Impact of climate change hitting US, congressional report finds

The New York Daily News via Reuters: The consequences of climate change are now hitting the United States on several fronts, including health, infrastructure, water supply, agriculture and especially more frequent severe weather, a congressionally mandated study has concluded.

A draft of the U.S. National Climate Assessment, released on Friday, said observable change to the climate in the past half-century "is due primarily to human activities, predominantly the burning of fossil fuel," and that no areas of the United States were immune to change. "Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont have observed changes in their local climate that are outside of their experience," the report said.

Months after Superstorm Sandy hurtled into the U.S. East Coast, causing billions of dollars in damage, the report concluded that severe weather was the new normal. "Certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense, including heat waves, heavy downpours, and, in some regions, floods and droughts," the report said, days after scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared 2012 the hottest year ever in the United States.

Some environmentalists looked for the report to energize climate efforts by the White House or Congress, although many Republican lawmakers are wary of declaring a definitive link between human activity and evidence of a changing climate....

Removing debris from the Joplin, Missouri, tornado, US Army Corps of Engineers photo

Australian bushfires worry insurers less than cyclones and floods

Peter Hannam in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): With large parts of the country under threat during this bushfire season, it seems counter-intuitive - if not insensitive - to downplay the economic risks. With both Victoria and New South Wales declaring total fire bans and with bushfire researchers warning the danger period has barely begun, moves to minimise potential losses might also seem premature.

Still, while the costs of the latest fires are not trivial - 525 claims for $52.5 million for the Tasmanian fires alone - the reality is only a fraction of a typical premium reflecting bushfire risk, according to Karl Sullivan, the general manager policy risk and disaster planning at the Insurance Council of Australia. ''[It's] in the vicinity of less than 2 per cent,'' Sullivan says. ''Internal fires from kitchen fires and things like that rate higher.''

The insurance industry does not dismiss the human and financial costs from bushfires. Victoria's 2009 Black Saturday bushfires killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2000 homes. A report issued this week by Suncorp, one of the country's biggest insurers, noted the blazes cost at least $4 billion. Of that, the federal government spent $468 million on relief and disaster recovery, the state government $269 million and the insurance industry $1.07 billion.

But for the industry, bushfires are another of the major hazards facing Australians and less of a worry to insurers than tropical cyclones and floods. The reinsurance giant Munich Re says research shows Australia is more exposed than other regions to climate change but fire is not the foremost hazard, according to Ernst Rauch, head of the company's corporate climate centre.

Longer term, ''water and precipitation are probably the most significant issues related to climate change, in both directions'', he says....

Bushfire smoke over Melbourne in 2009, shot by Nick carson, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Cool change aids Australia firefighters

Terra Daily via AFP: A drop in temperatures helped firefighters battling blazes across Australia Wednesday but up to 30 wildfires were still raging out of control, destroying a handful of homes and forcing people to flee.

After facing one of the highest-risk fire days in its history on Tuesday, residents in hard-hit New South Wales state woke to much cooler conditions as a southerly change dropped temperatures significantly.

While temperatures topped 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) in Sydney Tuesday, they were forecast to peak at just 25 C a day later, while Victorian capital Melbourne was down to 20 C.

The ratings on many bushfires were downgraded with none now at the "catastrophic" level, which signifies fires will be uncontrollable, unpredictable and fast-moving, with evacuation the only safe option.

But NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned against complacency with new fronts breaking out despite the colder weather. "It's been a long busy night for firefighters on the ground, for incident controllers working out of those fire control centres and of course the communities affected by these fires," he told ABC television....

Aerial view of fire at Copping/Forcett at around 4pm on 4 Jan 2013 - view from window of an airplane leaving Hobart Airport. Shot by Chuq, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Emergency preparedness losing ground due to US budget cuts

Alicia Gallegos in American Medical News: States have made significant strides in public health preparedness in the last 10 years, but budget cuts and work-force reductions are eroding that success and casting a cloud over future progress, says a December 2012 report.

The majority of states scored slightly lower on emergency health preparedness than in 2010, according to the report, “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism.” The annual analysis, released Dec. 19, 2012, was conducted by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“In the past decade, there have been a series of significant health emergencies, including extreme weather events, a flu pandemic and foodborne outbreaks,” said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of TFAH, an advocacy organization focused on disease prevention. “But, for some reason, as a country we haven’t learned that we need to bolster and maintain a consistent level of health emergency preparedness. Investments made after Sept. 11, the anthrax attacks and Hurricane Katrina led to dramatic improvements, but now budget cuts and complacency are the biggest threats we face.”

States were ranked based on 10 indicators, including response readiness, infectious disease control, emergency management and health system preparedness. A new indicator in 2012 was extreme weather event preparedness, which measured whether states have climate change adaptation plans in place.

Given climate-change research and the recent prevalence of extreme weather events such as droughts and hurricanes, “we thought it was important to highlight what” climate change preparedness requires, Levi said. “I don’t think there’s a health department that hasn’t thought about these issues, but our role is to make sure that health departments are integrating into the larger state efforts around climate change” issues."...

Australia braces for "catastrophic" wildfire day

The West via Reuters: Australia was bracing on Monday for days of "catastrophic" fire and heat wave conditions, with fires already burning in five states and as a search continued for people missing after devastating wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard toured fire-ravaged Tasmanian townships and promised emergency aid for survivors, who told of a "fireball" that engulfed communities across the thinly-populated state on Friday and Saturday.

"The trees just exploded," local man Ashley Zanol told Australian radio, recounting a wall of flames that surrounded his truck as he carted water to assist fire crews in the hard-hit township of Murdunna, largely levelled in the inferno.

Tasmanian police said around 100 people feared missing in bushfires had been accounted for and there had so far been no deaths as authorities combed through still-smouldering ruins of homes and vehicles, while evacuating local people and tourists.

Bushfires were ablaze in five of Australia's six states, with 90 fires in the most populous state New South Wales, and in mountain forests around the national capital Canberra....

A 2010 bushfire in Australia, shot by 80 trading 24, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Thousands flee floods as cyclone batters Solomon Islands

Terra Daily via AFP: Thousands of people were forced to flee rapidly rising rivers in the Solomon Islands, officials said Sunday as Cyclone Freda intensified into a "destructive" force storm and headed towards New Caledonia.

Wind gusts had strengthened to more than 231 kilometres per hour (144 miles per hour, 125 knots) as Freda developed into a powerful category four storm, said Sajay Prakesh at the Nadi Tropical Cyclone Centre in Fiji. "These winds are very destructive and can cause huge damage to infrastructure and buildings," he told AFP.

Freda is expected to reach New Caledonia on New Year's Day and "given its current form if it hits New Caledonia Freda will cause huge damage, as it will blow strong winds and heavy rain for six to seven hours".

As the cyclone moved across the Solomons it lashed the South Pacific archipelago, whipping roofs off houses, flattening trees and forcing people to flee rising rivers. Thousands of people from riverside villages had moved to the safety of higher ground, National Disaster Management Office director Loti Yates said….

Cyclone Freda on December 30, 2012, from NASA

Filipinos must learn to prepare for stronger typhoons

GMA News: While his hope for “a hazard-free, disaster-free 2013” may be too much to ask for, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said that the public must at least be prepared for stronger storms, “so we can avoid a repeat of Pablo and other destructive typhoons."

Paje had earlier declared that stronger typhoons are “the new normal” that Filipinos should learn to accept and prepare for. “We must accept the fact that because of climate change, the typhoons [have] become much stronger and the volume of rainfall has increased tenfold,” he said.  

The “new normal” also includes the stronger gustiness of tropical cyclones entering the Philippines, which should be something people should consider when constructing structures, Paje added.

“We therefore recommend that all houses and public buildings to be constructed must have the ability to survive strong winds and storm surge. We have to make sure that new buildings are able to resist the effects of typhoons and floods,” he said. 

He also repeated his call for the strict enforcement by local government units of the “no man’s land” rule in permanent danger zones identified by the Department to mitigate the effects of flashfloods and landslides.... 

US Navy photo of a 2006 mudslide in Leyte

Typhoon-hit Philippines threatened by new storm

Terra Daily via AFP: A tropical storm set to hit the Philippines on Christmas Day could spark floods and landslides, forecasters warned, even as the country struggles to recover from a typhoon that killed hundreds.

Tropical Storm Wukong is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to southern island Dinagat from 10:00 pm (1400 GMT), as well as nearby islands Samar and Leyte, the state weather service said.

"These could bring floods and landslides, particularly in landslide-prone areas like southern Leyte and Samar," the service's Nathaniel Servando said.

Servando said storm surges of up to four metres (13 feet) were also expected on the coasts of the three islands.

However, he said the storm was expected to spare the large southern island of Mindanao, which was devastated by Typhoon Bopha earlier this month.

Wukong would pass northwest across the central islands Wednesday and blow out to the South China Sea on Thursday, he said....

Tropical Storm Wukong on Christmas day

Creating resilient cities for a safer future

Kristen Avis in Designbuildsource: While the apocalypse predicted by the Mayans unsurprisingly failed to come true, the fact remains that disasters often strike unannounced and cities must be prepared for the worst.

Since over half the world’s population lives in cities, it is integral that those who plan, run and live in these cities are equipped with the knowledge, communication networks and tools they need to continue to function in the event of an emergency such as a natural disaster, a power grid failure, or a social uprising.

The UNISDR launched the Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready! campaign in May, 2010 to address issues of local governance and urban risk management, and local governments across the globe are taking part.

The threat of disasters is a regular occurrence for local government officials. The UNISDR says officials need better access to tools and policies to effectively deal with disasters that may occur. The campaign calls for commitments on the part of local governments to create resilient cities and increase support by federal governments to cities for strengthening local training and capabilities.

Better Cities Now lists five factors that make a city resilient. The first factor is establishing feedback loops. Public utility providers need feedback loops so different areas can help keep one another prepared when an emergency is imminent. Technical, economic, political and social links all create a more resilient city that can better withstand disruption....

A lightshow in of the Rotterdam, in commemoration of the May 1940 bombardement by Nazi Germany. Shot by Trebaxus, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Insurance and more for Sri Lanka's disaster preparedness

Rasika Somarathna in Daily News (Sri Lanka): The Disaster Management Ministry is planning to introduce a special insurance scheme for homes in identified disaster prone areas to protect property owners against potential losses during a natural calamity.

The insurance is to be extended to home owners whose houses are located within identified risk zones subject to recurring natural disasters such as floods, earth slips, quakes etc. An official said the insurance premiums would be borne by the ministry. A proposal in this regard has already been formulated.

Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera recently said his ministry is prepared to demonstrate earthquake resistant construction techniques for those planning to build houses or other structures in earthquake prone areas.

Minister Amaraweera said his ministry will also introduce several other measures to lessen the impact of natural disasters in the coming year. Another such measure, according to the minister is the upgrading of the Meteorology Department. He said plans were afoot to install latest equipment available in the international market to upgrade the capacity of Meteorology Department and improve its prediction capability. The Doppler radar installed at the summit of Gongala Mountain in Deniyaya at Rs 400 million too will begin operations from next year, he said....

Filipinos urged to heed weather advisories, geohazard maps

Philippine Information Agency: The Eastern Visayas Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council called on local government units and the public to heed weather advisories and to take geohazard maps seriously.  Office of Civil Defense Director Rey Gozon made the call as Pagasa has spotted and is currently monitoring a Low Pressure Area off Eastern Mindanao.

The LPA is expected to bring moderate to heavy rains (5.0 - 15.0 mm/hr) and thunderstorms in Bicol Region, Visayas and Mindanao, particularly over the provinces of Samar, Leyte, Agusan and Surigao which may trigger flashfloods and landslides.

Strong to gale force wind is expected to affect the seaboards of Luzon and the Eastern seaboard of Visayas and Mindanao.

Gozon said that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, particularly its Mines and Geosciences Bureau has distributed geohazard maps which identified disaster prone areas to all LGUs, so they will be properly guided in taking the necessary steps before, during and after a calamity.  “The geohazard maps are critical planning tools in the local government’s risk reduction program,” Gozon emphasized.

Geohazard maps contain information as to the level of susceptibility of areas to flooding and landslide, including areas that could possibly be used as relocation or evacuation sites, in case of calamities....

A seismograph at Pinatubo

Why Russia's cold snap is so deadly

Mark Lallanilla in Live Science: If any nation on Earth is accustomed to dealing with a harsh winter, it would be Russia. But from the farthest reaches of Siberia to downtown Moscow, the Russian people are being pummeled by a winter so brutal it's shattering cold-weather records across the continent — and it's only December.

As temperatures plunge as low as –minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 50 degrees Celsius) in some areas, the Pravda news site reports that 45 people have died of causes related to the subfreezing weather; 21 people froze to death in just one day. Hundreds more have been hospitalized with frostbite and other conditions.

Subfreezing weather combined with heavy snowfall in some regions have crippled the nation's infrastructure, closing roads, scrambling airline flights and bursting pipes that carry water and heat into homes, schools and businesses, according to RT.com.

This winter is the coldest on record since 1938, reports RT.com. The freakish cold spell, which has already lasted five days, is expected to continue through the weekend....

Russian winter, near Moscow, shot by Aleks G, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Haiti farmers in dire straits after Hurricane Sandy

Seed Daily via AFP: At an isolated farm in the town of Papaye in central Haiti, a group of farmers are counting the costs of Hurricane Sandy and trying to decide their next steps. The news from the meeting is grim.

Flooding unleashed by the massive storm killed more than 50 people and left thousands homeless in Haiti, another woe for an impoverished country still struggling to recover from a 2010 earthquake that left more than 200,000 dead.

Sandy also devastated the Caribbean nation's farming sector -- already reeling from a dry spell. "Haitian farmers were very affected by the drought, and then by the flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy," said Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the head of the Mouvement des Paysans de Papaye, an influential peasant movement. "Harvests were lost in most parts of the country. And now, there is a real risk of famine."...

DHL Express and United Nations Development Program run refresher of preparedness program 'Get Airports Ready for Disaster'

AMEInfo.com: DHL, the world's leading logistics company, will conduct a one-day advanced training course at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, building on its prime program "Get Airports Ready For Disaster" (GARD).

The so-called GARD plus training will now look into the findings of the initial 4-day assessment in July in order to sustainably integrate all aspects of GARD into the national Lebanese disaster risk reduction program. Lebanon is the first country to receive a GARD plus training.

"The GARD plus program enables all parties involved to align and strategize their action plan", said John Chedid, Country Manager DHL Express, Lebanon. "I would like to commend the dedication of the DHL GARD trainers and the facilitators from UNDP as well as those of the 10 participants of the GARD training who have been meeting and interacting regularly to put what they have learnt into practice," Chedid adds.

The participants of the GARD plus program consist out of ten trainees from the previous training, two trainers from DHL and two representatives from UNDP. On the basis of the July findings, the Lebanese participants had formed a working committee that regularly met and worked towards increasing disaster preparedness at the airport...

Denver International Airport in the snow, shot by ashleyniblock, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Step up for disaster risk reduction: appreciate, encourage and empower the female voice

Kanchana V in the Better India: The social role assigned to women as caregivers and nurturers naturally extend to disaster risk management, to secure life and the continuity of livelihoods, and to maintain the life support systems, in times of disasters. It would therefore be imprudent to understate the role women play in tackling emergency situations and in building resilience within their families and communities when a disaster strikes. Incontrovertibly, the societal position of women as agents of change needs to be stepped up.

Natural disasters devastate the lives and livelihoods of millions of people and cause substantial loss to the economy. Around 200 million young people worldwide are affected each year by reported disasters and thousands of them are killed and injured. A proper disaster risk management framework would enable the affected population, especially women, in taking immediate and correct steps in emergency situations.

In view of the transformational efforts by women in disaster prone areas, the UN General Assembly chose this year’s theme for the International Day for Disaster Reduction, celebrated world over on 13th October, as ‘Women and Girls: the [in]Visible Force of Resilience’. A wide range of events including tsunami drills and seismic risk discussions, gender-based violence workshops, community development work, poster and essay contests, panel discussions, gender awareness campaigns and education seminars were organised world over to celebrate the day. Women were given special awards and recognition for their exemplary work in disaster risk reduction and building resilience in their respective communities. United Nations has urged women and girls to be at the forefront of risk mitigation and disaster management. UN has also encouraged women to take up key leadership roles in disaster risk reduction initiatives and programs....

Om Kaliamman Koil Street flooded, shot by Mr.S.Koilraj (Dinamalar Reporter , Pallipalayam), Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Insurers to pay for close to half of the USD 140 billion in economic losses caused by natural catastrophes and man-made disasters

My former employer has come out with a new issue of their excellent risk publication:

• Economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters will likely reach at least USD 140 billion in 2012
• Weather events, primarily in the US, will dominate insured losses this year
• The re/insurance industry will cover approximately USD 65 billion of all losses, significantly contributing to post-disaster relief

According to Swiss Re sigma preliminary estimates, total insured losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters will reach approximately USD 65 billion in 2012. Natural catastrophes alone will lead to over 11 000 lives lost and roughly USD 60 billion in insured claims.

After a benign first half of the year, Hurricane Sandy and drought in the US in the second half of 2012 will lead to total economic losses from disasters of at least USD 140 billion. Insured losses arising from the catastrophic events of the year are set to reach roughly USD 65 billion. The tally is moderate compared to 2011, which saw historic insured losses of over USD 120 billion due to record earthquakes and flooding, but is above the average of the last 10 years.

Kurt Karl, Swiss Re’s Chief Economist, says: "Severe weather events continue to affect many parts of the world. Although insurance cannot bring back lost lives, many people and businesses can rely on financial relief from insurance cover, as is the case for the US. However, in large parts of the globe that are prone to severe weather events, people and businesses could increase risk-preparedness by eliminating underinsurance."...

Philippines typhoon death toll tops 1000

Terra Daily via AFP: The death toll from a typhoon that devastated the southern Philippines earlier this month has topped 1,000 as hundreds more remain missing, the government said on Sunday.

Typhoon Bopha killed 1,020 people, mostly on the southern island of Mindanao where floods and landslides caused major damage on December 4, civil defence chief Benito Ramos said.

A total of 844 people remain missing, about half of them fishermen who ventured out to sea before Bopha hit, Ramos said, adding he feared many of the missing were dead.

"The death toll will go higher. We found a lot of bodies yesterday, buried under fallen logs and debris," he told AFP.

He added the toll from Bopha, the worst natural disaster to hit the country this year, would exceed the 1,268 confirmed dead after Typhoon Washi struck the southern Philippines in December 2011.

From NASA: Typhoon Bopha on December 3, 2012

Philippines typhoon death toll tops 900

Terra Daily via AFP: The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 900, with hundreds still missing, the government said Thursday.

Typhoon Bopha killed 902 people mostly on the southern island of Mindanao, where floods and landslides caused major damage in nearly 2,000 villages on December 4, the civil defence office said.

A total of 615 people remain missing, it said, a big reduction from the previous tally after rescuers found 296 tuna fishermen who had put to sea before Bopha made landfall. The government agency did not give further details.

The typhoon, the deadliest natural disaster to hit the Philippines this year, destroyed 149,000 houses, it said.

About 80,000 people remain in government shelters, where they face months in difficult, crowded conditions as relief officials look for safe areas to build more permanent shelters.

Typhoon reduces Philippine farmers to beggars

Seed Daily via AFP: The secluded valley that sheltered Jerry Blanco's banana crop from communist and Muslim rebellions offered no refuge from Typhoon Bopha, which left him destitute in seconds.

Last week's terrifying storm has left more than 1,600 people dead or missing in the southern Philippines, and all but wiped out the banana plantations that are one of the desperately poor country's few export earners.

"First the strong wind came, then a sheet of rain. Our roof rattled, the house creaked and then the wall was blown away," Blanco, a 39-year-old plantation worker, told AFP in the southern Philippines.

"I looked out across the field, and all the (banana stalks) were felled. Our harvest was gone. The first thought in my mind was, we've just lost our future," the father of four said....

Climate change and disaster risk management at centre of Caribbean fisheries talks

The Bahamas Weekly: he hurricane season just ended, and particularly the trail of death and destruction carved out by Hurricane Sandy in October, has left many with a reminder of just how devastating natural disasters can be. Climate change is a compounding factor that regional fisheries managers cannot ignore.

This is why for the next three days, more than 90 collaborators from across the region will be focusing on these issues, as they convene the Workshop on Formulation of a Strategy, Action Plan and Programme Proposal on Disaster Risk Management (DRM), Climate Change Adaptation in Fisheries and Aquaculture in the CARICOM Region at the Knutsford Court Hotel, in New Kingston, Jamaica, from Monday, December 10 to Wednesday, December 12.

“The Caribbean is said to be one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world based on the frequency and severity of hazard impacts, as well as the significant damage, destruction and social and economic losses experienced. We are very mindful of the potential devastating impact of both man-made and natural hazards such as tropical storms, hurricanes, floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes and tsunamis. Over the past 2-3 decades, these hazards have had devastating impacts on the people, their property and livelihoods, and on the social and economic development of our countries,” said Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Milton Haughton.

Haughton noted that fishers, fish farmers and fishing communities, particularly those in coastal areas, are vulnerable. “It is not surprising, therefore, that the subject of climate change and disaster risk management has been recognised as a fundamental development challenge in the Caribbean requiring special attention by policy makers,” he added....

Harbour of Petite Rivière de Nippes, Haiti. Submitted by user Aimee Gaines to world66 (original location), which is licenced under Creative Commons 1.0