natural hazards

Geosciences Column: Landslide risk in a changing climate, and what that means for Europe’s roads

Olivia Trani June 13, 2018

A massive slide crumbled this section of a US highway in Oregon. How will climate change affect future landslides? Credit: Oregon Department of Transportation

If your morning commute is already frustrating, get ready to buckle up. Our climate is changing, and that may increasingly affect some of central Europe’s major roads and railways, according to new research published in the EGU’s open access journal Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. The study found that, in the face of climate change, landslide-inducing rainfall events will increase in fr ...[Read More]

Top ten tourist beaches threatened by tsunamis

Olivia Trani May 23, 2018

A street in Phuket, Thailand after the 2004 tsunami. Six months after the tsunami, a quarter of the islands's hotels closed. (Image Credit: Alonso de Mendoza / Wikimedia Commons)

December 2004 saw one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. 228,000 people were killed when an earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered tsunami waves up to 30 m high. The destruction was extreme as the waves hit 14 different countries around the Indian Ocean. Economic losses totalled over 10 billion US dollars. The tourism industry in particular suff ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Extreme snowfall potentially worsened Nepal’s 2015 earthquake-triggered avalanche

Olivia Trani May 11, 2018

A view of Langtang Nepal in 2012. The village was struck by an earthquake-induced avalanche and landslides in 2015, burying the town in debris. (Credit: Sander van Dijk via Flickr)

Three years ago, an earthquake-induced avalanche and rockfalls buried an entire Nepalese village in ice, stone, and snow. Researchers now think the region’s heavy snowfall from the preceding winter may have intensified the avalanche’s disastrous effect. The Langtang village, just 70 kilometres from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, is nestled within a valley under the shadow of the Himalayas. The town wa ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Mount Elgon, a balance between fertility and destruction

Jente Broeckx March 26, 2018

Don't be fooled by the peaceful view . Credit: Jente Broeckx (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This colourful cropland patchwork is located on the fertile flanks of Mount Elgon, Uganda at an elevation of 2,400 metres above sea level. The extinct shield volcano, the oldest in East Africa, is mostly covered in clouds and provides an infinite flow of wonderful waterfalls. Due to the climate at this elevation, the cultivated crops experience more temperate weather conditions compared to crops m ...[Read More]