For decades, discussions about Latin America’s cocaine trade have tended to focus on the same places. Colombia and Peru produce much of the world’s coca, while Mexico’s cartels dominate trafficking into the US. But between these known parts of the supply chain, another country has quietly become important: Ecuador.

Ecuador is not a major cocaine producer. Instead, its location between Colombia and Peru, combined with ports such as Guayaquil and Posorja on the Pacific Ocean, have turned Ecuador into a crucial transit and export hub connecting South American cocaine production with global markets.

A recent US investigation shows how sophisticated these connections have become. On August 20, the US Treasury sanctioned an Ecuador-based trafficking network accused of moving thousands of kilograms of cocaine each month through the eastern Pacific to Mexico and on to the US.

Eight individuals, seven companies and ten vessels were targeted, with alleged connections to Ecuador’s Los Choneros and Los Lobos crime groups and Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

Some of the vessels identified by US authorities were linked to apparently legitimate fishing businesses around the coastal city of Manta. Ecuador has a large fishing and aquaculture export industry. Larger vessels allegedly provided fuel and supplies to smaller high-speed boats, which carry cocaine northwards.

We often imagine a clear boundary between criminal and legitimate economies. But, in reality, they overlap. Fishing vessels, exporters, containers and commercial ports can all serve legitimate purposes while also being exploited by trafficking networks.

The banana industry offers another striking example of how the same international trade that is vital to Ecuador’s legitimate economy has created opportunities for organised crime. Ecuador is the world’s largest banana exporter, sending large volumes of produce through its ports in refrigerated containers. Inspecting every container is practically impossible without disrupting legitimate commerce.

In early August, Ecuadorian authorities discovered around 1.2 tonnes of cocaine concealed in a banana shipment leaving Guayaquil for Málaga in Spain. A few months earlier, a Europol investigation also found that fruit-exporting companies were being used as fronts for cocaine shipments from Ecuador to Europe.

This shows that organised crime does not need to construct an alternative global trading system. It can exploit the one that already exists. Cocaine can be produced in Colombia, moved into Ecuador, handled by local groups, transported through a commercial port and eventually distributed thousands of miles away on different continents.

The organisations involved do not need to belong to one criminal empire. Instead, they cooperate when it is profitable. A 2023 report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found that trafficking organisations increasingly specialise in particular stages and functions, with brokers and other groups facilitating transportation, finance and logistics.

War on drugs

Ecuador’s emergence as a major cocaine hub illustrates a longstanding weakness of the global US-led war on drugs: enforcement can disrupt trafficking without necessarily dismantling the market behind it.

In January 2026, the UK government described Ecuador as a “platform country” for cocaine produced elsewhere in Latin America. It stated that the majority of cocaine reaching Britain transits through Ecuadorian ports, and that up to 80% of cocaine arriving in Europe passes through the country.

The profits help explain the trade’s resilience. According to the UK government’s own estimates, a kilogram of cocaine valued at around £1,600 at the start of its journey in Latin America can be worth more than £28,000 by the time it reaches the UK. This represents an increase of more than 1,600%.

Europe has become a particularly important destination for South American cocaine. UNODC data shows that cocaine seizures in western and central Europe have exceeded those in North America for several consecutive years.

And Bob Van den Berghe, deputy head of the UNODC’s passenger and cargo border team, said in 2024 that “of 220 tonnes of cocaine seized last year by authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean, 84% was bound for Europe”.

European demand is a key part of the economic system sustaining Ecuador’s crisis. Yet while Europe demonstrates the demand pulling cocaine across the Atlantic, the US response demonstrates the other side of the drug war: an attempt to attack the organisations supplying it.

Washington has designated Los Choneros and Los Lobos, alongside various other Latin American criminal groups, as foreign terrorist organisations. Drug traffickers are framed not simply as organised criminals but as “narco-terrorists” and national security threats.

Defining organised crime primarily through the lens of terrorism makes aggressive and militarised responses easier to justify. This is already visible in US counter-narcotics policy. Over the past year, the US has deployed warships and military aircraft to the Caribbean and has carried out lethal strikes against suspected drug-trafficking boats.

However, cocaine trafficking does not behave like a conventional military enemy. A criminal network does not necessarily need to defeat the state, it just needs to make money. Destroying boats or arresting gang leaders may disrupt operations, but they do not reduce demand for drugs or the profits that allow networks to regenerate.

Ecuador is a great example of how organised crime has adapted to globalisation. Its ports, legitimate trade and strategic location connect South American cocaine production with consumers in Europe and North America.

Unless policy addresses this wider system, governments risk winning battles against individual criminal groups while leaving the profitable market that continually replaces them intact.

At least 160 people have been killed and hundreds of foreign tourists remain missing after flash floods tore through villages on the border between Nepal and the Tibet region.

Thirty-three British tourists are believed to be among those missing, including a 13-year-old girl.

In an update on Wednesday evening, Nepal police said 157 bodies had been recovered and more than 40 people were injured and receiving treatment in hospital. China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported 265 missing in the Tibet region’s Gyirong County near the border, and at least three dead, bringing the death toll up to 160 in total.

The Nepal Tourist Board said the number of missing people had risen from 384 to 403. Among the 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for, 47 are from the US, 34 from Australia, and 24 from Canada.

According to the tourist board, 203 of the missing are male and 200 female.

Dramatic video footage showed a wall of water crashing through river banks, bringing down bridges, homes and other infrastructure in villages along the Bhotekoshi River.

Experts said an avalanche from a glacier was the likely cause in the warming Himalaya region.

Officials issued warnings to residents of several of Nepal’s districts and asked them to stay away from the banks of Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers.

Countries express alarm over missing citizens

South Korean government officials said nine citizens working on building a hydropower plant in Nepal were among those reported missing.

Malaysia’s foreign ministry said its embassy received reports from travel agencies that they had lost contact with 11 Malaysians believed to be in Rasuwa district.

Russia’s embassy in Nepal said four citizens reportedly in the affected area were missing.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah and offered help.

“India is prepared to provide Nepal with all possible types of humanitarian assistance. Our teams are closely coordinating on rescue and relief efforts,” Modi said on social media.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain27 August 2026 00:00

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Missing Indian tourists were on pilgrimage in Tibet

Sunil Sharma, a tourism board spokesman, said 133 of those missing were from India on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet – a sacred site for Hindus.

Also among the missing were 47 people from the US, 34 from Australia, and 24 from Canada, he added.

Joe Middleton26 August 2026 22:53

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China’s Gyirong port affected

China’s official Xinhua news agency said the mudslide hit the Gyirong port, cutting ⁠roads, communications and power links in the Shigatse region near the border.

A rescuer interviewed by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said they had been trying to establish contact with the Gyirong border port but “so far there haven’t been any results”.

All roads leading to the border crossing had been “completely destroyed” after a preliminary inspection with a drone, the rescuer added.

With the deluge of muddy water sweeping down from an estimated nearly 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) ‌above sea level, flood alerts were issued in the populous northern ​Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which border Nepal and where several rivers flow down the ‌mountains into the plains.

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Authorities in Bihar said they had evacuated about 5,000 people from six districts and planned to evacuate a total of 10,000 to 12,000 people.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 21:45

Watch: Horror moment wall of water wipes out Nepal border crossing

Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 21:15

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Security footage on camera shows people fleeing

Security footage captured on the Chinese side of the Nepal-Tibet border showed many people fleeing before a torrent of rock, mud and water destroyed buildings and vehicles and took many lives.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences said there was a 4.4-magnitude quake approximately seven `minutes before the time shown on the security footage time-stamp.

Locals from the affected areas of Nuwakot and Dhading were seen gathering outside a Nepali army training centre — the base for helicopter rescue operations — seeking information about missing family members.

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Police were recording the names of the missing just outside the barracks gate, using mobile phone flashlights as their only source of light as the area remained without electricity due to damaged hydropower infrastructure.

In the affected areas, houses, trees and vehicles were submerged or buried in mudslides. Helicopters hovered overhead all day in the area bringing in survivors.

An initial study of Planet Labs satellite imagery indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the Nepal-China Rasuwagadhi border crossing, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on X.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 20:45

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At least 160 dead following tragic flash floods in Nepal

Massive flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China on Wednesday killed at least 160 people and left hundreds of tourists, workers and others missing after sweeping through communities and bringing travel in some areas to a halt.

Experts said an avalanche from a glacier was the likely cause in the warming Himalaya region.

Police in Nepal reported at least 157 dead. China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported at least three dead and 265 missing in the Tibet region’s Gyirong County near the border.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 20:10

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What caused the fatal flash floods in Nepal?

Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday’s flash flood.

“Hydrological observations indicate the exceptional speed and magnitude of the flood wave,” they said in an emailed statement, noting that water levels at one point on the Trishuli river rose by as much as nine meters (27 feet) over half an hour.

The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, had maximum flooding, they said.

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“The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in 14 months, this time triggered by an ice rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream,” said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the climate research group.

He noted the importance of early warnings in “a warming Himalaya.”

The region saw similar flash floods in August last year, when a glacial lake in Tibet overflowed because of high temperatures.

Nine people were killed, and critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting Nepal and China, was damaged.

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Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 20:00

Missing Indian tourists were on pilgrimage in Tibet

Sunil Sharma, a tourism board spokesman, said 133 of those missing were from India on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet – a sacred site for Hindus.

Also among the missing were 47 people from the US, 34 from Australia, and 24 from Canada, he added.

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Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 19:30

157 bodies recovered following flash floods, Nepal police says

In an update on Wednesday evening, Nepal police said 157 bodies had been recovered and more than 40 people were injured and receiving treatment in hospital.

The Nepal Tourist Board said the number of missing people had risen from 384 to 403, with 33 UK citizens among 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for.

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According to the tourist board, 203 of the missing are male and 200 female.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 19:08

Andy Burnham: UK will do ‘everything we can’ to support British nationals in Nepal

Andy Burnham said the government will do “everything we can” to support British nationals in Nepal following the floods.

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In a statement, the prime minister said: “These scenes emerging from along the Nepal-China border are devastating.

“My thoughts are with all those affected, including the families and loved ones of British nationals missing in this tragedy.

“We will do everything we can to support British nationals impacted in the region and are in touch with the relevant authorities to offer support.

“I urge British nationals in the region to follow guidance from the local authorities and follow our travel advice.”

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Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 August 2026 19:00

Popeyes UK, known for its Louisiana-inspired menu and viral Chicken Sandwich, has now officially confirmed that it is set to open a new restaurant at 4/5 Church Street.

Tom Crowley, CEO of Popeyes UK, said: “York, we’ve heard you loud and clear. We’re buzzing to bring our famous New Orleans flavours to the city.

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“Every new restaurant opens with such incredible energy from our fans, and we can’t wait for York to join the fun.

“Get ready for warm Louisiana hospitality, big flavours and that unmistakable Popeyes crunch.”

The chain, which has grown rapidly since opening its first UK store in 2021, has over 3700 restaurants worldwide and is famed for its fried Louisiana style chicken.

The new York branch will offer Popeyes’ full menu, including its hand-marinated chicken and signature buttermilk biscuits, all prepared fresh daily.

Fans will also be able to enjoy the Popeyes Brekkie Menu, which includes breakfast rolls, muffins, biscuits, and Cajun hash browns.

The opening is part of the brand’s wider plan to bring a “taste of Louisiana” to cities across the UK and will create 70 new jobs.

An exact opening date has not yet been announced, but we have contacted Popeyes for further details. 

Archie Gray 6: Showed plenty of endeavour to get up in support of Moore but lacked quality with his final ball. Looked a little cautious when faced up one-on-one with Millenic Alli, but ultimately Charlton rarely got the ball in the right areas to threaten, especially after Spurs took the lead.

Welch was born in Tynemouth in 1958, but moved to the village of Ebchester with her family at the age of 13.

The relocation placed her close to Consett, where she attended Blackfyne Grammar School and began to find the confidence and direction that would lead her towards a career on stage and screen.

Set above the River Derwent between Consett and Shotley Bridge, Ebchester is a village with a much older story than its celebrity connection.

Its name is linked to the Roman fort of Vindomora, whose remains lie nearby, while St Ebba’s Church stands at the heart of a settlement that has long been shaped by its rural setting, the Derwent Valley and its proximity to the former steel town.

For Welch, arriving in the village came during a defining period.

She had previously attended schools in Whitley Bay and Newcastle, but after the move to County Durham, she joined Blackfyne Grammar School in Consett, where she gained five GCEs.

(Image: GOOGLE MAPS)

Where Denise Welch found drama

Welch developed an interest in acting while at school after being cast in a production of the musical Finian’s Rainbow at the age of 14 – an experience that was a turning point.

She considered training as a teacher after leaving school, but her father and drama teacher encouraged her to apply for the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London instead.

She was accepted, graduated in 1979 and went on to gain her Equity card while teaching dance at Watford Palace Theatre.

A later interview with i-D Magazine also shows how formative those school years were.

Looking back on her teenage years, Welch said she transferred to a local grammar school at 15 and met “a life-changing drama teacher”, who guided her towards drama school in London.

Although accounts differ slightly on the age at which she began at the Consett school, they agree that her County Durham education was central to the decision to pursue acting.

From County Durham to TV fame

Welch began her professional career in the North East, working with Newcastle’s Live Theatre after training at Mountview.

Her early screen credits included Byker Grove and Spender, before she became a household name in ITV drama Soldier Soldier in 1993.

She later played Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street, appeared as Steph Haydock in BBC school drama Waterloo Road, and became a long-standing panellist on ITV’s Loose Women.

Her career has also included theatre work, memoirs and a public campaign to raise awareness of depression and addiction.

Welch’s family connection to the performing world extended to her sons: Matty Healy became frontman of The 1975, while Louis Healy has built an acting career.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The official in charge of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza criticized Israel on Wednesday for its attacks on the war-battered Palestinian territory and warned that the alternative to the U.S. proposal is the next war.

Nikolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace high representative, insisted to the U.N. Security Council that Trump’s 20-point plan has not stalled and “has moved from the negotiating table to the engineering table.”

The militant group Hamas has agreed to the proposal’s key provision to disarm and turn Gaza over to civilian rule, he said. But Israel’s ongoing strikes since last October’s ceasefire are still killing Palestinians — though much fewer — and Gazans can’t feel that the conflict is ending, he said.

“After three years of war and 20 years of military operations, I ask, will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza?” Mladenov said. “It will not. It only delays the demilitarization that would happen” and obstructs the transfer to a civilian government.

A recent U.S. deal with Hamas to disarm was seen as a potential breakthrough to end the war, which was sparked by the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces won’t withdraw from their current lines in Gaza until Hamas has handed over all its weapons.

Mladenov said that at a meeting he took part in last week with Netanyahu and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, “we went through his government’s concerns one by one and narrowed the areas that still require technical work.”

Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Noa Furman, reiterated to the Security Council his country’s commitment to Trump’s plan, but stressed that it can’t succeed while Hamas remains armed. He said Israel is working closely with the U.S. to achieve Hamas’ disarmament.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, said concerns about Trump’s plan are being addressed and Hamas’ disarmament will be judged on its actions.

Mladenov warned of the distance between the roadmap and what’s happening on the ground, and said if war resumes, there won’t be a roadmap to return to or anything left on the ground to rebuild.

As for the Palestinians, Mladenov said, the Trump plan includes a “credible pathway to a political horizon” and a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict. Netanyahu vehemently opposes a Palestinian state.

Birmingham’s flooding comes as the Environment Agency issued 23 alerts for flooding across the country tonight.

Of the 23, one is a flood warning, which means flooding ‘is expected’. That covers Perry Brook, where emergency services have been sent.

It said: “Locations most affected will be Flooding may affect properties and roads around Trehurst Avenue, Chevril Close, Haddon Road and the Bowling Green.

“We are closely monitoring the situation. Take care and avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water.”

The 22 alerts mean flooding is ‘possible’.

It added the warning, and the other 22 alerts which are mostly focused on the Midlands, would be updated at 11am on Thursday (August 27), ‘or as the situation changes’.

Joey King and Maisie Williams both turned heads with stylish outfits at the Practical Magic 2 premiere held at the Leicester Square Odeon in London on Tuesday night.

The two actresses are the next generation of the Practical Magic films, and play Sandra Bullock‘s character’s daughters Kylie and Antonia in the film – which also stars Nicole Kidman.

Nicole, 59, reprises her role as Sally Owens and Sandra, 62, as her sister Gillian in the next instalment on from the 1998 cult film.

Joey, 27, looked stunning at the premiere in a sheer white and yellow dress with a billowing skirt and sported newly dyed red hair. 

While Maisie, 29, was the epitome of chic in a red corset-style dress which showed off her many tattoos.

Nicole meanwhile wowed in a custom silver Chanel gown, while Sandra opted for a strapless leopard print dress from Givenchy and black strappy heels as they posed amid rows of candles. 

The two actresses are the next generation of the Practical Magic films, and play Sandra Bullock’s character’s daughters in the film – which also stars Nicole Kidman

Nicole has been throwing herself into work this year since her divorce from Keith Urban was finalised in January and has reunited with Sandra – who recently opened up about the death of her partner Bryan Randall – for the project. 

The plot of the sequel, set 25 years after the original film, is adapted from Alice Hoffman’s 2021 sequel story, The Book of Magic.

The new film is released on September 11.

Nicole and Sandra who’ve been busy surprising cinema audiences amid their press tour, executive produced the Warner Bros. Pictures flick also featuring Lee Pace and Solly McLeod.

‘The Owens women must once again unite, traveling from their home in Massachusetts to the United Kingdom to confront the source of their magic and save the next generation of their family,’ a synopsis for the film reads.

The two leading ladies surprised fans as they showed up to a Cinespia screening of their 1998 flick at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles earlier this month.

A behind-the-scenes video clip shared on Instagram showed the audience erupting in excitement after the women took the stage.

At the event Sandra said: ‘Practical Magic is the perfect movie to show at a cemetery,’ according to an account from The Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, Nicole thanked the crowd for their support in ‘getting this second film made that’s coming to you very soon’.

Joey, 27, looked stunning at the premiere in a sheer white and yellow dress with a billowing skirt and sported newly-dyed red hair

While Maisie, 29, was the epitome of chic in a red corset-style dress which showed off her many tattoos

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Nicole, 59, reprises her role as Sally Owens and Sandra, 62, as her sister Gillian in the next instalment on from the 1998 cult film

Nicole confirmed in 2024 that she and Sandra would reprise their roles as orphaned sisters Gillian and Sally Owens

The ladies were joined in their surprise appearance by Maisie and Joey.

Nicole confirmed in 2024 that she and Sandra would reprise their roles as orphaned sisters Gillian and Sally – who come from a long line of witches. 

The girls were raised by their eccentric aunts, played by Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, who embraced their magical history.

Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the 1998 script, returned to pen the sequel alongside Kelly Marcel and Georgia Pritchett.

Both Nicole and Sandra served as producers, with Susanne Bier directing.

The original Practical Magic earned $68.3million globally, according to The Numbers, falling below its $75million budget.

Despite lacklustre box office figures, the film became a cult classic.

Hoffman has written three other books about the Owens family due to popular demand.

‘I got mail from readers saying that they wanted to have a sequel, that they wanted to know what happened to the characters,’ the author said in 2021.

She added, ‘But, I felt like I wanted to know how these characters happened; I wanted to know their history. 

‘So I went back in time and I went to the ’60s in New York City in Greenwich Village – which is my favorite time and I wish we were there right now – and it was a total pleasure’.

Major flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border have destroyed homes, roads, bridges and local hydropower projects. The flooding of the Bhote Koshi river is affecting 50,000 residents. More than 100 people are dead, with hundreds more, including international tourists, missing.

This region of the Himalayas had not yet recovered from the Bhote Koshi flooding in 2025 that killed nine people as it washed away a “friendship bridge” linking Nepal and China, disrupting trade and transport for months.

In Sri Lanka, recent floods and landslides struck affected communities that were still recovering from Cyclone Ditwah, which had caused widespread damage only nine months earlier. With little time to recover from the cyclone, communities had no protection from further flooding. More than 15,000 people have been directly affected and 6,800 people were displaced this August.

Disaster risk usually considers how severe the next flood, wildfire, cyclone or drought will be. But the Nepal and Sri Lanka examples show another dimension that is often overlooked: how quickly can a community recover and will it do so before the next disaster arrives?

A disaster rarely leaves a place exactly as it found it. Roads and bridges may remain damaged. Families may have spent their savings. Businesses may still be struggling. Governments can still be financing reconstruction, while hospitals and other public services remain under pressure.

If another hazard arrives before these systems have recovered, it does not encounter the same community that existed before the first disaster. It encounters a place with less resilience and a weakened infrastructure.

A useful way to understand this is through the recovery gap: the relationship between how long recovery takes and how much time is available before another damaging disaster occurs.

Imagine two communities experiencing similar floods. In one, the previous major disaster occurred ten years earlier. Homes have been rebuilt, infrastructure repaired and emergency resources replenished. In the other, another disaster happened only six months ago. Roads remain under repair, families are still displaced or in debt, and public authorities are still paying for reconstruction. The new flood may be physically similar in both places. Its consequences may not be.

Incomplete recovery can substantially increase long-term losses. A 2025 study of recurrent flooding in the Philippines that losses increased by 40% between 2000 and 2018 because of incomplete recover. This suggests that repeated disaster losses are not always simply additive. The first disaster can change the conditions under which the next one occurs and the effects of subsequent disasters can be much more severe.

Recovery has many clocks

Recovery is often described as if a community is either recovered or not, a simplistic binary. It’s more of a sliding scale. Electricity and freshwater supplies may return within days. A damaged road may take months to repair. Rebuilding homes can take years. Businesses may reopen while still carrying substantial debt. Household finances, ecosystems and mental wellbeing can recover on entirely different timescales.

A place can therefore look recovered according to one indicator while remaining highly vulnerable according to another.

It took more than a decade for New Orleans in the US to achieve substantial physical and structural recovery following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While basic emergency operations and power restoration took weeks to months, full neighbourhood rebuilding, population stabilisation and major flood protection system upgrades spanned 15 years or more. And this was in one of the richest countries in the world.

Recovery is also unequal. Wealthier households may have insurance, savings and access to credit. Poorer households often have fewer resources to repair homes, replace belongings or absorb lost income. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, many poorer households who had hurricane insurance were refused payouts as the damage was deemed to be flood-related because of the burst levees and not by the hurricane. So, it is not only the time between disasters that matters. It is also how much recovery can happen during that time.

This issue becomes increasingly important where climate change alters the frequency or severity of weather extremes. If reconstruction requires five years but another damaging event occurs after two, the interval between disasters starts competing with the time needed to recover. That should change how we manage disaster risk.

Measure recovery, not only damage

Governments are generally good at recording immediate losses: damaged buildings, displaced people, destroyed infrastructure and financial costs. But they also need to know what remains unrepaired months or years later. Recovery monitoring needs to include housing, infrastructure functionality, business activity, household finances, public services and displacement. The question should not stop at “how much did we lose?” It should continue with “how much vulnerability remains?”

Disasters are not isolated occurrences. Floods, wildfires, droughts and storms are often assessed separately. These assessments are essential, but communities experience these hazards through the same infrastructure, economy and population.

The road damaged by one event may be needed for evacuation during the next. An electricity system weakened today may be supporting hospitals or water services tomorrow. Risk assessments should therefore consider plausible hazard sequences and the condition critical systems may be in when another disaster hits. This does not mean predicting the exact order of future disasters. It means abandoning the assumption that every new disaster meets a fully recovered system.

Recovery should not be seen only as the final stage of the disaster that just happened. It is also preparation for whatever comes next. Restoring infrastructure, supporting households and reopening essential services quickly can reduce the vulnerability carried into the next event.

But simply rebuilding the same vulnerable systems recreates the same risks. Recovery should therefore combine speed with adaptation: stronger infrastructure, better redundancy, improved emergency planning and greater support for communities that would otherwise take the longest to recover. Recent research shows that the government plays a critical role in ensuring rapid, efficient and effective recovery.

While asking “how severe could the next disaster be?”, we should also ask “how recovered will we be when it arrives?” Because the next disaster does not start from zero. It inherits what the last one left behind.

By JADA BAS, REPORTER

Published: 14:05 BST, 26 August 2026 | Updated: 03:17 BST, 27 August 2026