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Natural Hazards

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Losses resulting from natural hazards—including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires—cost billions of dollars each year. RAND research has shown how long-term loss-reduction strategies and disaster preparedness could improve the resilience of communities and infrastructure in the face of natural disasters, resulting in less property damage and reduced rebuilding costs.

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RAND Remote: Partnering with Communities on Puerto Rico Disaster Recovery

Feb 25, 2021

In this RAND Remote conversation, Marielena Lara and Gabriela Castro discuss the partnered approach they used to support reconstruction and recovery efforts in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Report

When Hurricanes Happen During Pandemics

Dec 9, 2020

Hurricanes can change patterns of mobility and expand the spread of COVID-19, for example, to communal shelters. On the other hand, fear of the virus could cause people who might otherwise evacuate to shelter in place, resulting in more deaths from a hurricane. How can policymakers prepare for this threat?

Explore Natural Hazards

Commentary

As Fire Season Heats Up, Burnout Looms

Increasingly intense fire seasons are taking a physical and mental toll on wildland firefighters. Without more direct attention paid to firefighters' mental health, burnout could decimate the ranks of those who protect lives and property across the West.

Jul 21, 2021
Report

Indonesian Fires and Haze: Measuring the Health Consequences of Smoke Exposure

Fire activity in Indonesia contributes to severe air pollution, or haze, that causes public health, environmental, and economic degradation. The authors present preliminary analysis of health consequences of fire and future research directions.

Jul 20, 2021
Journal Article

Risk Technopolitics in Freetown Slums: Why Community-Based Disaster Management Is No Silver Bullet

Chapter from "Critical Disaster Studies" (Penn Press, 2021) detailing a study of Sierra Leone and proposing that community-based disaster risk management actually distracts from larger social and political root causes of vulnerability.

Jul 16, 2021
Report

A Scoping Literature Review on Indicators and Metrics for Assessing Racial Equity in Disaster Preparation, Response, and Recovery

In this report, researchers provide recommendations for assessing racial equity in U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster preparation, response, or recovery programs.

Jul 15, 2021
Tool

Developing Future Projected Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) Curves: A Technical Report on Data, Methods, and IDF Curves for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and Virginia

To support entities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and Virginia in adapting to climate change, this study updated intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves, a common tool used for stormwater infrastructure design, to reflect future climate changes.

Jul 9, 2021
Report

Crisis Response in a Changing Climate: Implications of Climate Change for UK Defence Logistics in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) Operations

This study identifies the implications of climate change for defence logistics in crisis response operations. It identifies challenges to, and policy options for better delivery of, crisis response.

May 4, 2021
Report

Defence Mobilisation Planning Comparative Study: An Examination of Overseas Planning

Against the 2020 Defence Strategic Update, the authors use evidence from several countries to highlight the merits of a 'total defence' approach to mobilisation planning for Australia with the goal of meeting contemporary threats.

May 3, 2021
Journal Article

Best Practices and Lessons Learned from Community Engagement and Data Collection Strategies in Post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico

This paper examines community engagement and data collection strategies conducted in post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico, to assess how outreach approaches elicit different perceptions about disaster recovery and to identify best practices.

Apr 27, 2021
Q&A

Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico: Q&A with Marielena Lara

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, it peeled roofs from houses, turned roads into rivers, and left millions of people without electricity or safe drinking water. Marielena Lara, a senior physician policy researcher at RAND, was grateful to be part of the recovery planning.

Apr 26, 2021
Testimony

Core Principles of Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Public health emergencies are defined by their consequences, not their causes. That means infectious disease outbreaks such as COVID-19 qualify, but so do some hurricanes and terrorist attacks. What can policymakers do to support effective public health emergency preparedness?

Mar 16, 2021
Commentary

For Americans Uprooted by Climate Change, Mental Health Is the Next Crisis

The challenges climate migrants face are not limited to basic needs, such as housing and employment; displacement may also create trauma. It's imperative that policymakers take mental health into account when devising climate change policies.

Mar 15, 2021
Commentary

Climate Change Migration: Developing a Security Strategy for All

Over the past decade, an average of 21.5 million people annually have been forced to move due to the impacts of extreme weather. Building an understanding of the intersection between climate change, migration, and security is crucial and should take into account that many who face the most direct impacts of climate change are already among the most vulnerable.

Mar 15, 2021
Journal Article

The Family Crisis Migration Stress Framework: A Framework to Understand the Mental Health Effects of Crisis Migration on Children and Families Caused by Disasters

We synthesize relevant theories and models of disaster, migration, and family resilience to create a framework to organize the complex processes that occur within families as a result of migration and that affect the mental health of children.

Mar 2, 2021
Commentary

Lessons for Central America's Recovery from Hurricanes

As the global community works to assist Central America in recovering from the disastrous 2020 hurricane season, other recent recovery efforts offer helpful lessons, both for the governments of the region as well as outsiders providing resources and support.

Jan 11, 2021
Journal Article

Achievements and Needs for the Climate Change Scenario Framework

Over the past ten years, the climate change research community has developed a scenario framework combining alternative futures of climate and society to facilitate integrated research and consistent assessment to inform policy. Here we assess how well this framework is working and what challenges it faces.

Jan 6, 2021
Journal Article

The Measurement of Disaster Recovery Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis: An Application to Electric Power Restoration

This paper considers disaster severity to assess efficiency for electric utilities. We provide an application to recent post-hurricane restoration activities across different electric power companies in the states and territories of the United States.

Dec 15, 2020
Commentary

Improving Cost Estimation for Natural Disasters in Electric Utilities

Natural disasters in the United States cause billions of dollars of damage to electric infrastructure every year. Applying artificial intelligence and machine learning in a disaster-recovery context for electrical utilities might significantly improve cost estimating capability and responsiveness.

Dec 4, 2020
Commentary

Disaster Reporting and Its Impacts on Policy and Inequities

Disaster news tropes may capture audience attention, but they ultimately frustrate progress in mitigating the short- and long-term effects of disasters on communities. It's more important than ever that news stories about disasters frame the effects of environmental phenomena in meaningful ways.

Nov 16, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Natural Hazards

Topic Synonyms:
Natural Disasters

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