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Displaying 15 of about 23 resultsTwenty years ago, Libby, Montana, became known as ‘the town left to die’ after a series of articles appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer exposing asbestos-related deaths linked to one of the largest vermiculite mines in the world. The main product, Zonolite insulation, remains in millions of homes in North America. At that time, Libby was a m…
Experts reflect on building collapses in the wake of the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes and the importance of earthquake-resilient design in both the U.S. and Türkiye.On Feb. 6, 2023, two major earthquakes — with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.5 — occurred nine hours apart in the southern region of Türkiye. As of March of the same year, an estimated 3 million people…
Improved mapping gives decision makers a new tool for protecting infrastructure as Arctic warmsNew insights from artificial intelligence about permafrost coverage in the Arctic may soon give policy makers and land managers the high-resolution view they need to predict climate-change-driven threats to infrastructure such as oil pipelines, roads and natio…
Background and ObjectiveUNESCO is establishing a Global Task Force for Built Environment (GTFBE) to facilitate stakeholders' multi-sectoral collaboration and share outcomes of a global mapping exercise of best practices and coordinating issues. The mission of the GTFBE is to secure the safety of the built environment against natural hazards by facilitat…
The study provides assessment of the penetration of climate change induced carbonation in the concrete cover of the existing buildings in the EU Member States. It estimates the time for on-set of corrosion due to depletion of the cover of the reinforcement, and evaluates the repair costs under the moderate emissions scenario RCP4.5, and under the extrem…
The first ever Buildings and Climate Global Forum, organised by the French Government and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), concluded with the adoption by representatives of 70 countries of the Declaration de Chaillot, a foundational document for international cooperation that will enable progress towards a rapid, fair, and effective transition of th…
This report presents the results of the Sectoral Recovery Capacity Assessment (SRCA) undertaken in Grenada to assess the capacity of the country’s housing sector to plan, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate resilient and inclusive recovery projects. Housing was selected as the priority sector for the SRCA by the Government of Grenada due to its eco…
When a 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck the Cianjur district in Indonesia’s West Java province in November 2022, more than 13,000 students at private religious schools were thrown out of their classrooms because of severe damage to their buildings.The World Bank worked with Indonesia’s government to quickly restore a safe learning environment. With suppo…
Family homes with a room built atop the garage are common across the U.S. In an earthquake, these buildings risk collapse, but they are not currently covered by most local seismic regulations.Early in the morning of Jan. 17, 1994, the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake shook Los Angeles. At the Northridge Meadows Apartment complex, a three-story struct…
Rapid population growth in disaster-prone regions concentrates people where recovery after extreme events is costly. Disaster and climate risks in the built environment decrease property values, increase insurance premiums, and compound recovery costs, impacting developers, financial institutions, and local governments. Investment in resilience is cruci…
Inside Stanford’s John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center, a remote-controlled toy car carrying a very special payload zips over the 8-foot span of a model bridge. The unique cargo – a vibrational sensor – reveals the bridge is cracked. Fortunately, this is only a test and researchers created the fissure on purpose to verify the sensor worked. Like…
Early on Tuesday (April 23), Taiwan was hit by a series of earthquakes with the highest magnitude at 6.3. The latest tremor came less than three weeks after a magnitude 7.4 quake hit the island, damaging over 100 buildings and trapping dozens of people in collapsed tunnels.If an equally strong earthquake were to hit the tectonically unstable Himalayas,…
The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), in collaboration with the Chemical Insights Research Institute (CIRI) of UL Research Institutes, unveiled new research today on the effects of extreme weather and climate events on the built environment and its occupants. Focusing on the intersection between science and interior design, “ASID Impact of…
Register hereTime10:30 - 12:30 (GMT+9)AboutOn February 2nd, 2024, the inaugural International Disaster Resilience Symposium, a pioneering conference with a service learning component, will be held at Nagoya University in Japan. The symposium follows just one month after the significant Noto Earthquake in Ishikawa (January 1st, 2024) and is also approxim…
Register hereLearn how to suggest effective retrofitting measure of earthquake-affected vernacular buildings in Morocco (Arabic).Please note that this course is designed for those working on the response to the September 2023 Morocco earthquake. To ensure that we can allocate resources effectively, please only register for this course if you are directl…