Natural Hazards Center

Celebrating Hazard Cultures

A Missed World Heritage Opportunity?

By James Mitchell

We can learn many lessons from the ways past cultures sought to prevent, avoid, and reduce hazards. A valuable source to find some excellent examples of how humans have adjusted to hazards is the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Preserving the Dead

Cemetery Preservation and Disaster Planning

By Bill Lovekamp, Gary Foster, and Steven Di Naso

The loss of cemeteries can be tantamount to the loss of communities, as well as their histories and identities. To prevent this from happening and to protect the dead, comprensive disaster plans are vitally important.

Failure to Communicate

Pretty Much Everyone Dropped the Ball in Louisiana

By Jolie Breeden

As floods ravaged Southeast Louisiana, everyone from news agencies to government officials to the public missed opportunities to exchange—and understand—information.

Disaster News Redux

UN (Sort Of) Takes Responsibility for Haitian Cholera Outbreak

By Jolie Breeden

Even as U.S. courts again rule against Haitian cholera victims, the UN has begun to more openly acknowledge the role it played in introducing the epidemic.

The Ice Plague Cometh

Public Health Hazards Lurk in Thawing Permafrost

By Jolie Breeden

As the permafrost at the edges of the Arctic begins to thaw, a variety of long frozen diseases, pollutants, and other hazards are awakening to wreak havoc in the tundra and beyond.