Assistant Professor in Natural Hazards @CamUniGeography & @EarthSciCam | Fellow @CaiusCollege | All hazards are multihazards, but are any of them natural?
Cambridge, UK
Joined September 2020
- Tweets277
- Following523
- Followers1K
- Likes493
Very sad to see the damage from the earthquake in Myanmar. My thoughts are with all affected by this disaster.
Understanding where and how much the fault slipped can help with damage assessments, so we've made some preliminary estimates from S2 (data: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15123…)
The fault terminates quite abruptly at the northern end (very close to the Irrawaddy) but gradually to the South. The southern termination is quite a bit further than some estimates I have seen, likely somewhere just west of Penwegon.
Again, all data is online here (doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15123…). If you have any questions about the use of this or the processing chain, please do reach out.
New perspective article discussing how we define natural hazards in today's world.
Key message: a barrier between 'human' and 'natural' events is often unhelpful, and we must consider the interaction between multiple hazards in all cases.
nature.com/articles/s44304-0…
It is open access, and you can also get the pdf from preventionweb if you prefer preventionweb.net/publicatio…
Max Van Wyk de Vries retweeted
Our recent paper in SCIENCE shows the GLOF process chain of the 3rd October 2023 South Lhonak GLOF event in Sikkim science.org/doi/10.1126/scie… #southlhonak #sikkimfloods #GLOF
Our paper on the 2023 S. Lhonak GLOF & multihazard cascade, out today in Science!
This ‘natural’ hazard had the fingerprints of human activity all over it: climate change, glacier retreat, permafrost degradation, and hydropower dam failure.
Read here: science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…
Expertly led by @GlacierHazards, and with a wide team of authors from around the world, this work has pulled together an exceptional range of data to build an understanding of how and why this multihazard cascade occurred – and some clues as to how we might reduce future risk.
Enjoyed working with many great people on this paper including
@GlacierHazards
@Kristen_Cook_
@raishashikant6
@EtienneBerthie2
@GlacierResearch
@savethehills
@sgascoin
@irfansalroo
@davepetley
@CScottWatson
@imshahiddbhat
& many more!
New paper led by Alex Dunant on innovative strategies for multihazard modelling!
The approach uses a computationally efficient network-based model to simulate cascading interactions between hazards (e.g. earthquake-landslide) and the resulting impacts.
doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-267…
Shout-out to project @SajagNepal, and to @EURAC where Alex is currently working.
A sad reality: more people died from landslides in 2024 than any other year on record.
High temperatures, rainfall intensities, and infrastructure development are all likely contributors. Despite progress in monitoring & mitigation, much work is needed to reduce landslide risk.
I have posted my provisional analysis of fatal landslides in 2024 on my blog. In total, 708 fatal landslides (excluding those triggered by an earthquake), cost 4,492 lives. This is far higher than in any previous year for which I have data.
eos.org/thelandslideblog/fat…
CC license.
ALT A map showing the distribution of fatal landslides in 2024. There are two clusters in South Asia, plus others in SE Asia, East Asia, East Africa, SE Brazil, the northwest of South America and in Central America. Author's own data, published under a CC license. If you want a higher resolution version, please contact the author.
ALT The cumulative total number of fatal landslides in 2024 compared with previous years. The graph shows that 2024 was exceptional in every respect, with the December total exceeding every previous years by a huge margin. Author's own data, published under a CC license. If you want a higher resolution version, please contact the author.
There are clear clusters of fatal landslides in high-mountain Asia, S and SE Asia, central Africa and central America - but fatal landslides remain a near-global challenge.
eos.org/thelandslideblog/fat…
For those of you in the UK, you might notice one point here: 10-year old Leah Harrison was killed by a mudslide during a school trip. A real tragedy, and one that highlights the complexity of preventing landslide disasters in all environments.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj04…
Great report exploring perceptions of AI in healthcare based on public workshops in Cambridge and Uganda. Many of the lessons, e.g. around the need for building trust, equity, and governance, are very relevant for how we use these same technologies in hazard and risk research.
Excited to share this report that we wrote based on community engagement workshops held in Uganda and UK, exploring the public’s views on healthcare data, technology, and AI research.
cph.cam.ac.uk/news/new-repor…
Earthquake shaking intensity map? No! This figure is showing the coverage of landslide inventories in Nepal since 2015, with clear biases and limited data in many high-risk areas of the country.
Read our new paper led by @ErinLHarvey mapping this out:
link.springer.com/article/10…
