Indigenous knowledge and science often seem poles apart, but meshing them can curb disaster risk, reports Smriti Mallapaty.

Lucy Pearson looks at early warning systems for disasters, their uses and limits, and what accounts for the gap between warning and action.

A preparatory meeting for the Rio+20 summit will discuss open access environmental data with a focus on biodiversity, water, oceans, cities and disasters. Yojana Sharma reports.

As International Day for Disaster Reduction nears, Rui Pinho, who leads the Global Earthquake Model, talks to SciDev.Net.

Kenyan meteorologists are joining forces with traditional rainmakers to deliver communities weather forecasts as climate change takes hold.

Sian Lewis explains how remote sensing can be used to manage natural disasters and highlights ongoing efforts and obstacles.

Greg O'Hare explains the what, why, when and how of cyclones, and reviews their effects in South Asia.

Bay of Bengal cyclones are often hugely destructive. India hopes to cut deaths in the region through improved storm prediction and research.

Current models cannot properly predict monsoon rainfall in Asia — or how it will be affected by global warming, writes Jagadish Shukla.

Today's maps are sophisticated tools, helping developing countries track everything from drought to disease, reports TV Padma.

Indonesia's mud volcano has so far been both a defeat and an opportunity for scientific understanding, reports David Cyranoski.

Protecting against the risk of shifting ground and replanting mangrove forests are some of the tasks ahead for tsunami-hit areas, reports Richard Stone.

Richard Stone and Richard A. Kerr report on how the Indian Ocean tsunami warning system is gradually taking shape.

Flood-prone Asian nations are starting to share information that could help save lives but this exchange needs to be more open to be effective, reports Navin Singh Khadka.