We’ve recently celebrated our 4th birthday! Since our work started in 2011 we’ve had some great adventures, met some inspiring people and learnt a lot. Most of our work is taking place in universities around the UK. Through seminars and events we suspect that more UK geology students are being introduced to their role in international development than at any time previously. Alongside ...[Read More]
After a joyous eight-month-long paternity leave, I am back being a professor during the day, and now being a dad at night. A little visual teaser of my time off is below – swimming with a sea turtle on the north shore of Kauai, Hawaii. On top of becoming a dad, I changed universities; I am now in Civil Engineering at University of Victoria. It is a rad new program focusing on sustainability ...[Read More]
Whilst geologists are often trained in the technical aspects of natural hazards, our courses are often devoid of information on what causes disasters, how we can better avoid them and effective disaster management. Recent events in Nepal highlight that hazard does not simply equal disaster, but that we must understand what drives exposure and vulnerability to be so high in certain parts of the wor ...[Read More]
Jane Robb is GfGD’s University Groups Training Programme Officer, and a new PhD student at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. Jane has just returned from Guatemala, where she was meeting with community groups and exploring land use issues. Here she shares some of the highlights of her trip with us. In 2014 I started my PhD in Natural Resources at the Natural Resources ...[Read More]
We’ll be taking a break from blogging for the next fortnight. Don’t forget you can find a wide range of articles in our archives on topics from water, hazards, disasters and more.
At the weekend we published a selection of reading on the geological and humanitarian aspects of the Nepal earthquake. Over recent days much has been written reflecting on aspects of disaster relief and learning lessons as soon as possible from this awful event, to reduce the impact of future geohazards. These articles are accessible and give geoscientists much to consider: Ilan Kelman (UCL IRDR) ...[Read More]
In the coming weeks there’ll be time for reflection, for debate, for advocacy to build back better. Today the priority has to be ensuring a swift and effective response – getting clean water, food, shelter, medical aid to those that desperately need it. The UK Disasters Emergency Committee is a collective of UK development organisations, working together in emergency situations. They l ...[Read More]
Detailed assessments of what happened during the April 22-23 eruption of Calbuco, Chile, are now coming in from the agencies responsible for the scientific monitoring of the eruption (SERNAGEOMIN) and for the emergency response (ONEMI). The volcano is well monitored and accessible, and as a result there has been a great deal of high quality information, and imagery, made available very quickly. In ...[Read More]
As the recent eruptions of Calbuco and Villarrica in southern Chile have shown, the long arcs of volcanoes that stretch around the world’s subduction zones have the potential to cause widespread disruption to lives and livelihoods, with little or no warning. Fortunately, neither of these eruptions has, so far, led to any reported loss of life – but the consequences of these eruptions ...[Read More]
(Updated: 27th April 2015) Almost all of you will have seen the tragic news coming from Nepal. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the region between Pokhara and Kathmandu, with at least 1000 killed at the time of writing. This number is likely to go up in the coming hours and days as the true extent of the devastation becomes apparent. Here we note some recommend reading and news sources on the eve ...[Read More]
