The National Weather Service just gave the tornado that struck Oklahoma this week its highest rating of EF-5 due to its high wind speed and the breadth and severity of damage. Several meteorologists used real-time measurements to calculate the energy released during the storm’s life span – and they estimated that it released anywhere from 8 to 600 times the power of an atomic bomb.

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Post tags: moore tornado, natural disaster, oklahoma, oklahoma tornado, Red Cross, rescue shelters, tornado

Haiti’s hills were once lined with lush greenery – but now it’s 98 percent bereft of plant coverage, making it one of the least forested nations on earth. To address the issue the government just promised to plant as many as 50 million trees a year in order to double coverage from two percent to just over four percent by 2016, The Guardian reports. In addition to restoring some of the forests clear cut for colonial plantations and felled for cooking fuel, the move is expected to reduce poverty and improve quality of life for millions of residents.

Read the rest of Poverty-Stricken Haiti to Plant Millions of Trees, Aims to Double Forest Coverage by 2016

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Post tags: agriculture, Clinton Foundation, Environment, environmental degradation, environmental service, haiti, mudslides, natural disaster, News, Richard Branson, tree planting

A little over two years since a devastating earthquake struck Japan and triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Google has collaborated with the town of Namie-machi, which sits inside the Fukushima Prefecture, to produce haunting Street View images of the stricken area. In a guest post on Google’s blog, Namie-machi Mayor Tamotsu Baba explains that the town has remained untouched since the disaster, and its 21,000 residents unable to return due to high levels of radiation.

Read the rest of Google Launches Haunting Street View of Fukushima Exclusion Zone Two Years After the Disaster

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Post tags: disaster zone, earthquake, exclusion zone, Fukushima, fukushima daiichi, fukushima picture, Google, Google Street View, Japan, namie-machi, natural disaster, nuclear disaster, tsnami

It’s been two years since the deadly earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan, destroying homes and triggering a nuclear disaster. Although the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent deluge killed thousands and leveled towns, there was one stark reminder of the planet’s resilience: an 88-foot pine tree that refused to succumb to the onslaught. It stood as the last remaining member of what was once a forest of 70,000 trees along the coast in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture. This week officials unveiled a massive sculpture that memorializes the special tree, and serves as a quiet reminder of nature’s power.

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Post tags: Art, conservation, earthquake, forest, Japan, memorial, miracle pine, natural disaster, preservation, sculpture, tsunami

Anyone who has ever struggled to pitch a tent can attest to how difficult it can be to assemble a temporary shelter. Add the stress of a natural calamity, and every second saved by quick and simple construction is a blessing aided by the genius of good design. Argentine architects Matias Alter and Matias Carrizo have created the Modularflex, a foldable disaster housing unit that packs flat and can be assembled in about half an hour.

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Post tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, emergency, expo logisti-k, flat-packed, foldable, LED lights, matias alter, matias carrizo, modular, modularflex, natural disaster, shelter, temporary shelter, TENT, thermal panels

Forget about soggy sleeping bags and competing with rocks and debris on the cold, hard ground on your next camping trip – Inhabitat favorite Tentsile just launched a brand new suspended tent called the Stingray that lets you rest high up in the trees! Designed for three-season use, the 13 lb tent accommodates three to four people plus their gear.  Using only two poles inserted into a polyester fly sheet and a set of tree straps, the arched Stingray can be set assembled in about five minutes. The interior is accessible through a floor hatch or side door via a collapsible ladder.

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Post tags: alex shirley smith, camping, gear, Greenpeace, hammock, kickstarter, natural disaster, spider, stingray, TENT, tentsile, Trees, UN

Oil exploration, production and transportation in the United States may suffer from endemic failures in technology, regulation and common sense, but that doesn’t appear to be standing in the way of the nation’s path towards becoming the world’s top producer of the oozy stuff. According to an International Energy Agency report, the US is on track to topple production by the notoriously oil-rich Saudi Arabia within five years, and to become a net oil exporter by 2030. In an trend that bodes incredibly poorly for the nation’s environmental health, many are championing the move away from foreign oil dependence and towards energy self-sufficiency.

Read the rest of US Set to Surpass Saudi Arabia as World’s Top Oil Producer by 2017

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Post tags: carbon emissions, Climate Change, deepwater horizon, energy independence, energy self-sufficiency, fossil fuels, fracking, global warming, green economy, green jobs, IEA, International Energy Agency, natural disaster, natural resources, oil politics, oil production, saudi arabia, world's largest oil producer

Australian shipbuilder Matt Duncan was so affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that he put his engineering skills to use and designed a Tsunami Survival Pod capable of withstanding six tons of debris. Duncan, who is also the owner of the Gold Coast houseboat company Havana Houseboats, used his shipbuilding skills to design the four person survival vessel.

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Post tags: australia, emergency shelter, havana shipbuilders, havana tsunami survival pod, Japan, matt duncan, natural disaster, tsunami, tsunami survival pod

Read the rest of Next-Generation High School Built in an Abandoned Mall 55 Days After Joplin Tornado

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", abandoned mall, adaptive reuse, big box store, CGA, corner green and associates, department store, Disaster Relief, DLR Group, eco design, eco high school, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, high school, joplin, joplin high school, mall, Missouri, natural disaster, next generation high school, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, tornado

The West is going up in flames – there are so many fires right now it’s hard to keep track of them all. By now you’ve probably heard about the Waldo Canyon “super fire” tearing through the mountains in Colorado Springs, but you may not have heard as much about the other huge wildfires in the surrounding states. Google is tracking all of the fires in the west using their Crisis Response tool, and you can stay up to date with their interactive map showing where all the fires are, how big they’ve gotten, and any special alerts, closures, evacuations and shelter locations.

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Post tags: crisis response, disaster, fires, Google, google crisis response, humanitarian aid, humanitarian response, interactive map, interactive technology, natural disaster, natural disasters, western wildfires, wildfire map, wildfires

In the wake of a bizarre array of extreme weather events throughout the United States, a study from Yale University has found that the majority of Americans have finally realized that yes, global warming is a problem. This spring’s unseasonably warm weather had many people — including Oprah and Obama — concerned, and from Hurricane Irene’s path along the east coast to the Mississippi River floods a year ago, weird weather events had 69 percent of participants agreeing that global warming is the culprit.

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Post tags: 2012 heat wave, anthony leiserowitz, Bill McKibben, Climate Change, disaster preparedness, george mason university, global warming, hurricane irene, mississippi flood, natural disaster, texas drought, Yale University

We’ve seen quite a few creative examples of disaster-resistant architecture here at Inhabitat – from houses that rise up atop flood waters to an elastic iron alloy designed to sway with an earthquake. Now a Japanese company, Air Danshin Systems Inc., has come up with perhaps the most inventive solution we’ve seen — they fit out existing houses to levitate in the event of an earthquake. In the wake of last year’s Fukushima disaster the company is set to install the levitation system in 88 houses across Japan.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", air danshin, compressed air, earthquake design, earthquake proof architecture, earthquake resistant, Floating Home, levitating homes, natural disaster

Read the rest of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Affordable Re_Home is Prepped for Natural Disaster Recovery

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 2011 solar decathlon, design for disaster, disaster recovery, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, illinois solar decathlon home, natural disaster, Prefab, prefab home, Prefab Housing, rapid response, re-home, rehome, Re_home, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011, solar decathlon rehome, solar home, student project, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, team illinois, university of illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Post tags: Customs House, DIY, eco design, emergency shelter exhibition, green design, green shelter, LAVA, natural disaster, sustainable design, sydney

Read the rest of Reaction Housing System: A Rapid Response Flat-Pak Emergency Shelter

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Post tags: (FEMA), clean design, Climate Change, CO2, community health, disaster kit, disaster preparedness, easy to assemble, eco design, eco habitat, eco-conscious, eco-friendly, emergency distribution, emergency kit, emergency response, emergency shelter, Environment, environmental design, exo, exo reaction housing, exo reaction housing system, fema trailer, flat pak, foldable bed, folding bed, green design, green infrastructure, green living, green technology, green transportation, havoc, ikea, infrastructure, irene, Katrina, minimalist, mobile housing, mobile power supply, modern shelter, natural disaster, portable shelter, public health, rapid response, reaction housing system, Red Cross, sustainable design, sustainable living, tool free assembly, weird weather, welfare

There’s a long road to recovery for the people of Japan, and much still needs to be done to quell the chaos from the earthquake and tsunami. Architecture For Humanity, which is now in 10th year of providing design assistance to victims of disasters, is already working on plans to help Japan. Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of the organization, talks with CNN about how the organization and members on the ground in Japan are responding to the disaster and planning to rebuild with disaster resistant homes.

+ Architecture For Humanity

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Post tags: "sustainable development", 2011, Architecture for Humanity, cameron sinclair, disaster, Disaster Relief, disaster response, earthquake resistent, green architecture, green design, Japan, japan earthquake, japan tsunami, natural disaster, non-profit organization, sustaianble architecture, sustainable design, Video

We’re pretty impressed with Google this morning. In the wake of the horrendous earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit Japan earlier today, the search engine could be sitting around working on their self-driving car. But instead they’re using what they do best – searching – to help victims and their family members find one another. They’ve created a simple but effective Person Finder tool that lets people worried about their family members look them up by name. Engadget reports that at the moment, there are only a few thousand records up on the site, but those should still serve as a useful repository of data for missing persons. If you’re concerned about a loved one in Japan and want to check on them, visit Google’s Person Finder here.

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Post tags: design for good, disaster, earthquake, Google, google person finder, GooglePersonFinder, green design, internet, Japan, japan earthquake, japan tsunami, japanese earthquake, japanese tsunami, missing persons, MissingPersons, natural disaster, NaturalDisaster, online, person finder, PersonFinder, reaction, search, tsunami, web

Read the rest of AirDrop House Emergency Shelter for Flood-Afflicted Areas

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Post tags: air drop house, andrew maynard, andrew maynard architecture, Disaster Relief, eco design, Emergency housing, flooding, green architecture, green design, natural disaster, sustainable archtiecture

Hooters Girls have really big hearts, which is why they are collecting all of their used and torn pantyhose and donating them to help clean up the Gulf Oil Spill. Their “Project Pantyhose” has a goal of collecting more than 100,000 pairs of pantyhose, which will then be donated to Matter of Trust and Indigo Oceanic, who will use them to make booms to collect oil. The project is expected to create 15 miles worth of booms and has the potential to soak up 1 million gallons of oil over the lifetime of the Hooter’s booms. We think the company should change their motto to “Give a hoot, don’t pollute“!

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Post tags: boom!, booms, BP, deepwater horizon, eco design, green design, Gulf oil spill, Hooters, Hooters Girls, hooters pantyhose, indigo oceanic, matter of trust, natural disaster, oil leak, oil spill, pantyhose, Pollution, water issues, water pollution

Read the rest of Greensburg Kansas Rebuilds Better and Greener After Tornado!

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Post tags: "leed", eco design, eco home, eco silo home, eco town, green design, green town, greenest town, greensburg, Greensburg Kansas, Kansas, leed certification, LEED platinum, natural disaster, Sustainable Building, tornado