A slow post-hurricane recovery continues for Barbuda

In the early morning hours of September 5th, Hurricane Irma passed directly over Barbuda, a small island in the eastern Caribbean. The Category 5 storm damaged 95% of the island's structures and a two-year-old boy was killed. The island was left littered with debris. Just days later, the threat of incoming Hurricane Jose pushed the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, to initiate an island-wide mandatory evacuation. Most of the population was brought to Antigua, which was relatively undamaged by Irma. Although Jose did not significantly impact Barbuda, Browne, citing vermin and water-borne illnesses, decided the island was temporarily uninhabitable. The mandatory evacuation was kept for an additional three weeks. For the first time in centuries, the island was unpopulated, leaving abandoned livestock and pets to roam the streets.

A look at attacks where vehicles have been used as weapons

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says a man in a rented pickup who mowed down pedestrians and bicyclists along a bike path near the World Trade Center memorial Tuesday was a "lone wolf." The attack killed at least eight and injured 11 others. Police shot the 29-year-old driver and took him into custody after he jumped out of the truck with what turned out to be a fake gun in each hand. It's the latest in a string of incidents where drivers have used their vehicles as weapons. Some were orchestrated by extremist groups, others by unstable individuals with unclear motives. Radical groups have urged supporters to use any weapons at hand, including cars, a tactic that presents a major challenge for security forces around the world. Here's a look at some other attacks:

A high price to pay: The true cost of America’s aging infrastructure

At 12:55 am on the morning of September 22, 1993 the towboat Mauvilla departed Mobile, Alabama, pushing three barges loaded with steel pylons up the Mobile River. A little over an hour into its journey, caught in a heavy fog typical of the Mobile River Delta, the pilot of the Mauvilla mistakenly turned into the Big Bayou Canot channel while searching for a place to tie off to shore and wait for the fog to lift. Moments after making this wrong turn, the Mauvilla lurched to a halt. They had not hit shore, but rather hit the Big Bayou Canot Bridge, a 60 year old bridge initially designed as a movable swing bridge, but later converted to fixed cantilever bridge. The collision caused the bridge to swing three feet on its pivot, deforming, but not breaking, the railroad tracks that ran across it.
policies

A Global Disruption Requires a Global Response: Policies for building international business resilience for this and future pandemics

The COVID-19 global pandemic has exacerbated the move toward greater economic nationalism and isolationism across the world. As nations have independently constructed responses to the pandemic with vastly dissimilar success levels, the repercussions for international businesses and national economies has been intense. We posit that addressing a global disruption, such as this pandemic that cannot be contained effectively by borders, requires a global response - not a national nor a local response.

5G: Striking a balance between resilience and risk

On Friday November 1st, China unveiled the world’s largest 5G network in 50 cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. China Mobile and other telecom companies now offer 5G plans, starting at 18USD for 30 gigabytes per month, however, many companies are charging by speed rather than by month. It is estimated by 2020, 7% of China’s population will use 5G, and the country hopes to continue to expand its coverage. Striking a balance between managing vulnerabilities and advancing resilience through the development of 5G technology remains a challenge for current and future policymakers.