Research briefs

New computer models that estimate the social and economic impacts of flooding help to protect communities from devastating floods and to reduce the economic losses associated with them.

'The aim of our research was to understand people’s risk perception and risk behaviour,' says Lydia Pedoth, a researcher at the European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC) who led the study. 'We also examined the role of local knowledge, community identity and social networks, and the relationship between the community and the risk management authorities.'...

As momentum builds towards the negotiation of the SDG's and UN climate change summit, G7 countries have made a strong statement about the importance of climate security risks. An independent report commissioned by G7 foreign ministers analyzes the security and stability risks posed by climate change and offers concrete policy options for addressing them...

According to the research by sustainability scientists Matthew Bartos and Mikhail Chester of Arizona State University, higher temperatures and increased intensity of droughts could compromise the electricity grid, while the number of people exposed to extremes of heat is likely to multiply at least fourfold, and perhaps more...

Thirty-year weather records from 79 locations across Australia reveal peak downpours during storms are intensifying at warmer temperatures, leading to greater flash flood risks. 'These more intense patterns are leading to more destructive storms, which can significantly influence the severity of flood flows,' says lead author and PhD candidate Conrad Wasko...

According to Prof. Dr Euis Sunarti, the results of a recent study show the importance of families and communities in Indonesia developing resilience to withstand adverse impacts of any disaster. Poor families suffer a higher percentage of loss and their recovery ability is low and long. Natural disaster risk is intimately connected to processes of human development...

A new, geology-based approach has predicted just how susceptible various areas of Auckland are for initial explosive volcanic activity. 'The more information we keep collecting, the better these models ... can inform hazard prevention or control strategies' said Gábor Kereszturi, a PhD student from Massey University’s Institute of Agriculture and Environment...

'At the global scale we're increasingly confident that flood risk will change, because a warming atmosphere means more heavy rain. However, for any individual location the changes to flood risk will depend on each region's rainfall patterns. Under certain circumstances the flood risk may actually decrease,' he says...

While the probabilities of most natural hazards do not change much over time, the sensitivity of the built environment and the vulnerability of the embedded socio-economic fabric have increased rapidly. This science position paper, to be released 14 April, analyses the potential effects of low-probability high-impact events, which the authors argue may bring our already stressed global society beyond the limits of sustainability...

In January, the Global Volcano Model and the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior issued a report on the hazards and risks of eruptions around the world. According to the January report, 90 percent of the volcano risk worldwide is in the five nations of Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Mexico and Ethiopia...