The role of clean technology research in disaster debris management

Excerpt

Each year, communities around the world are devastated by natural disasters. Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, mudslides, and extreme weather events are responsible for death, displacement, and devastation to social, economic, and ecological systems. In 2018, the costs of disasters in the USA alone were estimated to exceed $91 Billion, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, a division of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA 2019). At a global scale, the World Health Organization estimates that natural disasters are responsible for 90,000 deaths each year and for health impacts to almost 160 million people worldwide (WHO 2019). These effects show no sign of slowing, as unchecked climate change is expected to increase the magnitude and frequency of many disaster events. …