Ocean Cleanup announces world's first floatable ocean cleanup installation near Tsushima island, Japan Every year 30,000 cubic meters of trash is deposited on its shores. The collection of this garbage costs about 5 million USD annually. Tsushima island is evaluating whether the plastic can be used as an alternative energy source.
Below 96 percent of Japan elementary, junior high schools quake-resistant
Heavy rain hits Japan's Kyushu; 370,000 advised to evacuate
PREPARING FOR THE BIG ONE: THE JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE MINDSET
USA:
Severe flooding hits central Texas, Oklahoma TRMM/GPM are a joint missions between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
New tools aiding storm prediction, increasing ship navigational safety in Gulf of Mexico
Netherlands:
Ambitious 850 million reinforcement will make the Afsluitdijk a new icon of Dutch flood protection
Floods as war weapons A new study shows that, from 1500 until 2000, about a third of floods in southwestern Netherlands were deliberately caused by humans during wartimes. Some of these inundations resulted in significant changes to the landscape, being as damaging as floods caused by heavy rainfall or storm surges.
75% of Dutch people cannot reanimate (Dutch) 60% cannot locate nearest AED. Every week 300 Dutch people have a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital, having an average age of 66 years.
Other:
Flash flood risks increase as storm peak downpours intensify (Australia) "It means that most people in Australia can expect to see intensification in the magnitude of flash flooding in smaller catchments, particularly in urban or residential areas" The increase in flood peaks are estimated to be about 19% for Hobart, 12% for Sydney, 10% for Perth, and 45% in Darwin
Researchers to help create 'early-warning systems' through social media to combat future disasters (global)
Global risks: Pool knowledge to stem losses from disasters by Cutter, Takeuchi et al
Sediment makes it harder for baby Nemo to breathe easy Researchers have discovered that suspended sediment damages fish gills and can increase the rate of disease in fish.
Victim and major damage by severe weather in Germany (Dutch) - Dode en veel schade Duitsland door noodweer A 49 year old male died when hit by a falling tree branch. Six people were injured by a lightning strike.
The sedentary office: a growing case for change towards better health and productivity. Expert statement commissioned by Public Health England and the Active Working Community Interest Company for those occupations which are predominantly desk based, workers should aim to initially progress towards accumulating 2 h/day of standing and light activity (light walking) during working hours, eventually progressing to a total accumulation of 4 h/day (prorated to part-time hours).
Foreign same-sex couples here enjoy rights that Japanese don't
Critique on the Sendai Framework process:
Expertise
and policy-making in disaster risk reduction “Despite their presence, NGOs,
civil society groups, and scientific experts were not allowed to participate in
the formal negotiations. Diplomats would have benefited of the expertise from
the scientific community and civil society groups as the delegates showed a
very limited understanding of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and the broader
concept of resilience during the
negotiation.“ “Many delegates seemed most interested in promoting their
national interests, suppressing wording that cemented commitments, rather than
discussing the substance of the proposed framework.” “In general, much of the
research done by the scientific community and NGOs — research that was
centralized in the Global Assessment of Disaster Reduction 2015 (GAR), and
presented at the conference specifically to inform
decision-makers — was widely neglected in the final agreement. As a
result, the Sendai Framework lacks scientific substance, contains many loosely
conceptualized targets, and poorly represents the amount of research presented
during the conference.”
“These formal negotiations were
closed to both the public and conference participants, and probably reduced the
pressure on diplomats to integrate the suggestions from the immediately
available expertise. While exclusion of these actors in the formal process may
make formal agreements easier to reach, the result is a framework that lacks
ambition, especially considering that it is not legally binding.”
”First, there must be direct
participation of the scientific community in the negotiations”
“Second, there is a need to make
the GAR more central to the negotiations, in a similar manner to the IPCC, to
make it harder for decision-makers to ignore it.”
“Third, more opportunities for
communication and mutual learning should have been provided at the conference.“
Colin Walch is in the Department
of Peace and Conflict Research and Centre for Natural Disaster Science (CNDS)
in Sweden.
