When disaster strikes, we rely on our social networks for support. During hurricane Sandy, neighbors helped neighbors by sharing electrical power with those who’d lost it or removing tree limbs from each other’s rooftops. In many cases, the help we get during emergencies comes from whomever happens to be nearby, but more and more our ...
A few months ago incoming faculty member Brian Helmuth saw a camel on the side of a river in the East Hammar Marsh in Basra, Iraq. “At first I thought, ‘oh yeah you know that’s cool,’” he recalled. “And then I realized, yeah — camels don’t belong in marshes.” The Hammar Marsh, seated at the ...
Hurricane Sandy has laid bare the frailty of an urban infrastructure not accustomed to large-scale natural disasters. As others have recently explained, climate change modeling suggests that the frequency of this kind of catastrophe will only rise in the coming decades. These frailties have lead to enormous and unexpected financial losses. But what if we ...