News in Japan - February

USA:
Heavy rainfall events becoming more frequent on Big Island, Hawaii
Flooding in U.S. Midwest more frequent, study finds; Research covered more than 50 years of data in 14 states
U.S. plan would keep highways, federal buildings away from flood areas
Emotions, not science, rule U.S. climate change debate - study

Netherlands:
Book launch: Dutch Dikes gives well documented overview of 22,500 km dikes
Dutch minister Schultz talks about flood risk reduction with Mexican water agency Conagua

Dutch do not know what to do during flood (Dutch)

Dutch underestimate flood dangers (Dutch) 'Nederlanders onderschatten gevaar overstroming'

http://www.overstroomik.nl/ Dutch tool to see which areas are subject to flooding (sea and major rivers only)

http://www.dwarshuis.com/aardbevingen-groningen/ Earthquake visualization tool for Groningen, Netherlands (artificially induced earthquakes due to gas drilling)

Other:
Aqua-Aero Watersystems delivers RO treated groundwater for 0,47 eurocent in Gujarat India
UN-Water conference Zaragoza: Economic growth both blessing and curse
Satellite science improves storm surge forecasting around the world
ENHANCE video just released
Floods created home of Europe's biggest waterfall
New tools to breed cereal crops that survive flooding

Malawi floods expose need to step up disaster prevention

Mozambique says death toll rises after heavy flooding

New digital maps speed up aid response after earthquakes-U.N.

World must achieve international water goals to preempt looming conflicts born of desperation

Global rainfall satellites require massive overhaul

Saving lives in emergencies? If you want to, you'd better read this guide

Climate change can cause loss of important ice dynamics in streams (Sweden)

http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/good-enough-guide-book-en.pdf

Climate change pushes India's poorest children into slavery - Satyarthi

World has not woken up to water crisis caused by climate change - IPCC head

Floods, storms and heat projected to cost SE Asia $34bln per year

GAR15 to seek fresh start

Vulnerable people:
Weather warnings go unheeded where most needed (global) Local people are usually left out of efforts to gather information that could help keep them safe, and their knowledge is largely ignored by scientists, according to a major report on water-related disasters presented at the conference. Developing an early warning system alone is not enough for communities to avert disasters, where these are delivered without tailoring them for vulnerable groups. India was cited as a country that withheld forecasts for “strategic reasons”, refusing to share them with neighbours Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. China also failed to communicate flood predictions to neighbours Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.