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The Texas city’s response to a powerful storm says much about polarized visions of the Unites States and diverging attitudes toward cities, race, liberty and science. The mayhem that Hurricane Harvey unleashed on Houston didn’t only come from the sky. For years, the local authorities turned a blind eye to runaway development.
After the recent earthquake events in Mexico, seismologic research projects are becoming more urgent in order to implement sensor networks as soon as possible. However, scientific opinions differ in terms of where the sensors should be placed, and a lack of funding hinders the country from establishing an extensive detection network.
When airports were initially built, the effects of climate change were not taken into consideration. Today, rising temperatures, sea levels, and storms present problems for the functionality of airports. There are possible solutions, such as longer runways and lighter loads, though they will also be an added expense for the whole aviation industry.
Interviews with scholars, officials and building inspectors after last week's earthquake indicate that Mexico's strict building codes are not enforced properly or evenly. Differences in loss and damages between the 1985 and 2017 quakes reflect differences in seismic activity, rather than the effective implementation of the new codes adopted in 2004.
Climate change has been considered a distant problem. This attitude could be changing in the United States following the recent extreme weather events. Voters take climate change more seriously following events such as hurricanes Harvey and Irma. As the general climate discourse changes, perhaps so will the political debate.
The disaster following Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston has left emergency disaster officials aware of their own emergency plans, with their own flaws. The main lesson from Houston is that even the best emergency plans might not be sufficient, and at a national level, people ask themselves if they are ready for when a disaster strikes.
In the Netherlands, climate change is considered to be an opportunity. The Dutch are approaching climate change and rising sea levels from different perspectives, by improving the surface water management and having a floodgate. Improving public space and investing in resilience has proven beneficial.
A new building under construction in a flood-prone area of Manhattan is being built with the main floor more than four feet above the ground, with space for water to flow in and out through baffles. Learning from Superstorm Sandy, local regulations now require new commercial buildings on 100-year flood plains to be elevated or floodproofed.
Voluntary Commitments
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The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.
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