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The collapse of glacial, permafrost, and ice-rich moraine slopes in high-altitude mountainous areas not only threatens downstream residents and infrastructure but also displaces ice mass to lower and warmer elevations, accelerating glacial ablation to some extent. Despite being considered rare, ice-rich slopes collapse more frequently than commonly thought due to climate change. For example, two adjacent mountain glaciers in the Aru Range of the Tibetan Plateau, characterized by large volumes (68 × 106 m3 and 83 × 106 m3, respectively) and low surface slope angles (12.3° and 12.9°, respectively), collapsed surprisingly in 2016. While the mechanisms behind these collapses have garnered broad attention, the ability to quantitatively assess the instability of ice-rich slopes remains limited due to the complex interplay of multi-physical processes. Taking the Aru glacier collapses as reference cases, this paper presents a conceptual model, implemented through coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical simulation, to evaluate the stability of high-altitude ice-rich slopes due to climate change, rainfall and ice ablation. Results indicate that the methodology captures the effects of temperature change, rainfall and meltwater on the instability events well, demonstrating promising potential in evaluating potential collapse zones of ice-rich slopes similar to the Aru glaciers. Furthermore, the role of climate change in the well-known Aru events is demonstrated using a state-of-the-art global climate reanalysis dataset. Findings reveal that the increase in liquid water infiltrating the Aru glaciers since 2010 was a critical factor leading to the instability events. • A conceptual model is proposed to analyse the stability and collapse zones of ice-rich slopes. • The modelling elucidates the causes of twin collapses of the Aru glaciers. • Results contribute to ice-rich slope instability prediction and associated disaster risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper reviewed 82 papers related to Climate Change (CC) impacts on Energy Critical Infrastructure (ECI). • The papers were reviewed with regards to Critical Infrastructure interdependencies and their effects on ECI resilience to CC. • Gaps in the field have been identified and a new framework proposed. Abstract Critical Infrastructure Protection is a relatively new scientific domain stemming from an American Presidential directive PDD-63 of May 1998. Critical Infrastructure (CI) performance and protection are national priorities for all European Union (EU) countries following the introduction of the EU Directive 2008/114/EC, which takes an all hazards approach. This paper has an international focus. At the global and European level, the interest in identifying the impacts of climate change on CIs and extreme weather events (EWE) has increased in the last decades, following several high-profile so-called natural disasters. Concern is evidenced by the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the EU Commission's Staff Working Document on Risk Assessment and Mapping; Guidelines for Disaster Management, SEC (2010) 1626. This paper presents and discusses scientific work which has been published in this area, with a focus on energy CI. The impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on energy CI are initially identified. Important aspects in CI protection such as risk assessment, interdependencies with other sectors, and adaptation/resilience options are subsequently presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal zones are under increasing risk as coastal hazards increase due to climate change and the consequences of these also increase due to on-going economic development. To effectively deal with this increased risk requires the development of validated tools to identify coastal areas of higher risk and to evaluate the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures. This paper analyses the performance in the application of two tools which have been developed in the RISC-KIT project: the regional Coastal Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF) and a hotspot early warning system coupled with a decision support system (EWS/DSS). The paper discusses the main achievements of the tools as well as improvements needed to support their further use by the coastal community. The CRAF, a tool to identify and rank hotspots of coastal risk at the regional scale, provides useful results for coastal managers and stakeholders. A change over time of the hotspots location and ranking can be analysed as a function of changes on coastal occupation or climate change. This tool is highly dependent on the quality of available information and a major constraint to its application is the relatively poor availability and accessibility of high-quality data, particularly in respect to social-economic indicators, and to lesser extent the physical environment. The EWS/DSS can be used as a warning system to predict potential impacts or to test the effectiveness of risk reduction measures at a given hotspot. This tool provides high resolution results, but needs validation against impact data, which are still scarce. The EWS/DSS tool can be improved by enhancing the vulnerability relationships and detailing the receptors in each area (increasing the detail, but also model simulations). The developed EWS/DSS can be adapted and extended to include a greater range of conditions (including climate change), receptors, hazards and impacts, enhancing disaster preparedness for effective risk reduction for further events or morphological conditions. Despite these concerns, the tools assessed in this paper proved to be valuable instruments for coastal management and risk reduction that can be adopted in a wide range of coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent drought disasters have significant impacts on socio-economic and ecosystems, and it is crucial to explore the propagation characteristics of drought for disaster prevention and mitigation. In this paper, based on 0.25° × 0.25° grid-point Meteorological hydrological and large-scale climate factor data, the start-to-start, peak-to-peak, and end-to-end drought propagation times, and the periods and rates of drought development and recovery were estimated for 11 regions in the Luanhe River Basin under stationary and non-stationary conditions. The Generalized Additive Model for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) framework was used to construct stationary and non-stationary models to capture the stationary and non-stationary drought characteristics respectively, and then the drought development and recovery patterns, and drought propagation times were assessed. The results showed that under the influence of climate factors, severe drought events occurred in most study areas, the duration of meteorological drought was prolonged by 0.1–0.6 months, and the peak intensity was increased by about 0.05. The severity of hydrological drought increased by 0.2–0.8, and the peak intensity decreased by 0.1–0.2. The rate of development and recovery of hydrological drought was accelerated by 0.1–0.2 per month. The propagation time of start-to-start was shortened by 0.2 months, and the propagation time of end-to-end was extended by 1–2 months. These mean that water resource control authorities need to propose responses to droughts more quickly. • The non-stationary drought indices considering climatic factors were constructed. • The drought propagation time was calculated from start to start, peak to peak, and end to end. • Quantification of the effects of climate change on drought propagation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-makers, managers and communities in low-lying coastal regions face many challenges in planning for and adapting to escalating coastal hazard risk, given uncertainty about sea-level rise and complex and contested environmental and socio-economic futures. Collaborative and participatory approaches can help to address such challenges and enable proactive adaptation. However, there is limited empirical evidence of such approaches yielding outcomes that can genuinely be described as shifting business as usual, and fewer still that have informed institutional change. This paper provides such evidence based on an assessment of a novel collaboration between local government, Māori, stakeholders, community members, consultants and researchers in the formulation of a 100-year coastal hazard management strategy in Aotearoa New Zealand. Thematic analysis of interviews, surveys and workshop materials was used to distil lessons learned by participants involved in formulating this anticipatory long-term strategy. Results indicated the importance of deliberative, flexible and transparent governance processes that can enable collaboration amongst Māori, local and region-wide stakeholders, in a process consistent with and supported by the national governmental frameworks, and regulatory and non-regulatory measures. The importance of aligning scientific, local and Indigenous knowledges is highlighted. Furthermore, novel tools and methodologies were used in the strategy formulation process, hitherto not applied in a real-life coastal decision-making process, to address changing risk over time and uncertainties. This enabled the tailoring of strategic planning and decision processes to reflect local contexts and governance interactions. Adaptive pathways were developed to enable short-term actions to be taken while leaving open long-term options and alternative pathways available for future adjustment as the hazards and impacts intensify. The lessons learned from the development of the coastal management strategy offer insights to support future collaborative decision-making processes in climate change adaptation. They advance scholarly understanding about how sea-level rise risks can be addressed in a long-term strategic formulation process in a dynamic and 'fit-for-purpose' manner. [Display omitted] • We thematically analysed the formulation of a 100-year coastal hazards strategy. • Key themes emerged to reveal lessons learned from the process. • Collaborative and flexible governance processes contributed to building trust. • Proactive, tailored decision tools enabled development of adaptation pathways. • Scientific, technical, local and Indigenous knowledges were incorporated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of resilience is increasingly used in academic and policy circles. To operationalize this concept and reduce the ambiguities surrounding it, since the turn of the century, various resilience assessment methodologies have been introduced. This paper provides a critical review of 36 selected community resilience assessment tools. These tools have been developed by a variety of entities, including national and local organizations, international donor organizations, and academic researchers. First, an overview of the selected tools is presented. This overview analysis shows that while some commonalities exist, there are also considerable differences between the tools. Next, based on literature review, an analytical framework is developed that identifies six criteria for evaluating performance of resilience assessment tools. These are, namely, addressing multiple dimensions of resilience, accounting for cross-scale relationships, capturing temporal dynamism, addressing uncertainties, employing participatory approaches, and developing action plans. Results show that limited success has been achieved in addressing these criteria. In terms of comprehensiveness, the environmental dimension has received relatively less attention in spite of its significance for building community resilience. Further improvements are needed to account for dynamics over time and across space. More attention to employing iterative processes that involve scenario-based planning is needed to better address challenges associated with uncertainties. Results also show that more attention needs to be paid to stakeholder participation in developing assessment tools. The paper concludes by highlighting several other areas of weakness that need to be addressed and discussing major challenges that still remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A coupled humid-mechanical-damage model was utilized. • The influence of humidity on the stability of Longyou Grottoes was investigated. • The cave roof is the most dangerous position under humidity variation. • Fissures act as shortcuts for humidity diffusion and stress generation. • Waterproof measurements contribute to the stability and durability of the grottoes. Silty sandstone grottoes are suffered climate changes. The Longyou Grottoes are typical argillaceous siltstone. This paper utilized the coupled humid-mechanical-damage model to investigate the influence of environmental humidity change on the deformation and stability of Cave 4 and Cave 5 in Longyou Grottoes. It is found that the change in environmental humidity significantly influences the stability of caves in Longyou Grottoes. The water saturation of surrounding rock changes with the increase or decrease of ambient humidity. The water swelling and dry shrinkage processes greatly affect the stress state and mechanical properties of the surrounding rock, resulting in micro-cracks which may form fractures that disturb the structural integrity and aggravate the geological hazard of weathering. The cave roof is the most dangerous position during the humidity variation. Pre-existing fissures act as shortcuts for humidity diffusion and stress generation. In turn, the fast diffusion rate and high stress cause further propagation of the fissures. Repairing pre-existing fissures and applying waterproof measurements on the inner wall of caves contributes to the stability and durability of the grottoes. This study improves the understanding of the relationship between the changes in environmental humidity and the weathering of grottoes and provides theoretical support for the subsequent disaster risk management and preservation of Longyou Grottoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reviews a selection of target levels for safety and security in order to identify their common properties. It is accompanied by a brief investigation of several key terms used in risk management. Risk management is used as an umbrella term for the various research areas dealing with multiple hazards, impacts types and measures for dealing with them. The paper draws upon examples and experience from the wider field of disaster risk research and civil protection. A concept which identifies the common properties and content of risk management goals in general is then devised. Normative implications and challenges in applying risk management goals and the use of terminology are discussed. Finally, two main future research areas are briefly outlined: the role and responsibility of the researcher or observer, and the ways of making use of risk management goals in risk communication. This paper provides fundamental information on examples of risk management goals, common properties and risk communication as compiled for and used by certain national authorities in civil protection in Germany. However, its findings may also be useful for fellow researchers within the disaster risk, climate change, vulnerability and resilience community, and for practitioners in the field of risk, and crisis or emergency management. The future applications of these findings will be useful, especially when developing risk management goals for specific user groups and different levels of analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Local governments' limited mandate and capacity to adequately deal with increasing climate risk and impacts means that citizen engagement is becoming increasingly important for adapting to hazards such as floods and storms. Stronger collaborative approaches are urgently needed. At the same time, there is little research and hardly any empirical evidence on what inspires adaptation engagement in different citizen groups. Against this background, this paper examines the external/material (e.g., resources, hazards, public support) and internal aspects (e.g., values and worldviews) that shape people's engagement in and for adaptation. Based on a survey of Swedish citizens at risk from severe climate events, we show that engagement is a gendered process, which is mediated by personal values, worldviews and place—aspects rarely considered in public adaptation. While a high level of diverse citizen action is often related to past experiences of hazards, motivation to adapt goes beyond the idea of acting out of rational self-interest. Economic considerations (e.g., low cost) are not the only motivation to adapt; the potential of an adaptation action to contribute to green, thriving surroundings and mitigate global climate change was found nearly as (and among female respondents, more) motivating. Women were also found to be more motivated to engage in adaptation if this supports other community members at risk. At the same time, past adaptation action could not be linked to motivation to adapt, and was found to be negatively correlated with communitarian and ecological values or worldviews. This confirms that motivation to adapt does not automatically translate into action, and indicates a 'mitigation–adaptation gap' in people's climate awareness, which can lead to ineffective climate responses. Given these findings, we discuss alternative approaches to support increased citizen engagement and more effective and transformative climate action. We end with a call for public adaptation and risk communication that takes greater account of inner/subjective dimensions. Highlights • Gender, values, worldviews and place shape engagement in adaptation. • Social and ecological considerations increase adaptation motivation, especially for women. • Mismatch between adaptation motivation and action imply a mitigation-adaptation gap. • Public adaptation policies need to consider 'inner', in relation to 'outer' dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The science of climate change is full of uncertainty, but the greater vulnerability of poor countries to the impacts of climate change is one aspect that is widely acknowledged. This paper adapts Dryzek''s ‘components’ approach to discourse analysis to explore the media construction of climate change and development in UK ‘quality’ newspapers between 1997 and 2007. Eight discourses are identified from more than 150 articles, based on the entities recognised, assumptions about natural relationships, agents and their motives, rhetorical devices and normative judgements. They show a wide range of opinions regarding the impacts of climate change on development and the appropriate action to be taken. Discourses concerned with likely severe impacts have dominated coverage in the Guardian and the Independent since 1997, and in all four papers since 2006. Previously discourses proposing that climate change was a low development priority had formed the coverage in the Times and the Telegraph. The classification of different discourses allows an inductive, nuanced analysis of the factors influencing representation of climate change and development issues; an analysis which highlights the role of key events, individual actors, newspaper ideology and wider social and political factors. Overall the findings demonstrate media perceptions of a rising sense of an impending catastrophe for the developing world that is defenceless without the help of the West, perpetuating to an extent views of the poor as victims. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Political capabilities are vital for marginalised people to negotiate equitable resilience in climate change responses. • How to strengthen resilience in practice and through engaged and empowering research methods remains poorly understood. • Our analysis shows that dynamics of inclusion, exclusion, and oppression are pervasive, even in seemingly inclusive methods settings. • Contestation and resistance are essential to avoid the voices of disadvantaged populations being co-opted in the name of 'resilience building' • Engaged research methodologies to nourish political capabilities require self-reflexivity among development and resilience scholars. Critical scholarship on the intersection of development pathways and climate change responses highlights the roles of power, agency, social difference, intersecting inequalities, and social justice in shaping people's resilience in a rapidly transforming world. Yet, how to precisely increase the spaces in which people experiencing marginalisation can address power asymmetries and strengthen their resilience, particularly from a methodological perspective, remains poorly understood. Here, we build on recent insights into political capabilities and their relevance for equitable resilience practice to assess the role research methods play in not only locating political capabilities but also enhancing them in the context of climate resilience. We present the findings from an in-depth analysis of 57 articles, out of a larger set of 200+ papers, that have employed co-learning/cooperative inquiries, participatory action research, participatory methods, workshops, and/or interviews combined with other approaches as most engaging and potentially empowering methods. Methodological insights through this analysis allow us to examine if and how resilience-in-the-making materialises across uneven power relations and often flawed decision-making processes. We show the pervasiveness of power differentials, even in research settings designed to be inclusive, and how disempowering processes in adaptation, mitigation, disaster management, and social transformation further marginalise already disadvantaged actors. At the same time, we illustrate the transformative role of alliances, resistance, shared learning, and sustaining inclusive approaches. Such nuanced insights into best processes as well as detrimental pitfalls are essential for development scholars and practitioners to help anchor deliberative resilience practice in the everyday lives of disadvantaged populations and foster political capabilities for more just climate action and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal communities around the world face challenges in planning for coastal flooding and sea-level rise related to climate change. This paper develops an approach for identifying typologies of communities on the basis of their hazard vulnerability characteristics. The approach first characterizes communities with a suite of vulnerability indicators, selected to meet criteria of breadth, relevance, and data requirements. Cluster analysis is then applied to the indicator profiles to identify groups of similar communities. The statistical centrotype of each group represents the corresponding community type. A new community from outside the original set can then be matched to the typology using a Hazard Vulnerability Similarity Index (HVSI). The approach is demonstrated with a case study of 50 communities on Canada's Pacific coast. Results yielded 10 community types, of which four were predominant. The types range from highly urbanized, wealthier, diverse central cities to remote, resource-dependent towns with semi-developed, flat coastlines. Three selected communities from a distant region, in Atlantic Canada, were then successfully matched to the most similar of these 10 types. Identifying groups of communities that share vulnerability profiles can facilitate sharing knowledge, lessons, and resources that are most relevant to local efforts to reduce natural hazard risk. This support may be especially valuable for connecting communities that are unfamiliar with one another, yet similarly vulnerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays there is a global concern with the growing frequency and magnitude of natural disasters, many of them associated with climate change at a global scale. When tackled during a stringent economic era, the allocation of resources to efficiently deal with such disaster situations (e.g., brigades, vehicles and other support equipment for fire events) undergoes severe budgetary limitations which, in several proven cases, have lead to personal casualties due to a reduced support equipment. As such, the lack of enough communication resources to cover the disaster area at hand may cause a risky radio isolation of the deployed teams and ultimately fatal implications, as occurred in different recent episodes in Spain and USA during the last decade. This issue becomes even more dramatic when understood jointly with the strong budget cuts lately imposed by national authorities. In this context, this article postulates cost-efficient multi-hop communications as a technological solution to provide extended radio coverage to the deployed teams over disaster areas. Specifically, a Harmony Search (HS) based scheme is proposed to determine the optimal number, position and model of a set of wireless relays that must be deployed over a large-scale disaster area. The approach presented in this paper operates under a Pareto-optimal strategy, so a number of different deployments is then produced by balancing between redundant coverage and economical cost of the deployment. This information can assist authorities in their resource provisioning and/or operation duties. The performance of different heuristic operators to enhance the proposed HS algorithm are assessed and discussed by means of extensive simulations over synthetically generated scenarios, as well as over a more realistic, orography-aware setup constructed with LIDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) data captured in the city center of Bilbao (Spain). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keep increasing every year, and despite the adoption of the Paris agreement, one cannot expect any significant dip in the trend in the near future. We may therefore legitimately question the efficiency of the current governance system, notably concerning the interplay between science and policy. The strategy adopted by the UNFCCC in Paris contrasts with the strategy adopted in Kyoto, as it endorses a dynamic that is more bottom-up. Its success will depend greatly on the ability of the actors to mobilise on climate issues and to find ways to work together. Scientific expertise has a key role to play to this respect. This paper is a reflection led by the French Association for Disaster Risk Reduction on how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could evolve in order to usefully accompany that strategy. Introducing more reflexivity in the assessment process and widening aspects of the expertise to a more diverse and transdisciplinary range of actors could improve the treatment of uncertainties, multi-scale interactions and the appropriation of expertise, as well as the integration of adaptation and mitigation policies. In practical terms, this could involve more working groups, which could become more focused, drawing up shorter but more frequent reports, and taking account of the “grey” expert literature. The implementation of such an approach merits further investigation, because these improvements could help address the governance challenges in climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical cyclones are among the most dangerous and devastating natural disasters affecting life, property and environment. The use of remote sensing and spatial analysis has significantly increased to manage the on-ground impacts of these disasters with rapid advances in a wide range of data availability and processing techniques. This paper reviews recent studies of on-ground cyclone disaster management using remote sensing and spatial analysis in the context of response, recovery, prevention/reduction and preparedness to find out the key knowledge gaps for future research. The study used a systematic quantitative literature review technique to assess the past 21 years of research. Following the systematic search and developed selection criteria, the relevant original published articles on cyclone disaster management using remote sensing and spatial analysis were selected. The selected literature was then categorised and analysed based on the particular research focus. Our findings showed that most of the studies were concentrated in Asia (55%) and North and Central America (40%). The extensive use of remote sensing and spatial analysis started after 2004 and largely focused on the preparedness (34%) and prevention/reduction (32%) phases. Nearly all studies used the optical imagery, and the use of SAR imagery was limited. The object-based classification approach was rarely used under post-classification comparison techniques for overall tropical cyclone impact assessment and recovery. Very limited studies examined tropical cyclone risk assessment incorporating mitigation capacity and spatial multi-criteria using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). A simple modelling approach is required for producing detailed cyclone risk models. Most of the studies were conducted at the regional scale without validation of results. Cyclone risk mapping and modelling should consider future climate changes scenarios at the local scale. Future research is needed to cover reported knowledge gaps for improving cyclone disaster management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of resilience is used by many in different ways: as a scientific concept, as a guiding principle, as inspirational ‘buzzword’, or as a means to become more sustainable. Next to the academic debate on meaning and notions of resilience, the concept has been widely adopted and interpreted in policy contexts, particularly related to climate change and extreme weather events. In addition to having a positive connotation, resilience may cover aspects that are missed in common disaster risk management approaches. Although the precise definition of resilience may remain subject of discussion, the views on what is important to consider in the management of extreme weather events do not differ significantly. Therefore, this paper identifies the key implications of resilience thinking for the management of extreme weather events and translates these into five practical principles for policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We extend scholarship on sociodemographic determinants of disaster preparedness. • Housing security and quality were vital for disaster preparedness in the household. • Presence of an older adult at home was associated with higher preparedness. • Housing insecurity moderates social vulnerability's association with preparedness. The ability to plan for a disaster is associated with a range of contextual factors and often traverses several sites of inequities, including sociodemographic and institutional disparities. While multiple studies have investigated the relationship of housing insecurity with adverse outcomes after a disaster, fewer studies have examined how housing insecurity is associated with disaster preparedness. This paper hypothesizes social and structural vulnerabilities to be directly associated with preparedness. Housing insecurity is posited to have both direct and multiplicative effects with social vulnerability on the dependent variable. We use nationally representative data from the 2017 American Housing Survey. The final weighted study sample consisted of 29,070 housing units, with 52% male and 48% female householders. Fifty-seven percent of the population was not prepared with food, water, emergency funds, and transportation. Housing security and quality emerged as important conditions for households to be better prepared. Further, housing insecurity moderated the relationship between some social vulnerability factors and preparedness. The study helps identify where resources and research funds should be targeted to reduce multidimensional vulnerabilities before a disaster. Safe and affordable housing is central to climate and environmental justice; centering disaster readiness, response, and climate action across policy agendas is vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eastern China, a populous and economically developed area, is severely affected by various meteorological disasters under the background of global climate change. In recent years, urban waterlogs caused by heavy rainfall has become a major concern threatening urban safety and socioeconomic development. This paper aimed to reveal the spatial pattern of waterlogging risk in 89 prefecture-level cities of Eastern China by a comprehensive analysis on extreme rainfall, socioeconomic exposure and urban adaptability. Hazard intensity index was calculated on 20-year return period value of maximum daily precipitation. Exposure index was based on the total urban population and local gross domestic product, while adaptability index was an integrated evaluation of drainage pipeline density, river network density and greening rate of urban area. Risk assessment was a synthesis judgment of hazard intensity index, exposure index and urban adaptability index, according to which the cities in Eastern China were classified into five risk levels. The six cities with the highest level of waterlogging risk were Shenzhen, Beijing, Maoming, Yangjiang, Shanwei and Dongguan, which indicates relatively stronger intensity of meteorological hazard, higher density of socioeconomic exposure and the weakness of urban adaptability in these cities. The high risk cities would suffer much more losses than other cities in Eastern China when hit by an extreme rainfall. This paper could provide a scientific basis for urban waterlogging risk identification and governance, as well as for technical measures development and capacity building of disaster prevention and reduction. • A research framework and technical methods for urban waterlogging risk assessment were proposed. • An indicator system for waterlogging risk assessment was raised based on hazard, exposure and adaptability factors. • Urban adaptability of waterlogging disaster was evaluated based on drainage pipelines, river networks and greening level. • Taking Eastern China as a pilot, the paper presented a city risk ranking for urban waterlogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the national nutrition crisis and the adjustment of planting structure, millet has once again become a widely planted cash crop in Northern China. However, as the climate warms in recent years, drought has occurred frequently and repeatedly in Northern China, which has seriously threatened millet production safety in this area. Therefore, it is urgent to clarify the hazard of millet drought disaster and provide reference for the formulation of millet disaster prevention and reduction measures. In this paper, combined with the water demand of millet in each growth period, Standardized Precipitation Requirement Index (SPRI) was selected to identify and quantify the drought disaster of millet. Considering the impact of different degrees of drought in different growth periods, a hazard assessment model is constructed to evaluate the hazard of millet drought disaster in Northern China under the background of climate change. The results show that: (1) SPRI can well characterize the drought of millet in Northern China. (2) In the context of climate change, millet drought in Northern China shows a trend of increasing intensity and decreasing frequency, and it is possible that millet drought will be even more severe in the future. (3) Combined with the hazard assessment model, millet drought in Northern China will still be dominated by middle hazard in the future, but the areas with high hazard will gradually increase, mainly distributed in northeast China, central and western Inner Mongolia and northern Gansu. The research results can be of great practical significance for the adjustment of agricultural production structure in the future, especially for the sustainable development of agriculture and the formulation of measures to prevent and resist agricultural disasters. [Display omitted] • We apply SPRI to identify millet drought by considering actual water demand. • Future changes of millet drought evaluated by CMIP6-GCM models. • Hazard assessment model was presented combined with disaster loss coefficient. • The areas with high hazard of millet drought will gradually increase in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization, the devolution of fiscal, political, and administrative powers and responsibilities from centralized governments to local ones, has spread rapidly throughout Asia. Proponents of decentralization argue that it has the potential to improve local capacity for governing many challenging issues, including the management of hazards, disasters, and the effects of global climate change. Disaster governance is particularly challenging in small cities, communities that house a large portion of Asia's urban population but where disaster management institutions, knowledge, and capacity are often lacking. Across Asia, a substantial portion of urban growth is occurring in small cities. This paper examines whether decentralization has led to more effective disaster governance in small cities in India, using the state of West Bengal as a case study. It finds that decentralization has created the potential for improved disaster governance, by providing constitutional and legal authority for improved urban governance and local disaster management plans and programs. In reality, however, decentralization has yet to significantly reduce urban disaster risk in small cities in West Bengal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most common response to change by societies is either to take incremental steps and maintain the current system or accept gradual partial change. Yet, given the current and future complex large-scale challenges like climate change, such responses are increasingly inadequate. Calls are now made for societies to implement transformative approaches in order to manage complex problems in a more sustainable and adaptive manner. However, the discussion around transformative change is still emerging and it is not clear as to what transformation means, how it can be evaluated, and how the conceptions of transformation fit within the current understanding of dealing with policy problems in practice. This paper explores the range of current understandings on transformation and its characteristics, and uses Handmer and Dovers’ (2007, 2009, 2013) three-staged typology to investigate different approaches to identifying and managing policy problems and the potential scope for transformation. Examples from policy and practice within disaster risk management are used to demonstrate how different management approaches attempt to deal with particular problems and to investigate to what extent these could be transformative. It is argued that not all transformation is positive and welcome, and that greater focus needs to be placed on how complex problems are managed in a manner that enables long-term positive transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Philippines is recognized as one of the most natural hazard prone country in the world. The December 4, 2012 Super Typhoon Bopha (referred is the Philippines as Typhoon Pablo) and the November 8, 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) are recent major disasters which The Louis Berger Group (Louis Berger) was requested by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to rapidly respond to.Louis Berger quickly identified partners and appropriate technologies, which it applied during these post-disaster recovery activities, strengthening the requested response and building local capacity and preparedness for future natural disasters and responses.This paper is based on the vulnerability assessment (VA) component of the Louis Berger's contracted role in responding to the Typhoon Pablo event. The major USAID-funded Louis Berger response to Typhoon Yolanda is on-going with current contract completion scheduled in June 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, floods caused by heavy rain have caused major disasters in urban centres around the world. A lack of disaster preparedness in the global South has resulted in much damage in urban environments. These damages will have long-term repercussions for governance, communities and the natural environment. Heavy rainfall events are projected to become more intense and frequent due to climate change, and many recently affected areas may face more heavy rainfall and flooding in the future. Urban governance underpins the ability to manage disasters, through all phases of preparation, response and recovery. This paper focuses on flood risk in the global South, and how risk perceptions influence how local government and residents manage disasters. Findings from a case study in Ekurhuleni, South Africa indicate that local residents'' risk perceptions are influenced by historical relationships of distrust with local government. Local government officials, on the other hand, indicate the range of challenges, such as limited capacity for implementing policy, that limit the effectiveness of local government''s ability to manage flood related risks. In assessing how adaptive capacity can be developed in cities in the global South, the potential for local government and community capacity to work in a complementary manner is explored. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the mad race of development, we have developed a myopic vision thereby endangering the coming generations. No doubt, industrialization and urbanization are the ‘in things’, but what is missing in the today''s style of development is the aspect of sustainability. Moreover, If the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, etc all are witnessing a marked deterioration in the quality, then by all means the developmental model needs to be questioned. Things like pattern of urbanization, materials used in building construction, building construction practices, urban commuter''s behaviour, energy needs, waste disposal strategy, disaster management, etc. and juxtaposing all – ‘the carbon footprint of our life style’ should be relooked. Instead of just restricting to the evolving codes of ‘Green Buildings’ we should be evolving the codes of ‘Green Lifestyle’ and should have effective mechanisms in translating these codes into real time actions. It is these ‘differential green actions’ which when integrated would redefine the developmental model. Technology has the strength to make the people perform these differential green actions which not only benefit them at an individual level but also the society at a mass level. Through this curtain raising research paper we wish to bring forth the burning problems of the cities and herewith present a technological perspective in bridging the wide gap between sustainability and development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The management of flash flood hazards and risks is a critical component of public safety and quality of life. Flash-floods develop at space and time scales that conventional observation systems are not able to monitor for rainfall and river discharge. Consequently, the atmospheric and hydrological generating mechanisms of flash-floods are poorly understood, leading to highly uncertain forecasts of these events. The objective of the HYDRATE project has been to improve the scientific basis of flash flood forecasting by advancing and harmonising a European-wide innovative flash flood observation strategy and developing a coherent set of technologies and tools for effective early warning systems. To this end, the project included actions on the organization of the existing flash flood data patrimony across Europe. The final aim of HYDRATE was to enhance the capability of flash flood forecasting in ungauged basins by exploiting the extended availability of flash flood data and the improved process understanding. This paper provides a review of the work conducted in HYDRATE with a special emphasis on how this body of research can contribute to guide the policy-life cycle concerning flash flood risk management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a paper that studies climate change adaptation in public health system in Great Britain. Topics discussed the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to climate change published in Great Britain in 2013, gap observed between national research and policy and local needs, and advocates implementation of climate change adaptation.

This paper explores the value of using community risk assessments (CRAs) for climate change adaptation. CRA refers to participatory methods to assess hazards, vulnerabilities and capacities in support of community-based disaster risk reduction, used by many NGOs, community-based organizations, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent. We review the evolution of climate change adaptation and community-based disaster risk reduction, and highlight the challenges of integrating global climate change into a bottom-up and place-based approach. Our analysis of CRAs carried out by various national Red Cross societies shows that CRAs can help address those challenges by fostering community engagement in climate risk reduction, particularly given that many strategies to deal with current climate risks also help to reduce vulnerability to climate change. Climate change can also be explicitly incorporated in CRAs by making better use of CRA tools to assess trends, and by addressing the notion of changing risks. However, a key challenge is to keep CRAs simple enough for wide application. This demands special attention in the modification of CRA tools; in the background materials and trainings for CRA facilitators; and in the guidance for interpretation of CRA outcomes. A second challenge is the application of a limited set of CRA results to guide risk reduction in other communities and to inform national and international adaptation policy. This requires specific attention for sampling and care in scaling up qualitative findings. Finally, stronger linkages are needed between organizations facilitating CRAs and suppliers of climate information, particularly addressing the translation of climate information to the community level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Climate-related disasters in coastal urban areas are intensifying with significant impacts on populaces, environments, and ecosystems. Hence, climate-related disaster preparedness is now acknowledged by climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction experts. However, there is limited knowledge of communities and policy-makers on the integration of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). This paper through the lens of resilience theory presents goals towards linking coastal climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction from the case study of East London, coastal city in South Africa. This study gathered data through a semi-structured survey, aimed at defining salient public issues to improve CCA and DRR policies, public participation inclusion, and programmes. This study shows that the knowledge of CCA and DRR is relatively low in the study area, also the provision of disaster information by the local authority is quite low. Conversely, most of the respondents affirm that available disaster information is always in locally understood languages, this is important in understanding disaster early warning by local dwellers. Accordingly, in disaster information dissemination, the government should be proactive and responsive in spreading information that covers every people. Further work that respects the importance of indigenous knowledge for CCA and DRR integration is needed i.e. local participation in the framework of development endeavours, through the inclusion of indigenous people in policymaking at the sub-national, national and international levels, this would help them to participate in administrative processes that affect them; providing a resilient community, improved adaptive capacity and sustainable living. Effective flexibility, adaptability, interoperability among stakeholders at various levels are key ingredients to reaching these goals. Image 1 • Recommendations for linking CCA and DRR. • Elderly persons are the most affected group during disaster events. • The knowledge of a coastal community disaster plan in addressing local disaster needs is relatively low. • There is a significant positive relationship between CCA and DRR knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events pose significant threats to urban health in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where there are systemic health challenges. This paper investigates health system vulnerabilities associated with flooding and extreme heat, along with strategies for resilience building by service providers and community members, in Accra and Tamale, Ghana. We employed field observations, rainfall records, temperature measurements, and semi-structured interviews in health facilities within selected areas of both cities. Results indicate that poor building conditions, unstable power supply, poor sanitation and hygiene, and the built environment reduce access to healthcare for residents of poor urban areas. Health facilities are sited in low-lying areas with poor drainage systems and can be 6 °C warmer at night than reported by official records from nearby weather stations. This is due to a combination of greater thermal inertia of the buildings and the urban heat island effect. Flooding and extreme heat interact with socioeconomic conditions to impact physical infrastructure and disrupt community health as well as health facility operations. Community members and health facilities make infrastructural and operational adjustments to reduce extreme weather stress and improve healthcare provision to clients. These measures include: mobilisation of residents to clear rubbish and unclog drains; elevating equipment to protect it from floods; improving ventilation during extreme heat; and using alternative power sources for emergency surgery and storage during outages. Stakeholders recommend additional actions to manage flood and heat impacts on health in their cities, such as, improving the capacity of drainage systems to carry floodwaters, and routine temperature monitoring to better manage heat in health facilities. Finally, more timely and targeted information systems and emergency response plans are required to ensure preparedness for extreme weather events in urban areas. • Extreme weather events threaten urban health services in sub-Saharan Africa. • Poor citing of urban health facilities exposes them to heat and flood extremes. • Extreme events disrupt existing deficient health infrastructure and care provision. • Effective drainage and temperature management will aid urban healthcare provision. • Early warning and emergency response will help prepare for extreme weather events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]