NH
Natural Hazards

Impacts

Navigating the Ongoing and Predicted Disaster of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil): Career and Insights with Expert Prof. Enner

June 17, 2024
Severe flooding that left the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, submerged.

We are honoured to hear from Dr. Enner Alcântara, Professor at the São Paulo State University (UNESP) and leader of the Remote Sensing, Spatial Analysis, Environmental Modelling and Natural Disasters Research Group. His research in remote sensing has played a crucial role in recognising, managing and mitigating the impacts of disasters, bringing out significant contributions. …[Read More]

COVID-19 and natural hazards: a complex multi-risk scenario

January 16, 2023
COVID-19 and natural hazards: a complex multi-risk scenario

COVID-19 has been a disruptive ‘tsunami’ that most countries were not prepared to handle. The pandemic has been representing a global slow-onset long-lasting disaster that has drastically challenged all emergency management systems worldwide. The pandemic slow-onset disaster has been characterized by a prolonged emergency phase with varying intensity levels, and a cyclic behavior, where the …[Read More]

Who’s afraid of Natech?

February 7, 2022
Who’s afraid of Natech?

Natural hazards that impact industrial sites and result in technological accidents, causing the release of hazardous substances, are referred to as Natech events. In the popular imagination, Natech accidents are triggered by major natural hazard events. However, experience tells us that low magnitude natural events, such as lightning or heavy rains, are sufficient to cause …[Read More]

Define and assess drought, the herculean challenge!

November 29, 2021
Define and assess drought, the herculean challenge!

The frequency and intensity of drought periods have increased since the 1950s over most land areas [1]. In fact, between 1998 and 2017, drought was the sixth natural hazard associated with disasters (4.8% of the total number of disasters) but the second in terms of the total number of affected people (33% of the total …[Read More]

Natural Hazards 101: Forecasting and modelling

September 6, 2021
Natural Hazards 101: Forecasting and modelling

With the Natural Hazards 101 series, we mean to bring our readers closer to the terminology often used in the field of natural hazards, but that may not be so familiar. In the first episode of the series, we focused on the definition of hazard and natural hazard. We moved then to the concept of …[Read More]

Diagnosing drought in northeast Brazil

and May 3, 2021
A dam, an almost empty water reservoir and a small abandoned boat

Worldwide, drought has put lives and livelihoods under serious threat. People are increasingly suffering from drought, but we often also aggravate drought ourselves. Fortunately, solutions to drought problems are mainly in our own hands as well. Drought is not just a water problem. It is a societal problem.   Droughts: a local problem with global …[Read More]