A plethora of methods exist to aid decision-making in mitigating disaster risk, many of which fall into the categories of risk, vulnerability and/or resilience assessment methods. The objective of the present study is to provide an overview of these methods, with a particular focus on evidence that supports their practical implementation. A scoping study of scientific literature reveal 97 distinct methods. Despite the growing interest in publishing new methods, there seems to be a lack of focus on demonstrating their effectiveness in practice. The few contributions that do include some forms of evaluation typically do so by comparing the method’s output with disaster data, by contrasting it with the output of other methods, by having experts evaluate the structure of the method, or by testing the method in practice and evaluating its usage. To further strengthen the relevance of research on this topic, increased attention should be paid to this matter. A good starting point would be to use the ways of evaluation identified in this study and systematically present evidence regarding the practical usefulness of methods for risk, vulnerability and/or resilience assessment. 

Accurate population data is crucial for assessing exposure in disaster risk assessments. In recent years,there has been a signifcant increase in the development of spatially gridded population datasets.Despite these datasets often using similar input data to derive population fgures, notable diferencesarise when comparing them with direct ground-level observations. This study evaluates the precisionand accuracy of food exposure assessments using both known and generated gridded populationdatasets in Sweden. Specifcally focusing on WorldPop and GHSPop, we compare these datasetsagainst ofcial national statistics at a 100 m grid cell resolution to assess their reliability in foodexposure analyses. Our objectives include quantifying the reliability of these datasets and examiningthe impact of data aggregation on estimated food exposure across diferent administrative levels.The analysis reveals signifcant discrepancies in food exposure estimates, underscoring the challengesassociated with relying on generated gridded population data for precise food risk assessments.Our fndings emphasize the importance of careful dataset selection and highlight the potential foroverestimation in food risk analysis. This emphasises the critical need for validations against groundpopulation data to ensure accurate food risk management strategies.

Extreme weather events in South and Southeast Asia exert profound psychosocial impacts, amplifying the prevalence of mental illness. Despite their substantial consequences, there is a dearth of research and representation in the current literature. We conducted a systematic review of observational studies published between January 1, 2000, and January 20, 2024, to examine the impact of extreme weather events on the mental health of the South and Southeast Asian population. Quality assessment of the included studies was conducted using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) quality appraisal checklist. The search retrieved 70 studies that met the inclusion criteria and were included in our review. Most were from India (n = 22), and most used a cross-sectional study design (n = 55). Poor mental health outcomes were associated with six types of extreme weather events: floods, storm surges, typhoons, cyclones, extreme heat, and riverbank erosion. Most studies (n = 41) reported short-term outcome measurements. Findings included outcomes with predictable symptomatology, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, general psychological distress, emotional distress and suicide. Limited studies on long-term effects showed higher mental disorders after floods and typhoons, while cyclone-exposed individuals had more short-term distress. Notably, the review identified over 50 risk factors influencing mental health outcomes, categorized into six classes: demographic, economic, health, disaster exposure, psychological, and community factors. However, the quantitative evidence linking extreme weather events to mental health was limited due to a lack of longitudinal data, lack of control groups, and the absence of objective exposure measurements. The review found some compelling evidence linking extreme weather events to adverse mental health in the South and Southeast Asia region. Future research should focus on longitudinal study design to identify the specific stressors and climatic factors influencing the relationship between climate extremes and mental health in this region. 

The concept of risk remains a key aspect in the recently published 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC risk diagram shows risk as a function of three elements: hazard, exposure and vulnerability. While this relationship is undisputed, simply superimposing the individual risk factors as presented in the IPCC diagram does not do justice to the underlying definitions of the terms. This diagram can thus confuse more than it clarifies and, we argue, should be reconsidered.

The concept of vulnerability has obtained increased research interest due to the ongoing climate change. The concept has a broad and general meaning which makes it necessary to specify what it actually means in any specific context. In exposure to climate risks, it is important to highlight who and what is vulnerable to climate-related hazards. The concept of social vulnerability derives from ongoing research in disaster, developmental, and socio-geographic sciences. Social vulnerability emphasises the social dimension of vulnerability and how different factors in interaction contribute to influence who is vulnerable. This scoping review is part of a larger project that aimed at increasing the understanding of social vulnerability in a Swedish and Nordic context. The review explores what Nordic literature on vulnerability related to climate hazards has identified as relevant for social vulnerability. 32 articles were included and underwent content analysis. The analysis process was characterised by the involvement of the project group in an iterative cross-disciplinary approach to the topic. This study concludes that social vulnerability is a dynamic process in both time and space; the degree of spatial resolution of vulnerability assessments impacts the possibility to detect vulnerable groups; it is in the combination of factors that social vulnerability emerges; and that the finding of risk perception re-emphasises the agency of the individual. 

Cloudburst flash floods cause big casualties and economic losses. This study primarily investigated if a cloudburst catastrophe (cat) model could be constructed to meaningfully assess such a hazard, exposure and vulnerability in Swedish urban context. Rainfall intensity was used directly as hazard measure, bypassing hydraulic water-level modelling, to predict vulnerability. The Splash (Swedish pluvial modelling analysis and safety handling) cloudburst-disaster model was constructed using the Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, and was based on individual property values and building locations, property-level insurance-loss data, high-resolution geographical data, and rainfall data from a dense municipal gauge network in the city of Jönköping. One major cloudburst event was used to derive a vulnerability curve. The following two events were used for validation and supported the hypothesis that the vulnerability curve changed with time because of municipal flood-risk-reduction measures after the first event. A faulty rain gauge during the first event, replaced by a trustworthy private gauge, clarified the very high sensitivity to cloudburst input. Given the limited amount of loss data, our results were uncertain but they pointed towards possible ways to further this study with other loss data at other locations, possibly using more easily available aggregated loss data. We concluded that a cat model based only on rainfall intensity provided acceptable results, thus providing an opening for future, simplified cloudburst cat models applicable in most geographical contexts where reliable cloudburst data are available, especially in cities with limited topographic data and hydraulic-modelling capacity.

Action toward strengthened disaster risk reduction (DRR) ideally builds from evidence-based policymaking to inform decisions and priorities. This is a guiding principle for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), which outlines priorities for action to reduce disaster risk. However, some of these practical guidelines conceal oversimplified or unsubstantiated claims and assumptions, what we refer to as 'truisms', which, if not properly addressed, may jeopardize the long-term goal to reduce disaster risks. Thus far, much DRR research has focused on ways to bridge the gap between science and practice while devoting less attention to the premises that shape the understanding of DRR issues. In this article, written in the spirit of a perspective piece on the state of the DRR field, we utilize the SFDRR as an illustrative case to identify and interrogate ten selected truisms, from across the social and natural sciences, that have been prevalent in shaping DRR research and practice. The ten truisms concern forecasting, loss, conflict, migration, the local level, collaboration, social capital, prevention, policy change, and risk awareness. We discuss central claims associated with each truism, relate those claims to insights in recent DRR scholarship, and end with suggestions for developing the field through advances in conceptualization, measurement, and causal inference.

Denna rapport, som redovisar del 2 av projektet Social sårbarhet för klimatrelaterade hot, syftar till att ta fram ett generellt sårbarhetsindex för Sverige, men också specifika index för tre olika naturhot: översvämning (älv respektive kust), skogsbrand och ras/skred/erosion. För dessa specifika index har sårbarheten kombinerats med en bedömd exponering för de tre olika hoten. Analysen är gjord på kommun- och RegSO-nivå.

Att förstå och sätta mått på sårbarheter hos människor och samhälle är centralt för att reducera risker. I denna rapport utforskas social sårbarhet för olika klimathot i Norden i tre delar: en litteraturstudie av den vetenskapliga kunskapen i en nordisk kontext, en sammanställning av grå litteratur inom området, och ett speciellt fokuskapitel som belyser rättvisedimensionen kopplat till social sårbarhet.