Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Benjamin Popovich, Liam Wotherspoon, Jose Borrero
Summary: Ports in New Zealand play a critical role in domestic and international shipping, but are at risk of structural damage and operational disruption due to tsunami hazards. While the impact of tsunamis varies between ports, the eastern coastline faces the highest risk, particularly from earthquakes along the Southern Kermadec, Hikurangi and South American Subduction Zones. An earthquake off the Peruvian coastline has the potential to impact a larger number of ports, affecting international trade capacity, regional recovery, and domestic inter-island transport. This highlights the importance of a broader perspective in national and international transport systems to inform resilience investments.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Alex Escola-Gascon, Neil Dagnall, Andrew Denovan, Miriam Diez-Bosch, Josep Lluis Mico-Sanz
Summary: This study aimed to test the effects and consequences of the eruption of the volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma on 502 participants. The results found that this natural disaster predicted reductions in pro-ecological attitudes and sense of place, and increases in stress levels. The findings have important implications for the development of public policies for environmental sustainability.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
(2023)
Article
Geography
Erica Akemi Goto, A. Marcela Suarez, Haiyun Ye
Summary: This study assessed the social vulnerability to natural hazards in Sao Paulo city using the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI). The results showed that demographic and average household size were the most important contributing factors, and vulnerable neighborhoods were mainly located in the southern areas and outskirts of the city. The findings can be used by local authorities for emergency planning and policy making.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Jianping Huang, Xinbo Lian, Yingjie Zhao, Danfeng Wang, Siyu Chen, Li Zhang, Xiaoyue Liu, Jinfeng Gao, Chuwei Liu
Summary: This study describes the statistical characteristics of COVID-19 cases in India and traces the causes of two outbreaks, suggesting that water-to-human transmission accelerates the spread of the virus.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
John Volckens, Erin N. Haynes, Sharon P. Croisant, Yuxia Cui, Nicole A. Errett, Heather F. Henry, Jennifer A. Horney, Richard K. Kwok, Sheryl Magzamen, Ana G. Rappold, Lingamanaidu Ravichandran, Les Reinlib, Patrick H. Ryan, Daniel T. Shaughnessy
Summary: This commentary discusses the lack of research on the nature and effects of disasters on human health and the challenges in developing cost-effective sensors for exposure assessment. The panel of experts highlights the need for scalable, reliable, and versatile sensor technologies, as well as renewed efforts in support of disaster research facilitation, collaboration, and preparedness.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elisabeth L. Rosvold, Halvard Buhaug
Summary: This article introduces a new open source extension providing subnational, geocoded data on major disasters triggered by natural hazards. The Geocoded Disasters dataset facilitates rigorous empirical analyses of disaster determinants and impacts by connecting the EM-DAT database to other geographic data sources on the subnational level.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alessio Ciullo, Eric Strobl, Simona Meiler, Olivia Martius, David N. Bresch
Summary: This study finds that global pooling generally provides greater financial resilience and risk diversification compared to regional pooling in sovereign catastrophe risk pools. Extreme weather events can severely impact national economies, leading to reliance on slow and uncertain foreign financial aid. The study introduces a method for maximizing risk diversification and finds that global pooling always provides higher risk diversification and benefits more countries.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Economics
Kristina Czura, Stefan Klonner
Summary: This study examines the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (Roscas), finding that while the supply of funds in these credit networks remained stable, the demand from small and medium-scale entrepreneurs increased significantly. As a result, funds were redirected from wage-employed members and commercial investors to entrepreneurs. The study concludes that natural disasters have heterogeneous effects on individuals and that Roscas offer greater potential for gains from trade than traditional credit and insurance networks.
JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Geological
Victor Cabral, Fabio Reis, Vinicius Veloso, Claudia Correa, Caiubi Kuhn, Christiane Zarfl
Summary: This study provides an overview of the socioeconomic consequences of debris-flow events in Brazil and identifies areas where targeted actions are necessary. The analysis shows that Brazil has experienced 45 debris-flow events from 1920 to 2021, resulting in 5771 fatalities and over 5.5 billion USD in economic losses. The Southeast region of Brazil, particularly the Serra do Mar Mountain Range, is the most affected area with the highest debris-flow mortality rate and societal risk. The study highlights the urgent need for investments in disaster prevention and preparedness programs.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Aviral Kumar Tiwari, Mustafa Kocoglu, Umer Jeelanie Banday, Ashar Awan
Summary: This study analyzes the relationships among ecological footprints, biocapacity per capita, gross domestic product per capita, natural resources, urbanization, human capital, and hydroelectric consumption for Brazil and China from 1971Q1 to 2017Q4. The novel quantile autoregressive distributive lag method is used to analyze the long-run and short-run dynamics of environmental degradation. The findings reveal that economic growth plays a positive role in the environmental degradation of both countries, but human capital, natural resources, and hydropower have heterogeneous effects across quantile distribution and between the two countries. Based on the quantile dynamics of environmental degradation, this study suggests policy implications for sustainable development.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Mechanics
S. Bahena-Jimenez, E. Bautista, F. Mendez
Summary: This work studies the tsunamis generated by a seabed deformation in the presence of viscoelastic mud, assuming linear water waves. By dividing the study area into a water layer and a mud layer, and considering the thinness of the fluid layers compared to the horizontal length of the seabed deformation, a semi-analytical solution is obtained to model the evolution of the free surface elevation. Both passive and active tsunami generation cases are analyzed, and the effect of mud layer thickness on the tsunami's maximum amplitude is investigated. The results show that the tsunami's maximum amplitude decreases with increasing mud layer thickness in active generation cases, while it remains constant in a finite time interval for passive generation cases.
Article
Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism
Huong T. Bui, Hiroaki Saito
Summary: This study examines the use of tourism as a means of post-disaster recovery, using the case of the 2011 tsunami in Japan. It offers theoretical and empirical insights into the interactions between resources and users in tourism social-ecological systems and proposes a matrix for measuring system resilience. The findings have implications for managing tourism destinations affected by disasters.
ANNALS OF TOURISM RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wenfan Wu, Fangguo Zhai, Yanzhen Gu, Cong Liu, Peiliang Li
Summary: Harmful algal blooms and hypoxia are common ecological disasters that often occur in specific locations, causing long-lasting environmental problems for coastal communities. This study, using the case study of Qinhuangdao, reveals that weak tide-induced upwelling during summer creates favorable conditions for the occurrence of these ecological issues. This finding challenges the traditional view and is significant for coastal management.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Shiho Kino, Jun Aida, Katsunori Kondo, Ichiro Kawachi
Summary: This study found that most survivors experienced remission of depressive symptoms after 5.5 years following a major disaster. However, persistent and delayed onset of PTSS were associated with job loss and decreased subjective economic status.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2021)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bart P. Braeckman
Summary: Reduced tagging of certain proteins for clearance in ageing nematode worms can result in the accumulation of unnecessary proteins, ultimately impairing cellular and tissue function.
