The primary aim of the emBRACE project is to build resilience to disasters amongst communities in Europe. To achieve this, it is vital to merge forces in research knowledge, networking and practices as a prerequisite for more coherent scientific approaches. This we will do in the most collaborative way possible.

Specific objectives
•Identify the key dimensions of resilience across a range of disciplines and domains
•Develop indicators and indicator systems to measure resilience concerning natural disaster events
•Model societal resilience through simulation experiments
•Provide a general conceptual framework of resilience, ‘tested’ and grounded in cross-cultural contexts
•Build networks and share knowledge across a range of stakeholders
•Tailor communication products and project outputs and outcomes to multiple collaborators, stakeholders and user groups.

If you would like to contribute to the discussions as we develop these ideas, please contact Dr Maureen Fordham, the Scientific Coordinator of the project maureen.fordham@northumbria.ac.uk or Hugh Deeming the Technical Officer (Science) of the project hugh.deeming@northumbria.ac.uk.

News

Nature Climate Change | Letter
"Increasing stress on disaster-risk finance due to large floods" by Brenden Jongman, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, Luc Feyen, Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts, Reinhard Mechler, W. J. Wouter Botzen, Laurens M. Bouwer, Georg Pflug, Rodrigo Rojas & Philip J. Ward, March 2014  Nature Climate Change doi:10.1038/nclimate2124

Recent major flood disasters have shown that single extreme events can affect multiple countries simultaneously. Extreme discharges are strongly correlated across European river basins. Observed extreme flood losses could more than double in frequency by 2050 under future climate change and socio-economic development. Risk management for these increasing losses is largely feasible but these measures have vastly different efficiency, equity and acceptability implications, which need to be taken into account in broader consultation. Link here to BBC News coverage  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26382128 | and here for the journal article http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2124.html