Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums This two-part report by the National Academies of Sciences examines recent changes to National Flood Insurance Program premiums which, although implemented to make the program more fiscally sound, ended up making flood insurance unaffordable for many homeowners. Together, the reports provide an overview of the program and offer alternatives for evaluating when premium increases make pricing unaffordable.
East Coast Lab: Life at the Boundary Life at the boundary of two tectonic plates is all about natural hazards—earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and coastal erosion—and so is East Coast Lab. This project, led by a collection of New Zealand’s national and regional agencies and universities, offers opportunities to participate in citizen research, monitor hazards in real time, and discover more about the hazards off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island.
Student Tools for Emergency Planning (STEP) The Federal Emergency Management Agency has stepped up its game for the STEP program with a recently revamped curriculum. Teachers will find updated resources, lessons, and handouts for the program, which aims to teach kids in fourth and fifth grades the basics of emergency planning, preparedness, and communication.
Temblor Many people in the United States are at risk from damaging earthquakes, and many know it. Still, it’s one thing to realize the risk and another entirely to understand it. Temblor is a beta-version web-based app that can help. Enter an address and building details, and learn the risk for experiencing quakes, what a serious quake would cost, and how much cheaper and safer retrofitting would make you.
The National Center for Climate and Security Warriors and Weather Compilation Alone, The Economist’s video, Warriors and Weather: Climate Change and National Security in America is a useful, ten-minute look into how the U.S. Department of Defense is approaching climate issues. But the National Center for Climate and Security takes that reporting a step further, pairing it with a list of suggested readings that range from statements by the administration to government reports and testimony.