AI Earth Summit — Weather and Disaster Resilience
Any natural event that has catastrophic outcomes for the human populace — such as a drought, tsunami, hurricane, typhoon, or flood — is known as a natural disaster. Notice the role of the human populace role in that definition. The severity of a storm is not measured in raw wind speed or rainfall, but rather by the lives lost, the economic impact, and the ability of the population to rebuild. When we talk about natural disasters, we are actually talking about the human strife caused, not the storm itself.
Previously, natural disasters were notable for their rarity; however, climate change has encouraged unprecedented changes in our weather systems. While individual weather events are difficult to attribute directly to climate change, the effects of climate change do exacerbate the potential for them. With increasing global surface temperatures, droughts have become more common and, as a result, storms have become more intense — increased temperatures lead to more water vapor evaporating into the atmosphere, fueling the development of more dramatic and powerful storms. The surface also warms the atmosphere and ocean surface, increasing wind speeds in tropical storms. All of these factors could generate the next natural disaster, and the disasters they make are growing in frequency and intensity as the years go on.
With increased disaster potential, we need increased weather and disaster resilience. In the 1980’s, a single year saw approximately 100 reported disasters globally. In that time, the United States saw an average of 2.7 weather disasters that cost more than $1-billion per year within its borders. These numbers have risen to over 300 a year globally; in 2018; the US saw 14 natural disasters and over $14-billion dollars in damage. The rapid change and denial of climate change means we haven’t had a chance to adapt to handle disasters better. They are stronger and more common, and we are as vulnerable as ever.
For example, Hurricane Harvey struck the US coastline in 2017 and quickly became one of the costliest natural disasters at $125-billion, second only to the infamous Hurricane Katrina at $160-billion; each of these hurricanes dwarfs other hurricanes by cost, with an economic impact nearly double that of Hurricane Sandy coming in third at $70-billion. Even with over a decade between the storms, Harvey caught us just as unprepared as Katrina did. These hurricanes taught us a valuable lesson — a lesson that humans have been learning and forgetting for most of our history: how much we all have to lose when climate and weather disasters strike.
The losses we face from natural disasters depend on three factors: hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. In the case of Harvey, the hurricane was the hazard. The associated winds, storm surges, and rains are what caused the brunt of the impacts. The large urban sprawl of the primary disaster site — Houston, Texas — made it vulnerable. The city rapidly expanded into the surrounding areas, overloading the ecosystems and infrastructure, making for challenging urban planning and difficult-to-lacking evacuation routes. The 30,000+ people that Harvey displaced were the exposure, causing them to face flooded streets and lack of proper food, water, or shelter. These three factors explain the immense costs associated with tragedies like Hurricane Harvey.
Even with these factors present and the knowledge of Harvey’s coming, Houston still did not take action for the storm before it was too late. Despite being susceptible to flooding and knowing this was a possibility, there was no evacuation order for residents. Local officials knew the city did not have the infrastructure to evacuate people in time, so they ultimately decided that it would be best for them to stay in their homes. Houston was never built to weather a storm of this caliber, let alone allow people to take the necessary precautions. In the end, it could not, and Harvey rocketed into infamy.
Houston was not built for resilience, but it has also never required it. That would have been like building LA to withstand tornadoes. Up until recently, it wasn’t a consideration for Houston. Until a tragedy like this strikes, it is hard to imagine something like it happening to your area. People know the climate is changing, and weather is getting extreme, but they do not truly understand how serious it is. Over 70% of Americans agree that the climate is changing, but less than half of us believe it will affect us personally.
Yet tragedies like Harvey highlight exactly how and why climate change and disaster resilience matters to each one of us. These events are not happening only on foreign lands with which that we have no physical connection to, — they are happening right here, right now. It is true that the tragedies often affect poor underprivileged communities disproportionately, (which my next article on environmental injustice will further address further), but it is no longer someone else’s problem. AI- LA has chosen weather and disaster resilience as an AI Earth Summit breakout session because it is time we started taking action in becoming more prepared and resilient. We cannot expect to stop natural disasters — they are a literal force of nature — but we can use technology as a way to better prepare ourselves for the changes to come.
Tech Talk: https://sustainability-techtalk.eventbrite.com
Techstars Startup Weekend: https://aila-techstars.eventbrite.com
Chloe Grubb is a senior in Robotics at Olin College of Engineering who has focused her time in user-centered (UX) design. She hopes to bridge the gap between engineering and design to create impactful experiences for users. Over the past four years, she has dedicated these skills to addressing the need for increased environmental awareness. Spearheading a Climate Action semester at her school and piloting a start-up, Drina, to allow users to make environmentally conscious decisions highlights her desire to utilize UX design to engage and excite people in the changes that need to happen for environmental stability. Being a contributor to AI Earth Summit is the next step in her environmental action involvement.
