Venice is sinking and this time it may go under

rom its founding in the Early Middle Ages, Venice has had a fraught relationship with the sea, dependent on it for food and trade, protected from the mainland by the waters of the lagoon, yet always threatened by changing environmental conditions. Today, though, wind and water lash the palaces and churches with alarming frequency. “Acqua alta,” the term locals use for when the water gets high, pours through the city, most recently even flooding the great church of San Marco. According to The Guardian, it’s only the sixth recorded time the church has flooded in the last 1200 years, but the fourth in the last 20 years. Venice is sinking, and this time it may go under…

Disaster preparedness lessons from Israel

I recently traveled to Israel to spend a week learning about disaster preparedness and how Israelis deal with emergencies. Through the generosity of the Russell Berrie Foundation and organized by the Community Resilience Partners, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) assembled a 10-person team from the government and private sectors to learn first-hand how Israel deals with emergency preparedness and response…