Risk management

Building Resilience: Insights and Preventive Measures from Kuala Lumpur’s Sinkhole event

Navakanesh M Batmanathan October 1, 2024

(Image credit: Nikki Dawson, Pixabay licence)

On August 23, 2024, a tragic event unfolded in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when an 8-metre-deep sinkhole opened up on Jalan Masjid India, swallowing Vijayalakshmi Gali, a 48-year-old woman visiting from India [1]. The incident has raised serious concerns about public safety and the integrity of urban infrastructure. A sinkhole is a natural depression or hole that occurs in the ground when the surface ...[Read More]

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

Paulo Hader June 17, 2024

Severe flooding that left the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, submerged. Photo credit: GEE, Sentinel-2, Script generated by Christhian Santana Cunha

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. Today, we’ll ex ...[Read More]

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]

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]