Natural disasters
🌊 Chad's capital weathered record water levels without major damage
N'Djamena sits where the Chari and Logone rivers meet, leaving it highly exposed to flooding. During the 2024 rainy season the city protected 1.5 million residents even as rivers hit record levels, after clearing 217 miles of drainage and deploying 12 mobile pumps.
🌀 Super typhoon strikes China, worst storm of the year – you won’t believe what happened next
Super Typhoon Ragasa caused no fatalities when it reached mainland China last month.
🦾 AI finds ten times more earthquakes than previous methods
The techniques work better in noisy environments like cities and require less computing power than previous automated methods.
🏢 Thousands of deaths avoided in Taiwan earthquake
Building codes and infrastructure have been strengthened to withstand seismic forces, reducing damage and saving lives. An advanced early warning system and education programs have helped prepare the population.
⚠️ Seismic shift: Earthquakes detectable hours in advance, instead of minutes
Current earthquake warning systems typically give only a one to two-minute heads-up. But now researchers have identified nearly imperceptible shifts up to two hours before major quakes.