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Stephen Flynn and Carmen Sceppa in News@Northeastern: Free Online COVID-19 Vaccine Course Fills the Gap in Public Health Messaging

“It is critically important to reach the people who are on the fence about the vaccine,” says Stephen Flynn, founding director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern, who co-led this initiative to launch the public health course, COVID-19: Vaccines 101.  “If the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t get vaccinated, we cannot achieve a safe enough level of immunity to bring the pandemic under control.”
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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.
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Fewer People Are Using public Transportation. Here’s Why That’s Trouble in the Long Run.

Nearly five months into pandemic lockdown in the United States, people are walking and driving more but using public transportation nearly half as much as they were in January, according to data from Apple. But eschewing public transportation in the long run could have serious longterm health and environmental consequences down the road, says Sara Jensen Carr, assistant professor of architecture at Northeastern.

Adjusting to the “New Normal”

The rapid spread of COVID-19 across the globe definitely took society by surprise. As a result, people were forced to social distance, stay home, and close all non-essential businesses. The economy, in the United States, shut down almost overnight and it definitely will not start back up that way. According to the NY Times, politicians and public health experts have argued for weeks over when and how, to allow businesses to reopen and allow Americans to leave their homes. The process will begin to happen gradually, with certain places and industries opening earlier than others.

Daniel Aldrich in Los Angeles Times: Isolation is hazardous to your health. The term ‘social distancing’ doesn’t help

Excerpt: Is the phrase “social distancing” sending the wrong message to millions of Americans who are struggling to get by during the COVID-19 pandemic? That’s the case being made by Daniel Aldrich, director of the security and resilience program at Northeastern University in Boston.“The moment I heard public health authorities use the term, I thought they were making a mistake,” he said.

Daniel Aldrich in the Washington Post: Is ‘social distancing’ the wrong term? Expert prefers ‘physical distancing,’ and the WHO agrees.

Is ‘social distancing’ the wrong term? Expert prefers ‘physical distancing,’ and the WHO agrees. The government, media organizations and meme creators have all embraced the term “social distancing” when discussing how to stem the coronavirus pandemic. But Daniel Aldrich, a professor of political science and public policy at Northeastern University, is concerned that the term is misleading and that its widespread usage could be counterproductive. The World Health Organization has come to the same conclusion. Last week, it started using the term Aldrich prefers: “physical distancing.”

Stephen Flynn in News@Northeastern: Responding to COVID-19 Pandemic, President Trump Invokes the Defense Production Act

President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday invoked the Defense Production Act to help prevent the U.S. healthcare system from being overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Trump’s move will make use of the act to produce about 60,000 COVID-19 test kits, as well as 500 million personal protective masks, according to Peter Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Once the parties start again

We’re now in the third month of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in the US. In some ways our collective response to this has been effective (e.g., closing the borders), in some ways not (e.g., politicizing the pandemic). We are clearly learning as we go – as we should – and our response efforts are getting better focused. But the pandemic is both causing problems that will last long after we have the pandemic under control, as well as shining new light on existing problems that we haven’t solved.

Northeastern University and the Global Resilience Institute Launch COVID-19 Curriculum to Support Students During the Global Pandemic

We are excited to announce that in a joint collaboration between GRI and Northeastern, a comprehensive digital curriculum was launched this morning to support students during the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID-19: How to be Safe & Resilient” offers a robust suite of educational practices that equips students with critical tools and information that will help flatten the epidemic curve and preserve the well-being of students and their families.

Climate Resilience Plan for New York City is Halted. Now What?

After the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy on New York City in 2012, officials have been looking for solutions to prepare for the next hurricane and other extreme weather events. In 2014, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio launched the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency (MOR) and in 2017, The New York New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries (HATS) focus area feasibility study was launched in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate five possible defenses against severe storms and flooding that pose threats to the communities along the harbor.

Daniel Aldrich in Salon: Why “social distancing,” if done wrong, can make you more vulnerable

Should the cabin lose pressure on an airplane, passengers are told to put our own masks on first before helping those around us. I've always thought that maybe we have to be told this advice because it defies the empathy that makes us human. Amid a crisis, we have a deep desire to help each other that outweighs what we experience in our day-to-day lives. In the wake of 9/11, there was a widely-reported increase in random acts of kindness, like going great lengths to help a stranger find a missing dog. After Hurricane Katrina, some people flew across the country to the middle of a disaster zone to help strangers rebuild their lives. Years later, Katrina survivors flew to Texas to help strangers who had been affected by Hurricane Harvey. Time and time again, we see that a crisis has a way of bringing people together. Disasters tend to turn us into nicer versions of ourselves.

Coronavirus and supply chain: cascading effect of the disrupted Chinese supply chain

Since the initial outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China last December, more than 130,000 people are infected[1] and 4,000 are dead[2] in three months. Even considering the delay in centralizing such fragmented data from all over the world, this novel coronavirus proves to be spreading at a concerning speed as the exponentially increasing number of infected and deceased people show. The intense media coverage of the coronavirus outbreaks, epidemics, and finally pandemic coupled with red banner travel bans heighten anxiety not only in the epicenters but also in places where the disease has yet to fully manifest.[3] This anxiety is being reflected globally through major events. For instance, the $5-trillion-plummeting of the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week (3/9/20) was the worst it performed in over a decade.[4] On the same day, the entire country of Italy committed itself to a nationwide lockdown to contain the rapidly spreading disease despite the criticism that such measures can be legally fraught.[5]

Where are the Heroes?

You have to feel sorry for kids today. Who do they look up to – who are their heroes? In my youth, we had plenty of heroes. We had parents who’d either fought in the war, or who’d worked at home to supply the guys winning the war. We had a President – Ike – who’d led the Allies’ to victory against the Nazis. We had the Splendid Splinter – the last to hit .400 in a season – who also flew combat missions in Korea. We had Bobby Clemente who tragically died delivering supplies to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua. We had great lawyers like Joseph Welch, who dared to call out the mighty Tailgunner Joe McCarthy for his lack of decency. We had legendary journalists like Edward R. Murrow, and Huntley and Brinkley, who gave us the news without inserting their own political views.

Simple solutions for a cyber resilient workplace

Online connectivity touches each facet of modern life. As such, the rise of the fifth domain has transformed the manner in which societies approach education, financial services, exchange of material goods, in addition to basic social interactions. In spite of these positive developments, innovators and policymakers alike fail to acknowledge the threats people are exposed to while roaming the internet. For this reason, pinpointing simple solutions for practicing good cyber hygiene -- the steps taken by users to maintain system health and security -- is a worthy topic for discussion.

Daniel Medwed in WGBH: How Clemency Works In Massachusetts

President Donald Trump recently issued a number of federal pardons, including to former Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich, raising questions about clemency power and how it can be used on the federal and state levels. WGBH News' Morning Edition host Joe Mathieu spoke with Northeastern University law professor and WGBH News legal analyst Daniel Medwed about how clemency works in Massachusetts specifically. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.

Purposeful action

Lefty Gomez was famous for saying he’d rather be lucky than good (How many of you know who Lefty Gomez was?). And when it comes to disasters, there are a lot of communities that have thrived due to dumb luck. After Katrina, Baldwin county in Alabama gained lots of new residents who had well-paying jobs in Mobile – jobs with companies who had relocated from New Orleans. Older workers were almost unaffected by the Great Recession; if we had a job, we kept it. No action was required – just being in the right place at the right time was enough.

Alisa Lincoln in Forbes: Experiencing Trauma In Childhood Linked To Increased Risk Of Developing Dementia

Experiencing trauma, abuse or neglect in childhood may lead to health complications later on, including a higher risk of developing dementia, new research finds. Researchers in Japan published a study this week that examined the connection between adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, and dementia risk. The team found that the more ACEs someone experiences early in life, the higher their chance of developing dementia in older age.

Liz Allen speaks at Northeastern’s Climate Course about the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food systems

On January 29th, Dr. Liz Allen, GRI's Postdoctoral Research Associate, spoke at the Myra Kraft Open Classroom – Climate Change: A Course For Everyone. The weekly course takes place at Northeastern University's Boston campus and is open to the public, and streamed globally, with the intent to promote climate change education, resilience, and action for all. Previously this semester, GRI’s Founding Director Stephen Flynn spoke at the course on Climate Resilience, along with GRI’s Distinguished Senior Fellow Dr. Atyia Martin and GRI’s faculty affiliate Brian Helmuth. Dr. Allen was invited to speak about the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food systems, as her research has specifically focused on this issue in the Northwestern regions of the U.S.

Boston’s vulnerable waterfront system: reactivating the city’s 47 miles of coastline to increase access and resiliency in the face of rising tides and temperatures

Back in 2016, the City of Boston released an action plan to combat climate change as part of Imagine Boston 2030, a document outlining the government’s plan for the future of Boston. Known as Climate Ready Boston, this initiative includes updated climate projections, vulnerability assessments and climate resilience strategies, as well as establishes eight focus areas for investment where risks, particularly coastal and riverine flooding, are spatially concentrated. The report highlighted three major threats to the city in the coming decades: sea level rise, extreme heat and extreme precipitation.

Daniel Aldrich in Times Standard: Lori Dengler: Making social connections builds social capital, community resilience

Last week, I mentioned lack of social capital as one of the culprits in the Haiti earthquake disaster. Social capital is a measure of community connectedness and many studies show that it can reduce impacts and improve recovery in disaster. For me, enhancing social capital is a no-brainer. Much of how to build it is relatively easy and has the added benefit of making a our society more livable even between disasters.

Massachusetts farmers turn food waste into electricity

In an effort to reduce food waste, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection prohibited the disposal of organic wastes by institutions or businesses that create more than one ton of it per week in October 2014. This means that businesses such as grocery stores are left unable to simply throw out the food waste they produce, but find other uses for it.  Fortunately, local dairy farmers have come up with an innovative solution to this problem: using food waste to generate electricity.

Volcanic eruption fatalities prompt investigations

Forty seven visitors were on White Island, also known as Whakaari, off the coast of New Zealand when the island’s volcano erupted. Six people have died as a result of the eruption and several more are severely injured and burned. This sudden tragedy has led many to question why the Island, which is home to New Zealand’s most active Volcano, was open for visitors. GeoNet, an agency which assesses volcanic risk activity levels in New Zealand increased its monitoring of the volcano’s activity from level zero to two in the weeks leading up to the eruption.

In quest for resilience, developers threaten character of Miami’s Little Haiti

Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood is experiencing an influx of interest from developers, part of  a larger trend some have characterized as ‘climate gentrification.’ The neighborhood sits at a higher elevation than most others in Miami, a beneficial quality in a city which experiences many instances of flooding each year. The vulnerability Miami is experiencing is only becoming more severe as sea levels continue to rise; in the last decade, the number of “sunny day” floods has increased 400%. The city’s distressed outlook has recently led it to be been deemed “a poster child for a major city in big trouble.” 

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. 

Food insecurity threatens resilience

The ability to have a stable and reliable supply of food is an important indicator of resilience. Establishing food security is a concern for public officials, community leaders, families and individuals across the globe. Often, populations which do not have reliable access to food are made vulnerable to a host of other conditions which threaten their resilience. Lack of affordability and physical access to food are two of the primary reasons families and communities in the United States struggle to maintain a reliable, nutritious diet.

Brazil oil spill threatens coastal resilience

Communities on the northern shores of Brazil’s coast are experiencing one of the largest oil spills in human history, the source of which is unknown. Originally appearing on only a few beaches in early September, crude oil has now washed up on over 2,000 kilometers (roughly 1,240 miles) along the coastlines of nine states. Due to a slow government reaction, volunteers across Brazil have been photographed rolling up oil slicks and disposing of them in trash bags. As the global economy is highly dependent on oil and related industries, the potential for future oil spills underscores the need to develop resilient practices for mitigation and recovery.

CDFI fund forges hope for upward mobility in Mississippi Delta

The long-lasting poverty that afflicted the rural South after the Civil War, though alleviated in many areas, still stands in the Mississippi Delta. In 2018, the state reported a whopping 19.8% of the population lives under the poverty line, topping all other U.S. states. Despite this, some counties have experienced a decline in poverty over the last 20 years. Almost half of the Delta’s poorest counties experienced similar reductions. Many believe this is due in part to the 1994 creation of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund, a federal tax incentive in the New Market Tax Credit Program. This aids Community Development Entities (CDEs), which are private financial institutions that deliver affordable lending to low income households. In May 2019, 73 CDEs were awarded CDFI funds, and many hope that these institutions will help Delta communities strengthen their financial resilience.

GRI participates in Northeastern’s annual Preparedness Day Conference

Last week GRI participated in Northeastern’s annual Preparedness Day Conference, a two day event hosted by the Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD). The conference, which featured keynote presentations, interactive exhibits, and lecture panels, was created with the goal of helping students and other community members build the skills necessary to effectively respond to emergencies and reduce the effect of a disaster. 

Inequitable distribution of disaster aid hinders resilience

Disaster-related government spending in America is at an all time high. The Washington Post has reported that, “in a typical year, taxpayer spending on disaster relief is almost 10 times higher than it was three decades ago, even after adjusting for inflation.” Additionally, some of the United States’s highest disaster spending recorded has been in the last 6 years. However, recent studies and analysis have shown that the distribution of disaster aid (and other recovery resources) is perpetuating socio-economic inequities.

Tropical Depression Imelda brings extreme rainfall and flooding

Tropical depression Imelda made landfall on Southern Texas last month, causing extreme rainfall and “major, catastrophic flooding” across several counties in the region. This storm comes about 2 years after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey, which had 38% higher rainfall than expected, a result researchers have attributed to atmospheric conditions resulting from climate change. Both storms have followed a trend of increasing rainfall due to warming air temperatures.

Community screening of "Cooked: Survival by Zip Code" aims to redefine resilient response

This past Friday, Northeastern University’s John D. O’Bryant African American Institute hosted a screening and community discussion of the film Cooked: Survival by Zip Code, produced and directed by Judith Hefland. The film details the conditions of the 1995 Chicago heat wave, where underlying social inequities amplified the tragic outcome of the disaster. The screening was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by GRI Founding Director Steve Flynn, where participants explained the importance of community resilience that works towards social advancement in order to better address social injustices. 

Heat island effects show intersection of social and environmental resilience

One of the most noticeable and most deadly consequences of global climate change is the intensity of urban heat islands. These are built-up areas with temperatures that are higher than the rural areas that surround them. Cities with over 1 million people can be 2-5 °F hotter than neighboring areas. Accompanied by escalating heatwaves, these concentrations of high temperatures can foster an environment which is detrimental to public health. In 2018, extreme heat was the number one cause of weather-related deaths, outnumbering fatalities caused by hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined.

G7 summit highlights climate change impact on resilience

Last month, leaders from the seven largest advanced economies in the world convened at the annual G7 Summit to discuss economic policies and challenges facing their countries and the global economy. Much of this year’s focus was on the progression and consequences of global climate change, and the ways global politics can confront this issue to build resilient nations. As the subject has become increasingly recognized as an imminent threat to global economies, the summit reflected the various perspectives held by each participating nation. 

US "digital divide": how internet access disparities affect resilience

The benefits of home internet access are countless. Having an internet connection allows families and individuals to engage in the economy, gain access to information which can improve quality of life, stay informed of news and connect with others. While mainstream internet use has come to influence almost every facet of life in the United States and across the globe, not all communities have been exposed to its resources at the same rates. 

Strengthening glacial ice may mitigate effects of climate change

The melting of the cryosphere poses a serious threat to world resilience. Resulting in the introduction of extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels, melting glacial ice poses a number of risks for not only coastal cities, but also the wellbeing of the entire human population. While the best solution to reverse the issue may be a complete shift to emitting low or no carbon levels, working to repair and restore weak ice may help to prevent some melting. This strengthens the cryosphere and the entire globe’s resilience to climate change.
Boston Skyline

Mayor Marty Walsh Declares August 27, 2019 Dr. Ted Landsmark Day

Mayor Marty Walsh recently declared August 27, 2019 to be Dr. Ted Landsmark Day in the City of Boston. This honor is to recognize the dedication and commitment that Ted has shown to generations of people in the City of Boston. Please join us in congratulating Ted Landsmark, the Director of Northeastern's Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy and Professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, and an affiliated faculty member of the Global Resilience Institute, for his public honor.

Fires in the Amazon threaten ecological resilience

The Amazon rain-forest, the world’s largest rain-forest, is currently experiencing some of the worst fires in its history. A new government administration in Brazil has prioritized economic growth over environmental policy, making the region more susceptible to disaster and threatening environmental resilience. The forest may soon reach a “tipping point”, where it is no longer able to bounce back and recover from this kind of destruction.

Department of Energy model aims to build resilience across the electric grid

Uninterrupted energy access continues to become more essential to the systems that enable our society to function. As more businesses turn internet enabled technologies and critical infrastructure systems are increasingly interdependent, power disruptions pose a greater risk of cascading disruptions that are felt far beyond the location in which they occur. In order to better prepare for and mitigate against risks to the energy grid, the Department of Energy (DOE) is creating the North American Energy Resilience Model (NAERM). This model aims to enhance the ability to predict, analyze, and recover from such natural and cyber attacks to the energy system in an attempt to bolster nationwide resilience. 

In New Orleans and Puerto Rico: Two Tales of Post-Hurricane Rebuilding

In the wake of destructive shocks, a variety of strategies have shaped the effort to rebuild communities. While New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, garnered significant, though ultimately unsuccessful, celebrity support, a new initiative in Puerto Rico is aiming to build resilience with the needs and financial means of local residents in mind. This new approach aims to improve the affordability of resilient design, and emphasizes the value of rebuilding with an eye towards the risk of future disasters.

Dr. Sarah Dunn "Infrastructure Resilience: Planning for Future Extreme Events" at GRI

On Friday, July 19, Dr. Sarah Dunn from the Structural Engineering Department at Newcastle University visited the GRI office and gave a presentation titled: "Infrastructure Resilience: Planning for Future Extreme Events," which centered around her recent weather forecast consequence modeling research. Dr. Dunn's research focuses on identifying fragile architecture and vulnerable areas to establish methods to protect the weakest areas from hazards.

ShakeAlertLA Allows for Heightened Earthquake Response

During the first week of July, Southern California experienced two of its strongest earthquakes in recent years. While the quakes led to some structural damage to buildings and homes, there were no casualties and the two incidents provided a unique opportunity to test the cities new earthquake alert app, known as ShakeAlertLA. A collaborative program developed through a partnership between the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the app alerts those in the Los Angeles county if an earthquake of at least a 5.0 magnitude on the Richter scale, or one that will produce “light” shaking in Los Angeles, is detected.

The Coffee Crisis: Mitigation and Innovation

Everybody loves coffee. At least, that’s how it seems. Nearly 83% of adults in the United States drink coffee, according to a National Coffee Association survey. In Honduras alone, the coffee sector is one of the region’s largest rural employers, with more than 96,000 local coffee producers and a million workers. However, the growers and retailers are still struggling to meet demand, bringing in some of the worst harvests Central America has seen in years. Amid high temperatures and inconsistent rain patterns, the Arabica coffee bean is more susceptible to disease, infestation and abandonment than ever. With their plants plagued by leaf rust fungus and Antestia stinkbugs (which combined roughly costs $750 million in annual damages), farmers from Central America are relinquishing their livelihoods to find work elsewhere. 

Tropical Storm poses threat to New Orleans and the rest of Louisana

Tropical Storm Barry, the first tropical storm to threaten the U.S. this year, is expected to make landfall in Louisiana on Saturday, June 13. Parts of the state have already experienced the effects of this storm, seeing nine inches of rain and winds of over 40 miles per hour. Extreme flooding is occurring throughout the New Orleans area with even more on its way. The storm is slow moving, at a speed of only 5 miles per hour, and is expected to bring further rain and flooding to the area. The National Weather Service predicts the storm surge will add up to five feet of additional water to the Mississippi River, reaching a height of around 20 feet. Floodwalls and levees in place in New Orleans are only equipped to reach 20 feet, making this storm a threat to the infrastructure and resilience capabilities of the city.

GRI Senior Research Scientist, Robert K. Knake, Book Release on July 16, 2019 | The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats

Rob Knake, GRI Senior Research Scientist, debuts his latest book, The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats, with Richard A. Clarke. Get an in-depth look at how governments, firms, and ordinary citizens can confront and contain the tyrants, hackers, and criminals bent on turning the digital realm into a war zone.

Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" predicted to approach record size

On June 10, 2019, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released their annual forecast for the dead zone located in the Gulf of Mexico. A hypoxic zone, more commonly referred to as a dead zone, is an area of low oxygen concentrations in the ocean, which lead to death of the marine life population. This year the Gulf is expected to experience a 7,829 square mile hypoxic zone, coming close to the record setting 8,776 square mile zone of 2017. Roughly the size of Massachusetts, this dead zone will have both ecologic and economic effects and will test the Gulf region’s resilience.

Oklahoma storms cause dangerous flooding

On Tuesday, April 30th severe storms began in Oklahoma which brought tornadoes, intense winds, and flooding to the state. As a result, Oklahoma’s Governor, Kevin Stitt, declared a state of emergency for 52 counties, which was amended on May 8th to add 14 counties and again on May 24th to add the state’s remaining 11 counties. Under this declaration, agencies throughout the state gained permission to purchase items that could help decrease the amount of time it takes to get resources to affected areas.

Costa Rica pursues carbon neutrality by 2021

Following the abolition of its army in the late 1940s, Costa Rica has been able to invest large portions of its budget into social programs. These programs include free education, free health care, the advancement of hydropower, national park preservation, reversing deforestation, promoting ecotourism, and most recently the production of clean energy. With 2021 quickly approaching, the Costa Rican government is looking towards carbon neutrality as its next feat. 

European Union seeking agreement on next budget for the Common Fisheries Policy

With the halfway point of 2019 quickly approaching, the members of the European Union are working to come to an agreement on a budget for the next iteration of the Common Fisheries Policy. European Union members actively fish in every ocean and represent the largest market for seafood products in the world. This makes it crucial for the European Union to be a global leader when it comes to promoting fisheries that are sustainable.

Massive Pre-cyclone Evacuations Help India Withstand Strongest Storm in Two Decades

What is being called the strongest tropical cyclone to hit India in 20 years made landfall in the eastern coastal city of Puri in the Odisha state around 9:30 am local time on Friday, May 3. When Tropical Cyclone Fani struck the city of 200,000, it had the force equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds upwards of 150 miles per hour. Approximately 6 hours later Fani was downgraded from an “extremely severe cyclonic storm” to a “very severe cyclonic storm” with winds reduced to around 90 mph.

Avoiding a water crisis: how Capetown avoided ‘Day Zero’

Cape Town, South Africa has now weathered a full year past its so-called “Day Zero,” the day when the municipal water supply for this major city was estimated to run out. Most of Cape Town relies on dams to supply the city with water. Three years of inadequate rainfall caused dam levels to fall to 25% of capacity by late January 2018, and water was expected to drop to the critical 13.5% of capacity by April 12, 2018. At that critical point, water would only be supplied to critical services such as hospitals, and municipal taps would be shut off. Residents would be forced to line up for daily water rations of 25 liters per person at one of 200 collection points. Day Zero was defined as the point at which stricter regulations would begin because defining Day Zero at 0% capacity would only prompt action from residents when it was too late.

Palm oil: environmental impact and sustainability

Palm oil, now the world’s most popular vegetable oil, epitomizes global tensions between environmental preservation and economic development of the Global South. Although oil palms are an ancient staple crop, palm oil use exploded in the last few decades due to its versatility and crop efficiency, producing unequaled oil yield per acre. Aside from cooking oil, palm oil is an ingredient in a wide variety of common items such as toothpaste, makeup, baked goods, and bio-diesel. Requiring only half as much land as other vegetable oil sources, palm oil quickly rose to one third of global oil consumption ringing in 72 million tons in 2018. However, as global demand grows, with a projected market value of $88 billion by 2022, concerns regarding its sustainability have risen to the forefront of environmental resilience discussions.

Levee failures on the Missouri River disrupt agriculture economy and infrastructure systems

The Missouri River, the longest river in North America, has played a critical role in sustaining communities in the midwest for centuries, serving as a source of drinking water, hydroelectric power, wildlife habitat, method of transportation, shipping, farming, recreation, and more. Recently, due to irregularly high rainfall, this natural asset has turned into an uncontrollable hazard. Rural towns across large swaths of the region are experiencing firsthand a taste of the challenges that lay before them as the changing climate continues to alter the capacity and behavior of this enormous and vital resource.

New Tools for sensing Microplastic, an Emerging Food Security Issue

Awareness of the global plastic crisis is rising as cities pledge to reduce their waste and major media publications like National Geographic campaign for education and action. Single-use plastic pollution has been shown to harm wildlife time and again. Most recently, a whale was found beached in the Philippines with 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach – its death likely caused by starvation due to complications with the plastic.

Helping cities of all sizes: California Opportunity Zone Partnership aims to guide investment

Last September marked the launch of the California Opportunity Zone Partnership, organized by the national nonprofit organization Accelerator for America and consisting of the State of California, the Energy Foundation, and the Cities of Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles. It aims to support government officials of small to medium sized California cities in taking advantage of their opportunity zones in  ways that will be beneficial to their communities.

Jordan: prospects for economic resilience

On the heels of the highest unemployment rates in 25 years, the Jordanian government announced in late February that it would create 3,300 job opportunities for youth across all Jordanian governorates. Encouraging economic development and activity outside of Jordan’s main metropolis, Amman, the Jordanian government seeks to re-enfranchise educated Jordanian youth, who currently face an overwhelming unemployment rate of 24.1%. A response to broad social discontent over slow economic growth and IMF austerity measures,  job creation is crucial to reopening overcrowded career fields and attracting women’s participation in the labor market.

The Venezuela crisis: Foreign aid, social cohesion and economic resilience

The world watches anxiously as one of the worst economic and humanitarian crisis in modern history unfolds in Venezuela. For years, the South American country has experienced a downward spiral of mounting political unrest fueled by skyrocketing hyperinflation, food shortages and economic contraction. Although his predecessor Hugo Chaves initiated the crisis, Nicolás Maduro exacerbated it during his first term in office – sending the Venezuelan economy into freefall in 2013.

Climate gentrification: why we need to consider social justice in climate change planning

As the impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, it has also become increasingly clear that those who are most disadvantaged will be some of the most affected. One concern is “climate gentrification” -- a growing concept in which some properties become more valuable than others due to their ability to better accommodate settlement and infrastructure in the face of climate change. Climate gentrification has some of the same negative impacts as gentrification, where lower-income people may be pushed out of their neighborhoods by rising rents and pressure from developers who seek to build property on desirable land.

Global Resilience Institute and School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs selected to host Energy Resilience workshop for State Department-sponsored Humphrey Fellows

This spring the Global Resilience Institute (GRI) and the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs at Northeastern University (NU) will host nearly two dozen U.S. Department of State-sponsored Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows for a four-day workshop on climate and energy resilience and equity, with funding from the Institute for International Education (IIE).
Power lines

Green infrastructure: a solution to storm water management and urban resilience?

The urban landscape as it currently exists cannot optimally manage the effects of heavy rain and storms. The abundance of impervious surfaces in urban areas affects the local hydrology, reducing infiltration and groundwater recharge, and increasing dirtied runoff into surrounding bodies of water. In many cities, particularly in the U.S. Northeast, antiquated combined sewer systems collect all household and industrial wastewater and storm water in one pipe, funneling it all to a treatment facility. However, during severe rain events, high volumes of water inevitably overwhelm the system, creating a serious health hazard when the sewers overflow into public waterways. The changing climate will only exacerbate existing problems: climate reports predict that rainfall will only get heavier in New England. In addition, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has given the infrastructure of the United States a grade of “D+”. While it is a dismal rating, there are creative ways to simultaneously improve both infrastructure and urban resilience.

Resilience technology funded through new Northeastern University GapFund360 grant

A new funding program at Northeastern University (NU) overseen by the Center for Research Innovation (CRI) will help faculty researchers bridge the gap between promising lab results and a commercially viable prototype. GapFund360 officially launched on Tuesday, with five inaugural Phase I awards of $50,000, including the Innovative Resilience Solutions Grant, co-sponsored by the Global Resilience Institute and CRI.

Emergency alerts during California’s Camp Fire highlight reliance on fragile communication systems

California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire in history, the Camp Fire, was fully contained on Sunday, November 25, after burning for more than two weeks through 153,000 acres in Northern California's Butte County. The blaze devastated the town of Paradise, and killed at least 85 with hundreds still unaccounted for. The Woolsey Fire, which ignited on the same day according to Cal Fire, simultaneously tore through more than 90,000 acres in Southern California, killing three, before being contained last Wednesday. 

Hunger crisis in Yemen highlights importance of food and healthcare security

After three years of conflict, the humanitarian situation in Yemen only continues to worsen. The war, which is fought between the Saudi-led coalition supporting the incumbent regime, with American supplies, and the Houthi rebels, has claimed nearly 50,000 lives. The factions have made it difficult for aid groups and humanitarian organizations to reach vulnerable populations, causing a famine that has devastated the country. It is estimated that 17.8 million Yemeni, over half of the population, are food insecure, and an additional 8.4 million are unaware of where their next meal will come from. According to a UN report, 400,000 children are at risk of dying daily due to lack of sufficient food sources.

New IPCC Report: Strengthening global response to climate change will require ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes’

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report on October 8, 2018 that alarmed many in the global community. The report stated that in order to prevent global temperatures from rising just 1.5ºC, there needs to be, “rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure, and industrial systems” or the world will see catastrophic damage as early as 2030.

Thriving in the face of adversity | A series on personal resilience

If you have any doubt that, in the words of Ben Okri, “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering,” than you haven’t met Sgt. 1st Class Greg Robinson, a combat engineer who became the first soldier with an amputated limb and prosthetic to complete the Army’s Air Assault School—a course so grueling his prosthetic broke twice.

Coastal towns reduced to rubble following Hurricane Michael

Following an intensification over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Michael left coastal towns in a state of complete obliteration. Now ranked as one of the four most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the United States, Michael tore through the Florida Panhandle last Wednesday, October 10, with sustained wind speeds of up to 155 miles per hour. Paired with heavy rain, this resulted in peak storm surge of 9 to 14 feet, which wrenched walls off houses and completely inundated coastal areas.

Applying chaos engineering principles to community resilience

Chaos engineering doesn’t just look at the software, it considers the entire system: software, hardware and people. This may involve multiple programs, run on many different servers, with input from people or from other programs. Periodically, user demand leads to addition of new features but with the expectation that the system will remain reliable. And yet, even if each individual program is operating “correctly” sometimes the system produces unreliable output. In general, faulty communications among the different parts of the distributed system most often are the root cause of these problems.

The path to bring resilience to Puerto Rico | Science Magazine Editorial

"Puerto Rico is not prepared for another hurricane." So begins an editorial published in Science Magazine, co-authored by Global Resilience Institute (GRI) Director for Strategic Research Collaborations Dr. Jennie Stephens, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Professor Arturo Massol-Deyá, and University of Puerto Rico, San Juan Professor Jorge L. Colón. The piece examines the vulnerability of Puerto Rico's energy infrastructure, highlights some of the community-level transformations that are taking place, and illustrates a path forward for a more secure and resilient future.

Book Interview | Critical Infrastructures Resilience: Policy and Engineering Principles

"This book is the result of having taught a graduate course comprising public policy and engineering students at Northeastern University, Boston, for the past 4 years," co-author Bahtia told editor-in-chief Zoran Obradovic. "The genesis of this textbook came out of teaching the course, and the final contents have evolved significantly given the pace of new developments within this field. Throughout these years, we have found no good textbook that covers the engineering and policy aspects of critical infrastructures resilience in comprehensive yet principled way."

Aging natural gas lines show pressing danger of aging infrastructure | Leveraging Opportunity Zones for Resilience

Throughout this series have been stories of failing infrastructure that causes serious, long lasting consequences, often with no local systems already in place to help communities recover. However, it is important to remember that when infrastructure fails, it does not just cause economic and structural problems but poses a series life safety risk. Often, it is already vulnerable communities who lack the resources to both fix problems before a disaster and cope with the fallout. This is the problem Opportunity Zones are well placed to address; incentivizing investment to fix the problems which may be otherwise overlooked.

Prolonged post-hurricane electricity outages highlight need for more resilient energy infrastructure | Leveraging Opportunity Zones for Resilience

The 2017 Hurricane Season left Puerto Rico reeling, isolated, and in the dark. Hurricane Irma lashed the island with wind and rain, and left one million residents without power, even though it did not fully make landfall. Hurricane Maria struck only two weeks after Irma in late September with wind speeds over 60 mph and heavy rain. This caused upwards of six feet of flooding in some areas and an estimated $90 billion worth of damage. The island’s 3.4 million residents were left without electricity after the storm destroyed the power grid, with serious long-term effects on the island, especially to basic health and safety. A week after Maria, the majority of Puerto Rico’s 69 hospitals remained without electricity or fuel for generators, leaving them unable to care for patients. The death toll of the hurricane is estimated at almost 3,000 people.

Community continuity key for long term recovery and resilience | Leveraging Opportunity Zones for Resilience

In previous installments of this week's blog series on leveraging Opportunity Zones to build infrastructure resilience, the Global Resilience Institute has examined several cases in which the failure or prolonged disruption of privately held infrastructure can pose serious - and expensive - challenges for the public. With all of our critical systems so in inextricably connected, local disasters can quickly cascade into national crises when the 'weak link' is something like a freight rail route that connects the largest port in the US to customers across the country or a pharmaceutical manufacturing hub that is the sole producer of some of the country's most at-risk products. For many people located in disaster afflicted areas, though, the reliance on private infrastructure means that their livelihoods and property are directly linked to the resilience of those systems. This will continue to be the case for new capital investments spurred on by Opportunity Zones. Fund managers across the country lining up to invest in the zones have an imperative to put money into projects that 'bake-in' resilience, both to protect their investments, but also to ensure the communities they are located among are not splintered when a disruption inevitably occurs. The importance of infrastructure that is able to bounce back from stress can clearly be seen in several cases where it did not.

How a 2016 wildfire impacted an entire region | Leveraging Opportunity Zones for Resilience

The Blue Cut Fire began on the morning of August 16, 2016 in the Cajon Pass, a mountain pass in San Bernardino County, just west of the Interstate 15 highway. When it was first reported just before eleven in the morning, the fire was only two acres; by nighttime, it had reached 18,000 acres. Flames traveled up a mountain slope to a point where the wind could carry embers over the highway, prompting the closures of portions of Highway 138 and both sides of I-15. California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino County on August 16 after the fire had burned 15,000 acres in under 12 hours. The following evening, 82,000 residents had been forced to evacuate from their homes and by August 19 fire officials estimated that 96 homes had been destroyed by the fire.

Hurricane Florence brings health and safety concerns for North Carolina rivers

In the diedown of the weekend’s heavy rains from Hurricane Florence, all eyes are on the major rivers of North Carolina, expected to cause catastrophic flooding as the rains flow into the sea. As of 5 AM local time on Monday morning, the National Hurricane Center reported that the remnants of Florence are expected to produce “heavy and excessive rainfall over the next couple of days” and that flash flood warnings were in effect across a large swath of land covering southern and western North Carolina, northeast South Carolina, and southwest Virginia. As of 5 AM Monday morning, the National Hurricane Center reported that the remnants of Florence is expected to produce “heavy and excessive rainfall over the next couple of days” and that flash flood warnings were in effect across a large swath of land covering southern and western North Carolina, northeast South Carolina, and southwest Virginia.

North Carolina’s private dams create large public problem | Leveraging Opportunity Zones for Resilience

In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in North Carolina, covering the eastern part of the state in 15 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Since the region had been hit by Tropical Storm Julia just weeks earlier, watersheds were already inundated with rain. The combination caused catastrophic flooding. Some of the worst effects of the hurricane were in Cumberland County, where towns like Fayetteville experienced multiple dam failures, including several privately owned dams. Private ownership, however, did not prevent these failures of private property from wreaking havoc on residents and public infrastructure.

Hurricane Florence forecast to be among costliest U.S. storms on record

It is no secret that Hurricane Florence is a force to be reckoned with— it is predicted to be one of the strongest storms to hit the East Coast in decades. Though the previously Category 4 storm was knocked down to a Category 2 as it approached the southeast U.S. early Thursday, the system for categorizing hurricanes solely measures wind speeds, which are still expected to reach 110 mph, in addition to intense rainfall, storm surges, and coastal flooding.

Innovation, implementation and community resilience

If our communities are to become more resilient, then they will have to innovate. They will have to become “learning organizations” that are developing the tools needed for tomorrow today. Most of us know this almost instinctively; but what we seldom pay attention to is the not-so-trivial last step of the innovation process: implementation. There are literally hundreds even thousands of innovative ideas floating around in each of our communities; they are worthless if not implemented.

Preparing for the influx of climate refugees: Is the world ready?

By 2050, over 100 million people are expected to be forced to leave their homes due to climate change, according to a new report released by World Bank. The hardest hit will be the developing world, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America, which make up 55 percent of the developing world. These climate refugees would be seeking refuge from extreme flooding, crop failures, water scarcity/drought and an increase in the frequency of natural disasters in their home countries.

California legislature awaits Governor’s signature to pass zero-carbon electricity commitment by 2045

Last week, the California state legislature passed SB100, a landmark bill committing California to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045. The bill, sponsored by state Senator Kevin de León (D.) who is currently running for the US Senate, builds upon California’s existing energy targets, which set a target for 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. The new bill sets a threefold target for electricity production: 50 percent renewables by 2026, 60 percent renewables by 2030, and 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2045. The bill only awaits a signature from Governor Jerry Brown (D.) for it to be adopted into law.

Devastating flooding in Kerala, India exposes flaws in water management infrastructure

Devastating flooding hit the southwestern state of Kerala, India and its surrounding areas from August 8 onward, causing over 400 deaths and displacing roughly 1.3 million people. Although India is currently in its monsoon season, this flooding dumped far more water onto the country than usual—two and a half times more. The state has 44 rivers flowing through it and 35 reservoirs that were already full prior to the flooding. The overflowing dams were begging to be emptied, and the state was forced to release water from 80 dams at one time, making the flooding even worse.

Exploring transportation and energy cyber vulnerabilities at Resilience Week

On Monday, August 20 through August 24, three graduate student researchers from the Global Resilience Institute attended the Resilience Week conference in Denver, Colorado. While at the conference the students took the opportunity to collaborate with other prominent researchers in the field of resilience to expand their collective knowledge. Although the conference focused on the concept of resilience as a whole, there were many different fields and an array of expertise present, including but not limited to infrastructure, cybersecurity, and societal resilience. Part of the unique nature of this team of graduate students comes from their breadth of academic expertise.

Residents brace for impact as Hurricane Lane set to slam Hawaii

Residents of the State of Hawaii are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Lane. The Hurricane, which strengthened to a Category 5 on Tuesday night, was as of 2am Hawaii Standard Time Wednesday, located around 480 miles south-southeast of Honolulu. It is moving west-northwest at around nine miles per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour. A Hurricane Warning is currently in effect for Hawaii County, with a Hurricane Watch in effect for Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Kahoolawe, and Oahu. A Hurricane Warning means that hurricane conditions are expected within the next 36 hours, and a Hurricane Watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the next 48 hours. Tropical storm conditions are expected to affect Hawaii County, starting late Wednesday night into Thursday morning, with hurricane conditions possible by late Thursday night into Friday. Ten to 15 inches of rainfall is expected along with resulting flash flooding and landslides. State officials, according to CBS News, are urging residents to “prepare for the worst”, and have started closing beach parks and clearing streams.

Oregon’s early summer algae blooms "a wake-up call" for the future safety of drinking water

Cyanobacteria. The scummy, green colored “algae” blooms that have plagued Florida’s lakes and riverways this summer have also been causing trouble on the rivers of the West Coast. Oregon officials are already used to issuing the recreational advisories that come with the increasingly frequent summer blooms on Detroit Lake, but they were caught by surprise in early June when it was found that cyanotoxins, toxins produced by certain species of cyanobacteria, had contaminated the water supply in Salem, which serves nearly 20,000 residents.

Post-Hurricane Harvey, Harris County working to become ‘model of resilience’

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey moved into Texas as a Category 4 storm. Over a four day period, 1 trillion gallons of water fell across Harris County alone, a southeastern portion of the state, covering its 1,800 square miles with an average of 33 inches of standing water. As streets turned into rivers, 60,049 residents were rescued, many from their homes, and more than 120,000 structures and 300,000 vehicles were flooded.

Thriving in the face of disasters: What we can and should be doing to mitigate destruction and advance resilience | CIOReview

With the increasing frequency and intensity of storms, disasters are not rare and unknowable events -- but "this reality should not be a source of angst and despair for it turns out that the discipline and dynamism that comes from embedding resilience across a business enterprise results in firms that perform better on blue-sky days," Global Resilience Institute Founding Director Dr. Stephen Flynn explains in a recent article.

Sustained algae blooms in Florida impacting ‘health, economy and ecology’

Both inland and on the coast, Florida is dealing with Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) this summer. Since early June, NOAA satellites have monitored a bloom of blue-green algae (a misnomer, as it is not algae but cyanobacteria) in Lake Okeechobee, Florida’s largest lake. At one point this summer, the bloom covered 90 percent of the lake’s surface. Scientists believe that Hurricane Irma is partly to blame for the massive bloom, as the heavy rains flushed nutrients from the surrounding land into the lake. Other factors that may increase the intensity of blooms include the warmer waters induced by climate change.

At least 98 dead after quake slams Indonesian island

A powerful earthquake flattened houses and toppled bridges on the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok, killing at least 98 people and shaking neighboring Bali, as authorities said Monday that rescuers still hadn't reached some devastated areas and the death toll would climb. It was the second deadly quake in a week to hit Lombok. A July 29 quake killed 16 people and damaged hundreds of houses, some of which collapsed in Sunday evening's magnitude 7.0 temblor, killing those inside. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference that damage was "massive" in northern Lombok. In several districts, more than half the homes were destroyed or severely damaged. The ruins of a mosque that collapsed in Lading-Lading village while people prayed inside was being pulled apart by a backhoe in search of victims.

Northeastern’s Center on Crime and Community Resilience identifying innovative ideas to support positive community dynamics

National Night Out Day is an annual event designed to build connections between neighbors and to promote positive relationships between police and communities. The event aims to have the first Tuesday in August be one where, “Neighborhoods host block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and various other community events with safety demonstrations, seminars, youth events, visits from emergency personnel, exhibits and much, much more.” Boston will be holding 12 different neighborhood events across the city, on both Monday August 6th and Tuesday August 7th.

Affordable housing and community resilience

Affordable housing is one of the most important – and often the most contentious – issues facing our communities, especially our urban areas.  The issue is usually framed as providing housing for those without sufficient income to pay market rates for it.  Unfortunately this disguises one of its major complications – there are actually two distinct populations involved, the “working poor” and those who have no jobs and are homeless. For the latter,  “affordability” is essentially meaningless since they have no income.  I’ll not consider them further here, but will take this issue up in a subsequent post.

Laos dam collapse reveals dangers of hydropower infrastructure in a changing climate

At approximately 8 p.m. on July 23, the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam in the Attapeu province of Laos collapsed, releasing over 5 billion cubic meters of water, causing devastating flooding across at least six villages in the region. Though the number is likely to go up as rescue operation continue, the official death toll as of July 26 is 27, with hundreds more still missing and more than 6,000 displaced. This hydropower project was born out of the Laotian government’s plans to double their current energy production by 2020 and become the “battery of Southeast Asia”. To that end, Laos has been  investing heavily in hydroelectric power in recent years. In 2017 the landlocked country had 46 hydroelectric power plants with 54 more planned or under construction. Much of that electricity is then sold abroad, making up about 30% of Laos’s exports.

Finding resilience in post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico

How do you define resilience? From the very beginning, this question has animated our project, Interrogating Resilience: An Analysis of Inequality and Vulnerability Pre-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico. In our initial research visit to Puerto Rico in June, we discovered the complex manifestations of resilience as reflected in community-managed aqueducts high up in Puerto Rico’s mountains; community centers providing much-needed food, electricity, and human resources in the wake of the storm; and, of course, the thousands of people who have chosen to stay in Puerto Rico after Maria, a devastating Category 4 hurricane with winds of 155 MPH, made landfall there in September of 2017.[1] Our close colleagues, Marla Perez and Cecilio Ortiz, directors of the Institute for Sustainable Energy (INESI) at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), graciously curated our initial investigatory visit to Puerto Rico, where we began to scratch out an understanding of Puerto Rico’s resilience.

‘Ready Your LA Neighborhood’ fostering resilience and empowering neighborhoods to prepare for disasters

One of the core elements of a resilient community is strong social capital amongst neighbors. When a major disaster occurs, first responders such as police and firefighters may not have the ability to reach every neighborhood immediately. In that event, it is crucial that neighbors are well-acquainted and have a plan in place to assist one another until first responders arrive. Though there are many barriers to effectively fostering neighborhood resilience in disaster-prone areas, the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department (EMD) is engaged in a unique initiative aimed at overcoming those barriers and bringing communities together. Ready Your LA Neighborhood – also known as RYLAN – is a free service that empowers neighborhoods to prepare for whatever unexpected disasters may occur. RYLAN is oriented around six core principles: prepare, organize, practice, connect, communicate, and train. The program provides communities with the tools necessary to respond as a cohesive unit in the immediate aftermath of a disaster before help arrives. The goal is “to reduce injuries, protect your property and the environment, and most importantly, to save lives”.

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.

It only takes one: How a single shipping container could cripple the world’s economy

The Port of Charleston, South Carolina is the 9th largest container port in the United States, handling close to 160 thousand containers annually. So, what could get authorities to shut down this cog in our nation’s commerce for seven hours? The short answer is, a prank call and a dirty bomb. On the night of June 14, 2017, the Charleston Coast Guard received a warning about a possible dirty bomb on the container ship Maersk Memphis. This resulted in authorities shutting down the port for seven hours in order for four containers to be pulled off the ship and scanned for signs of hazardous radiological material. Normal operations resumed at 3:30 am after the containers had been cleared. It was later discovered that the warning call had in fact been a prank by a conspiracy theorist, who had live streamed the entire event on YouTube.

Emergency communication networks, crisis management and container security | Research blog

This week in my co-op at GRI, I have been focused on preparing for a trip I’m making to Washington, D.C. next week for two different events. The first event, which will be held Wednesday, is a luncheon hosted by an organization called News Deeply at the UN Foundation in Washington. I am joining GRI Chief Technology Officer Dr. Mark Patterson, who will be sitting on a panel at the event. Dr. Patterson asked me to join him at the News Deeply event because I have been helping him with research related to ad-hoc emergency communications networks, the topic he was invited to speak about. I began studying emergency communications in the wake of climate disasters such as Hurricanes Harvey and Maria last year, which caused significant and unforeseen disruptions to cellular infrastructure on the ground.

Protecting the U.S. Power Grid from cyberattacks | Foreign Affairs

In a piece written for Foreign Affairs, GRI Senior Research Scientist in Cybersecurity and Resilience Rob Knake outlines some of the sophisticated cyberthreats our nation could face in the near future, including an attack on the power grid. "...Intelligence agencies and security companies have connected Russian hackers to the shutdown of a German steel mill, the cutting off of phone and Internet service to some 900,000 Germans, and most ominously, two disruptions of the power grid in Ukraine," Knake writes, adding "Just how vulnerable is the U.S. grid to an attack akin to the one in Ukraine? According to the U.S. intelligence community, very."

California ramping up flood mitigation efforts with green infrastructure

In the last several years, California has taken steps to “greenovate” their state by implementing green infrastructure programs to prepare for extreme weather events, like floods and wildfires. Among the most impressive is rehabilitating floodplains by moving levees back from rivers and planting greenery in the land between. This method controls flooding, rehabilitates the local flora and fauna, and recharges depleted aquifers. To start this process, farmlands that bordered the rivers were sold to state and federal agencies and were then converted into woodlands that sit below the levees. According to a New York Times article, the state of California is currently working on 20-30 different projects for watershed management in addition to the levee project. In 2016, California also allotted $80 million to the Urban Greening Program, which funds the building of non-motorized trails to encourage biking and walking and to discourage car usage.

Thai soccer team rescued after 18 days underground used meditation to cope with trauma and stay alive

After surviving 18 days trapped four kilometers underground, inside a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand, a soccer team consisting of 12 young boys aged 11-17 and their assistant coach were brought to safety by a coordinated team of expert cave divers. The soccer team, called the Wild Boars (“Moo Paa” in Thai), along with their 25-year-old assistant coach, went exploring in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system after a practice on June 23. Though the area was dry when they entered the cave, they became trapped when torrential rain flooded the exit path.

Many out of power, water in flood-hit Japan; over 150 dead

Akira Tanimoto says his apartment narrowly survived the floods and mudslide at his residential complex over the weekend, and even if he wants to go back there with his wife and two pet birds, he can't because there is no water, power or food available. After their desperate run from floods that had hit the apartment complex where about a dozen of his neighbors were found dead, he returned to his place Monday to check on his apartment, which was almost intact. He also had to bring with him his beloved birds, which he initially had to leave behind. Tanimoto wants to go back there with his wife, Chieko, and their yellow and green parakeets, Pi-chan and Kyako-chan, but said it would take a few weeks until they get the utility services back and clean the place.

Study: Blood virus affecting farmed Atlantic Salmon may cause related disease in British Columbia Chinook salmon

A highly contagious blood virus may be cause for concern off the coast of British Columbia, according to a new study. The paper -- published by a team of scientists at the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Fisheries and Oceans Canada -- states that the Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) virus causing disease in some farmed Atlantic salmon, may also cause a related disease in Chinook salmon in British Columbia. The virus is linked to inflammation in fish skeletal and heart muscles, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood into the bloodstream and impeding the salmon’s ability to swim. “The results of this study are significant because they show– for the first time – strong evidence that the same strain of PRV that causes heart and skeletal muscle inflammation disease (HSMI) in Atlantic salmon is likely to cause disease in at least one species of Pacific salmon,” said Dr. Brian Riddell, president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. “These findings add to the existing concerns about the potential impacts of open net salmon farming on wild Pacific salmon off the coast of BC”.A highly contagious blood virus may be cause for concern off the coast of British Columbia, according to a new study. The paper -- published by a team of scientists at the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Fisheries and Oceans Canada -- states that the Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) virus causing disease in some farmed Atlantic salmon, may also cause a related disease in Chinook salmon in British Columbia. The virus is linked to inflammation in fish skeletal and heart muscles, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood into the bloodstream and impeding the salmon’s ability to swim. “The results of this study are significant because they show– for the first time – strong evidence that the same strain of PRV that causes heart and skeletal muscle inflammation disease (HSMI) in Atlantic salmon is likely to cause disease in at least one species of Pacific salmon,” said Dr. Brian Riddell, president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. “These findings add to the existing concerns about the potential impacts of open net salmon farming on wild Pacific salmon off the coast of BC”.

CapZone Impact Investments LLC signs on as inaugural Global Resilience Institute Corporate Partner

CapZone Impact Investments, LLC, the first national Opportunity Zone investment platform, announces its commitment to the Global Resilience Institute’s Corporate Network, as its inaugural partner. The Global Resilience Institute (GRI) at Northeastern University is a university-wide, interdisciplinary institute committed to advancing the security, sustainability, health and well-being of communities and societies around the world. GRI’s mission is to solve the world’s most pressing resilience challenges in all forms, from slowly emerging disruptions to shocks and sudden disasters. “We are honored to be GRI’s first corporate partner as we embed resilience into our investment and business practices nationally at enterprise, community and project levels,” said Al Puchala, CapZone’s Chief Executive Officer. “Correctly building the nation’s first ESG plus Resilience investment ecosystem is our priority. To effectively deploy human, financial and intellectual capital at scale into 8,700 low income Opportunity Zones throughout the nation will require an comprehensive approach, strengthened by our partnership, that will have far reaching effect in multiple sectors, such as affordable housing, sustainable infrastructure and job creating companies,” Puchala added.

Disaster resilience and the future of technology

Advancement in technologies such as sensors, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence are helping communities better prepare for and respond to disasters. Companies and governments are working on this application of new technology to old problems both because of the increasing severity of damage caused by natural disasters and the potential to reduce the enormous cost of disasters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that climate and weather events caused $1.5 trillion in damage between 1980 and 2017. The technologies that companies and researchers are developing can be as simple as the Qatari organization AIDR using social media platforms to accurately map disaster sites and coordinating logistics or rely on new tools such as the Ontario utility company, Hydro One, using IBM’s outage-prediction tool to coordinate recovery.

GRI research assistant wins fellowship to study food waste and security

Global Resilience Institute research assistant Erin Bourque, CSSH ‘19, and Honors student Sydney Mokel, CSSH ‘19, have won a 2018 Summer Scholars Independent Research Fellowship (SSIRF). The SSIRF, writes the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, is Northeastern’s “most robust award for students taking on research and creative projects requiring the greatest degree of independence and sophistication.” The duo’s proposal, entitled Good, Bad, and Ugly: Facilitating Acceptance of Produce Abnormalities for a More Efficient Food System, aims to explore campaigns to normalize “ugly” produce as one component of a larger solution to reduce food waste. “There’s a misconception that ugly produce isn’t healthy, tasty, or safe to eat, but when we’re talking about cosmetic imperfections, that’s just not true,” Bourque said. “Often this produce won’t even make it to store shelves because it’s a little crooked, a little small, or a little lumpy. If we could just get past its unusual appearance, we could make a big dent in the amount of food the U.S. wastes each year.”

Piles of displaced plastic follow China’s ban on the importation of recyclable plastics

According to a new study from University of Georgia researchers, an estimated 111 million tons of displaced plastic waste will pile up across developed nations by 2030 due to a ban on the export of most plastic waste to China. The country welcomed plastic waste from other nations for decades, turning “trash to gold” by recycling the scrap into salable goods. Over a period of 26 years, China accepted 45% of the world’s total recyclables, and, in 2016 alone, 14.1 million metric tons of plastic was shipped to China from other developed nations for this process. Last July, China informed the World Trade Organization that it would no longer import certain types of recyclable used products, citing pollution caused from large plastic-processing plants as a major reason. Additionally, China determined that much of the imported trash in recent years has been single-use plastics - plastic bags, bubble wrap, bottles - which are both low in value and quality when reproduced.

Critical communications resilience: What I learned at the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day

I had the privilege this past Saturday of attending the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day alongside Global Resilience Institute (GRI) Chief Technology Officer, Mark Patterson. The ARRL Field Day is widely considered to be the largest and most popular on-the-air event for amateur radio operators in North America, held annually on the fourth weekend of June. On one hand, the event is a contest, the object being to contact as many other ham operators as possible in suboptimal conditions. On the other hand, the event serves as a massive civil defense exercise; after all, ham radio operators are often relied upon for critical communications when other networks are disrupted during disasters. Mark and I were at Field Day to interview some ham operators about what motivates them to participate in such events, as well as their motivations for assisting in real-life emergencies. The purpose of conducting these interviews was to gain a better understanding of the ways in which a game-based emergency simulation model provides added incentives for participation. We hope to soon have a smartphone app that will leverage the peer-to-peer technology built into most devices such that when the cellular network is disrupted, phones themselves can form an ad-hoc network that can be used for emergency communication. In order to build and perfect this app, we will need to find a way to somehow compel thousands of people to not only use it, but to use it in a certain way. The ARRL Field Day was a unique opportunity for us to study a gamified emergency communications network in action and begin thinking of ways to approach this challenge ourselves.

GRI Doctoral Research Assistants develop tool to help assess city preparedness

Thousands of people are expected to pour into Canadian, American, and Mexican cities for the 2026 World Cup—and Boston could be one of them. The security, transportation, and energy infrastructure in each host city will need to achieve peak performance to accommodate the influx, athletes, fans, and journalists. But are these critical systems up to the test? Two doctoral students at Northeastern have developed a tool that could help assess each city’s level of preparedness. Maria Robson and Lizzy Warner, who work at the university’s Global Resilience Institute, have created an interactive map that illustrates how critical infrastructure in Boston—including the MBTA, the energy grid, and the water and sewer system—are connected to each other. Their map knits together existing charts for each system to provide a comprehensive understanding of how they work together.

How the decline of the freight rail industry highlighted the importance of community resilience: Booneville, Arkansas

In my last post, we explored the story of the small farming town of Murdo, South Dakota after the closure of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. By establishing the 1880 Town, an attraction providing a glimpse into Murdo's railroad heyday, the town was able to provide a means of survival. However, Murdo's survival past the closure of its railroad lifeline is not entirely unique, nor is the means by which they did so. Whereas Murdo mainly relied on the railroad to connect it to the rest of the world, some towns built their entire economy around the railroad, making the task of survival more difficult. Despite the odds, Booneville, located in Western Arkansas, is one example of a town that did, despite their previous dependence.

Separation of families at U.S. border will have lasting effects on children, experts warn

Since April 19, two thousand children have been forcibly removed from their parents by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. The agents are acting on a new policy directive by the Trump administration, which has ordered “zero tolerance,” prosecuting all people who cross the border into the U.S. illegally. Scientists say that the policy will create long-lasting damage for those families affected. There are also immediate consequences, which manifest as physical symptoms of stress, as children experience elevated heart rates and increased production of stress hormones. These hormones undermine the brain's ability to transmit messages, eventually altering or destroying brain neurons entirely. These physical and psychological effects would be severely detrimental to anyone, but to children, they are simply "catastrophic," as Charles Nelson of Harvard Medical School told the Washington Post. Countless studies have already proven the long-term harm of these separations, leaving much of the medical community alarmed at the effects of the Trump administration's new "zero tolerance" rule. Organizations representing more than 250,000 doctors have spoken against the policy.

Former CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske: ‘Heartbreaking’ to tear children away from their mothers and fathers | PBS NewsHour

Gil Kerlikowske, former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Global Resilience Institute, spoke with PBS NewsHour about migrant families being separated at the southern U.S. border. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 2,342 children have been separated from their parents since early May, as part of a new immigration strategy. "It's heartbreaking not only to tear these children away from their mothers and fathers but I am very concerned about the affect that it would have on these border patrol agents," Kerlikowske told PBS NewsHour's John Yang.

Tornado hits Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, damaging buildings and causing minor injuries

The National Weather Service (NWS) has confirmed that a tornado hit Pennsylvania's Wilkes-Barre Township on Wednesday night. This type of storm is unusual for the area. "A severe thunderstorm moved across Luzerne County between 9:30 and 10:30 pm on Wednesday June 13 2018, producing an EF2 tornado in Wilkes-Barre Township around 10:00 pm," The NWS wrote in a bulletin. "The tornado touched down near Mundy Street and Highland Park Boulevard by the Wyoming Valley Mall and traveled about a half mile southeast toward I-81 before dissipating. Numerous roofs were destroyed and windows blown out. Structures were sheared off near their foundation. Power poles were snapped with numerous lines down." The storm mainly damaged stores and restaurants in the township's 'business district'. Reports described "gutted" homes and businesses, flipped vehicles, and left debris throughout the area. Six people with minor injuries were reported by Thursday. However, this was likely the result of lucky timing; if the storm had hit a few hours earlier, the damaged area would have been heavily populated.

Tech industry urges adaptation of a ‘Digital Geneva Convention’

Cyber attacks on civilians are becoming increasingly common in our ultra-connected world. There is also a looming threat of cyber-based incidents infringing on physical infrastructure, causing even more tangible damage. As a result, these types of attacks are being weaponized by nations and the increasing gravity of these attacks continues to blur the lines between war, peacetime and diplomacy. A coordinated attack known as "Stuxnet" is perhaps one of the most notable examples of this phenomenon. As part of a joint project between Israel and the United States, multiple iterations of the virus sought to disrupt the nuclear armament process of Iran. The program is famously estimated to have set back the Iranian nuclear program by two years after damaging equipment without detection and frustrating engineers. The idea behind this was, had a nuclear deal with Iran fallen through, the allies would have options to avoid full-on warfare.
storm coming

‘Resilient World’ podcast launched by Adrienne Arsht Center for Resilience at the Atlantic Council

Resilient World, a new podcast from the Adrienne Arsht Center for Resilience at the Atlantic Council, launched on Wednesday. Season One features thought leaders sharing their views on resilience and how it can help with disruptions and challenges, from global health security to climate change, countering violent extremism, and many more. Every other Wednesday, Resilient World talks to thought leaders in fields as diverse as national security, science fiction, and public health to highlight innovative ideas about how to prepare for, manage through and bounce back from adversity – in other words, how to make our society more resilient.

GRI Faculty Affiliate joins committee tasked with capturing lessons learned from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria

Northeastern University Associate Professor and GRI Faculty Affiliate Dr. Özlem Ergun has been appointed to a committee tasked with capturing key lessons and observations around supply and distribution networks under strain during Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The FEMA-sponsored committee, established by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Chair of Policy and Global Affairs (PGA), will address questions such as: What was the state and knowledge of the pre-incident networks and capacity of critical supply chains, distribution systems, and infrastructure? How were these systems impacted by the storms and how did subsequent response actions produce further effects on network integrity and operations? What are the network structures, linkages, and/or behavior most susceptible to effective intervention? How can supply chain systems be strengthened in the short term to be efficient in day-to-day operations and adaptable to sustain integrated disaster and humanitarian supply chain operations during catastrophic events?

GRI CTO Mark Patterson named Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs in Northeastern’s College of Science

Global Resilience Institute Chief Technology Officer Mark Patterson has been named Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs in Northeastern University’s College of Science (COS). Patterson will continue in his post at GRI, with his new appointment taking effect July 1. “We are delighted to have Professor Mark Patterson join the leadership team of the College,” COS Dean Ken Henderson wrote in an announcement to faculty and staff. Former COS ADR David Budil, the longest-serving member of the Dean’s Office, will return to the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology to continue his research and teaching. Budil steps down having made many contributions to the College, including overseeing a dramatic increase in external funding.

New resilience organization at FEMA aims to build ‘culture of preparedness’

The 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season has begun, and federal first responders are preparing ways to better respond to historic storms like those seen in last year's record-setting season. In 2017 alone, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responded to dozens of natural and other disasters across America and its island territories, including multiple-strike situations like Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. According to FEMA, roughly 25.8 million people were affected by Harvey, Irma, and Maria -- eight percent of the entire U.S. population. In testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on November 30, 2017, FEMA Administrator Brock Long emphasized the importance of resilience for future disaster preparedness efforts. "We have to do more pre-disaster mitigation," Long stressed. "Pre-disaster mitigation is the key to becoming more resilient and reducing disaster impacts."

Explosive volcanic eruption in Guatemala releases scorching pyroclastic flows

An explosive volcanic eruption in Guatemala unleashed pyroclastic flow on Sunday - a scorching mix of gases, rocks, lava, and ash, that can travel upwards of 400 mph with internal temperatures ranging from 90 to 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit - burying structures, roads and people. The flows were the cause of at least 69 deaths by Tuesday, with this number expected to rise as ash-covered towns are excavated. In an interview with the New York Times, the President of Guatemala's Association of Municipal and Departmental Firefighters Dr. Otto Mazariegos likened the eruption to Pompeii, estimating that the death toll was “probably in the hundreds.” By Tuesday morning, only 17 of the dead were able to be positively identified.

GRI doctoral research assistants win award for ‘resilient critical infrastructure governance’ research at DHS Centers of Excellence Summit

Two Global Resilience Institute Doctoral Research Assistants took home the top prize for best graduate poster at The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Centers of Excellence (COE) Summit on Thursday. The poster, presented by Maria Robson and Lizzy Warner, explored a network science and ArcGIS approach to enhance resilient critical infrastructure governance. The research focuses on providing policymakers and infrastructure owners and operators with tools to build a comprehensive understanding of critical infrastructure interdependencies, in order to build resilience and limit disruptions in one system from cascading into another.

Managing the risk of urban epidemics: The case of Ebola

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the first urban Ebola outbreaks, specifically in Mbandaka, a city of over one million residents. This outbreak began in the rural town of Bikoro before spreading, and has resulted in at least 27 deaths and 58 suspected cases in total . One death and four cases have occurred in the city. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) will send over 15,000 doses of the experimental Ebola vaccines to the country, as well as safe burial body bags to prevent exposure through the spread of bodily fluids during funerals. Merck, the vaccine's developer, is providing the medication at no charge while GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance - a global public-private health partnership body - has provided one million dollars to support health workers. Vaccine delivery is logistically and operationally challenging. The outbreak began in Bikoro, which lacks basic infrastructure such as electricity and telecommunications; the vaccine requires being stored between -76 and -112 degrees Fahrenheit. The vaccines are being transported in special containers that can maintain that temperature range for six days and portable power generators are being brought in for additional energy.

Alberto brings torrential rain and landslides to the Southeast U.S.

The first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Monday. Subtropical storm Alberto, which by midweek was downgraded to a tropical depression, has caused torrential rain, landslides, flash flood advisories, and winds up to 65 mph in the southeastern region of the United States. The region experienced intense rains the week prior, saturating the ground and making it more prone to flooding and landslides. Thus far, thousands of people have been left without power in the affected areas, and states of emergency have been declared in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina. Alberto is expected to stay classified as a tropical depression until it hits the Great Lakes, before incorporating into surrounding weather systems.

Dozens reported dead as heat wave engulfs Karachi, in southern Pakistan

Dozens have died during a sweltering heat wave in Karachi, a southern port city in Pakistan, according to the Edhi Foundation, an organization that runs the city’s morgue. The foundation reports that 114 bodies were brought to their morgue from Saturday through Monday, and attributed 65 of the deaths to heat stroke. The province’s health minister, Fazlullah Pechuho, disputes that report.Sustained temperatures of over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, including upwards of 111 degrees on Monday, caused local authorities to urge people to stay inside and drink water. However, in a majority-Muslim city of 15 million, the heat wave has coincided with Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, in which followers fast from sunrise to sunset. This fasting includes the intake of water.

One year after Manchester Arena attack, community gathers to remember those affected and share ‘spirit of solidarity’

On May 22, 2017 Salman Abedi detonated a bomb in the foyer of the Manchester Arena as an Ariana Grande concert let out, killing 22 people and injuring 240 more. The perpetrator died in the attack. This horrific incident prompted widespread community mobilization as the city rallied to transport and house those left stranded and later as they tried to maintain unity and held a number of interfaith vigils. In the days following the attack, a benefit concert headlined by Ariana Grande raised £18 million for the “We Love Manchester” fund which donated money to victims and their families.

World Central Kitchen promotes community resilience, this time in Hawaii

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. island of Puerto Rico. Recovery has been slow and limited in the months since, and thousands of customers remain without power. Through the worst of Maria’s aftermath, however, volunteers swarmed the island to provide what comforts they could to the island’s residents. World Central Kitchen (WCK), an non-profit that uses “the power of food to empower communities and strengthen economies”, quickly set up its kitchens to provide meals for those affected by the hurricane. According to the organization’s website, 19,000 volunteers provided 3.4 million meals across the island. Although much of Puerto Rico is returned to a certain sense of normalcy, WCK has continued to invest its efforts in the local economy, awarding grants to local food truck owners, chefs, and agriculture.

100th anniversary of the Spanish Flu: Has the world become more resilient to pandemics?

One hundred years ago, the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic infected one third of the global population, killing between 50 and 100 million people, and representing both the deadliest and fastest epidemic in human history. Two-thirds of these deaths occurred in 10-weeks during the autumn of 1918. Within the United States, the Spanish flu killed about as many individuals as AIDs would over 40 years. Major cities such as New York City and Philadelphia saw slowdowns of commerce as streets and large gathering areas emptied out. Unlike most other strains of the influenza virus, this strain killed millions of young adults with strong immune systems; in fact, this strength became a weakness because the Spanish Flu killed individuals by causing their immune systems to react so powerfully that it caused them to asphyxiate from bloody coughing and bleeding from different orifices, usually resulting in death. Breakthroughs in medical technology, such as vaccinations, and the advancement of scientific knowledge since the Spanish Flu pandemic have provided practitioners new tools to prevent epidemics.

GRI research assistants reflect on lessons learned from Northeastern University’s Preparedness Day

Preparedness Day at Northeastern University was a round of training and informational sessions taught by police officers, detectives, and experienced health and safety experts. Our research assistants attended various sessions that included a wide range of categories from personal preparedness in daily lives to international travel safety. The key takeaways from each session contributed to GRI’s resilience preparedness informational toolkit, which can be seen summarized below. Overall, our team learned a lot about how the theme of resilience must be incorporated into all aspects of preparedness. We are excited to participate again in the future!

Dam bursts in Kenya after weeks of heavy rain, sweeping away homes and killing dozens

At least 44 people were killed when the Patel dam burst in the Nakuru county of Kenya on Wednesday evening. Authorities say 40 others were injured and dozens were missing, after the wave of water, which was over a five feet high and 1,500 feet wide, obliterated everything in its surrounding area. “It was a sea of water. My neighbour was killed when the water smashed through the wall of his house. He was blind so he could not run. They found his body in the morning,” Veronica Wanjiku Ngigi, a resident of one of the communities devastated by the break told Reuters. “My other neighbors also died. All our houses have been ruined.” The dam, which was reported to have cracks and leaks prior to the collapse, was located just over 100 miles north of Nairobi on a large privately-owned commercial farm in a rural agricultural area. According to residents of the surrounding communities, two other dams on the property are also full and could burst in the future.

Future remains uncertain for thousands of residents as Kilauea’s eruption continues

On Thursday, May 3, the Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii erupted, causing cracks to form along its East Rift Zone. Across Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens, two communities on the island, 15 fissures spread molten lava and toxic sulfur dioxide through residential streets, forcing the mandatory evacuation of 1,700 residents. Due to over 600 small seismic events preceding the eruption that alerted authorities to its possibility and the slow moving nature of the lava, there was plenty of time to prepare for the evacuation. By Thursday, no deaths or injuries had been reported. However, despite an emergency evacuation notice being issued, some residents have refused to leave their homes. Greg Webber, a resident of Leilani Estates, told reporters that he would not evacuate until the lava is “an inch from [his] home.” He has watched eight of his neighbors’ homes burn, USA Today reports.

GRI’s Dr. Jennie Stephens to lead Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Dr. Jennie C. Stephens, Global Resilience Institute (GRI) Director for Strategic Research Collaborations, has been named Director of Northeastern University's School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (SPPUA) in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH). Dr. Stephens is also Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy and is affiliated with the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the department of Cultures, Societies & Global Studies.

Island of Hawaii in a state of emergency following eruption of Kilauea volcano

On Thursday, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted, following around 600 small earthquakes that shook the region since Monday. The largest, a 5.0-magnitude quake, occurred just a few hours before Kilauea’s eruption. The volcano did not erupt from its summit, but rather from cracks located several miles to the east in the residential community of Leilani Estates. Residents of Leilani Estates – along with the Lanipuna Gardens subdivision – were issued mandatory evacuation orders by Hawaii County Thursday evening, shortly after the eruption was reported. Currently, around 1,700 residents of the affected communities are under mandatory evacuation, though locals fear there could be thousands more impacted.

Cognitive bias and community resilience

Have you ever tried to convince your boss, your spouse, or someone else about something? And found your blood pressure rising as you thought to yourself “Why can’t he / she keep an open mind?” You may have been a victim of the other person’s cognitive biases (of course there’s always the possibility that you were wrong!). When we receive new information, we try to fit it into our existing mental models – the patterns that we have formed to help us organize information. These patterns are important and useful because they help us rapidly respond to warnings. However, sometimes our existing mental models act as barriers to incoming information, especially if the new information doesn’t fit into an existing pattern very well. This is known as cognitive bias. Community leaders are human. They are just as subject to cognitive bias as anyone else. As a result they may under- or overestimate risks facing the community, or ignore potential solutions to the community’s problems, or accept “solutions” that simply won’t work. Thus, cognitive bias can have profound impacts on a community’s resilience. In this post, I want to explore some common kinds of cognitive bias in a community context.

Green Climate Fund approves $1 billion in funding for resilient development

On March 1, 2018, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a funding source under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)* that helps finance climate-resilience and green growth in developing countries, announced that it would allocate USD 1 billion to 23 separate climate change initiatives in 22 countries. The countries, which include Rwanda, Mongolia, and Brazil, were allocated up to USD 200 million each to fund projects ranging from resilient agriculture to urban renewal and renewable energy. With the newly announced projects, the GCF has a portfolio of 76 programs, and has approved over USD 3.7 billion in resilience-centered climate change development. Rwanda was allotted USD 32.8 million to strengthen climate resilience in rural communities, with a specific focus on the Gicumbi District in the country’s Northern Province. The district is vulnerable to heavy rains which result in flooding and landslides, which have only been perpetuated and strengthened by climate change. Through the funding, Rwanda Green Fund (RGF) will facilitate projects that focus on watershed restoration and enhancement, sustainable forest resource management, and resilient agriculture in small communities. The RGF and the district itself will provide USD 147,000 and USD 107,000, respectively, in additional financing for the projects which will directly impact 150,000 people, and indirectly impact another 130,000.

Global Resilience Institute Seed Grant Program expands, with 8 newly funded research teams at Northeastern University

Now in its second year, the Global Resilience Institute (GRI) Seed Grant Program will fund eight new interdisciplinary resilience research projects at Northeastern University. The new teams incorporate a total of 22 faculty researchers and their projects explore a range of resilience-related topics including coastal flooding, the role of the media, crime and community resilience, combating the opioid crisis, and more, with funding from GRI for 1-2 years. Each project involves collaboration by faculty members from two or more Northeastern colleges. In one, the team analyzing “Inequality and Vulnerability in Pre-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico,” will collaborate with researchers from the National Institute of Energy and Island Sustainability (INESI) of the University of Puerto Rico, to establish a long-term research agenda embedded in the local context. They aim to contribute to the ongoing discussions of Puerto Rico’s energy future by offering a perspective on resilience that incorporates equity and justice and supports a just, climate-adapted energy transition.

How the decline of the freight rail industry highlighted the importance of community resilience: Murdo, South Dakota

Located one-hour’s drive south of Pierre, through the South Dakota plains along US-83, the town of Murdo's 482 residents are mostly employed in agriculture, construction, and natural resource extraction. This is very different from the town’s heyday in 1970, when it was home to 865 residents and was a key cog along the Milwaukee Road. This line, like many others all across the US, was closed during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the American railroad industry. The close dependence on this line by the Murdo community meant that its closure deeply affected the community’s economy. Today, Murdo stands as an example of resilience, when examining small American towns affected by the downsizing of the railroads.

Resilience: A critical trait when confronting the threat of terrorism

Terrorism is a global problem with a long history – the Global Terrorism Database has recorded over 170,000 terrorist attacks, both by individuals and over 2,700 groups, between 1970 and 2016. Terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda tend to have structures and operations that make resilience a critical trait when confronting this threat. Terrorist groups have multiple characteristics that allow them to endure despite asymmetrical disadvantages with respect to material resources, technology, and other important assets. The resilient nature of terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda has been noted as early as 2006, five years after the launch of the war on terror. By 2009, counter-terrorism officials estimated that Al-Qaeda’s core was at its weakest point, with the termination of key leaders such as Osama bin Laden and declining manpower reserves. By 2012, General John Allen, then-commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, argued that Al-Qaeda had “re-emerged” through funding, recruitment, and expansion, and by 2014, Al-Qaeda had sufficiently rebuilt to establish a new network, AQIS – Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.

Global Resilience Institute receives ‘Outstanding Innovation Award’ from Northeastern University

The Global Resilience Institute (GRI) is this year’s recipient of the Northeastern University Outstanding Innovation Award. The Outstanding Innovation Award was established to recognize a team whose work embodies the principles and goals of the University strategic vision (Northeastern 2025) to “accelerate discovery exponentially through the power of networks.” The GRI nomination highlighted the success of its collective efforts to establish the Global Resilience Research Network (GRRN). The network, officially launched at the Inaugural GRRN Summit hosted by GRI on March 29, is populated by a group of international universities and institutes committed to building resilience within and across multiple levels and around the world by undertaking collaborative interdisciplinary, multi-institutional applied research projects.

Kauai struck with record-breaking rainfall over the weekend, more expected this week

Unusually intense rainfall pummeled Hawaii’s island of Kauai over the weekend. The National Weather Service reported Monday that, in just 48 hours, some parts of the island were hit with upwards of 32 inches of rain. In Wainiha, the 24-hour rainfall total measured 19.54 inches, smashing the previous record of 16.7 inches set in January of 1969. CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri contextualized that figure, explaining, “That amount of rainfall would climatologically take nearly 18 months to fall in London and over 24 months to fall in Los Angeles.” As the University of Hawaii at Manoa illustrates, Kauai is not unaccustomed to rain, but such heavy precipitation in such a short period of time proved disastrous for the island

With sights set on advancing individual and community resilience, Global Resilience Institute Director visits Facebook in Menlo Park

At the invitation of Facebook’s Head of Global Resiliency Gil Grein, Global Resilience Institute (GRI) Founding Director Dr. Stephen Flynn and Sr. Research Scientist Rob Knake visited Facebook's Global Offices in Menlo Park. Grein leads Facebook's global resiliency efforts, which he began establishing at the company in 2014. Among the programs that he oversees are; Strategic Emergency Management, Global Crisis Management, Global Business Continuity, Data Centers Resiliency, Executive Resiliency, Resiliency Operations and Logistics, and Workplace Violence Management. The April 16 visit included a briefing on Facebook’s new tools for supporting individuals and communities in managing crises. These include the “Safety Check” feature for individuals near an incident such as an earthquake, a hurricane, or shooting, to let their friends and family know they are safe; the “Community Help API” which gives disaster response organizations access to Community Help data, offering important information about the needs of people affected by crises so that they can respond; and a “Blood Donations” app that helps to connect requests for blood donations of a certain type in a certain location with nearby donors that qualify.

New recycling regulations in China create pile-up in U.S.

The United States produces the most recyclable waste in the world, more than half of which is bought by recycling mills in other countries. The majority of it went to China, who bought about two thirds of the paper and aluminum scraps recycled in the US. However, starting January 1, 2018, new regulations went into place in China which restricted what plastics will be accepted to be recycled. Additionally, as of March, China placed a limit on what percentage of a bale to be recycled can be other waste, such as food waste or non-recyclable garbage. As a result, the US market has had to find other outlets for their recycling. Some is being sent to other countries or to developing US recycling mills, but the price for scrap has still taken a downturn. Further, because sending waste to China allowed the returning ships to deliver goods to the US, it was more cost effective than sending scrap elsewhere. As the US struggles to deal with the new surplus, some recycling processors are holding onto their waste hoping prices will go up, while some states are granting waivers that will allow recyclable waste to go into landfills.

Tools for resilience practice: Crisis mapping

Crisis-Mapping technology uses data, reports, and other forms of information about individual locations and events to map them in real time. This information allows first responders and aid groups to identify people that need evacuations or resources and distribute those resources at locations to maximize their impact. Early examples of this include the Ushaidi platform that was used to create a live crisis map in the aftermath of 2010 Haitian earthquake, the 2011 Fukushima Earthquake, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. These early platforms were often limited by the amount of information they could quickly process through human analysis, and became overwhelmed by social media data. During the Fukushima Earthquake there were over 300,000 tweets per minute and Hurricane Sandy caused over 20 million related tweets. This large amount data forced these platforms to begin using algorithms identify and categorize tweets, and to draw on the resources of larger organizations. Even with some of these early limitations, the Department of Homeland Security recognized the potential value of these systems during five different crises in their 2013 report “Innovative Uses of Social Media in Emergency Management.”

Nearly 30 confirmed dead as Indian school bus plummets 300 feet into gorge

The safety of India's road system is under renewed scrutiny after a school bus plummeted over 300 feet into a gorge at the base of the Himalayas in India’s Kangra Valley region Monday afternoon. With nearly 30 confirmed deaths and numerous others injured, the incident is counted as one of the deadliest vehicle accidents in recent memory. Local politician Rakesh Pathania described the aftermath as a scene “full of panic, cries, chaos and disaster.” Witness Sahil Kumar explained, “I heard a loud bang and rushed out only to see the bus falling down. It reached the bottom of the hill very quickly.”

Resilience leaders convene in Boston for the inaugural Global Resilience Research Network Summit

The Inaugural Global Resilience Research Network Summit took place in Boston on Thursday, hosting resilience experts from around the world. Following an introduction from Northeastern University College of Social Sciences and Humanities Dean Uta G. Poiger, Fraunhofer Ernst-Mach Institut Head of Strategic Management Daniel Hiller, and International Affairs and Research Programs Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Director Frank Treppe, Thursday's events began with personal accounts of responding to and managing the aftermath of disasters - both natural and man-made.

Global disaster response needs a networked approach

“Pray for me.” A homeless boy from Puerto Rico said those words to presidential advisor Doug Fears as his helicopter prepared to leave the mountain town of Utuado in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The September 2017 storm had caused $1 billion in damage, wiping out all communication, and leaving 1 million people without power or water. “Landing on the island was like being taken back to the year 1880,” Fears told an audience of 200 people at the inaugural Global Resilience Research Network Summit on Thursday hosted by Northeastern’s Global Resilience Institute. “We will be working through this recovery for at least a decade.” Fears choked up as he described the boy’s plea. But the institute’s director, Stephen Flynn, intends to do a lot more than pray.

Researchers and practitioners from around the world gather at the first Global Resilience Research Network summit

On March 29, 2018 nearly 200 global researchers, government practitioners, and industry professionals gathered at Northeastern University for the first Global Resilience Research Network summit. The session marks the beginning of a two day summit in which GRRN’s twenty founding partners will discuss the barriers that societies around the world must confront in the face of natural and human made disaster. The GRRN is advancing solutions for an array of urgent, complex and interconnected societal challenges. The annual summit is a forum for collaboration on resilience-building efforts among thought leaders, researchers, technical experts, policymakers and practitioners. Updates from the day’s session will follow.

GRI-SETRAC report outlines resilience model for coordinating healthcare response during and after disasters

In collaboration with the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC), GRI completed a report outlining the benefit of maintaining healthcare coordinating committees to aid in disaster recovery.  The development of this report followed GRI’s Post-Disaster Assessment Team’s (PDAT) trip to Houston following Hurricane Harvey. The Post-Disaster Assessment Team collaborated with representatives from local governments, NGOs, businesses, and SETRAC to observe the lingering impacts of Hurricane Harvey, the efforts that were made to recover, and used those findings to form the basis GRI’s recommendations for increasing resilience in areas that face similar risks.

Needs go unmet 6 months after Maria hit Puerto Rico

Generators are still humming. Candles are still flickering. Homes are still being repaired. Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria exactly six months ago, and the U.S. territory is still struggling to recover from the strongest storm to hit the island in nearly a century. "There are a lot of people with needs," said Levid Ortiz, operating director of PR4PR, a local nonprofit that helps impoverished communities across the island. "It shouldn't be like this. We should already be back on our feet." Some 250 Puerto Ricans formed a line around him on a recent weekday, standing for more than two hours to receive bottles of water and a box of food at a public basketball court in the mountain town of Corozal. Many of those waiting were still without power, including 23-year-old Keishla Quiles, a single mother with a 4-year-old son who still buys ice every day to fill a cooler to keep milk and other goods cold amid rising temperatures.

Storm blasts winter-weary Northeast; thousands lose power

A nor'easter that could deliver up to 2 feet of snow to some areas socked New England on Tuesday, bringing blizzard conditions to coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island, blanketing highways with fluffy snow and knocking out power to tens of thousands of utility customers. Meteorologists confirmed blizzards in Newport, Rhode Island, Boston and other parts of Massachusetts. Blizzard warnings were issued for Maine and New Hampshire. The rest of New England was under winter storm warnings, while winter weather advisories were issued for most of New York and parts of New Jersey, West Virginia and North Carolina. Although the latest storm is not expected to bring as many power outages as a nor'easter last week because the snow is lighter, more than 150,000 customers in Massachusetts were without power Tuesday morning.

Redstone Arsenal opens solar plant for energy resilience

On February 26, Redstone Arsenal, an Army garrison which houses research facilities including NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, completed a project to build a solar plant on base. The 10MW plant was built by SunPower using financing from Regions Bank in Birmingham. SunPower has built multiple solar farms for military bases, including a 28MW system at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The system at Redstone Arsenal includes 1MW of energy storage to account for fluctuations in demand. All of the power will be exclusively supplied to the garrison at or below average utility rates on a 27 year contract.

Dungeons, Dragons, and Resilience: Role playing as a thought model for complex resilience

In the 1970’s, game designer (and former insurance underwriter) Gary Gygax invented a game for simulating medieval combat he called Chainmail. This basic system then became the melee mechanics for his next game, Dungeons and Dragons. Almost every role-playing game since, in-person or online, has drawn inspiration from or elaborated on this model. Today and every day around the globe, millions of people (both affectionately and derisively called ‘gamers’) play in-person or online role-playing games. They simulate repeated interactions between attackers (which can be intelligent adversaries or forces of nature) and defenders. They roll dice or depend on computers to do the dice rolling, and they fret and argue the details about how to best prepare for, resolve, and ‘survive’ these encounters.

GRI Faculty Affiliate explores how emotions such as gratitude, pride and compassion can make a society more resilient

What motivates people to accept sacrifice or persevere in the face of difficulty? To return a favor or to extend one? These are some of the questions Global Resilience Institute (GRI) Faculty Affiliate and Northeastern University Professor of Psychology David DeSteno puts forth in an article written for the World Economic Forum. "Moral emotions – ones like gratitude, compassion, and an authentic sense of pride (as opposed to hubris) – generate such virtuous actions," DeSteno writes. "We pay people back because we feel grateful; we offer to help them because we feel compassion; we work hard to achieve a goal because we take pride in the result and the admiration of others. What unites these behaviors and many like them is the necessity of self-control. Each requires a willingness to sacrifice time, money, effort, or even happiness in the moment in order to build and maintain stable, productive, and supportive relationships that will benefit a person for years to come."

After Winter Storm Riley: Preparing Boston for future floods

Between March 2 and March 3, Winter Storm Riley underwent bombogenesis and transformed into a nor’easter. Riley, which initially began by showering the Midwest with snow, slammed into the East Coast and caused severe wind damage and flooding from New England to North Carolina. The storm resulted in at least seven deaths, the loss of power to over 2.1 million homes and businesses, the cancellation of over 4,000 domestic flights and the suspension of Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor. The governors of Maryland and Virginia declared states of emergency, while Massachusetts and Pennsylvania activated the National Guard.

Nor’easter grounds flights, halts trains along East Coast

A relentless nor'easter pounded the Atlantic coast with hurricane-force winds and sideways-blown rain and snow Friday, flooding streets, grounding flights, stopping trains and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power from North Carolina to Maine. Airlines canceled more than 2,800 flights, mostly in the Northeast. LaGuardia Airport in New York City grounded all flights, and John F. Kennedy, also in the city, grounded all but a few departures. Several airlines encouraged travelers to change their Friday and Saturday flights to avoid delays and cancellations at key airports across the Northeast. The Eastern Seaboard was hammered by wind gusts exceeding 50 mph, with possible winds of 80 to 90 mph on Cape Cod. Hurricane-force winds of 78 miles per hour were reported off of Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Powerful winds forced President Donald Trump to fly out of Dulles International Airport on Friday instead of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Air Force One is housed. The airport in Northern Virginia has runways that are more closely aligned with the gusty winds that were kicked up Friday by the nor'easter. Trump flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the funeral of the Rev. Billy Graham.

Rebranding: “Chaos Engineering” as “Resilience Testing”

Last week, I had the opportunity to hear Aaron Rinehart brief on “Chaos Engineering”. Aaron is the Chief Enterprise Security Architect at UnitedHealth Group. His job is to break things. And by break things, I don’t mean innovate as in “move fast and break things” or break-in to things as in penetration testing but actually break systems. It’s a cool job. UnitedHealth is a beast of a company. Cobbled together through dozens of acquisitions, it has 270,000 employees and 200 million in revenue. Also worth noting, when seemingly every other health insurance company got owned by the Chinese in 2015, UnitedHealth dodged the bullet. Maybe they weren’t targeted. Maybe the breach wasn’t discovered. Maybe they got lucky. Or maybe there is something to this approach. As networks and applications (and their interactions) grow increasingly more complex and interdependent, the likelihood of cascading (and therefore devastating) failure also increases. Purposefully causing these failures in a deliberate and controlled fashion is possibly the only rationale way to persist in the faith of both system error and malicious activity.

Cyber resilience: A local approach

In our previous blog posts we have looked at a case study of a vulnerable water plant and explored using Shodan to scan the internet for vulnerable programmable logic controllers. In researching what I wanted to write about next, I watched a presentation at Blackhat 2017 by two U.S. Attorneys about their investigation, arrest and conviction of Roman Seleznev, a Russian hacker and dealer of stolen credit card information. What struck me during the presentation was that many of his targets were small U.S. businesses (the presentation highlighted a few restaurants in the Northwest U.S.) because many of them were easier to hack as they had poorly configured remote desktop protocols and were storing credit card data in unsecure formats. The result of some of these breaches were the target businesses shutting down shortly after publicly announcing being compromised. This got me thinking, what is the affect of cyber attacks on small businesses? What about on rural hospitals? Or local governments and first responders?

Preparing for the crash: The threat of an electromagnetic pulse

The rapid development of North Korea’s nuclear program along with escalating tensions has forced leaders to acknowledge the threat of a potential nuclear strike. Although the risk of a nuclear strike or electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack from North Korea is believed to be unlikely, because the overwhelming United States retaliation would likely devastate North Korean regime, tensions have placed a spotlight on the relative lack of preparation in the United States from the threat of an EMP. The U.S Department of Energy described in its EMP Action Plan that EMPs consist of “intense pulses of electromagnetic energy resulting from solar-caused effects or man-made nuclear and pulse-power devices,” with the ability to inflict damage to electrical equipment. The report notes that the most probable, high magnitude threat is posed by a high-altitude EMP detonating between 30km and 400km above sea level. Information and projections about the potential damage from an EMP are uncertain and contested. Some, such as Peter Pry, Chief of Staff of the former-Congressional EMP Commission, paint an apocalyptic image, arguing that a satellite or Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with an attached electromagnetic pulse detonated 300km above the ground could inflict massive damage to all 48 continental states.

Examining NOLA’s recovery from Katrina, with relevance to Harvey, Irma and Maria

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, I gave a talk with this title at a meeting in New Orleans hosted by FedEx and the Salvation Army. I recently stumbled across my slides (no snide remarks about my less than sterling filing system – please!). I had always meant to write something up along these lines but never quite got around to it. What I learned those few days in NOLA has great relevance to recovery from Harvey, Irma and Maria. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. I have come to fervently believe in these words from Ernie Broussard of Cameron Parish. When the winds come, the rains fall and the flood waters rise, lives will be disrupted. Some buildings will be damaged. Some roads will be washed out. We will feel pain. But if we have hardened what we can, if each of us has prepared ourselves for the inevitable and if we have worked with those around us to build those essential mutual support networks, then we can avoid true suffering.

Devastating earthquake in Papua New Guinea causes widespread infrastructure damage

The death toll is expected to climb following a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck Papua New Guinea early Monday morning. By February 28, at least 20 people, including four children, were reported dead, with the fatalities largely due to landslides triggered by the quake. The landslides have made it exceedingly difficult for rescuers to access the most affected regions and multiple aftershocks have struck, including one measured at 6.3 magnitude. The earthquake damaged phone networks, caused widespread power losses, and blocked roads. In the Hela province, a police station, court house, hospital, and multiple private residences were reported to have been destroyed. Rivers across the affected region silted up and dammed, causing concern about future flooding, and drinking water sources are inundated by dirt and debris.

‘We were not ready’: NY remembers 1993 trade center bombing

The World Trade Center's operators apologized Monday to relatives of people killed in the 1993 bombing there, saying the country was unprepared for a terror attack that foreshadowed 9/11. The families urged people to understand its legacy. Victims' families, survivors, first responders and others marked the bombing's 25th anniversary on what is now the Sept. 11 memorial plaza. They observed a silent moment, read victims' names, laid roses on the memorial and reflected on an explosion that became a telling signal of terrorists' aims. "We were not ready for what visited us that day. Americans were not ready for what visited them that day," said Kevin O'Toole, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the trade center. "And for that, I say: I'm sorry. And we are sorry." The blast in an underground parking garage on Feb. 26, 1993, killed six people, one of them pregnant. It injured more than 1,000 and forced an estimated 50,000 to flee the trade center's twin towers in a scene of smoke, fear and confusion that would be mirrored and magnified on Sept. 11, 2001.

Indonesian wildfires create agricultural and environmental problems

Emergency alerts were put in place in Indonesia this week as wildfires broke out in four provinces, South Sumatra, Riau, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan. By Friday, hundreds of hectares had burned and at least 90 "hot spots" were detected by satellites in the four provinces. Wildfires often break out during Indonesia’s dry season, which begins in January. The dry weather adds to risks as farmers use fire to clear farmland and drain peatland, which becomes highly flammable. The dried roots of plants can burn down to three feet underground. The emergency alerts will be in place until the end of May, when the dry season ends, as the alert allows government resources to be used to mitigate the risk of fires breaking out of control.

Crews to leave Puerto Rico as $750M Fluor contract nears end

Crews who are helping restore power in Puerto Rico as part of a $750 million federal contract will leave the U.S. territory soon as nearly a quarter of a million customers remain in the dark more than five months after Hurricane Maria, officials said Wednesday. Brian Mershon, a spokesman for Texas-based Fluor Corporation, told The Associated Press the contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is ending in part because no further funding is available. He said that after Feb. 25, some 1,600 workers and 1,300 pieces of equipment will remain in Puerto Rico, compared with a peak of 3,000 workers and 2,000 pieces of equipment. "Crews who will remain in the U.S. territory for upcoming weeks will continue to restore power and complete assignments based on available funding and materials," he said. "This is a normal part of the life cycle of large government projects."

Urban and rural environments pose challenges to climate-change resilience

As the effects of climate change lead to severe weather patterns around the globe, urban and rural areas have ongoing, interconnected challenges to confront. Many leaders are beginning to look to resilience solutions to combat these challenges, which must be tailored to the divergent problems faced by different regions. The effects of climate change have been especially severe around the equator. A report produced by James Cook University in Australia estimated that half of the world’s population will live in tropical climates by 2050, as populations and economies around the equator grow rapidly, and the tropics expand.

Blackout hits northern Puerto Rico following fire, explosion

An explosion and fire at an electric substation threw much of northern Puerto Rico into darkness late Sunday in a setback for the U.S. territory's efforts to fully restore power more than five months after Hurricane Maria started the longest blackout in U.S. history. The island's Electric Power Authority said several municipalities were without power, including parts of the capital, San Juan, but they were optimistic it could be restored within a day as they worked to repair a substation that controls voltage. The blast illustrated the challenges of restoring a power grid that was already crumbling before it was devastated by the Category 4 hurricane. In many cases, power workers are repairing equipment that should have long been replaced but remained online due to the power authority's yearslong financial crisis. PREPA is worth roughly $4 billion, carries $9 billion in debt and has long been criticized for political patronage and inefficiency. It also struggled with frequent blackouts, including an island-wide outage in September 2016. It was not immediately known what caused Sunday's fire, which was quickly extinguished. Officials said the explosion knocked two other substations offline and caused a total loss of 400 megawatts worth of generation.

New textbook offers comprehensive and practical guidelines to critical infrastructure resilience

The legacy infrastructure in the United States is aging -- and not gracefully -- as it’s being placed under greater stress by users trying to extract more from systems such as water, transportation and power grid networks. At the same time, the nation's infrastructure faces greater hazards – both manmade and naturally occurring. With leaders poised nationally to make a major investment in critical infrastructure, now is the key time to build back better and stronger than what was inherited from the work of prior generations. Dr. Stephen E. Flynn, one of the world’s leading experts on infrastructure resilience and supply chain security, has co-authored a textbook offering comprehensive and practical guidelines to developing and deploying these resilient upgrades.

Five killed and thousands displaced after fire rips through Kijiji slum in Nairobi

On January 28, 2018, a fire engulfed the entirety of the Kijiji slum in the Lang’ata neighborhood of Nairobi, near the Southlands estate. The blaze resulted in the death of five people. Due to the informality of the settlement, estimates of the number of displaced people vary, but CNN approximates the total to be around 6,000. The governor of Nairobi, Mike Sonko, called for a full investigation of the fire, accompanied by a tweet that claimed that "those found guilty will face the full force of the law." The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. and efforts to control the blaze have been highly criticized. Firefighters reportedly arrived within minutes, but according to the Kenya Red Cross, it took eight hours to contain the fire. This was due to a number of compounding factors, including a lack of access roads throughout the slum, and an insufficient amount of water.

Using Shodan as a tool to find vulnerable devices | GRI Blog

In the last blog post, we looked at the case study of the Kemrui Water company as outlined by the Verizon Data Breach Report which underscored potential consequences of having industrial control systems connected to the public internet. This post will go a little bit deeper and look at the ease in which a device similar to those that were probably in use at the water company and connected to the public internet can be found and potentially exploited. For this process I used the tool ‘Shodan’. Shodan is essentially a search engine for internet connected devices. It ‘crawls’ the internet, sending out connection requests and recording the public results, which include banner information, open ports, and running services. There have been numerous articles and blogs that highlight how Shodan has been used to find internet of things devices such as webcameras, license plate readers, programmable logic controllers (PLC), even ships using satellite antennas and botnet command and control servers.

U.S. Department of Defense reviewing policies after security concerns arise over fitness tracking feature

The growth of wearable technology, as well as the ubiquity of cell phones, has become a prime example of the tradeoff between security and convenience. The most recent vulnerability came to light on January 27, when an Australian security student was looking at the public heat map of the location of Fitbit and other fitness app users, published by GPS tracking company Strava. The map shows anonymized data, amassed from 2015 to September 2017, of the location and routes of people who track their workouts, an increasingly common and popular feature. However, the growth of these apps, as well as a Pentagon fitness initiative in 2013 which distributed Fitbits, means many American soldiers around the world may use them to track their fitness – and daily steps. This constant use results in the heat maps showing not just the locations of what may be secret military installations, but the habitual movements of those stationed there – a clear security risk.

Environmental risks top World Economic Forum list of global threats; Challenges will require resilience ‘lens’

Extreme weather events and natural disasters were identified as the world's most prominent risks by the 2018 Global Risks Report, released at the World Economic Forum (WEC) in Davos, Switzerland. The WEC report's findings acknowledge that storms and disruptive natural events are occurring more often and with more severity -- noting that September 2017 was the most intense month on record in terms of the intensity and duration of Atlantic storms, as well as the most expensive hurricane season "ever." It doesn't only take a large storm to have far-reaching consequences, however. As our society grows increasingly more connected, even small disruptions have cascading effects. “Humanity has become remarkably adept at understanding how to mitigate conventional risks that can be relatively easily isolated," the report states. "But we are much less competent when it comes to dealing with complex risks in the interconnected systems that underpin our world, such as organizations, economies, societies, and the environment."

Building resilience ahead of the next major storm; Looking back at the Blizzard of ’78 on its 40th anniversary

Forty years ago, a major storm descended upon New England. Remembered today as the "Blizzard Of ’78," the storm was record-breaking and deadly. It started in Boston around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, February 6. It would last for nearly 36 hours, stranding thousands of cars, destroying homes and paralyzing the region for a week. On the eve of the anniversary, WBZ-TV asked the question: Could it happen again? Global Resilience Institute Founding Director Dr. Stephen Flynn weighed in, on preparedness, resilience and recovery:

Making our infrastructure more resilient to cyber-attacks | GRI Blog

As we develop the concept of CINET, one of our main challenges is to illustrate how separation of control networks from the public Internet and the existence of a dedicated channel for information sharing could help make our infrastructure more resilient to cyber-attacks. There are only a few public cases of disruptive or disruptive cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure. At this point, Stuxnet and the Ukraine power grid attacks have been beaten to death. In a series of posts, we are going to review a few less well-known ones. For those readers who treat the Verizon Data Breach Incident Report as the Bible of cybersecurity, this case study will be familiar. For the rest of you, here is a brief recap.

Philippines volcano Mount Mayon erupts, forcing 74,000 people to evacuate nearby villages

For nearly two weeks, intense activity from Mount Mayon in the Philippines has disrupted life for thousands in the region. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS-DOST) describes the several bouts of activity as "episodes of intense but sporadic lava fountaining from the summit crater," along with multiple "tremor events" and "numerous rockfall events." Originally 56,217 people were forced out of the Legazpi region to seek shelter in evacuation camps scattered across nine nearby cities, however, in the span of one evening this number increased to 74,000 evacuees in 66 emergency shelters. Parents fear their children will fall behind in their education. To secure an uninterrupted schedule, temporary learning centers will become available within evacuation camps.

Officials prepare for a potential landslide in Washington State, as four million cubic yards of rock slowly inch downhill

In south-central Washington State, a fissure located on Rattlesnake Ridge has put officials on alert as about four million cubic yards of volcanic rock continues to make a slow path downhill. Though the landmass is only moving at about two-and-a-half inches per day, local geological experts are keeping a close watch on the area, concerned that it could accelerate. Its proximity to a major connecting highway, large river, and a dam have officials concerned about the potential catastrophic effects if the slide breaks loose in a w

Alaskan and Pacific Northwest coasts spared from tsunami, following 7.9 magnitude earthquake

Early Tuesday morning local time, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred near Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. Officials across the Alaskan coast, as well as on the western coast of British Columbia, Canada were placed on tsunami alert, while the remainder of the Pacific Northwest states were on watch. In San Francisco, the Department of Emergency Management asked residents located within three blocks of the coast and five blocks of the bay to “prepare to evacuate." At half past midnight, cellphones in Alaska buzzed with an emergency alert from the National Weather Service warning of an impending tsunami: "Emergency Alert. Tsunami danger on the coast. Go to high ground or move inland." The Kodiak Police Department insisted that locals find an area located at least 100 feet above sea level. An officer discouraged travelling up to Pillar Mountain, situated approximately 1,240 feet above sea level, as it was reportedly backed up. This urged residents to move away from coastal areas and seek higher ground at their local high schools, town pools, and hospitals.

As reservoirs run dry, Cape Town races to improve its climate resilience

Cape Town, South Africa is currently facing a looming water crisis that has potential to make it the first major city to shut off its municipal water supply. According to Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, taps across the city are expected to run dry on April 22 – less than 90 days away. This date has come to be known as “Day Zero”. The factor determining when exactly Day Zero occurs is the combined capacity of the dams servicing the Western Cape Province. Once the capacity has fallen below 13.5%, “…municipal water supply will be turned off for all but essential services, like hospitals,” Time Magazine reports. Even though 13.5% of the dams’ water capacity may remain, the last 10% of water in a dam is “unusable” due to silt and debris; therefore, essential services would be relying on what amounts to just 3.5% of combined dam capacity.

Boston officials visit counterparts in Manchester, share resilience lessons learned from marathon bombing and arena attack

GRI Founding Director Dr. Stephen Flynn was joined by Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans during a recent U.S. State Department-sponsored trip to London and Manchester. The visit was part of an initiative to share lessons learned from the Boston Marathon bombing and to learn firsthand how the community in Manchester responded to, and is recovering from, the arena attack. Other members of the delegation included representatives from the Boston Mayor’s office and Dave Fortier, who founded the One World Strong Foundation after being injured in the marathon bombing.

Rising seas, shrinking shores: Small island communities planning for harsh realities of climate change

Last week in Boston, icy seawater flooded downtown streets and train stations during a "bomb cyclone" that brought over a foot of snow and caused several feet of storm surge. While images of a financial district underwater left many wondering how Boston would fare if this phenomenon intensifies, Bostonians were largely able to simply avoid the area, retreating into the rest of the city. Around the world, however, residents of islands realize they will not be able to do the same as sea level rise threatens their homes.
City's at night from space

Space debris poses growing threat to satellite infrastructure

Currently, millions of pieces of space debris are orbiting earth at an average speed of 22,000 miles per hour, creating an environment where, according to NASA, “a 1 centimeter paint fleck is capable of inflicting the same damage as a 550 pound object traveling 60 miles per hour on earth.” This debris poses a threat to the 1,738 satellites currently in orbit which support critical modern communication, commerce, travel and security systems.

PBS NewsHour explores Boston’s plans for the impact of climate change on storms and asks: Will it be enough?

PBS NewsHour Science Correspondent Miles O'Brien examines last week's record-breaking weather, as a wintry blast coincided with a full moon high tide, causing icy floods in parts of Boston. "I worry sometimes that we are creating islands of resilience in seas of fragility," Dr. Stephen Flynn told O'Brien. "Where the real challenge lies is that cities don’t control entirely their destinies. They rely on transportation, energy networks, communication networks that sprawl across the country, across borders. It’s so important to have national leadership, in some cases to take this on globally, is because these systems we rely on have to essentially be able to built resilient across multiple jurisdictions."

Torrential rain hits fire-damaged Santa Barbara, causing deadly mudslides and flooding

On Tuesday, 21,000 people living near hillsides in Southern California had to be evacuated due to severe mudslides and flooding. These events were caused by torrential rain, with the Santa Barbara region experiencing rainfall in many areas at a rate of over an inch per hour. The most heavily impacted areas saw close to 1.5 inches per hour. This rainfall follows a record breaking fire season that left nearly two million acres of land burnt and barren, eliminating many trees and other vegetation that would usually absorb and slow the path of water. According to Robbie Monroe of the National Weather Service in Oxnard, half an inch of rain per hour is enough to trigger mudslides. With the rate of precipitation far exceeding that threshold and the increased vulnerability from the wildfires, the results have been devastating.

Constructing a community narrative: Resilience requires action

Community resilience requires action. And in communities “action is at the speed of trust” (Sherri Moore of the USACE). As I’ve pointed out before, trust must be based on shared experiences, shared successes, a shared vision. Eugene Tan in Singapore calls this a “Master Narrative” – a common understanding of who we are, and how we’ve come to be. Let me make it clear up front that the Master Narrative and a call for action aren’t the same. You want your community to become more resilient – that’s the purpose of a call for action. But if that call is to be translated from words to action, your community has to believe in itself enough to take action. That’s where the Master Narrative comes in – one of the thing it must do is inspire confidence that “Yes, we can.” Thus, an effective call for action will have echoes of the Master Narrative embedded in it.

Severe winter weather slams the East Coast, causing storm surge in Massachusetts

A severe winter storm enveloped the East Coast on Thursday, affecting weather across the coast from southern Florida and Georgia, up to Maine. Tragically, the storm even caused the death of three individuals in North Carolina. Heavy snowfall blanketed much of the Northeast, with totals ranging from 13.9 inches in Providence, Rhode Island to 9 inches in Manhattan. The “bomb cyclone” underwent “bombogenesis,” measured as a drop-in pressure at a rate of 53 millibars in 21 hours. This doubled the rate of 24 millibars per 24 hours necessary to be deemed a bomb. The storm also significantly impacted air travel, causing the cancellation of over 5,300 flights going into Friday and the delay of at least 2,000 others.

In New England, powerful winds bring coastal flooding, reaching historic levels in some communities

Frigid temperatures, some that could feel as cold as minus 30 degrees, moved across the East Coast on Friday as the region attempted to clean up from a massive winter storm that brought more than a foot of snow, hurricane-force winds and coastal flooding a day earlier. Forecasters predict strong winds and record-breaking cold air will sweep the region, from the mid-Atlantic to New England, and hang around through the weekend. "This is chilly, chilly stuff," Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, said. The arctic blast could make temperatures feel as low as minus 15 degrees to minus 25 from Philadelphia to Boston and make residents of states like Maryland and Virginia shiver from temperatures ranging from 10 degrees to 15 degrees.

Boston scrambles to organize resources for the homeless ahead of a "bomb cyclone"

Much of the East Coast is currently bracing for a severe storm that meteorologists have characterized as a “bomb cyclone”, otherwise known as bombogenesis. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), bombogenesis happens “…when a midlatitude cyclone rapidly intensifies, dropping at least 24 millibars [of atmospheric pressure] over 24 hours…which creates what is known as a bomb cyclone”. While such a storm poses risks common to any major snowfall event, the cold that is forecast to follow the storm may pose an even greater disruption. The cyclone’s circulation will carry cold air down from around the North Pole and could decrease temperatures in the Northeast by up to 40 degrees below normal at the end of the week.

Long-term wildfire evacuees face holidays away from home

Ray and Curry Sawyer's Christmas tree is up, still waiting for their grandkids to decorate it. The presents are hidden away in closets, waiting to be wrapped, the ingredients for gingerbread men are sitting in cupboards, and the kindling for the fireplace has been chopped. A monster of a wildfire burning in Southern California froze the Sawyers' plans for a big family Christmas and has forced the couple from their Santa Barbara home for nearly two weeks. Even if their beloved home of five decades survives the next predicted onslaught of winds, the Sawyers are preparing for Christmas in yet another hotel. "This is getting ridiculous," said the 82-year-old Curry Sawyer from her hotel in Goleta on Tuesday. "My husband has the feeling, 'Why aren't they letting us back in?' but they've got hot spots up there and if we get more Santa Ana winds, we're going to be back to square one," Sawyer said. "I'm not sure we're out of the woods."
Boston Skyline

City of Boston holds second annual "Boston Talks About Racism" event

In 2016, the office of Mayor Marty Walsh launched a program called “Boston Talks About Racism," as a dialogue on race between residents, the Mayor, and officials from several city offices. The second annual public meeting was held on Saturday, at the end of a year that has been rife with difficulty. Over the summer multiple instances of racial slurs being used in the stands of Fenway Park were widely publicized. Boston College students staged a walkout in October, after Black Lives Matter posters were found defaced in a dorm. Just last week, the Boston Globe Spotlight team published a seven-part series on being a person of color in Boston – detailing how minority communities are still excluded from many opportunities, with pieces touching on history, healthcare, power, sports, and college campuses.

Creating safer, more fire-adapted communities and a more resilient fire response: A report from The Global Resilience Institute and National Fire Protection Association

Fire suppression costs and the amount of land burned, especially near urban areas, has been steadily increasing over the last several decades, in part due to the growth in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) - the areas where denser populations intersect with wildfire risk. This trend is likely to continue as the climate changes, development in the wildland-urban interface accelerates, and forest management practices continue to be constrained by local environmental, economic, and political conditions. “Wildfire: A Changing Landscape,” a newly published report from the Global Resilience Institute (GRI) at Northeastern University and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) addresses this trend. Focused primarily on the effects of wildfires on vulnerable communities and critical infrastructure, the report is the result of a collaboration at the request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It features critical findings and recommendations, as well as a checklist for city officials and planners.

Climate engineering: GRI Associate Director explores the uncertain geopolitical risks and ramifications

Though climate engineering--the concept of human intervention in the earth's weather patterns--may be viewed by some as a way to combat the changing climate, the approach could have many serious ramifications, Global Resilience Institute Associate Director Jennie Stephens points out in a recent interview. “There is a potential for a huge power differential with regard to who’s making decisions for who,” Stephens told News@Northeastern, adding that it's “almost inevitable” that optimizing the climate in one region of the world will have unforeseen consequences in another. She notes, “It’s easy to imagine that the United States might want to seek outcomes that maintain favorable precipitation patterns for Midwest farmers, but in doing so, it might actually exacerbate conditions in the Sahel.”

With lone wolf attacks ‘almost impossible’ to prevent, resilience expert Stephen Flynn stresses importance of swift response | WNYC

Though "lone-wolf" attacks are "almost impossible to prevent," Global Resilience Institute (GRI) Director Stephen Flynn stressed the importance of a swift and efficient response in an interview with WNYC on Monday afternoon. "I think there's some reassurance that we can take from this incident, in terms of the speed at which the police were able to isolate what had happened, and isolate as well the parts of the system that need to be shut down while keeping the rest of the system going," Flynn said.

"Wild" earthquake in Delaware highlights lesser-known seismic risks

On Thursday, November 30, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed that an earthquake struck Delaware, with its epicenter just northeast of the state's capital. Reports show that it was felt as far north as Newark and as far west as Washington, though at a very mild intensity. While the quake didn’t seem to cause substantial damage or loss of life, it stood out as being an uncommon event for the region. Initial computer-generated reports of its magnitude ranged from 4.4 to 5.1, but experts later determined that it was actually a 4.1 on the Richter scale. This 4.1 measure is 10 times less intense than the earthquake’s highest magnitude estimation of 5.1.

The Sheltered Harbor Project: A system of private sector collaboration to improve financial resilience

Hacking events targeting banks and other businesses have grown in magnitude over the last several years, resulting in financial losses and reduced consumer confidence. These intrusions have impacted a variety institutions including an $81 million theft from the Bank of Bangladesh, which used $10 dollar routers, no firewalls, and relied almost entirely on the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) financial transaction system for its security. The illegitimate transactions have also been point of contention between the Bank of Bangladesh and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Federal Reserve contests that inquiries into the transactions were never answered, though the Bank of Bangladesh insists its employees followed protocol and argues that the five transactions should not have been approved.

Fatal stampede for food aid follows drought in rural Morocco

On Sunday, November 19, a stampede occurred in Sidi Boulaalam, Morocco as an unidentified local charity was distributing food aid. The cause of the stampede is still being investigated, but 15 were killed and at least 40 more injured according to reports, mainly women and the elderly. Witnesses told reporters that crowds were larger than usual during this annual aid distribution. As Sidi Boulaalam is a small, rural village, many of the injured were taken to Essaouria, 40 miles away, and Marrakech, over 90 miles away. The King of Morocco has said he would pay medical and funeral costs for the victims of the incident, BBC News reported.

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.

Torrential rain, floods paralyze Albania; 1 person dead

At least one person died during heavy rainfall that flooded many parts of Albania, paralyzing its ports and causing flights from its only international airport to be suspended, authorities said Friday. Three other people were injured and 314 homes were destroyed in weather-related incidents over 24 hours, the government said in a statement. Schools remained closed nationwide. Many roads remained blocked across the Balkan country, while some 127,000 residents were affected by power cuts. Albania's army and health ministry used helicopters Friday to evacuate people from flooded areas.

Indonesia volcano forces mass evacuation, shuts Bali airport

Indonesian authorities ordered 100,000 people to flee Monday from an erupting volcano on Bali that forced the island's international airport to close, stranding large numbers of travelers. Mount Agung has been hurling clouds of white and dark gray ash about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) into the atmosphere since the weekend and lava is welling up in the crater, sometimes reflected as a reddish-yellow glow in the ash plumes. Its explosions can be heard about 12 kilometers (7 1/2 miles) away. Videos released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed a mudflow of volcanic debris and water known as a lahar moving down the volcano's slopes. It said lahars could increase because it is rainy season and warned people to stay away from rivers.

160,000 residents flee Puerto Rico in search of opportunities in Florida

Over two months ago, Hurricane Maria moved across Puerto Rico, bringing 155 mph winds that wiped out power transmission lines and shut down running water. This left the U.S. territory in a vulnerable position, as its 3.4 million residents began their long wait for communication, electricity, and water systems to come back online. Many families who lost everything in the storm and faced the impossibility of the storm-ravaged conditions sought to migrate to the U.S.

Security risks of intelligent technologies spell a need for greater collaboration

New connected and intelligent devices are quickly becoming ubiquitous in American life. Digital Assistants -- such as Alexa or Siri -- have penetrated 12% of U.S. broadband households and are projected to be in 55% of households by 2022. The ride hailing company Uber has ordered 24,000 Volvo XC90 cars for up to $1.4 billion to head the development of their driverless car fleet. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expects that the commercial drone fleet will increase from 1.1 million units to between 2.75 and 4.5 million units by 2021.

Now are we ready to talk about CINET? | GRI Blog

On Wednesday I testified before the U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection about information sharing. U.S. Rep John Ratcliffe (R-TX), chairman of the subcommittee, and Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), ranking member, were particularly interested in what more needs to be done in the two years since Congress passed the Cybersecurity Act of 2015. That act eliminated many of the excuses for why companies don’t share cybersecurity information. It also directed the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to develop the means to share classified information with private companies.

GRI senior research scientist testifies before U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on cyber threat information sharing

On Wednesday, November 15 the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, of the Committee on Homeland Security, will hold a hearing to discuss how DHS can maximize cyber threat information, and determine the most effective partnerships for sharing cyber threat information, including with the private sector. Four witnesses, all from outside the government, will testify as part of this hearing.

GRI Associate Director: Utilities must go beyond ‘hardening’ the current grid | The Wall Street Journal

Should governments require utilities to make the electric grid more stormproof? In an article from The Wall Street Journal, two industry experts sound off on this question, offering different viewpoints. Jennie Stephens, GRI Associate Director and Northeastern University Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy, argues "yes": that utilities must go beyond ‘hardening’ the current grid.

Community resilience and international aid after Typhoon Damrey hits Vietnam

Typhoon Damrey ripped through South-Central Vietnam on November 4, making it the 12th major storm to hit Vietnam this year. With wind speeds of up to 135 km/hour and a reported death toll of 106, Damrey is the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade. More than 116,000 houses were damaged or completely razed, and destroyed roads caused traffic issues across much of the region. Quang Ngai Province reported the most rain and experienced numerous landslides that left five mountainous regions in complete isolation for five days. This destruction came amidst the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which was hosted in Da Nang, Vietnam last week.

Powerful earthquake on Iran-Iraq border kills over 400

A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake near the Iraq-Iran border killed over 400 people across both countries, sent residents fleeing their homes into the night and was felt as far away as the Mediterranean coast, authorities said Monday. Iran's western Kermanshah province bore the brunt of the temblor Sunday night, with authorities saying the quake killed 407 people in the country and injured 6,700. Kermanshah is a rural, mountainous region where residents rely mainly on farming. In Iraq, the earthquake killed at least seven people and injured 535, all in the country's northern Kurdish region, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.

Application period for FY19 Global Resilience Institute seed grant funding has closed

The Global Resilience Institute (GRI) has opened the application period for its next round of seed grant funding. Faculty from all nine colleges at Northeastern University who are committed to building interdisciplinary resilience research capacity are eligible to apply. During the first round of seed grant funding launched in early 2017, a diverse group of proposals were submitted for consideration -- and the 11 selected teams were notified in May. The funded inaugural teams incorporate researchers from Northeastern's College of Engineering; College of Social Science and Humanities; College of Science; College of Computer and Information Science; College of Arts, Media and Design; Bouvé College of Health Sciences; School of Law; and D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Two projects also include researchers from the Network Science Institute, and The George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security.

Research at Northeastern paving pathways to discovery, breaking down barriers between fields of study, and leveraging unique collaborations

Northeastern University's State of the University Address was delivered on Thursday afternoon, celebrating its accomplishments over the past year and exploring its future goals. President Joseph E. Aoun delivered his remarks via a live video feed from London and Provost James C. Bean spoke from the main NU campus, touching on the university's new academic plan, and how it is fostering a “no boundaries” approach.

Counterterrorism expert Max Abrahms describes ‘two kinds of Islamic State threats,’ after NYC attack

Counterterrorism expert and GRI Faculty Affiliate Max Abrahms, an assistant professor of political science and public policy professor at Northeastern University, weighed in on the attack, in an interview with BBC World News. "In a way this attack isn't all that surprising," Abrahms said. "The caliphate, the stronghold of the Islamic State, in Iraq and in Syria, is shrinking. So there has been a heightened fear that the attacks are going to be more dispersed and the United States is the leading country in the anti-Islamic State military coalition -- and New York is the capital, with loads of media coverage."

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:

New England storm causes widespread power outages

One of the worst fall storms in recent memory hit New England on the evening of Sunday, October 29. Winds reached 93 miles per hour in parts of Eastern Mass, accompanied by 1 to 5 inches of rain across the Northeast United States. The wind and rain caused 1.3 million homes and businesses to lose power in New England and led to closed schools throughout the region. Luckily, the storm hit during an unusually low low-tide due to the current phase of the moon, which prevented five feet of storm surge from potentially flooding parts of New York City.
closes up of pills falling out of jar

President Trump declares the opioid crisis a national public health emergency

On October 26, 2017 President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency. The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact across the U.S.: In 2016 alone, nearly 11 million people in the U.S. abused prescription opioids, which represents the highest per capita consumption in the world. “Last year, we lost at least 64,000 Americans to overdoses," President Trump said. "That’s 175 lost American lives per day. That’s seven lost lives per hour in our country. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of unintentional death in the United States by far." The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus was the last time a public health emergency of this magnitude was issued. The audience present at the White House for the announcement included elected leaders and recovering addicts and their families from across the nation.

Over a month after Maria: Looming challenges and small victories

More than a month after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, Americans continue to feel the effects of the storm. The island itself remains largely out of power, with electricity still unavailable to 75% of residents at the start of the week. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the island’s electric grid infrastructure includes 2,400 miles of transmission lines and 30,000 miles of distribution lines. In a press conference on Saturday, Ricardo Rossello, the Governor of Puerto Rico, outlined a goal timeline for power restoration: 30% by the end of October, 50% by November 15, and 80% by December 1. His goal is to restore power to 95% of Puerto Rico’s grid by the end of December, but admits that it will be challenging to do so.

Recovery efforts continue 5 years after Superstorm Sandy

New Jersey reported $36.8 billion in damage, and New York $32.8 billion. While most of that money has been spent on recovery, some funds continue to be spent five years later, including aid for damaged homes. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has paid out $13.5 billion in public assistance funds in New York, and $1.9 billion in New Jersey. Aid to individuals and households has been $1 billion in New York and $422 million in New Jersey. Claimants in both states have received more than $8 billion combined in payouts from the National Flood Insurance Program. New York state reported 48 deaths due to the storm, and New Jersey reported 12.

Study: NYC could see bad flooding every 5 years

Within the next three decades, floods that used to strike the New York City area only once every 500 years could occur every five years, according to a new scientific study released just days before the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. The study, performed by researchers at several universities and published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, primarily blames the predicted change on sea-level rise caused by global warming. "This is kind of a warning," said Andra Garner, a Rutgers University scientist and study co-author. "How are we going to protect our coastal infrastructure?"

As global shipping explodes, it presents a logistical and security challenge | PRI’s The World

“It was in 1992 when 100 million containers moved through all the world’s ports, then in 1998, we went to 200 million,” said Stephen Flynn, founding director of the Global Resilience Institute. “Roughly we’re at a little over 600 million today. So just between the events of 9/11 and the events of today, you almost have a three-fold [increase] of volume moving through the world’s ports.”

How one company is using balloons to help Puerto Rico bounce back

Since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico one month ago, the island has been struggling to restore even the most essential services, including running water, electricity, and the transportation network. Exacerbating the situation is widespread cell network outages across the island, which prevents people from contacting loved ones outside Puerto Rico to confirm their well-being. Additionally – and perhaps more importantly – the cell network outages are hindering relief efforts.

A year of wildfires and pointing fingers in Portugal

Today in Portugal, citizens will enter a three day period of national mourning as wildfires continue to ravage the country. The fires had claimed the lives of 36 people as of Tuesday morning, including a one month old infant. An additional 56 people have been injured, 16 of whom are in critical condition. The wildfires ignited amidst dry conditions, fueled by winds from Hurricane Ophelia, which is now pummeling Ireland’s coast. According to authorities, arson might have also played a role in the outbreak of some of the around 500 different fires simultaneously burning in Portugal. On Monday, more than 5,300 firefighters battled the fires using 1,600 vehicles. Aircraft equipment with the capacity to drop water on the blaze is not in use in certain areas, as low clouds and heavy smoke severely limit visibility. The number of fires has forced a state of emergency upon nearly half of the country’s landmass, the entire region north of the Tajo River.

Hospitals in Mogadishu struggled to accommodate an influx of extremely injured civilians from the truck bombings

On October 14, a double truck bombing exploded in Mogadishu, Somalia, which injured 300 civilians and killed approximately 277 people. First responders and hospital staff were quickly overwhelmed as most civilians were barely recognizable from their burns and needed immediate medical services. In Mogadishu, the two major hospitals closest to the explosion site are Banadir Hospital and Medina Hospital. The Federal Government of Somalia classifies Banadir hospital to be the only ‘National Referral Hospital’ in the country, which entails they offer maternal and child health facilities and services. Medina hospital treats “several hundred war-wounded patients and expectant mothers every month”, and is focused more on trauma and emergency services.

Floods and landslides kill 54, leave 39 missing in Vietnam

Vietnam is ranked the seventh most disaster-prone country in the world, and disasters over the past two decades have caused more than 13,000 deaths and property damage in excess of $6.4 billion, according to Achim Fock, acting country director for the World Bank in Vietnam. Speaking at a conference in Hanoi on Friday marking International Day for Disaster Reduction, Fock said it is time for Vietnam to prepare seriously to reduce its climatic vulnerability.

Wildfires tear across California communities with little warning

California firefighters had their work cut out for them this week as they battled at least 21 wildfires across the state. The fires blazed in eight counties, forcing thousands upon thousands of residents to evacuate. As of Friday morning, at least 31 people had died in the fires, surpassing the death toll of the 1933 Griffith Park Fire, making these fires the most deadly fire-related emergencies in California’s history. The fires have torn through 191,000 acres of land, an area of land roughly thirteen times the size of Manhattan, destroying thousands of homes and commercial buildings. 

To replace SSN with something more resilient, model it on the internet | GRI Blog

Rob Joyce wants to get rid of the social security number. “Every time we use the Social Security number you put it at risk,” Joyce, the White House Cyber Coordinator told Washington Post Live recently. Joyce’s comments have led to no small amount of day dreaming by the technical community on the possibility of using a “modern cryptographic identifier” or (drum roll please) block chain. That’s all well and good. But the challenges with replacing the social security number as an identifier (with something more secure), aren’t technical -- they are everything else. And as Steve Bellovin points out, it would be really, really hard.

Deadly California wildfires force thousands to evacuate

An onslaught of wildfires across a wide swath of Northern California broke out almost simultaneously then grew exponentially, swallowing up properties from wineries to trailer parks and tearing through both tiny rural towns and urban subdivisions. At least 10 were dead, at least 100 injured and at least 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed, authorities said. All three figures were expected to surge in the coming days as more information is reported. Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.

Recovering now and rebuilding for the future: GRI Faculty Affiliate weighs in on Puerto Rico’s recovery | Axios

More than two weeks after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, much of the island remained without power or access to clean drinking water, according to a website maintained by the island's government. An article published by Axios posed the question: "How will the beleaguered island secure the humanitarian relief it needs now and rebuild for a more resilient future?" Five experts weighed in, including GRI Faculty Affiliate Ozlem Ergun, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering.

The challenges of financing the Harvey recovery

After the initial response to a large natural disaster, the difficult and often politically-fraught work of long-term recovery begins. Particularly daunting challenges exist in trying to finance repairs by calibrating changes in taxes and spending and prioritizing resources to rebuild local economies. The estimated cost of the damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey has produced a range of estimates, from $190 billion, eclipsing the $160 billion cost of Hurricane Katrina, to lower estimates of $60-$70 billion from economist Bernard Weinstein. Many of these estimates fail to incorporate the indirect costs such as healthcare costs, or the cascading impact of oil refinery shutdowns.

White House seeks $29B for disaster aid, flood insurance

The Trump administration on Wednesday asked Congress for $29 billion in disaster aid to cover ongoing hurricane relief and recovery efforts and to pay federal flood insurance claims. The request comes as the government is spending almost $200 million a day for emergency hurricane response and faces a surge in flood claims for federally insured homes and businesses slammed by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told lawmakers in officially submitting the request that the federal flood insurance program "is not designed to handle catastrophic losses like those caused by Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The NFIP is simply not fiscally sustainable in its current form."

Las Vegas attack is deadliest shooting in modern US history

At least 50 people were killed and more than 200 wounded when a gunman opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Authorities have identified the suspected gunman in the Sunday night shooting as Stephen Paddock. Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said officers confronted Paddock on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino across the street from the concert. Paddock is dead.

Mexicans dig through collapsed buildings as quake kills 217

Police, firefighters and ordinary Mexicans dug frantically through the rubble of collapsed schools, homes and apartment buildings early Wednesday, looking for survivors of Mexico's deadliest earthquake in decades as the number of confirmed fatalities stood at 217. Adding poignancy and a touch of the surreal, Tuesday's magnitude-7.1 quake struck on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 earthquake that killed thousands. Just hours earlier, people around Mexico had held earthquake drills to mark the date.

Developing a quantitative, predictive theory of network resilience; Interdisciplinary Northeastern team awarded NSF grant

An interdisciplinary group of Northeastern professors and researchers have been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop a quantitative, predictive theory of network resilience. The team's vision is to develop a framework that will guide city officials, utility operators, and public agencies in developing new strategies for infrastructure management and urban planning. “This research will be of interest to a variety of other fields, from ecology to cellular biology,” the proposal states.

Designing a resilience framework focused on recovery, as much as mitigation

“America was historically a resilient society until around WWII, when we began to focus so much on risk mitigation that we started to lose our ability to respond and recover when our mitigation measures fell short,” said Dr. Flynn in an interview with CIRI. “We became so focused on trying to prevent bad things from happening that we lost sight of how important it is become well-prepared for coping with disasters and attacks.”

Fierce storms haven’t slowed growth along US coastlines

Rising sea levels and fierce storms have failed to stop relentless population growth along U.S. coasts in recent years, a new Associated Press analysis shows. The latest punishing hurricanes scored bull's-eyes on two of the country's fastest growing regions: coastal Texas around Houston and resort areas of southwest Florida. Nothing seems to curb America's appetite for life near the sea, especially in the warmer climates of the South. Coastal development destroys natural barriers such as islands and wetlands, promotes erosion and flooding, and positions more buildings and people in the path of future destruction, according to researchers and policy advisers who study hurricanes.

Florida nursing home deaths spur efforts to protect elderly

Emergency workers around hurricane-scarred Florida worked to make sure elderly residents were safe, evacuating multiple assisted-living facilities, after eight people died in a sweltering nursing home that lost its air conditioning in the storm. In one of the latest actions to protect older residents, firefighters helped relocate 122 people late Wednesday from two assisted living centers near Orlando that had been without power since Hurricane Irma.

FEMA insurance chief: Harvey losses could top $11 billion

The head of the National Flood Insurance Program said Wednesday early estimates show Hurricane Harvey will result in about $11 billion in payouts to insured homeowners, mostly in southeast Texas. That would likely put Harvey as the second costliest storm in the history of the federal insurance program, said Roy E. Wright, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's deputy associate administrator for insurance and mitigation. More than $16 billion was paid out after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Dr. Stephen Flynn on Disaster Resilience in the United States | Council on Foreign Relations Podcast

Global Resilience Institute Founding Director Dr. Stephen Flynn joined ‘The President’s Inbox’ podcast on Tuesday, to discuss resilience – what is it, why is it important, and how is it relevant in our nation today? “The concept of resilience really gets at a number of elements of how we have to deal with the growing shocks and disruptions of our lives,” said Flynn. “One element of resilience is the capacity to withstand a disruptive event or a shock – that’s what engineers often think about, building to be resilient against the ground moving from an earthquake – but resilience is also about this ability to bounce back or recover. So after a shock or after a major disruption, you’re able to get back up. But very importantly, another element of this evolving definition of resilience is this capacity to adapt. When you bounce back you should come back better and stronger. It’s what you should do before bad things happen, what you do after, and how you learn from that.”

Now a tropical storm, Irma hits Florida with wind, flooding

A weakened but still dangerous Irma pushed inland Monday as it hammered Florida with winds and floodwaters that created hazards even for rescuers trying to help beleaguered residents. Irma was downgraded to a tropical storm over Florida, but it still had winds near hurricane force. Its outer bands were also blowing into Georgia, where the storm's center was expected to arrive later in the day. With rough conditions persisting across Florida, many communities in Irma's wake feared what destruction would be revealed as daylight allowed authorities to canvass neighborhoods.

Death toll 61 in Mexico quake as hurricane hits Gulf coast

One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Mexico struck off the country's southern coast, toppling hundreds of buildings and sending panicked people fleeing into the streets in the middle of the night. At least 61 people were reported dead. The quake that hit minutes before midnight Thursday was strong enough to cause buildings to sway violently in the capital city more than 650 miles (1,000 kilometers) away. As beds banged against walls, people still wearing pajamas ran out of their homes and gathered in frightened groups.

Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Caribbean, moving towards Florida

Just days after Hurricane Harvey devastated the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Irma threatens the Caribbean and the southeastern United States. On Monday night, hurricane warnings were in effect as the Category 5 storm moved towards islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Maarten, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The governor of the British Virgin Islands urged residents of Anegada island to evacuate, and schools and government offices were closed across the Caribbean.

Hurricane Irma slams Caribbean islands as Category 5 storm

Hurricane Irma roared into the Caribbean with record-setting force early Wednesday, shaking people in their homes on the islands of Antigua and Barbuda on a path toward Puerto Rico and possibly Florida by the weekend. Irma, which was the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded north of the Caribbean and east of the Gulf of Mexico, passed almost directly over the island of Barbuda, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Authorities in the small islands of the eastern Caribbean were still evaluating the situation as the sun rose though there were widespread reports of flooding and downed trees. Antiguan police were waiting until the winds dropped before sending helicopters to check on damage reports of damage in Barbuda. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Texas faces long recovery from Harvey, rising financial toll

As floodwaters receded and rescuers searched waterlogged neighborhoods for more potential victims, Houston officials began turning their attention to finding temporary housing for those in shelters and getting enough gasoline for people to fill up cars — but also to the city's long-term recovery, which will take years and billions of dollars. Authorities raised the death toll from the storm to 39 late Thursday. And the latest statewide damage surveys revealed the staggering extent of the destruction.

Healthcare access complicated by Hurricane Harvey, as floodwaters threaten facilities, forcing some evacuations

As Texans continue to battle Hurricane Harvey, Houston-area hospitals have been grappling with the decision of whether to evacuate patients. Residents of Houston were not ordered to evacuate, leaving some area hospitals struggling to accommodate incoming patients. As of Wednesday evening, over twenty healthcare facilities had evacuated patients by ambulance and helicopter. Another twenty-five hospitals continued to operate under "internal disaster" status, treating patients but struggling to function normally.

Harvey makes landfall, again

The National Weather Service says the clouds that have loomed over the Houston area since Harvey made its initial landfall will at last give way to sunshine. Harvey made landfall — again — early Wednesday, this time in southwestern Louisiana. The storm is expected to move inland , bringing continued heavy rain to Louisiana, before heading north to Arkansas, Tennessee and parts of Missouri. "Once we get this thing inland during the day, it's the end of the beginning," said National Hurricane Center spokesman and meteorologist Dennis Feltgen. "Texas is going to get a chance to finally dry out as this system pulls out."

$3B disaster balance enough for immediate Harvey response

The federal government has — for now — enough disaster aid money to deal with the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, but the ongoing storm appears sure to require a multibillion-dollar recovery package as did Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster fund currently contains about $3 billion, and top congressional aides said Monday that they have assurances from the Trump administration that it will be sufficient to deal with immediate needs such as debris removal and temporary shelter for tens of thousands of Texans displaced from their homes.

Battered by Harvey, Houston braces for even more flooding

Officials released more water from Houston-area reservoirs overwhelmed by Harvey early Monday in a move aimed at protecting the city's downtown from devastating floods but that could still endanger thousands of homes, even as the nation's fourth-largest city braced for more rain. Harvey, which made landfall late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and has lingered dropping heavy rain as a tropical storm, sent devastating floods pouring into Houston on Sunday. The rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground and overwhelmed rescuers who could not keep up with the constant calls for help.

With time running out, thousands flee Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey intensified as it steered toward the Texas coast on Friday, with forecasters saying it had strengthened to a Category 2 storm with the potential to swamp communities more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) inland. The slow-moving hurricane could be the fiercest such storm to hit the United States in almost a dozen years. Forecasters labeled Harvey a "life-threatening storm" that posed a "grave risk" as millions of people braced for a prolonged battering. The storm has the potential to produce winds hitting 125 mph (201 kph) and storm surges of 12 feet (4 meters).

The Global Resilience Institute moves to 177 Huntington Avenue

The Global Resilience Institute has moved to a new location! Formerly housed inside 1135 Tremont Street, GRI is now located on the third floor of 177 Huntington Avenue*, between the Prudential and Symphony "T" stops. The iconic building was designed by I.M. Pei & Partners and constructed in 1972 as the Administration Building of the Christian Science Center. The 26-story, 200,000-square-foot structure was revitalized by Beacon Capital Partners in 2014.

Heat waves: The biggest health concerns & what precautions cities can take, to protect the vulnerable – News@Northeastern

Heat waves have dominated the headlines this summer, with record-breaking temperatures in the U.S. Pacific Northwest for a third year running, and dangerously high temperatures sweeping across Europe, in a heatwave nicknamed "Lucifer." This trend is expected to become "more intense, more frequent and longer lasting over the next century," said heat justice expert Sharon Harlan. Harlan, a professor of health sciences and sociology at Northeastern and a Faculty Affiliate of the Global Resilience Institute (GRI), spoke with News@Northeastern reporter Allie Nicodemo about heat-related health concerns, what precautions cities should take, and which populations are the most vulnerable to heat waves.

Adm. Peter Neffenger visits Northeastern’s Marine Science Center, for cross-institute tour

Representatives from two Northeastern University institutes dedicated to sustainability and resilience welcomed Admiral Peter Neffenger (USCG Ret.), to the Marine Science Center in Nahant. Admiral Neffenger, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Global Resilience Institute (GRI) and the former Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), was briefed on Northeastern’s Coastal Sustainability Institute (CSI) and on the research efforts underway in the Nahant labs.

Powerful earthquake hits China’s Sichuan region for the second time in a decade

On the evening of August 8, 2017, an earthquake shook the mountainous region of northwest Sichuan, China. A popular tourist destination in China, the Jiuzhaigou nature reserve receives 5 million visitors per year; just days before the earthquake they welcomed 41,000 people. Two weeks after the quake, there are still conflicting reports on the size and magnitude of this earthquake. The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported the earthquake was measured at a 6.5 magnitude, west southwest from the epicenter in Yongle. Whereas Xinhua, a Chinese news agency, announced the earthquake hit a 7.0 magnitude, citing the China Earthquake Networks Center as their source.

Pacific Northwest endures historic heat wave while smoke from B.C. wildfires pollutes the region

The Pacific Northwest region of the United States is in the midst of a heat wave that has come close to breaking previous temperature records. In the past 123 years, triple-digit temperatures have only been recorded on three days in Seattle -- and though the city remained below triple digits last week, the high reached 94 degrees, hitting a daily record. Meanwhile, Portland experienced even higher temperatures, reaching a high of 105 degrees on Thursday. This was just shy of the warmest temperature ever recorded in Portland, which was 107 degrees.

Wildfires in southwestern U.S. blaze a path for flooding in their wake

Several southwestern states have been ravaged by 18 wildfires in past weeks, the products of drought and extreme heat that dried out vegetation and increased the speed at which the fires spread.  However, as the rainy season approaches, some communities find themselves struggling instead with the recent onset of extreme rainfall. The widespread and severe storms, coupled with the conditions left behind in fire-damaged areas, have resulted in flash floods.

Evaluating the R4 rural resilience initiative Q1 report

On July 20th, Oxfam America (OA) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) released the R4 Rural Resilience Initiative report for the first quarter of 2017. R4 is a joint undertaking between the two organizations, designed in 2011 as a response to increased climate volatility and its malignant effect on rural agriculture. The term "R4" refers to a combination of four strategies aimed at increasing resilience in food insecure communities: “risk reduction”, including implementation of Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) programs and development of resilient infrastructure, “risk transfer” through insurance and training, as well as “prudent risk taking” in the form of microcredit and diversification of livelihoods, and “risk reserves” or savings.

GRI featured in emergency management blog, ‘Disaster Zone’

Two videos detailing the mission of the Global Resilience Institute (GRI) were highlighted this week in a blog dedicated to the world of emergency management and homeland security. Both pieces define resilience, with one featuring Northeastern University President Joseph E. Aoun. In the second video GRI Founding Director Dr. Stephen Flynn goes into detail on what it means to be resilient. “Resilience is that capacity to withstand a disruption or a shock and when you get knocked down, get back up and learn from it -- and adapt -- and get better the next time around,” explains Flynn. "What we’re starting to realize is that, as a global community, we just have to get better at dealing with disruptions, we can’t prevent all bad things from happening.

Northeastern University formally opens the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex

On Monday April 3, 2017, Northeastern University officially opened the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC). Northeastern University’s President Aoun was joined by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and National Science Foundation Director France A. Córdova for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The six-story structure, which cost $225 million, will be home to interdisciplinary researchers focused on drug discovery, robotics, and security.

Stephen Flynn: Cargo, the terrorist’s ‘Trojan Horse’

"Economic losses were put at $6.3 billion or more. Homeland Security says it would cost $16 billion or more to meet the mandate, but that projection assumes that the department would pay to acquire, maintain and operate scanning equipment and related operations, without any offsetting fees from companies in the global supply chain. In contrast, Stephen E. Flynn, an expert in terrorism and port security at Northeastern University, has said a scanning system could be implemented in every major container port in the world at a cost of $1.5 billion, and that the costs could largely be absorbed by companies doing business at the ports.”

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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.
he interplay between bonding, bridging and linking ties illustrates different forms of social capital.

Building Community Resilience: Social ties and connections

Social ties and connections are embedded in our everyday lives, but we often only recognize their value in times of need. In an urbanizing city like Singapore, social infrastructure and ties play a crucial role in helping us deal with impacts of climate change, extreme weather and other potential shocks This article examines the importance of building up social infrastructure and ties in operationalising community resilience in a highly dense and urbanized city in order to deal with climate change as well as a wide range of risks and threats.

Max Abrahms in The Atlantic: What History Says Will Happen Next in Iran

After claiming credit for killing Qassem Soleimani outside Baghdad International Airport, Donald Trump said that the world was now a “safer place.” This viewpoint was perhaps understandable, given Soleimani’s position as the commander of Iran’s Quds Force and his role in developing the Badr Organization in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, and the Houthi movement in Yemen, among numerous other fighting outfits around the world. At the heart of this sprawling violent network stood Soleimani.

Boston under snow: Resilience lessons for the nation, a Global Resilience Institute report

This Global Resilience Institute report analyzes the record-breaking snow storms that occurred in the Boston metro region between January 24 and February 22, 2015. In that month, 94.4 inches of snow fell, with half falling in just 2 weeks as a result of Winter Storm Juno and Winter Storm Marcus. The storms severely damaged the city’s transportation infrastructure, including a system-wide shutdown of all train and bus operations. Over 1.3 million daily users of public transportation were impacted, 25% of whom lack a private vehicle as an alternative method of transportation. This cost an estimated $2 billion in economic damages due to lost productivity and revenues.

Resilience Governance for Infrastructure Dependencies and Interdependencies: A Practical Model for Regional Critical Infrastructure Resilience

Throughout the 20th Century, American communities became increasingly reliant on infrastructure systems that extended well beyond the reach of their direct control. With the dramatic expansion of the electrical grid, the development of the interstate highway system, the construction of a continental network of fuel pipelines, and the building of long-range water distribution networks such as the Colorado River Aqueduct, the infrastructure that major metropolitan regions rely upon for energy, transportation, water, and communications reach across multiple local, state, and even national jurisdictions. Not only have individual infrastructure systems become more expansive, they have become increasingly interconnected and interdependent. This trend has only accelerated in the current century with the pervasive integration of internet enabled devices into physical systems.

When Rising Seas Hit Home: Hard Choices Ahead for Hundreds of US Coastal Communities

This analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists details when and where chronic inundation and coastal flooding will affect US communities. Researchers examine the potential for rising sea levels to disrupt human life and provide a timeline for affected communities to respond. The study finds that by 2035, about 170 communities will be subject to chronic inundation, and by 2100, 40-60% of East and Gulf coastal communities will experience chronic inundation, but concludes that aggressive action can slow these effects of climate change.

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FEMA Region 1 Resilience Research

Shortly after the pandemic began to have significant effects on U.S. public health and economic systems, GRI undertook a regional effort to develop Rapid Needs Assessments in each of the six New England states to provide to FEMA, state, and local decision makers. FEMA Region 1 asked GRI to examine the economic impact of COVID-19 on each of the states to quickly identify and provide insight on complex interdependencies, unaddressed problems, and economic recovery priorities. 

Advancing Community Climate Resilience Planning in the Caribbean Region

In this USAID funded project from 2019, the Global Resilience Institute (GRI) at Northeastern University (NEU) and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UH) collaborated together in order to help form the Caribbean Islands Higher Education Resilience Consortium (CIHERC). The shared goal of the consortium members is to aid Caribbean Island States in mitigating and adapting to climate change effects while also pursuing economic development opportunities associated with building a resilient blue and green economy.