April 1, 2016

What happened this week?

Mexico. Emergency in Chihuahua, Zacatecas and Veracruz by winds and frost: On March 22, 2016, the Ministry of the Interior issued emergency declarations for 22 municipalities in Chihuahua, 45 in Zacatecas and 22 in Veracruz that were damaged due to severe frosts and strong winds between March 7 and March 10 this year, opening access to the resources of the Fund for Emergency Response to the affected states (FONDEN)... Read more

Honduras. Cold front causes heavy rainfall in three departments: Heavy rainfalls caused by a cold front have affected 10,341 residents in the Departments of Cortes, Yoro and Atlantis as of March 23, 2016. The event has destroyed bridges, 173 homes, a public building and a power system. According to COPECO, 1,321 people had evacuated from the three departments. In addition, COPECO declared a yellow alert due to the possibilities of flash floods, landslides and strong winds... Read more

United States. Wildfire burns 625 square miles in Kansas and Oklahoma: A wildfire has spread from Oklahoma to Kansas and has burned an estimated 625 square miles as of March 24, 2016. Fire Officials have worked to put out a 30-40 mile line of fire and it is anticipated the blaze will continue into March 25, 2016. In Medicine Lodge in Barber County, Kansas, authorities reported that two structures have been burnt and up to 1,000 structures were threatened. A voluntary evacuation order for Medicine Lodge and two small nearby towns (pop: 140) has been issued. Four other towns in Barber County, with at total population of 5,000 people remain at risk. The wildfire has also forced the closure of a stretch of U.S. 160 and U.S. 281 and scattered power outages have been reported. The Governor of Kansas has declared a state of disaster emergency in some areas... Read more

Brazil. Heavy rain leaves one person dead in São Gonçalo: Heavy rain that occurred in São Gonçalo, in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, has left at least one person dead on March 23, 2016. The most affected districts were Jardim Catarina and Palmeiras, which are still flooded. There are no reports of any displaced persons... Read more

Interesting Facts

How we're building a better earthquake warning system. The next big idea in earthquake preparedness may be crowdsourcing. There's even an app for it. Researchers at UC Berkeley recently released MyShake, an app that transforms smartphones into earthquake detectors. Upon sensing shaking, the app determines whether it's an earthquake and, if so, relays information about its intensity, origin time, and location to the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, where researchers analyze the data... Read more

Researchers reproduce mechanism of slow earthquakes. Up until now catching lightning in a bottle has been easier than reproducing a range of earthquakes in the laboratory, according to a team of seismologists who can now duplicate the range of fault slip modes found during earthquakes, quiet periods and slow earthquakes... Read more

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Universities etch disaster risk into business studies. Ensuring that companies understand and act on the risks posed by natural and man-made hazards is a vital step towards reducing disaster impacts. Business education offers a tool to achieve this... Read more