Breaking News: Natural Disasters

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Released: 31-Aug-2021 1:05 PM EDT
FSU Expert Available to Comment on Hurricane Evacuations
Florida State University

By: Bill Wellock | Published: August 31, 2021 | 12:21 pm | SHARE: For many people, choosing whether to evacuate in the face of an incoming hurricane or other natural disaster is not an easy decision.Hurricanes threaten people and property, but evacuation also carries risks and costs, especially if a would-be evacuee has difficulty moving or caring for themselves without help.

Released: 30-Aug-2021 3:45 PM EDT
Flood control: WVU experts seek community-driven answers to living with flooding
West Virginia University

Nicolas Zegre and Jamie Shinn, experts in hydrology and adaptation to climate change, respectively, used flooding in the Greenbrier County, West Virginia, communities of Rainelle and White Sulphur Springs in 2016 to focus, not only on what the floods did and the damage they caused, but how residents reacted and adjusted how and where they live in relationship to the water.

Released: 30-Aug-2021 3:35 PM EDT
Preparation Versus Relief: Understanding Public Support for Natural Disaster Spending
Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis research examined how personal exposure to natural disasters and policy knowledge affect voters’ support for long-term disaster preparedness.

Released: 23-Aug-2021 8:50 AM EDT
NSF Grant Boosts Post-Earthquake Relief Study
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business

New funding will support research to close a knowledge gap that disaster relief inspection teams often face in the field due to resource constraints.

Released: 19-Aug-2021 3:00 PM EDT
VIDEO AND TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE: Breakthrough Cases and COVID Boosters: Live Expert Panel for August 18, 2021
Newswise

Expert Q&A: Do breakthrough cases mean we will soon need COVID boosters? The extremely contagious Delta variant continues to spread, prompting mask mandates, proof of vaccination, and other measures. Media invited to ask the experts about these and related topics.

Released: 6-Aug-2021 4:20 PM EDT
Minor Volcanic Eruptions Could ‘Cascade’ Into Global Catastrophe, Experts Argue
University of Cambridge

Currently, much of the thinking around risks posed by volcanoes follows a simple equation: the bigger the likely eruption, the worse it will be for society and human welfare.

30-Jun-2021 10:10 AM EDT
Study Finds an Oil Spill in the Canadian Arctic Could Be Devastating for the Environment and Indigenous Peoples
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)

As melting sea ice brings more ships through the Northwest Passage, new research shows that Canada must prepare for the costs and consequences of an Arctic oil spill

Released: 6-Jul-2021 1:05 PM EDT
Story tips: Powered by Nature, Get on the Bus, Accelerating Methane, Helping JET Soar, Charged Up Planning and Building a Better Thermostat
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORNL story tips: Powered by nature, get on the bus, accelerating methane, helping JET soar, charged up planning and building a better thermostat

Released: 24-Jun-2021 6:05 PM EDT
Disaster Response and Mitigation in an AI World
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

PNNL researchers are expanding PNNL’s operational Rapid Analytics for Disaster Response (RADR) image analytics and modeling suite to predict the path of fires, floods and other natural disasters, giving first responders an upper hand. The suite utilizes a combination of image-capturing technology (satellite, airborne, and drone images), artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, to not only assess damage but predict it as well.

8-Jun-2021 4:00 PM EDT
After the Big Storm: How to Supply Emergency Power to Residents of Rural and Suburban Communities During Multi-Day Outages
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)

New research suggests that cooperative strategies for sharing emergency power among households can be 10 to 40 times less costly than running individual gas-powered generators

Released: 15-Jun-2021 12:55 PM EDT
Providing pets with shelter from the storm
University of Delaware

The new book "All Creatures Safe and Sound" examines how pets are managed during disasters and provides tips for keeping them safe. Sarah DeYoung, core faculty in the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center, talks about previous studies and the work that still needs to be addressed.

7-Jun-2021 2:05 PM EDT
Cause, scope determined for deadly winter debris flow in Uttarakhand, India
University of Washington

The Uttarakhand region of India experienced a humanitarian tragedy on Feb. 7, 2021, when a wall of debris and water barreled down the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga and Dhauliganga river valleys. This debris flow destroyed two hydropower facilities and left more than 200 people dead or missing. A self-organized coalition of 53 scientists, including researchers from the University of Washington, came together in the days following the disaster to investigate the cause, scope and impacts.

Released: 7-Jun-2021 12:05 PM EDT
Puerto Rico is Prone to More Flooding Than the Island is Prepared to Handle
University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin)

Puerto Rico is not ready for another hurricane season, let alone the effects of climate change, according to a new study that shows the island’s outstanding capacity to produce record-breaking floods and trigger a large number of landslides.

Released: 3-Jun-2021 9:30 AM EDT
Safety experts offer tips to prepare for potentially dangerous hurricane season
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Summer is just around the corner, and so is hurricane season. Weather experts are warning Americans to prepare for an active and potentially dangerous Atlantic season – which gets its official start on June 1. With the potential for heavy rain and strong winds, the threat of power loss, and dealing with potentially dangerous cleanup in the aftermath of a storm, experts at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) say preparing in advance is the best way to weather anything hurricane season may bring.

   
Released: 17-May-2021 4:10 PM EDT
New numerical method makes simulating landslide tsunamis possible
Tohoku University

Researchers from Tohoku University have developed a new numerical method that paves the way for simulating landslide tsunamis.

Released: 14-May-2021 1:10 PM EDT
Experts highlight advanced satellite data as vital tool in tackling climate change as countdown to COP26 continues
University of Bristol

Earth observation satellites provide the most comprehensive real-time check on the health of the planet and are playing a crucial role in the fight against global heating now and increasingly in future, according to leading climate scientists.

Released: 12-May-2021 2:35 PM EDT
UChicago scientists wrestle with the apocalypse in new course
University of Chicago

A new UChicago course titled “Are We Doomed?” grapples with topics surrounding the apocalypse

Released: 11-May-2021 11:00 AM EDT
Gulf of Mexico Alliance Encourages Residents to Get Ready for Hurricane Season Using Disaster Preparedness Resources
Gulf of Mexico Alliance

In support of National Hurricane Preparedness Week, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance encourages all Gulf Coast residents to get ready for the upcoming hurricane season. Individuals, families, and communities all have a role to play in reducing their risk from hurricanes and other natural disasters.

   
Released: 22-Apr-2021 11:50 AM EDT
Survey Launched to Learn More about Deaths Tied to Hurricane Maria
George Washington University

Researchers at the George Washington University and the University of Puerto Rico will launch a first-of-its-kind survey to investigate the causes of deaths that occurred during the first two weeks after Hurricane Maria. The fact-finding mission will help identify the factors and socio-environmental conditions that led to more than 1,700 deaths in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Released: 20-Apr-2021 1:35 PM EDT
How lessons from past emergencies could improve the pandemic response
University of Washington

The federal government, in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, could learn from how the nation responded to Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and the H1N1 swine flu, a new University of Washington study found.

Released: 29-Mar-2021 12:35 PM EDT
Paper Addresses Impacts of COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold on Indo-Fijians Engaged in Small Scale Fisheries
Wildlife Conservation Society

A new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Policy addresses the impacts of COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold on Indo-Fijians engaged in small scale fisheries.

Released: 23-Mar-2021 11:35 AM EDT
S&T Partnership Enhances Public Safety Spectrum Efficiency, Improves Interoperability
Homeland Security's Science And Technology Directorate

S&T’s work with APCO and NRPC is an ongoing effort that has helped enhance public safety communication capabilities; through this partnership, S&T will continue to support CAPRAD improvements to improve spectrum licensing efforts and training for public safety.

Released: 19-Mar-2021 10:25 AM EDT
FSMB Foundation Awards $100,000 in COVID-19 State Response Grants
Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB)

The FSMB Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), has awarded four organizations a total of $100,000 in grant funding for projects to study the way states and health systems have responded to health care impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Released: 15-Mar-2021 2:40 PM EDT
The Potential Economic Impact of Volcano Alerts
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)

The Volcano Alert Level (VAL) system, standardized by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 2006, is meant to save lives and keep citizens living in the shadow of an active volcano informed of their current level of risk. A new study published in Risk Analysis suggests that, when an alert remains elevated at any level above “normal” due to a period of volcanic unrest, it can cause a decline in the region’s housing prices and other economic indicators. Because of this, the authors argue that federal policymakers may need to account for the effects of prolonged volcanic unrest — not just destructive eruptions — in the provision of disaster relief funding.

Released: 15-Mar-2021 11:40 AM EDT
Personal charitable donation budgets flexible in aftermath of deadly storms
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Charitable donations account for about 2% of gross domestic product in the U.S., but it's not well-understood whether an event such as a deadly storm inspires increases in charitable giving or simply reallocates a fixed supply of donation dollars that would have otherwise gone to another cause.

Released: 9-Mar-2021 11:45 AM EST
Geological engineers create landslide atlas of Kerala, India
Michigan Technological University

The Landslide Atlas of Kerala sets a new standard for determining risk in a landslide-prone region and will help the residents and policymakers of the state make decisions to better mitigate life-threatening disasters.

Released: 8-Mar-2021 11:30 PM EST
Radiation Knows No Bounds—but Builds Strong Bonds Between Two Communities
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

On the looming 10th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster at the Daiichi Power Station in Japan, PNNL looks back at the science and solidarity it has shared with Fukushima and its nuclear cleanup effort.

Released: 4-Mar-2021 11:50 AM EST
One Year In, Rensselaer Experts Keep Addressing COVID-19 Challenges in Inventive Ways
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

Over the course of the last year, Rensselaer experts have made many meaningful contributions to the understanding of — and response to — the COVID-19 crisis. Here is a list of pandemic-related topics they can address.

   
Released: 3-Mar-2021 2:25 PM EST
Climate Risk Management for Financial Organizations: Maryland Smith’s Rossi to Present Recommendations to FHFA
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business

Maryland Smith's Clifford Rossi recommends the FHFA integrate climate risk management governance and processes into its existing enterprise risk management work. He says the agency should determine how much credit risk exposure is associated with specific types of natural disasters and climate-related events.

   
Released: 25-Feb-2021 9:50 AM EST
Argonne National Laboratory Climate Model Helps Pacific Gas and Electric Company Combat Climate Change Impacts, Including Wildfires
Argonne National Laboratory

Scientists at Argonne developed a climate model that projects future conditions at neighborhood-level scale across the entire United States to help PG&E plan for extreme weather events in California.

Released: 24-Feb-2021 11:15 AM EST
When Natural Disasters and Pandemics Strike Together, Expect a Slow Recovery
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

In a paper recently presented at the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, the research team wrote that, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, “little attention had been paid to the possibility that a significant number of critical personnel in both the infrastructure and disaster response and recovery supply chains could be incapacitated or otherwise unavailable due to an ongoing pandemic.” Furthermore, their modeling suggests that “our current understanding of such compound extreme events is inadequate to the potential threat.”

Released: 18-Feb-2021 5:30 PM EST
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claim blaming the state's massive power outages on renewable energy is misleading
Newswise

On Tuesday in an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Texas Governor Greg Abbott blamed the outages on wind turbines and on the "Green New Deal." Rolling blackouts have ravaged Texas after a winter storm created a sudden spike in energy demand and hamstrung production of natural gas, coal, nuclear, and wind energy.

Released: 18-Feb-2021 2:10 PM EST
Youth exposed to natural disasters report low post-traumatic stress
Boston College

A study of over 1,700 U.S. young people exposed to four major hurricanes found that just a few of them reported chronic stress, and the trajectories among most youth reflected recovery or low-decreasing post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, according to research recently published in JAMA Network Open.

Released: 9-Feb-2021 11:25 AM EST
Poorer Mental Health Smolders After Deadly, Devastating Wildfire
UC San Diego Health

UC San Diego researchers report that climate change is a chronic mental health stressor, and promotes a variety of mental health problems. The 2018 Camp Fire is a case study.

Released: 6-Jan-2021 5:05 PM EST
PlanetSense: Stepping in when disaster strikes
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

As Hurricane Dorian raged through the Bahamas, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked around the clock to aid recovery efforts for one of the Caribbean’s worst storms ever, providing geographic data that guided decisions on everything from where to open emergency shelters to how to staff first-aid centers.

Released: 14-Dec-2020 5:25 PM EST
Wildfire Risk Rising as Scientists Determine Which Conditions Beget Blazes
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

PNNL researchers investigate the environmental conditions, from soil moisture to surface temperature, that precede wildfire.

Released: 12-Nov-2020 8:55 AM EST
Landslide Along Alaskan Fjord Could Trigger Tsunami
Ohio State University

A glacier that had held an Alaskan slope in place for centuries is melting, releasing the soil beneath in what can be described as a slow-motion landslide that could trigger a devastating tsunami, researchers say. In a study published last week, scientists offered some of the first measurements to quantify how the slope is falling there and modeled potential tsunamis.

Released: 11-Nov-2020 7:05 PM EST
Study looks at impact of disasters on mental health
University of Delaware

A new study found suicide rates increase during disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. A team of researchers examined the impact of 281 natural disasters on suicide rates during a 12-year span and found overall suicide rates increased by 23% when compared to rates before and after the disaster.

Released: 4-Nov-2020 11:20 AM EST
Effective government saves lives in cyclones, other disasters
Cornell University

Effective national and local governments are associated with fewer deaths from tropical cyclone disasters – even in countries with similar levels of wealth and development.

Released: 22-Oct-2020 3:45 PM EDT
Hurricanes likely to disrupt at-home obstructive sleep apnea treatment
University of Miami Health System, Miller School of Medicine

Hurricanes impact obstructive sleep apnea patients’ ability to use positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy not only during, but also before and after the storm, according to a scientific investigation by University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

     


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