Natural hazard

How is earthquake-driven sea-level rise changing our coasts?

Navakanesh M Batmanathan July 14, 2025

Mangroves stand strong against rising sea levels to protect our shorelines (image credit: Anirban Mukhopadhyay, distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Coastal regions have always been at risk from natural hazards, but now, there’s an added layer of complexity. Earthquakes, which cause the land to move up or down, can significantly affect sea levels, especially in regions already experiencing the effects of climate change. Earthquakes can alter coastlines in ways that we’re still trying to understand, and it’s clear that tectonically active areas ...[Read More]

The Blatten landslide in Switzerland

Christophe Lambiel June 11, 2025

View on the Blatten landslide from downstream, with the Lonza river finding its way through the landslide (03 June 2025) (Image credit: Christophe Lambiel)

In the morning of May 28, 2025, the picturesque Swiss alpine village of Blatten sat quiet and serene in the Lötschen Valley. Exceptionally quiet, in fact, as the village was evacuated on May 19th after a local Natural Hazards expert spotted a worrisome change in a local mountain looming about the village, the Kleines Nesthorn: it was collapsing faster. The Kleines Nesthorn is a 3,341-meter peak wi ...[Read More]

The Geography of Multi-Hazards: Exploring Landscapes Prone to Hazard Cascades

Hedieh Soltanpour March 10, 2025

Diverse geographical settings, highlighting areas where Earth processes have the potential to overlap in time and space: Coastal (Laguna Beach, USA) (Image credit: Hedieh Soltanpour)

Multi-hazards are “a selection of major hazards that a country faces, and specific contexts where hazards occur simultaneously, cascadingly, and accumulatively considering the interrelationships among them”, based on the UNSDRR definition [7]. Yet, this definition raises two key questions: Where are these specific contexts located, and what characteristics make them susceptible to intersecting haz ...[Read More]

Building Disaster Resilience Through Trust and Risk Awareness: Insights into Natural Hazards

Raffaella Russo February 10, 2025

(image credit: Jaduial, Pixabay licence)

Trust in institutions and scientific experts plays a pivotal role in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). This trust becomes even more critical for natural hazards—events often unpredictable and uncontrollable. Trust can shape individuals’ willingness to heed warnings, adopt precautionary measures, and participate in community preparedness initiatives. Conversely, distrust in institutions may lead to no ...[Read More]