Oct 19th

What happened this week?

International Day for Disaster Reduction. Held every 13 October, the day celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face. The 2018 edition continues as part of the "Sendai Seven" campaign, centred on the seven targets of the Sendai Framework. This year will focus on Target C of the Sendai Framework, reducing disaster economic losses in relation to global GDP by 2030. Read more

Among the Ruins of Mexico Beach Stands One House, Built 'for the Big One'. MEXICO BEACH, Fla. — Florida’s building code, put into effect in 2002, is famously stringent when it comes to windstorm resistance for homes built along the hurricane-prone Atlantic shoreline. But it is less so for structures along the Panhandle, a region historically unaffected by storms as strong as the ones that have slammed into South Florida. Read More

As Hurricane Michael damages the Southeast, Puerto Rico provides lessons on resilient power. A year of power outages in Puerto Rico produced a historic case study in human misery, with almost 3,000 deaths due in part to the lack of power for home health care equipment and refrigeration of medications, and from outages in hospitals and clinics. 
Recently, however, Puerto Rico has taken steps to avoid future such catastrophes. Read more

Interesting Facts


What will winter in the US look like? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that overall temperatures will be warmer than normal over much of the US, especially the pacific northwest. In relation to precipitation,  NOAA predicted that it will be wetter than normal across much of the south, and dryer than normal in portions of the mid-west and Northern Rockies. In addition, there is a 75% chance that El Niño will develop in the next several months. Watch Video

Policy Developments and Outlook

Seismologist Stresses Open Dialogue Between Scientists and Policymakers. “In the light of recent hurricanes in the United States as well as other calamities around the world like the devastating tsunami in Palu, Indonesia, conversations on Disaster Mitigation are increasingly more relevant for Cornell as a cross-disciplinary incubator for innovation,” said Rhea Lopes grad, who is part of the Disasters Working Group at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Read More

Disaster Recovery: School Infrastructure Resilience Roadmap & Best Practices. School districts that face the loss of a school in a natural disaster like a hurricane face myriad challenges after the immediate danger passes, ranging from education and public safety to reconstruction. To improve community resilience, replacement schools can be designed to mitigate disaster risk and increase school infrastructure resilience in affected areas following a disaster. Read More

900K San Diegans participated in earthquake drill. SAN DIEGO - More than 900,000 San Diego County residents participated in Thursday's Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill to test their level of preparedness for a major temblor. The 10th annual drill took place at 10:18 a.m. At that time, millions of people across California will "drop" to the ground, take "cover" under a desk, table or other sturdy surface and "hold on" for 60 seconds, as if a major earthquake were occurring. Read More