Tampa Bay is mesmerizing, with 700 miles of shoreline and some of the finest white sand beaches in the nation. But analysts say the metropolitan area is the most vulnerable in the United States to flooding and damage if a major hurricane ever scores a direct hit.

A Boston firm that analyzes potential catastrophic damage reported that the region would lose $175 billion in a storm the size of Hurricane Katrina. A World Bank study called Tampa Bay one of the 10 most at-risk areas on the globe. — washingtonpost.com

Houston calls itself “the city with no limits” to convey the promise of boundless opportunity. But it also is the largest U.S. city to have no zoning laws, part of a hands-off approach to urban planning that may have contributed to catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey and left thousands of residents in harm’s way. — The Washington Post

The death toll rose to 350 on Monday from a devastating earthquake that hit Ecuador at the weekend, as rescuers hunted for survivors, victims clamored for aid and looting broke out in the Andean nation's shattered coastal region.

More than 2,000 people were injured in Saturday night's 7.8 magnitude quake, which ripped apart buildings and roads and knocked out power along the Pacific coastline. — Reuters

A powerful earthquake has struck southern Japan, causing casualties and collapsed buildings.

According to Japan's Meteorological Agency, the quake hit at 9.26 pm and was centered seven miles east from the town of Mashiki in the Kumamoto prefecture. 

Initial reports placed the quake at a magnitude 6.4, but this was later downgraded to 6.2 by the US Geological Survey.

A number of "strong" aftershocks have also been reported. — the Independent

Wednesday night’s 8.3-magnitude earthquake had left 11 dead and a 175 houses damaged. While the toll wasn’t negligible, the quake — the world’s strongest this year — might have leveled less-prepared countries.

“Our structural engineering is world class,” Santos, a 62-year-old engineer at the firm Ingenería Estructuras Consultoría, said by phone. “And it’s made in Chile.” — miamiherald.com

“Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.”

In the Pacific Northwest, everything west of Interstate 5 covers some hundred and forty thousand square miles, including Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Eugene, Salem (the capital city of Oregon), Olympia (the capital of Washington), and some seven million people. When the next full-margin rupture happens, that region will suffer the worst natural disaster in the history of North America. — newyorker.com

The first feature of the Resilience Partnership will be the launch of a multi-phase resilience design challenge, focused on bringing people and organizations from a diverse set of industries together to collaborate on bold and innovative solutions to the toughest resilience challenges facing the three focus regions. — rockefellerfoundation.org

As Okinawa and Kyushu prepare to take the brunt of what was until Monday categorized as a “super typhoon,” local infrastructure will be pushed to its limits, especially in Kyushu, where the area is saturated from heavy rains last week. — The Diplomat

A major insurance company is suing Chicago-area municipal governments saying they knew of the risks posed by climate change and should have been better prepared. The class-action lawsuits raise the question of who is liable for the costs of global warming. [...]

“What the insurers are saying is: ‘We’re in the business of covering unforeseen risks... But we’re now at a point with the science where climate change is now a foreseeable risk.’” — washingtonpost.com

The Fox River has shown little respect for Mies' brilliant juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made. In the past 18 years, the river has inundated the [Farnsworth] house three times. [...]

Confronted with the prospect of more flooding, the house's owner is carefully weighing how to preserve and protect the house, two goals that potentially conflict... Such are the choices in an era when disastrous "100-year floods" seem to occur every few years. — The Chicago Tribune

With billions in federal, charity and insurance dollars flowing in after [Hurricane Katrina], there were suddenly resources for change.

“The city essentially got the opportunity to do a do-over,” said Carol Bebelle, a lifelong New Orleanian and executive director of Ashé Cultural Arts Center. [...]

In many ways, it was a top-to-bottom re-imagining of the cityscape.

So, is the city in a better place than it was nearly nine years ago? It depends on how closely you look. — equalvoiceforfamilies.org