Breaking News: Natural Disasters

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Researchers at the George Washington University and the University of Puerto Rico will launch a first-of-its-kind survey to investigate the causes of deaths that occurred during the first two weeks after Hurricane Maria. The fact-finding mission will help identify the factors and socio-environmental conditions that led to more than 1,700 deaths in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

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The federal government, in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, could learn from how the nation responded to Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and the H1N1 swine flu, a new University of Washington study found.

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A new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Policy addresses the impacts of COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold on Indo-Fijians engaged in small scale fisheries.

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The FSMB Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), has awarded four organizations a total of $100,000 in grant funding for projects to study the way states and health systems have responded to health care impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The Volcano Alert Level (VAL) system, standardized by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 2006, is meant to save lives and keep citizens living in the shadow of an active volcano informed of their current level of risk. A new study published in Risk Analysis suggests that, when an alert remains elevated at any level above “normal” due to a period of volcanic unrest, it can cause a decline in the region’s housing prices and other economic indicators. Because of this, the authors argue that federal policymakers may need to account for the effects of prolonged volcanic unrest — not just destructive eruptions — in the provision of disaster relief funding.

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Charitable donations account for about 2% of gross domestic product in the U.S., but it's not well-understood whether an event such as a deadly storm inspires increases in charitable giving or simply reallocates a fixed supply of donation dollars that would have otherwise gone to another cause.

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The Landslide Atlas of Kerala sets a new standard for determining risk in a landslide-prone region and will help the residents and policymakers of the state make decisions to better mitigate life-threatening disasters.

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On the looming 10th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster at the Daiichi Power Station in Japan, PNNL looks back at the science and solidarity it has shared with Fukushima and its nuclear cleanup effort.

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Over the course of the last year, Rensselaer experts have made many meaningful contributions to the understanding of — and response to — the COVID-19 crisis. Here is a list of pandemic-related topics they can address.

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Maryland Smith's Clifford Rossi recommends the FHFA integrate climate risk management governance and processes into its existing enterprise risk management work. He says the agency should determine how much credit risk exposure is associated with specific types of natural disasters and climate-related events.

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Scientists at Argonne developed a climate model that projects future conditions at neighborhood-level scale across the entire United States to help PG&E plan for extreme weather events in California.

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In a paper recently presented at the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, the research team wrote that, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, “little attention had been paid to the possibility that a significant number of critical personnel in both the infrastructure and disaster response and recovery supply chains could be incapacitated or otherwise unavailable due to an ongoing pandemic.” Furthermore, their modeling suggests that “our current understanding of such compound extreme events is inadequate to the potential threat.”

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On Tuesday in an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Texas Governor Greg Abbott blamed the outages on wind turbines and on the "Green New Deal." Rolling blackouts have ravaged Texas after a winter storm created a sudden spike in energy demand and hamstrung production of natural gas, coal, nuclear, and wind energy.

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A study of over 1,700 U.S. young people exposed to four major hurricanes found that just a few of them reported chronic stress, and the trajectories among most youth reflected recovery or low-decreasing post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, according to research recently published in JAMA Network Open.

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UC San Diego researchers report that climate change is a chronic mental health stressor, and promotes a variety of mental health problems. The 2018 Camp Fire is a case study.

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As Hurricane Dorian raged through the Bahamas, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked around the clock to aid recovery efforts for one of the Caribbean’s worst storms ever, providing geographic data that guided decisions on everything from where to open emergency shelters to how to staff first-aid centers.

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PNNL researchers investigate the environmental conditions, from soil moisture to surface temperature, that precede wildfire.

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A glacier that had held an Alaskan slope in place for centuries is melting, releasing the soil beneath in what can be described as a slow-motion landslide that could trigger a devastating tsunami, researchers say. In a study published last week, scientists offered some of the first measurements to quantify how the slope is falling there and modeled potential tsunamis.

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A new study found suicide rates increase during disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. A team of researchers examined the impact of 281 natural disasters on suicide rates during a 12-year span and found overall suicide rates increased by 23% when compared to rates before and after the disaster.

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Effective national and local governments are associated with fewer deaths from tropical cyclone disasters – even in countries with similar levels of wealth and development.

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Hurricanes impact obstructive sleep apnea patients’ ability to use positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy not only during, but also before and after the storm, according to a scientific investigation by University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

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Simple actions can dramatically improve a person’s chances of surviving a landslide, show records from 38 landslides in the U.S. and around the world. People who survived landslides tended to have moved upstairs or to higher ground, among other key actions.

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Two CUSEC apps help emergency managers prepare for and recover from disasters like earthquakes. Both are free and available for use via the S&T-supported Regional Information Sharing Platform.

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When Hurricane Michael devastated rural inland communities in the Florida Panhandle in 2018, public libraries played a critical role in the natural disaster response. It also exposed the need for improved upon procedures and policies for public libraries responding to natural disasters.

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Natural disasters alone are not enough to motivate local communities to engage in climate change mitigation or adaptation, a new study from Oregon State University found.

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UCLA Fielding School of Public Health experts available for comment to media regarding public health issues related to hurricanes

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Researchers are using unmanned underwater robots to map ocean heat content in advance of Hurricane Laura

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With hurricane season already underway and projected to be active, communities throughout the U.S. are trying to balance disaster preparation amid an unprecedented public health crisis. While significant attention is rightly being given to COVID-19, leaders – especially those in communities along the coast – must plan for the possibility of dual disasters. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have extensive experience studying and responding to natural disasters and are available during this hurricane season to share their research and perspectives.