disaster risk and build community resilience. It focuses on water-related hazards in particular, as they make up a vast majority …
India may have little to feel proud about in the findings of UNDP’s Human Development Report for 2014, but the good news is that with ongoing rural employment and school education programmes and some serious discussions on universal healthcare over the last couple of years, it is moving in the …
Disaster risk management is becoming increasingly important as population densities rise in urban areas around the world. A new report, Learning from Megadisasters, shares lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Even poor countries with limited resources can build their capacity to prepare for and cope with …
The government will implement two separate projects for riverbank protection and strengthening climate resilience and disaster preparedness in eight coastal towns with credit support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Total cost of the projects has been estimated at $425.7 million (Tk. 3,277.89 crore). The Manila-based lender in a statement …
The rescue departments have prepared a flood protection plan which would be enforced after July 1. Punjab emergency services (Rescue-1122) Director General Rizwan Naseer said that a flood protection plan has been prepared to deal with possible flooding during the upcoming monsoon season. He said that all arrangements to face …
The World Bank will provide Bangladesh with additional credit of $140 million to improve and strengthen critical disaster prevention infrastructure in the coastal areas of the country. A loan agreement to this effect was signed on Monday between Bangladesh government and the Washington-based lender at the Economic Relations Division (ERD). …
Government has allocated $50 million to the National Works Agency (NWA) to implement mitigation measures for the 2014 hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. Communications Manager at the NWA, Stephen Shaw, said that $20 million of the amount will be spent in the South Eastern parishes …
This new report on development and ecological sustainability in Uttarakhand by Ravi Chopra, environmentalist analyzes Uttarakhand, India, current development pattern in terms of equity and sustainability in the context of floods and landslides which affected the region. Says that the devastation in Uttarakhand on June 15-17, 2013 was aggravated many …
This report documents the process and findings of a series of participatory Vulnerability Assessments (VAs) undertaken as part of the Mekong Building Climate Resilience in Asian Cities (M-BRACE) program. M-BRACE is a four-year collaboration to strengthen the capacity of city stakeholders to assess changing patterns of vulnerability that arise out …
Guangdong province plans to build an earthquake and tsunami monitoring and pre-warning center, according to the provincial earthquake administration. The center, to be based at the Guangzhou earthquake station, will include several coastal earthquake observation stations, along with the South China Sea earthquake and tsunami monitoring data processing system that …
The district administration has chalked out a comprehensive plan to meet any eventuality during likely flood in the river Chenab and other nullahs, and feared that according to estimates, 229,368 acres of land and about 300,000 villagers might affect due to the likely flood. District Relief Officer Nouman Hafeez Kalair …
An earthquake early warning system developed by a private research organization has been installed in Beijing and its surrounding areas, and testing of the system has already begun. "The installation was carried out in schools, communities and township government buildings in cities after the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province" in …
This document is an effort of the Gender and Child Cell (GCC) towards developing a more focused mechanism to prioritize, integrate, and address the needs and concerns of vulnerable groups. It is intended to: meet the needs of vulnerable segments of the population in a more targeted manner; ensure that …
Damage caused by natural disasters has sharply been reduced since April 29, 1991 when a cyclonic storm ripped through the coastal region, killing nearly 138,882 people and 1,061,029 livestock. The ability to tackle disasters like cyclone, tsunami, earthquake and fire in Bangladesh has improved gradually due to precautionary measures taken …
This document considers how the nature of urban space and of urban populations influences disasters in cities; it discusses the question of urban disasters in comparison with rural disasters and factors that can decrease the risk and potential impact of disasters in urban areas. This paper also outlines how the …
