Combining SEDAC’s Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) data and Natural Disaster Hotspots flood frequency maps with land cover imagery derived from NASA’s MODIS instrument, the researchers who developed SEDAC’s Global Grid of Probabilities of Urban Expansion data set ask how the global and regional patterns of urban growth in the near future will affect urban susceptibility to floods and droughts. What they found is that the extent of urban areas exposed to floods and drought will generally double by 2030, even without factoring in the potential impacts of climate change.
Hazards and Disaster Risk
Follow Us: Twitter Follow Us on Facebook YouTube Flickr | Share: Twitter FacebookChanging Global Patterns of Urban Exposure to Flood and Drought Hazards
Global Environmental Change – January 15, 2016Turning Schools from Death Traps into Havens
Science Times section of The New York Times – May 27, 2008Population and Energy Elasticity of Tornado Casualties
Geophysical Research Letters – May 25, 2017Tornadoes account for about one in five natural hazard-related deaths in the United States. This recent study investigated the relationships between tornado casualties (injuries and deaths), storm energy, and population using the NASA SEDAC Gridded Population of the World (GPW) v4 data set. For all tornadoes, investigators found that a doubling of population increased the casualty rate by 21% while a doubling of storm energy increased the casualty rate by 33%. For the strongest storms casualty rates from increases in population and storm energy were even greater. These estimates can be used to project future changes in casualties given known population and storm trends.
People Reported Missing via IReport
CNN – February 23, 2010NASA Data Helps Pinpoint Impacted Populations in Disaster Aftermath
Space & Earth science/Earth Sciences – June 13, 2008Map describing the path of Cyclone Nargis through the Irrawaddy Delta and the populations affected
CNN Video Newscast – May 7, 2008Earthquakes and Aftershocks
CNN – February 23, 2010Earthquake Rocks China
WSJ Online – May 13, 2008Disaster Awaits Cities in Earthquake Zones
The New York Times – February 24, 2010Data and maps compiled by SEDAC and the Center for Hazards and Risk Research are featured in a front-page news article in the New York Times (print version February 25) assessing the vulnerability of buildings in earthquake zones. “Where Shoddy Construction Could Mean Death” shows a map (top) that depicts the predicted number of deaths in Instanbul from a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, depending on the type of construction of the building. The second map (bottom) ranks the vulnerability of other urban areas in earthquake zones with more than one million people.
Caught in the Danger Zone
The Wall Street Journal – January 13, 2010Managing Urban Growth and Flood Risk in a Changing Climate/South and Southeast Asia
World Development Report 2010 – March 16, 2010The SEDAC data set Low-elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) is the basis for a set of national-level indicators of the total area and population in the LECZ circa 2000. Map 2.2 (page 94), Chapter 2 of the World Development Report 2010, Managing Urban Growth and Flood Risk in a Changing Climate in South and Southeast Asia.