Misunderstanding disaster warnings can have catastrophic consequences for people who don’t speak the language used for emergency communications.
- Associate Professor, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, University of Florida
It’s now officially the end of hurricane season, but the rebuilding of the Bahamas continues, slowed by the risks imposed by a history of colonialism and class division.
Ghana needs to deal with the underlying causes of floods and prepare people for them.
Wildfires in the US have drawn thousands of firefighters. Meanwhile, Indonesia is struggling to rebuild in the wake of earthquakes. What’s the difference? Poverty and access to resources.
States’ approaches to challenges of forced displacement and migration often fail to acknowledge a sometimes competing, but always essential, consideration – the basic dignity of the human person.
Images of the aftermath of the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam collapse in Laos went around the world. But many other dam projects harm locals and the environment in less visible ways.
If states are permitted to determine when force is warranted, outside the existing legal framework, the legitimacy of that framework may be fatally undermined.
Reconstruction progress in Nepal has been painfully slow. Building code compliance and better urban planning are a must – but inequitable access to resources undermines recovery.
Les violences commises à l’encontre des Rohingya doivent aussi être analysées à travers le prisme économique : le Myanmar est en plein développement industriel.
The use of Agent Orange in Vietnam had deep impacts, including a poisoned water supply, birth defects and cancer. Despite decades of attempted litigation, justice for spraying victims seems unlikely.
Vietnam has been hit by its fiercest storm in a decade, bringing home the reality of the risks faced by many poor and vulnerable people in flood-prone regions around the world.
Alongside the present horrors being inflicted against the Rohingya in Myanmar, we must consider the broader political and economic context that continues to marginalise minority groups.
Disasters may have ‘natural’ triggers but why are ethic minorities forced to live under harsh conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to catastrophes?
What is the point of international co-operation in matters of shared concern? According to the UN Charter, its founding member nations were determined to achieve overarching societal progress based on…
Marginal people become resourceless, invisible to public policies, and disempowered in public life. This increases their vulnerability to disaster.
US President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order on “energy independence”. The order rescinds key elements of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. Trump’s order lifts requirements…
Leonardo DiCaprio’s new climate documentary is an urgent call for the promised green tech revolution. But it shows too much faith in politicians and corporations to change their ways.
At least 1,000 people perished when Hurricane Matthew battered Haiti last week, destroying houses and displacing tens of thousands
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