You are here

Solutions

Experts: Strict Building Codes Saved Lives in Powerful Chile Earthquake

cnn.com - by Ray Sanchez - April 2, 2014

(CNN) -- Strict building codes and the preparedness of millions of Chileans who live along an arc of volcanoes and fault lines likely kept the death toll -- only six by Wednesday afternoon -- low after an 8.2-magnitude earthquake rumbled offshore and prompted a tsunami, observers said.

Officials said four of those whose deaths were blamed on the quake late Tuesday that triggered landslides, power outages, and a tsunami suffered heart attacks, while two others were crushed.

"They're a seismically active region of the world and they are very good at implementing their building codes similar to California," John Bellini, a Denver-based geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey told CNN on Wednesday.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

New Field Guide Explores Open Data Innovations in Disaster Risk and Resilience

Citizen mapping can help pinpoint damage and locate risks, such as hillside instability that could threaten communities.  GFDRR

worldbank.org - March 19, 2014

  • The new World Bank Group field guide provides practical guidance for governments and organizations as they build their own open data programs for addressing disaster risk and resilience.
  • It shows how participatory mapping projects can fill in government data gaps and keep existing data relevant as cities rapidly expand.
  • Among the guide’s success stories are projects that quickly mapped disaster damage in the Philippines after Typhoon Yolanda and helped improve urban planning in Kathmandu.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE -  Open Data for Resilience Initiative: Field Guide (134 page .PDF file)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

A Map to Support Clean Water in Oil-Contaminated Ecuador

ClearWater image

Image: ClearWater in action.

digital-democracy.org - March 26th, 2014 - Gregor MacLennan

The Dd team is excited to announce the launch of a site we’ve been working on for months: An interactive map-based platform that tells the inspiring story of the ClearWater Project, an indigenous-led effort in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region to bring clean water to thousands of people suffering from water contaminated by oil drilling.

(VIEW PROJECT MAP)

(VIEW DIGITAL DEMOCRACY SITE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Toilet Tech Fair Tackles Global Sanitation Woes

submitted by Albert Gomez

      

In this Friday, March 21, 2014 photo, an exhibitor from Loughborough University demonstrates the use of a toilet during Reinvent The Toilet Fair in New Delhi, India. Scientists who accepted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s challenge to reinvent the toilet showcased their inventions in the Indian capital Saturday. The primary goal: to sanitize waste, use minimal water or electricity, and produce a usable product at low cost. India is by far the worst culprit, with more than 640 million people defecating in the open and producing a stunning 72,000 tons of human waste each day - the equivalent weight of almost 10 Eiffel Towers or 1,800 humpback whales. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)

wirelessdesignmag.com - by Katy Daigle - March 24, 2014

New Delhi (AP) — Who would have expected a toilet to one day filter water, charge a cellphone or create charcoal to combat climate change?

These are lofty ambitions beyond what most of the world's 2.5 billion people with no access to modern sanitation would expect. Yet, scientists and toilet innovators around the world say these are exactly the sort of goals needed to improve global public health amid challenges such as poverty, water scarcity and urban growth.

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

NOMAD Micro Homes

      

nomadmicrohomes.com

NOMAD’s living room, kitchen, bathroom, stair, bedroom, and storage are all seamlessly integrated: a stair doubles as a kitchen, a window adds light to one area and a higher ceiling to another, a bathroom doubles as a shower, storage that can be used as seating, and so on. These features are not obvious at first glance, but each one is essential to NOMAD's livability.

NOMAD "Live" becomes NOMAD "Zero" when the following pre-engineered sustainable features are added: 
Solar Power
Composting Toilet
Rainwater Collection
Grey Water Treatment

They also offer upgrades . . .
Increased Wall and Roof Insulation
High Wind Loading
Triple Glazing

http://www.nomadmicrohomes.com/models.html

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Ebola victims quarantined in Guinea

 — Health workers in protective hazmat suits treated patients in quarantine centers on Tuesday in a remote corner of Guinea where Ebola has killed at least 60 people in West Africa's first outbreak of the deadly virus in two decades.

Seven patients are being hospitalized at one isolation ward in Gueckedou in southern Guinea, while two others are being treated elsewhere, said Doctors Without Borders. The aid group said it is sending mobile teams into the surrounding countryside in search of people who may have been exposed since the first cases emerged last week.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Can Europe’s New Designs Help the UK’s Housing Crisis?

      

As the UK faces a housing crisis, The Culture Show travels across Europe to find the latest architectural movements which could provide a solution.

bbc.com - July 19, 2013

The combination of population increases, a shaky economy and changes in working and living habits has led to a housing shortage in the UK. The Culture Show visits three locations in Europe to see how innovative new projects could offer solutions to Britain’s housing problem.

(CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO AND READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE )

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Wind of change sweeps through energy policy in the Caribbean

A fruit juice cafe in Road Town, Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. Many Caribbean islands are turning to sustainable energy. Photographs: Jenny Bates

Image: A fruit juice cafe in Road Town, Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. Many Caribbean islands are turning to sustainable energy. Photographs: Jenny Bates

theguardian.com - John Vidal - February 10th, 2014

Aruba in the southern Caribbean has 107,000 people, a lot of wind and sun and, until very recently, one very big problem. Despite the trade winds and sunshine, it was spending more than 16% of its economy on importing 6,500 barrels of diesel fuel a day to generate electricity. People were furious at the tripling of energy prices in 10 years and the resulting spiralling costs of imported water and food.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

                  

Countries are designing Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. CIFOR/Aulia Erlangga

cifor.org - by Center for International Forestry Research

BOGOR, Indonesia (4 February 2014) — The United Nations’ Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will convene for its final meeting from 3-7 February 2014 in New York. The 30-member working group will focus on the role of biodiversity, forests and oceans in human development. . . Following this meeting, the group will develop a report that will be handed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in September.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)


Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Pages

Subscribe to Solutions
howdy folks
Page loaded in 0.721 seconds.