The week in preppers’ news headlines brings some startling stories about a world in crisis – and little prospect for that situation improving – but also a lighter note on advances in animal rescue.
Natural disasters in the UK to hit every other year
Rising sea levels, landslips, heatwaves, droughts, and the ongoing destruction of river courses harbour the prospect of regular food shortages and power cuts from as early as 2050, says a recent news story.
That alarming prospect comes about because of the government’s failure to prepare homes – and the utilities and services that support them – against the unrelenting ravages of climate change, says parliament’s own Climate Change Committee.
The Committee’s latest report challenges the government’s target for achieving “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2050 largely because those plans do not take sufficient account of rising temperatures and the consequences of climate change. Since the 19th century, average temperatures in this country have risen by 1.2 degrees Centigrade – and the rate of change continues to increase however ambitious have been the plans to curb greenhouse gases.
One for the animals
When natural or manmade disaster strikes it’s not only the human population that suffers but spare a thought too for the animals.
That’s what an especially compassionate film cameraman did when he fitted an infrared lens to the camera of a drone which he flew to discover animals trapped under rubble or stranded in the branches of trees in the wake of a disaster.
On the 15th of June, a story by Reuters explained that the camera on the drone also has a zoom lens and a spotlight, can pinpoint trapped or stranded animals, and has the advantage of hovering so silently that it does not frighten or distress the animals. Once an animal is spotted, a rescue team can then go in on foot.
The drone has so far seen use in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Australia, and Oregon and Louisiana in the United States.
Prepping for earthquakes
While storms may take their toll in terms of economic loss and damage, earthquakes are the biggest killers when it comes to natural disasters in Europe, says the catastrophe modelling company, Tremblor, in a posting on the 14th of June.
In the ten years between 2006 and 2015, Europe suffered 21 earthquakes and their aftermath resulted in 1,049 deaths and affected around 284,000 people.
Improved knowledge and the support of evermore sophisticated technology has meant that early warning systems and operational earthquake forecasting are now moving forward at a faster rate. Better understanding has been gained about the physical complexity of earthquakes and, with the support of rapid-reaction information technology populations can be warned about the intensity of any ground-shaking – with damage to buildings and potential loss of life – likely to be associated with the earthquake.
The aim is to provide early warning of impending earthquakes at least 10 seconds before damaging seismic waves hit.
Flooding in the UK
While Europe may be preparing for ever more sophisticated earthquake alerts, the “greatest natural disaster” in the UK is the risk of flooding, according to an article in the Insurance Times on the 16th of June.
Even discounting the cost of various flood defences, financial losses arising from the damage caused by flooding reaches an estimated £958 million a year, the story notes.
The high cost may be explained by the fact that around one in six properties in England and Wales are prone to flooding from rivers or rising tides. In Scotland, the proportion is lower, at one in eleven properties, and in Northern Ireland, only one in 34 properties.
To make matters worse, however, it seems that the weather conditions provoking flooding disasters are increasing the risks – six out of the ten wettest years on record in the UK have happened since 1998.
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