Increased flood risk linked to global warming

Flood susceptibility assessment in a highly urbanized alluvial fan: the case study of Sala Consilina (southern Italy)

“…basins less than a few km 2 with a response time shorter than 1 h. Such basins are generally very sensitive to rainfall events like flash floods (Ruin et al, 2008) which in recent years have become increasingly frequent in the Mediterranean environment (Norbiato et al, 2007(Norbiato et al, , 2009De Waele et al, 2010). Hazard conditions will therefore increase if the Mediterranean climate registers an increasing frequency of very short, intense thunderstorms, as portrayed by the recent international report on climate change (IPCC, 2007) and papers documenting a general increase in flood frequency with raising concentration of anthropogenic greenhouses gases and associated air temperature increase (Allan, 2011;Schiermeier, 2011).…”

Major flood disturbance alters river ecosystem evolution

“…The projected increase of high magnitude rainfall events with climate change in many regions of the world 3,4 will increase alter the role of floods in structuring riverine habitat and their communities. However, a full understanding of the effects of floods across a range of organismal groups has been hindered by the lack of long-term pre-disturbance data which would permit insights into the interaction of community dynamics, successional processes and stream…”

The role of biomedical engineering in disaster management in resource-limited settings

“…Recent studies indicate an association between anthropogenic climate change and recent extreme weather events. 10 As an extrapolation, the predicted increase in "natural" disasters in the future demonstrates a greater need for improved disaster prevention and response strategies. Responsibility for disaster relief and recovery is shared by various local, national and international institutions.…”