From Issues: What Ukraine Can Teach the World About Resilience and Civil Engineering
Bringing sociology into civil engineering helps explain how Ukraine’s social and physical systems work together to keep the lights on amid constant attacks.
From the WashPost: How Hurricane Otis stunned forecasters with its leap to a Category 5. Forecasters didn’t even anticipate Otis would become a hurricane. Then it broke all-time records.
From CNN: Hurricane Otis’ Category 5 ‘nightmare scenario’ knocks out all communications in Acapulco, Mexico.
From HSToday: NOAA: 2023 Worst Year on Record for Billion-Dollar Disasters.
According to NOAA, the U.S. experienced 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the first eight months of 2023 — the largest number since records began.
From the NYTimes: Falsehoods Follow Close Behind This Summer’s Natural Disasters “Misattributed videos, recycled lies and warped fears are fueling unfounded claims about the recent record-breaking heat, floods and wildfires.”
From ESRI: Creating Local Capacity in Community Disaster Resilience Zones
“On September 1, 2023, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced the first round of Community Disaster Resilience Zones (CDRZ). Through an interactive map, created with geographic information system (GIS) technology, the CDRZ platform weighs the risk and vulnerability of communities. It shows zones in 483 communities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each place will receive support and funds—before, during, and after disasters.”
From the Conversation: 3 powerful earthquakes strike Afghanistan in one week – here’s how people around the world prepare for disasters
“The terrible devastation caused by the three 6.3 magnitude earthquakes in Afghanistan is the result of the presence of centuries-old historic buildings and the continued use of old construction methods, such as clay bricks and unreinforced masonry. These building materials are prevalent worldwide, particularly in developing countries.”
We have seen these problems in Morocco, Libya, and Turkey.
From the Guardian: Grieving Maui residents prepare to rebuild but ask: ‘For whom?’
Hawaii’s environment has suffered since its annexation by the US – can rebuilding return the island to an earlier way of life?
From Inside Climate News: For Sanibel, the Recovery from Hurricane Ian Will Be Years in the Making. Thousands of residents of this barrier island remain displaced a year after the costliest hurricane in state history.
From the WashPost: Inside the complex effort to rid Maui of toxic fire debris and rubble
One of the most complicated wildfire cleanup missions in recent memory is now underway on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where fleets of workers and equipment are being shipped to the island while officials plot how to carefully but quickly remove hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic debris.
Federal authorities are working with wary locals to negotiate significant logistical hurdles not found in the aftermath of blazes on the mainland United States, and they are attempting to navigate the delicate dynamics of disaster cleanup in a place as historically and culturally important as the ruined town of Lahaina.
Recovery Diva 