Global Hazards Weekly Bulletin: 18th - 24th January 2020

WHO Statement on the Coronavirus Outbreak issued 23 January 2020

New coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Macao, Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong, Nepal and South Korea. Additional cases have also been reported in Japan and Thailand.

Australia

Storms with giant hailstones hit bushfire regions in Australia

Australian bushfires contribute to huge rise in global CO2

Brazil

Haemorrhagic fever case reported in Sao Paulo state

Floods kill at least 6 in Southern Brazil

Canada

State of emergency declared after record snowfall in eastern Canada

Extreme winter storm in Newfoundland

China

China takes measures to rein in spread of coronavirus

Coronavirus: death toll rises as more cities shut down

Guatemala

Thousands displaced and hundreds injured after floods in Guatemala

Madagascar

Six deaths and widespread damage after floods in Madagascar

Mozambique

28 people die in heavy flooding in Mozambique

Peru

Heavy rain causes overflow of the Pachitea river

Spain

Thirteen people die as Storm Gloria floods delta in eastern Spain

United States

Cold temperatures litter south Florida with stunned iguanas

Zimbabwe

Millions at risk after toxins found in Harare's water supply

Zimbabwe grain stocks running out after drought

Other items of interest:

Global Commission on Adaptation launches action track to accelerate local climate adaptation solutions

UNEP, IUCN to launch new €20m programme on ecosystem-based adaptation

World Economic Forum: Global Risks Report 2020

WMO State of Climate Services 2019

WHO: Lack of new antibiotics threaten global efforts to contain drug-resistant infections

Ten New Insights in Climate Science 2019: The world is not on track

Guided self-help intervention reduces refugee's psychological distress and improves wellbeing in humanitarian crises

New Research suggests Australian Bushfires Cost 1.8 million Work Days, Leave 5 Million Sick from Smoke

Epi-Brain: a global platform that allows experts in data and public health to analyse large datasets for emergency preparedness and response

Climate and Disaster Displacement: The Importance of Disaster Law and Policy

Using behavioural insights to improve disaster preparedness, early warning and response mechanisms in Haiti

Interpersonal violence and mental health outcomes following disaster

How standardized baseline information helps harmonize disaster risk management in Bangladesh

East Africa battles devastating locust swarms

Global Hazards Weekly Bulletin: 11th - 17th January 2020

Afghanistan 

Extreme cold and heavy snow hit Afghanistan killing at least seventeen people

Australia

80% of the Blue Mountains and 50% of Gondwana rainforests burn in bushfires

Emergency Response Co-ordination Centre Map of the Australian bushfires

Bolivia

Six dead as storms hit Bolivia

China

At least nine dead as giant sinkhole swallows bus

Second death in China from coronavirus

Iran

Twenty per cent of areas in Iran are at high risk of flood

Italy

"Smog emergency" forces traffic bans across Italy cities

Japan

Japan confirms first case of new China corona virus strain

Pakistan

Avalanches and snow wreak havoc in Pakistan, leaving 73 dead

Philippines

Philippines volcano: Thousands evacuated as Taal spews ash

Taal volcano - "Life-threatening" eruption risk remains as thousands of evacuated residents warned not to return to danger zone

Philippines polio case tally reaches 16

Thailand

Thailand finds Wuhan novel coronavirus in traveller from China

United Kingdom

Severe gales and floods follow Storm Brendan

United States

Severe storms sweep through southern states leaving 12 dead

Zimbabwe

Anthrax outbreak in Zimbabwe

Other items of interest:

Funding opportunity: funding for scaling humanitarian innovation

Events: World Humanitarian Forum, 15-16 April in London

Call for papers on Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction for inclusion in special edition of Information Systems Frontiers

A decennial review of psychotraumatology: what did we learn and where are we going?

Health emergency preparedness for imported cases of high consequence infectious diseases

Missing Maps: supporting disaster relief by putting the world"s most vulnerable people on the map

Take care when examining the economic impact of fires. GDP doesn"t tell the full story

'Fun disaster' drills catching on across Japan, 25 years after Kobe quake

Worst marine heatwave on record killed one million seabirds in North Pacific Ocean

What 50 years of global hurricane landfall data can tell us about climate change

Pulitzer Center on Disaster Reporting: Annual Report

Amazon deforestation jumped 85% in 2019

WMO confirms 2019 as second hottest year on record

Global Hazards Weekly Bulletin: 4th - 10th January 2020

 Angola

 Torrential rain kills 41 people in Angola and causes widespread destruction

Australia

New York Times round up of coverage on the Australian bushfires

Smoke from Australian bushfires has reached South America

Australian bushfires converge to form "mega-blaze"

WMO Australia suffers devastating bushfires

Burundi

Burundi malaria cases reach 8.5 million

China

WHO Statement Regarding Cluster of Pneumonia Cases in Wuhan, China

50 people infected with newly discovered virus that causes severe lung disease

Greece

Extreme cold front covers Greece in snow

Israel

Four dead as "once in 50 years" flooding hits Israel

Kenya

Kenya starts spraying of locusts seen as threat to food security

Poland

Bird flu in Poland not contained

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico declares emergency after being rocked by hundreds of earthquakes since December

Turkey

Heavy rain kills two people in southern Turkey

Other items of interest:

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction: Disaster Resilience Scorecard for industrial and commercial buildings

United Nations University: Managing disaster risk and water security – strategies for small island developing states

Flight to the future: one land"s quest to diffuse a climate timebomb

Running dry: competing for water on a thirsty planet

Climate Science Research in the United States and US Territories: survey of scientific publications from selected public universities 2014-2018

As the ice melts, Greenland considers its future

Vintage photos show what Los Angeles looked like before the US controlled air pollution

An Australian Public Health researcher writes about being on the front line of "climate collapse"

Heatwave threatens Tunisia's date industry

2010-2019: A landmark decade of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters

Currency exchange company Travelex being held to ransom by hackers

Global Hazards Weekly Bulletin - 21st December 2019 - 3rd January 2020

Australia

Deadliest day of wildfires in Australia

Nearly half a billion animals have died in the Australian bushfires

Bangladesh

At least 50 killed, 283 000 affected as cold wave sweeps through Bangladesh

Fiji

Cyclone Sarai lashes Fiji leaving one dead and 2,500 evacuated

Indonesia

Jakarta floods: 'Not ordinary rain', say officials

Mozambique

5 die and 51 injured in Mozambique flash floods

Rwanda

Heavy rains kill 12 on Christmas night

Syria

Northern Syria flooding: thousands of children at risk of further displacement

Other items of interest:

2019 record temperatures conclude a decade of records in the UK

UN Environment Programme: 5 New Year's Resolutions with a Green Twist

Flood Resilience Alliance: Flood resilience measurement for communities

UNESCO: Global water security case studies

Haiti 10 Years After the Earthquake

World Bank: Act carefully or drown. 3 lessons from New Orleans for Sri Lanka

EU Annual Progress Report of the European and Global Drought Observatories, 2019

Beijing cuts city smog by more than 17% in 2019

Ugandan walkers plant trees to keep the climate fit

Climate activist Greta Thunberg named Time Magazine's 2019 "Person of the Year"