The recent Taiwan earthquake and the Samarco tailings dam failure both illustrate the critical role of individual responsibility in disaster risk reduction

In a new paper, we examine the distribution of landslides from two earthquakes in New Zealand to see if hillslope preconditioning – the idea that the legacy of one trigger event can influence slope behaviour ins subsequent event – occurred. The results suggest that this might have been a factor in the area affected by both earthquakes,

The Straits Times in Singapore has published a detailed account of the Mount Kinabalu earthquake and rockfalls from the perspective of the school party that was struck by the debris on the mountain slopes.

The Chinese news agencies are reporting a huge ice – rock avalanche in Akto County, Xinjiang, China. The reported volume is half a cubic kilometre!

More information is now available about the fatal Rockville rockfall on Thursday. A Utah Geological Survey report in 2010 identified the high level of hazard associated with this cliff, and recommended that a more detailed hazard assessment was needed.

Exceptional monsoon rainfall across Central China has caused very extensive damage, including many landslides, in the areas affected by the 2008 earthquake

Dave reviews the UK Government plans, announced yesterday, for a refocussing of the humanitarian assistence budget, which emphasises effective disaster risk reduction and response.

A collection of interesting links to articles and sources of information related to natural hazards:

Hurricane Tomas is currently passing through the southern part of the Caribbean.  Yesterday it passed over St Vincent, causing extensive damage.  The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, is reported to have described the storm as “the worst storm in living memory”  and to have said  “It is terrible, we are in a bad way”. The storm has also reportedly caused some damage, including landslides, …

The flood crisis in Pakistan continues to develop with a surprising pace.  In an earlier post I suggested that this event might be Pakistan’s equivalent of Hurricane Katrina (i.e. a wake-up call for effective disaster management), but now it is starting to look more like the equivalent of the Haiti Earthquake – i.e. an event that is so catastrophic that the coping capacity of the state is exceeded.  There is …