Natural Hazards Center

All Creatures Great and Small

Improving Disaster Resilience Through Pets

By Kirrilly Thompson and Danielle Every

Disaster researchers tend to characterize pet and animal ownership as a risk factor for human survival. While this characterization is fair, animal ownership and animal activities can also provide successful avenues for engaging vulnerable people in strategies designed to increase disaster resilience.

Trumping the Paris Agreement

What the Next Presidency Could Mean for Climate Change

By Jolie Breeden

Even as world leaders met in Morocco to discuss the details of the Paris climate agreement, the impact of the newly elected U.S. president on its execution remain unclear.

Protesters Stand Tall with Standing Rock

Pipeline Opponents Endure (and Make Some Progress)

By Elke Weesjes Sabella

For months, Native American protesters and their supporters have physically blocked construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Lake Oahe in North Dakota. They have garnered lots of attention and made some small progress, however, it's difficult to determine how the battle will end.

Maritime Security Initiatives

A Paper Tiger or a Concrete Solution?

By Steve Sin, Brecht Volders, and Sylvain Fanielle

In response to the potential threat of terrorism from weapons of mass destruction, the international community has launched various political and legal initiatives to prevent illicit trafficking of radioactive and nuclear materials via maritime means.

The Geography of an Explosion

Damage and First-Year Recovery in West, Texas

By Michelle Annette Meyer and Marccus Hendricks

Today, more than 1,300 facilities nationwide store the same type of chemical that exploded in West, Texas in 2013. For all these facilities and especially for those located near schools, nursing homes, or hospitals, understanding the potential damage and recovery outcomes of such events is crucial to developing response and recovery plans as well as informed future land-use decisions.