hazards

To mark 25 years of disaster-related research at Texas A&M University, many of the nation’s top hazard researchers are gathering on campus April 4-5 to present their latest work as part of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center’s “Planning for Disaster Resilience Symposium.”

Communities can improve their hurricane resilience by better protecting wetlands, diversifying their respective economies and building communication networks for socially vulnerable groups, said Sam Brody, Texas A&M professor of urban planning.

Planning professionals can learn the latest in hazard resilience measures from videos featuring presentations by hazard reduction and recovery experts from Texas A&M University. The online learning modules are offered by Planetizen, an information exchange urban planning website.

The Texas A&M Colonias Program came to the aid of flood-stricken West Texans last September when heavy rain and rising water drove many colonia residents in Socorro, a suburb of El Paso, from their homes.

Last summer, Texas A&M hazard mitigation researchers partnered with their Dutch counterparts at Delft University in The Netherlands to developed a joint research agenda to combat a common enemy — flooding.

In partnership with Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension Service, the Texas A&M College of Architecture is expanding its 25-year-old Texas Target Cities program that helps communities lacking resources and expertise resolve issues critical to their future.

Though natural and man-made disasters are inevitable, scientists at the Texas A&M College of Architecture are working on ways to minimize their impact, hasten recovery and gain valuable insight from the process.

Lower Rio Grande Valley officials will have help planning regional hurricane evacuations from a study undertaken by researchers at Texas A&M’s Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center in collaboration with the university's Colonias Program.

A federal study aimed at enhancing plant safety throughout the U.S. chemical manufacturing system benefitted from the work of Michael Lindell, a professor of urban planning at Texas A&M University who contributed sections on risk and decision analyses and emergency management.

Texas A&M urban planning professor Michael Lindell is part of an interdisciplinary team advising policymakers in earthquake-prone New Zealand on issues related to natural hazard mitigation, readiness, response and recovery.

Ranked as one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S., groundwater-dependent Montgomery County, Texas is confronted with a looming water crisis threatening future growth, according to a study by urban planners at Texas A&M University.