Welcome to Disaster Risk in Evolving Landscapes
This newsletter sits on the interface between numbers and narratives. The goal is to examine how communities shape, and are shaped by, disaster risk. I’m blending research, historical anecdotes, and field notes to ask better questions about what we build, what we remember, and what we choose to ignore.
What this is…
A long-form exploration of disaster risk that keeps academic rigor but speaks plainly. I read across disciplines, dig through archives from different geographies, and connect those threads into essays. Expect models, numbers, and maps — but also anecdotes and human details that shape risk and policy.
Why I’m doing this
I finished my PhD in December 2023, studying earthquake risk from older tall concrete buildings in Vancouver and how unique geology shapes ground shaking to better understand risk and inform policy. That work taught me two things:
Quantitative risk is only half the story.
The other half—governance, financing, perception, incentives, memory—decides what actually happens.
This space is my attempt to hold both halves together. I’ll analyze real-world efforts at risk reduction (and the gaps) and share what I learn: openly, accessibly.
Start here
If you’re new, these pieces sketch the terrain:
Are we voluntarily living riskier lives? — On choice, constraint, and costs that control these.
An Illusion of Control — Rivers, memory, and why “managing” nature can be wishful thinking.
The 1897 Great Assam Earthquake — What we forget and what lingers.
About me
I’m a Research Fellow in Wellington, jointly with the University of Auckland and Earth Science New Zealand. I completed a PhD in Structural & Earthquake Engineering at the University of British Columbia, where I was a Public Scholar Fellow, and I hold master’s degrees in Structural Engineering (UC Irvine) and Systems Engineering (Johns Hopkins). I grew up in Assam, India, and earned my bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Assam Engineering College.
My work uses data-driven and physics-based models to understand how earthquakes affect buildings, infrastructure, and communities—and I’m drawn to “risk” in all its messy, human dimensions.
How to participate
Comment with your take on policy, engineering, finance, or memory.
Share an essay with someone who would enjoy delving into these ideas.
Suggest archives, case studies, or datasets I should read next.
Stay in the loop
Subscribe for free to get new essays in your inbox. Join me as I embark on an uncertain terrain with these essays, which parallels the inherent uncertainty within the topics they aim to explore.
Thanks for reading Disaster Risk in Evolving Landscapes. I’m glad you’re here.
— Preetish
