Too big to flood? Megacities face a future of major storm risks

The combination of sea level rise and extensive urbanization is putting megacities under increasing pressure to prepare for extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy, reports The Guardian. Yet, a great number of the fastest-growing coastal cities lack appropriate disaster risk preparedness. And as major infrastructure is increasingly exposed to worsening natural disasters, "storms are no longer an interruption to business as usual that you get over and move on from, but are a systemic risk to economic development," warns Vinod Thomas, director general of the Asian Development Bank.