Natural hazard

Earth Citizens and Natural Hazards: a few words from the perspective of our environment, the inhabited planet, Earth

Hedieh Soltanpour December 4, 2023

The aerial view of a portion of the Amazon Rainforest in Suriname, South America (photo credit: Hedieh Soltanpour)

In January 2023, I visited the Amazon Forest in Suriname. During my visit, I met indigenous people known as the Saramaccers, a Maroon tribe residing in the heart of the Amazon Forest. I found it fascinating that the Saramaccers consider themselves an integral part of nature. Their motto is ‘If you respect nature, nature will be your friend and stand by you’. Nature extends a helping ha ...[Read More]

Training of Trainers to improve Geological Disasters Resilience in Malaysia

Navakanesh M Batmanathan October 30, 2023

A total of 46 indigenous teachers participated in the experiential learning program in Malaysia on 22nd August 2022 to increase local resilience for landslides.

Over the years, we have witnessed a growing number of geological disasters due to climatic shifts. One such disaster is the landslide, and the main culprit of such occurrences can be attributed to intense rainfall coupled with high slope angles, especially in areas previously not expected to be susceptible. In this post we share a successful experience of ‘training of trainers’ in Mala ...[Read More]

Is culture the missing link to disaster risk reduction?

Asimina Voskaki September 11, 2023

The City of Kobe, Chuo Ward (photo credit: Asimina Voskaki)

Sophocles, a great tragic writer of Classical Athens, said that “success is dependent on effort”. When it comes to disaster risk reduction, are we doing enough to develop a culture of resilience and how do cultural factors affect people’s willingness to protect themselves and build an effective disaster reduction and reconstruction mechanism? In 1995 (17/01/1995), Kobe, Osaka (Ja ...[Read More]

“My teacher is a volcanologist”- Valeria Cigala tells us about her journey from academia to middle school teaching

Silvia De Angeli July 24, 2023

Valeria introduces minerals and the Mohs scale to her students, as part of her evaluation as a middle school teacher, while her tutor is holding the box with the mineral samples.

Valeria Cigala (Ph.D.) is a geoscientist by education and an expert in explosive volcanism and related hazards. She has been the Early Career Scientists Representative for the Natural Hazards Division of EGU from 2019 to 2022 and Editor-in-chief of our blog. Valeria is currently employed as a maths and science teacher at the middle school level in Italy. In this inspiring interview, she is sharing ...[Read More]