No abstract

The outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 propelled the creation, transmission, and consumption of false informationunverified claims, misleading statements, false rumours, conspiracy theories, and so onall around the world. When various official or unofficial sources issue erroneous, misleading or contradicting information during a crisis, people who are exposed to this may behave in ways that cause harm to the health and well-being of themselves or others, e.g., by not taking appropriate risk reducing measures or blaming or harassing vulnerable groups. To work towards a typology of informational content that may increase people's vulnerability in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, we explored 98 instances of potentially harmful information that spread in six European countries-France, Italy, Norway, Finland, Lithuania, and Estoniabetween March and May 2020. We suggest that during the pandemic, exposure to harmful information may have made people more vulnerable in six ways: (1) by discouraging appropriate protective actions against catching/spreading the virus, (2) by promoting the use of false (or harmful) remedies against the virus, (3) by misrepresenting the transmission mechanisms of the virus, (4) by downplaying the risks related to the pandemic, (5) by tricking people into buying fake protection against the virus or into revealing their confidential information, and (6) by victimising the alleged spreaders of the virus by harassment/hate speech. The proposed typology can be used to guide the development of risk communication plans to address each of these information-related vulnerabilities.

The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the resilience of care organisations (and those dependent on them), especially when services are stopped or restricted. This study focuses on the experiences of care organisations that offer services to individuals in highly precarious situations in 10 European countries. It is based on 32 qualitative interviews and three workshops with managers and staff. The four key types of organisations reviewed largely had the same adaptation patterns in all countries. The most drastic changes were experienced by day centres, which had to suspend or digitise services, whereas night shelters and soup kitchens had to reorganise broadly their work; residential facilities were minimally affected. Given the drastic surge in demand for services, reliance on an overburdened (volunteer) workforce, and a lack of crisis plans, the care organisations with long-term trust networks with clients and intra-organisational cooperation adapted easier. The outcomes were worse for new clients, migrants, psychologically vulnerable people, and those with limited communicative abilities.

clearer understanding of the trends in the development of extreme weather. The studies are based on both historical data and available future scenarios (projections) from climate models. Compared to previous studies, we calculated changes in climate variables that are particularly important in relation to nature hazards. Overall, the analyses document an increase in frequency as well as intensity of both precipitation and wind. Results of projections show that the observed changes will continue throughout this century. We could also identify large regional differences, with some areas experiencing, e.g., a reduction in 30 the intensity of heavy rainfall events. However, most of the country will experience the opposite, i.e., both increased intensity and increased frequency of heavy precipitation. Our analyses show that at least 27 per cent of Norwegian roads and 31 per cent of railroads are exposed to rock fall and snow avalanches hazards. The project has also assessed relationships between different parameters that can affect the likelihood of debris flows. Variables such as terrain slope and size of watercourses are important, while local climate, which varies widely in Norway, determines threshold values for rainfall that can trigger debris 35 flows.Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi

This paper examines the market potential for international rail-based intermodal services along the REORIENT Corridor, which spans 11 countries from the Baltic (Scandinavia) to the Mediterranean (Greece) through the accession countries of the European Union. The main approach followed in this assessment is to conduct scenario analyses using a state-of-the-art intermodal freight network modeling capability, which allows the evaluation of various service supply strategies under varying operational and policy scenarios. New service design options, developed through a combination of market-based research and expert opinion, are evaluated in regard to the potential addressable market demand and the likelihood of successfully competing for that demand. The analyses provide realistic assessments of the potential competitiveness of rail in attracting freight demand resulting from (a) operational considerations that pertain to the proposed services and (b) implementation of interoperability directives and barrier-removing or barrier-reducing improvements in physical, operational, or managerial aspects and business practices of the rail system that are aimed toward achieving European Commission policy objectives. In addition, the analysis points to characteristics of the demand, which is most likely to shift toward rail, in regard to commodity types and geographic location. The key question the paper seeks to answer is under what operational and policy conditions can pan-European intermodal rail freight services be competitive? Results show that prerequisites for success are a combination of favorable rail policies and the intermodal operations’ high level of service.