Discarded furniture and household items on a street in Beaconsfield, west of Montréal, in the aftermath of the floods on Aug. 9, 2024. Disasters force us to rethink the way we rebuild.
The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes
The vast majority of damage to residential buildings during flooding occurs in basements. Rather than rebuilding identically after a disaster, we need to build better.
Insurance companies will need to be innovative and explore new policy options as they manage the growing risk to homes from climate change and natural disasters.
Recovery from a hurricane gets even harder when more storms follow, as Lake Charles, La., residents saw.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A town hit hard by two hurricanes, downpours and a deep freeze, all in the midst of a pandemic, offers crucial lessons for everyone’s disaster planning and recovery.
Having defensible space can mean the survival or destruction of a house during a wildfire.
AP Photo/Ed Andrieski
Roofs, windows and siding all affect how vulnerable a home is and how likely it is to survive a wildfire. So does what’s around it in the ‘home ignition zone.’
Puerto Rico has a fraught history with tropical storms, and climate change is making them more damaging.
Mike Hill/Stone, via Getty Images
Many people who survived the catastrophic landslide in PNG are likely to be facing serious injuries and illness, with warnings of a significant risk of disease outbreaks in the country.
Women and gender-diverse people bear the brunt of climate change’s negative affects. If Australia wants to be taken seriously on climate action, this needs addressing.
Papua New Guinea is Australia’s nearest neighbour – but for many, it rarely enters their consciousness. Now is the time to show the PNG people what a good neighbour Australia can be.
May 27 2024 satellite image shows the landslide in Enga province, PNG.
Maxar Technologies via AP
Practices such as redlining left marginalized groups in more disaster-prone areas with poorer quality infrastructure − and more likely to experience prolonged power outages.
A powerful tornado tore apart homes near Omaha, Neb., on April 26, 2024.
AP Photo/Margery A. Beck
A powerful storm system produced dozens of destructive tornadoes over three days that tore apart homes in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa. A meteorologist explains the conditions that fueled them.
Inmate fire crews work alongside professional fire crews and do the same work. But they receive little, if any, pay.
David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
Georgia’s inmate fire crews respond to hundreds of calls in surrounding counties every year. Without them, there might not be a responder, but they aren’t universally loved – and they don’t get paid.
Utilities can turn off power to reduce the risk that their equipment could spark wildfires during extreme weather events.
Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images
Turning off power is a last-ditch strategy for utilities to reduce the risk that their systems could spark wildfires. In most states, deciding whether to take that step is up to utilities.
Muslims internationally fast during the day in the holy month. But largely-Islamic nations are feeling the effects of climate change, making life harder both during and outside of Ramadan.
Extreme fires leave forests struggling to recover in a warming world.
Mark Kreider
A new study offers a rare window into the hidden effects of aggressive fire suppression that go beyond fuel accumulation. The practice may even change the course of forest evolution.
Human influence on the climate started even before the Industrial Revolution.
Print Collector/Getty Images
Erle C. Ellis, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Scientists have been debating the start of the Anthropocene Epoch for 15 years. I was part of those discussions, and I agree with the vote rejecting it.
Age can make recovery harder after a disaster like the tornado that tore apart Greenfield, Iowa, in May 2024.
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall