Southeast Minnesota has regularly felt the wrath of nature. In 1890, a driving straight-line wind on Lake Pepin overturned the Sea Wing, killing ninety-eight people within minutes in the worst marine tragedy in Minnesota history. In 1940, a raging blizzard trapped duck hunters on islands in the Mississippi River and left motorists stranded across the region, leaving dozens injured or dead. Then, in 1965, flood waters of the Mississippi River and...

Technology is all around us in almost everything that we own and use on a daily basis. We have technology in our homes, schools, work and even our modes of transportation. We use technology to communicate with one another and conduct business in a day-to-day fashion. Now when we talk about the collapse of technology many people will instantly think of the Internet crashing or something to do with the world wide web. Well, this is only a small piece...

New England and nearby areas in the United States and Canada have a long and storied history of earthquakes that goes back to the times of the earliest exploration and settlement of the region by Europeans. This may come as a surprise to the many people living in the region today who have never felt a local earthquake. Nevertheless, not only is it true, but there is every reason to believe that earthquakes, including some damaging earthquakes, will...

"In the spring of 2016, the world watched as wildfire ravaged the Canadian town of Fort McMurray. Firefighters named the fire "the Beast" because it behaved in seemingly sinister and often unpredictable ways. Many of them hoped that they would never see anything like it again. Yet it's not a stretch to suggest that megafires like the Beast have become the new normal. A glance at international headlines shows a remarkable increase in higher temperatures,...

Based on the true story of survival, a young couple's chance encounter leads them first to love, and then on the adventure of a lifetime as they face one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history.

Severe weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes have increased fourfold in the last two decades, shaking the foundations of our existence. Weather-related tragedies have fascinated humans throughout time. For those who loved The Perfect Storm and Krakatoa, the millions who log onto daily weather forecasting sites and check weather apps, and people who can't get enough front-page headlines of global natural disasters. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados,...

Central New York, a region renowned as one of the snowiest in the world, has a long and stormy relationship with its winters. From the Lake Ontario port in Oswego to the busy streets of Syracuse and Utica, every community in the region has found themselves buried from brutal snowstorms. Author Jim Fafaglia draws from personal memories, family diaries and newspaper accounts to craft a two-hundred-year history of Central New York's whiteouts, blizzards...

The Asia and Pacific region has seen tremendous economic and social progress since the 1960s. Yet, the region remains vulnerable to disaster risk that threatens its hard-won gains. Over the years, developing Asia has endured a growing number of disasters triggered by natural hazards. As a result, numerous lives, livelihoods, and communities have been damaged or lost. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is testament to the debilitating effects...

Promoting regional cooperation in the health sector is an operational priority of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Strategy 2030. This scoping study assesses the potential of CAREC to promote regional cooperation and integration in the health sector to mitigate risks and develop national health systems. The study specifically reviews the burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, along with the...

From best-selling author and illustrator Ron Barrett, who forecasted the weather in the classic picture book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, now predicts how-thanks to climate change and other unpleasantries-the world will end! With research and really scary text by Jim Parry, The Top Ten As We Hit Bottom is a darkly humorous collection of "Top Ten" lists that highlights the predicament global warming and other impending catastrophes have...