DISASTER

The way humans refuse to reflect is most ironic. Everyone immediately blamed the heavens for the events of November 2025, when massive floods swept across Sumatra (Indonesia), submerged southern Thailand, and turned Malaysian roads into rivers. It was as if humans were passive victims swept away by something beyond their control, and rain was the sole factor.  This elegant narrative is perpetuated to shield us from guilt and responsibility, making us reluctant to acknowledge that these ‘natural’ disasters have actually been engineered by human choices and negligence over a long period of time. The greatest tragedy lies in the audacity to ignore the damage we have wrought upon ourselves, not the water falling from the sky.

What happened at the end of November was not just extreme weather. Reuters stated that heavy rains were the main cause of flooding and landslides, which are estimated to have killed at least 129 people in Southeast Asia before and after 25 November 2025.  However, blaming the rain as the sole cause is like blaming a match when your entire house is on fire, even though you were the one who spilled the petrol (Reuters, 2025). The rain is not the problem. Rain is a common climatic event. What is unusual is how vulnerable our countries are to something that should have been anticipated.

For years, Green Theory has reminded us that environmental damage is the result of development and political and economic practices that prioritize growth over sustainability. Theoretically, disasters are political rather than natural occurrences. According to this viewpoint, structural power disparities and policy decisions that favor capital accumulation are the main causes of society’s susceptibility to natural disasters. And what happened in November 2025 shows that current politics prioritizes short-term profits, land exploitation, and dependence on destructive industries over maintaining the ecological balance that enables human life.

For example, flooding in Sumatra is caused by the loss of millions of hectares of forest over the past twenty years. The loss of forests has eliminated the absorption and soil retention systems that previously functioned as a ‘natural brake’ on water flow. FAO data shows that Indonesia’s deforestation rate has been one of the fastest in the world for years and that the damage has not disappeared without a trace (FAO, 2023). When the roots are gone, the soil and water lose their bond. Disaster becomes inevitable when the rains fall.

The same pattern was found in cases in Thailand and Malaysia.  Development that destroyed hillsides, settlements that crept up into landslide-prone areas, and concretization that eliminated absorption spaces have made these areas an inevitable ecological hazard. There were no truly ‘sudden’ floods and landslides that struck southern Thailand in the same week reported by AP News (AP News, 2025).  What remained suddenly was our realization that the rain was testing the consequences of years of neglect.

Ironically, politicians, mainstream media, and most of the public are more comfortable blaming the heavens.  Although terms such as ‘extreme rainfall,’ ‘climate anomalies,’ and ‘unpredictable weather’ are meteorologically accurate, they are also ethically and politically misleading. Blaming the weather is an elegant way to avoid more uncomfortable questions: who cut down the forests? Who issued the plantation and mining permits? Who built cities without drainage systems? Who turned a blind eye to disorderly spatial planning? And who chose not to learn from the same tragedies of last year, the year before, and the year before that?

Green Theory emphasizes that states and markets often collaborate to cause environmental/ecological damage while covering up their political activities with stories of ‘unpredictable nature.’ The disaster that occurred in November 2025 provided an important lesson that these stories are not only misleading but also dangerous.  To avoid responsibility, attention is shifted from human actors to an abstract entity called ‘the weather.’ It transforms meteorological chaos into structural chaos.  Thus, the sky becomes the most convenient scapegoat for all parties who benefit from the current situation.

We often forget that rain has been with us throughout human history.  It is not the sky that has changed; rather, it is the earth beneath our feet that has been altered, divided, and sold without consideration for its ecological limits. The IPCC has repeatedly warned that although climate change increases rainfall in certain areas, its effects are highly dependent on land use, ecosystem health, and human-controlled environmental carrying capacity (IPCC, 2023).  In other words, rain may be natural, but its disasters are not.

 According to a UNEP report, modern disaster risk consists of a combination of hazards and vulnerability, and it is vulnerability that is most often created by humans (UNEP, 2022).  We are the ones who cut down forests, destroy riverbanks, and build cities without considering hydrological logic. We are responsible for turning floodplains into residential areas.  Yet we blame the rain for being the culprit simply because the water returns to its source.

This is why November 2025 is not just a date of disaster; it is a date of remembrance. A reminder that we live in an age where environmental damage is caused by human activity, not the weather. A reminder that contemporary disasters are the result of poor decisions.  And our hands will remain clean in the story we write as long as we continue to point to the sky, but the ground beneath us will continue to crumble.

 If we want to break out of this cycle, we must stop pointing to the sky and start dismantling the political, economic, and vested interests that make communities vulnerable every time it rains. Disasters must be seen as a reflection of failed environmental governance, not as ‘inevitable’ natural events. This necessitates the establishment of political accountability mechanisms for officials who disregard ecological warnings, independent environmental audits for significant projects, and strict spatial planning reform. We must also understand that change will not come from the heavens; it must come from the very people who have been destroying, if they are finally willing to reform themselves.

The rain will continue to be blamed until that day.  And humans will continue to try to save their own reputations by pointing upwards so that they do not see the damage happening beneath their feet.  However, the sky is never to blame, as will be clearly recorded in history.  The rain simply falls.  It is humans who cause the destruction.  This is the greatest irony of modern civilization: the more power humans feel they have, the more they enjoy washing their hands of the consequences of that power. Humans who destroy mountains for quick profits from mining, build cities without adequate drainage, and pour concrete into rivers, and then feign surprise when everything comes back to haunt them. Rain is merely the trigger; humans prepare the ingredients for the explosion.

It is not the weather that must change, but our morals.  No technical mitigation can replace a political culture that continues to trade forests for capital, mortgaging the future for growth charts, or romanticizing ‘development’ that never produces anything but risk.  We can keep praying for favorable weather, but those prayers will only echo in the void as long as the Earth is treated as a victim.  Because we are the ones who need to live on Earth.  Earth is the source of our life.  And as long as people continue to deny that, disasters will become timely consequences, not mere warnings.

On Saturday, the Reuters news agency published an exclusive report claiming that the United States is “poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days”. The report cited four US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Two of the officials said covert operations would likely be the first step in this “new action” against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

This was less than shocking news given that more than a month ago, US President Donald Trump himself announced that he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela – a rather unique approach since one does not normally broadcast actions that are supposed to be, um, secret.

Anyway, it’s no secret that the US has been overseeing a massive military build-up in the region with about 15,000 US troops currently stationed there under the guise of fighting “narcoterrorism”. Since early September, Trump has also presided over wanton extrajudicial executions in the Caribbean Sea, repeatedly ordering the bombing of what he claims are drug-trafficking boats.

In addition to violating both international and US law, the strikes have produced little to show for themselves beyond terrorising local fishermen.

To be sure, the US has never met a “war on drugs” it didn’t love, given the convenient opportunities the whole drug-war narrative offers for wreaking havoc worldwide, militarising the Western Hemisphere, criminalising poor Americans and all sorts of other good stuff.

Never mind that US financial institutions have for decades reaped profits from the international drug trade – or that “The CIA Drug Connection Is as Old as the Agency,” as an article on The New York Times website puts it.

It should come as no surprise by now that the president who campaigned on keeping the US out of wars and then promptly bombed Iran has now found another conflict in which to embroil the country. And as is par for the course in US imperial belligerence, the rationale for aggression against Venezuela doesn’t hold water.

For example, the Trump administration has strived to pin the blame for the fentanyl crisis in the US on Maduro. But there’s a slight problem – which is that Venezuela doesn’t even produce the synthetic opioid in question.

As NBC News and other hardly radical outlets have pointed out, Venezuelan drug cartels are focused on exporting cocaine to Europe, not fentanyl to the US.

Nevertheless, on November 13, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – pardon, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, as per administrative rebranding – took to X to assure his audience that the massive US military build-up off the Venezuelan coast is a mission that “defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people”.

This is the same administration, of course, that was just threatening to starve impoverished Americans by withholding essential food assistance, which suggests that the wellbeing of “our people” isn’t really of utmost concern.

Consider also the fact that Trump slashed federal funding for gun violence prevention programmes in a country where mass shootings have become a way of life. Obviously, massacres in elementary schools are “killing our people” in a way that has nothing whatsoever to do with Venezuela.

But it’s so much more fun to blame Maduro for everything, right?

Poverty itself is a major killer in America – as is the domestic pharmaceutical industry (speaking of opioids). However, none of these full-blown crises has merited a remotely gung-ho response from the valiant defenders of the Homeland.

Like his predecessor Hugo Chavez, Maduro has long been a thorn in the side of US empire – hence the current campaign to discredit him as a “narcoterrorist” and thereby set the stage for regime change. He also happens to be a pet target of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is seen as the main architect of Washington’s war plans in Venezuela. Potentially eyeing a presidential bid in three years, Rubio is seeking to curry favour with his Florida constituency, which includes fanatically right-wing members of the Venezuelan and Cuban diasporas.

According to the Reuters report on impending “Venezuela-related operations”, two of the US officials consulted told the news agency that “the options under consideration included attempting to overthrow Maduro”. If the plans succeeds, Rubio would join the lengthy roster of US politicians who have propagated deadly havoc abroad in the interest of political gains at home.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the White House had “proposed an idea for US military planes to drop leaflets over Caracas in a psychological operation” to pressure Maduro.

Sounds like a page – or a leaflet – out of the old Israeli military playbook.

And as the Trump administration barrels on with its not-so-covert plans for Venezuela, such hemispheric recklessness will secure neither the US homeland nor anyone else’s.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

MIAMI — U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been indicted on charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds and using some of the money to aid her 2021 campaign, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

The Democrat is accused of stealing Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments that her family healthcare company had received through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, federal prosecutors said. A portion of the money was then funneled to support her campaign through candidate contributions, prosecutors allege.

“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”

A phone message left at Cherfilus-McCormick’s Washington office was not immediately returned.

Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected to Congress in 2022 in the 20th District, representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, in a special election after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.

In December 2024, a Florida state agency sued a company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family, saying it overcharged the state by nearly $5.8 million for work done during the pandemic and wouldn’t give the money back.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management said it made a series of overpayments to Trinity Healthcare Services after hiring it in 2021 to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations. The agency says it discovered the problem after a single $5-million overpayment drew attention.

Cherfilus-McCormick was the chief executive of Trinity at the time.

The Office of Congressional Ethics said in a January report that Cherfilus-McCormick’s income in 2021 was more than $6 million higher than in 2020, driven by nearly $5.75 million in consulting and profit-sharing fees received from Trinity Healthcare Services.

In July, the House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to reauthorize an investigative subcommittee to examine allegations involving Cherfilus-McCormick.

Nov. 18 (UPI) — The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday that an incorrectly labeled wire caused a containership to collide with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last year.

The federal agency released the key finding of its investigation into the catastrophic collision that killed six highway maintenance workers, destroyed a major regional transportation artery and upended trade at one of the country’s busiest ports.

Jennifer Homendy, the board’s chair, said, “This tragedy should’ve never occurred” in her opening remarks at a public meeting.

“As with all accidents we investigate, this was preventable,” she said.

Federal investigators determined that the Dali containership crashed into the bridge after losing electricity. The cause of the blackout was a loose signal wire connection to a terminal block that investigators traced back to improperly installed wire-label banding.

The Dali lost its propulsion and steering, and the crew had little time to recover before the ship struck a southern pier that was supporting the bridge’s central span, investigators concluded. As a result, a “substantial portion” of the bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River.

Additionally, the investigation also faulted Maryland officials for not assessing the bridge earlier for potential vulnerabilities to collisions with ships. The “lack of effective and immediate communications” also contributed to the deaths of the highway workers, investigators found.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was constructed before 1994, when bridges were mandated to meet safety criteria to reduce the risk of a collapse. State officials have since announced plans for a replacement bridge over the Patapsco River, which is estimated to cost at least $1.7 billion and be twice as high as the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against Grace Ocean Private and Synergy Marine, the owners of the Dali, arguing that the 985-foot container ship was “a clearly unseaworthy vessel” and the companies “were grossly and potentially criminally negligent.”

More than 288,000 families in Gaza are enduring a shelter crisis as Israeli restrictions on humanitarian supplies worsen conditions for Palestinians displaced by the war, the territory’s Government Media Office says.

Local authorities said in a statement on Monday that heavy rainfall over recent days submerged tens of thousands of makeshift tents across Gaza, leaving Palestinians suffering under conditions that “no society can endure”.

The Government Media Office warned that Palestinians are facing “the most dangerous humanitarian disaster” since the war began with Israel “deliberately deepening the catastrophe” through its blockade of essential shelter materials.

“We strongly condemn this ongoing crime committed by the [Israeli] occupation against civilians,” it said.

“We hold the occupation fully responsible for the suffering of hundreds of thousands of displaced people who are facing the harshness of winter without safe shelter or basic services, and for its catastrophic crime of insisting on completely closing the crossings and preventing the entry of shelter supplies.”

The flooding began on Thursday when the first winter storm hit Gaza. The United Nations confirmed more than 13,000 households were affected within hours.

Conditions deteriorated over the following days as the rain continued, overwhelming the worn tents that have housed displaced families for nearly two years.

Many displacement camps sit at lower elevations than surrounding areas. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported on Monday that “some areas are completely submerged” after water rushed in from all sides.

Gaza authorities said the enclave requires 300,000 tents and mobile homes to provide basic shelter, a figure they have “clearly stated” for months.

However, Israel has prevented their entry despite a ceasefire that came into effect on October 10.

More than 80 percent of buildings across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed during the war, according to UN figures, forcing massive displacement.

Rights experts have said Israel’s campaign that turned most of Gaza into rubble amounts to genocide. Actions that constitute a genocide, according to the United Nations, include “deliberately inflicting on [a] group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

On Monday, the Government Media Office accused Israel of “continuing its policy of restriction and preventing the entry of tents, tarps and plastic covers” while keeping border crossings closed and “reneging on implementing the humanitarian protocol” it signed as part of the ceasefire.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is restricting humanitarian supplies.

But Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), described the situation last week as “misery on top of misery” and warned that Gaza’s fragile shelters “quickly flood, soaking people’s belongings”.

UNRWA said it has enough supplies waiting in Jordan and Egypt to fill 6,000 trucks, including food to sustain Gaza’s entire population for three months. Yet Israeli restrictions mean only about half the required 500 to 600 aid trucks a day are entering the territory.

UNRWA has also said it cannot bring pens and notebooks into the territory under import rules imposed by Israeli authorities.

Aid groups warned in early November that about 260,000 Palestinian families, totalling nearly 1.5 million people, faced vulnerability as winter approached.

Natalie Boucly, a senior UNRWA official, said Israel is breaching international humanitarian law by maintaining restrictions. Boucly cited the Fourth Geneva Convention and a recent International Court of Justice ruling that found Israel must ensure Palestinians have “essential supplies of daily life”.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said during a visit to aid warehouses in Jordan this month that Israel has “no excuse” for delaying humanitarian supplies.

‘Aid restrictions are entirely political’

Professor Mukesh Kapila of the University of Manchester said the restrictions represent deliberate strategy rather than logistical problems.

“Accessing Gaza is one of the easiest regions where a humanitarian crisis is happening, so this is entirely a political act,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It is a deliberate Israeli strategy to keep up pressure on Hamas on the hostages and possibly disarmament, but it is compounding human suffering in Gaza.”

The Government Media Office statement called on United States President Donald Trump and mediator countries to the ceasefire to “take serious and immediate action to force the occupation to comply with what it signed” in the truce and humanitarian protocol.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 266 people have been killed since the truce began with Israeli forces carrying out strikes almost daily even in areas where troops were supposed to withdraw.

As Trent Perry made his first collegiate start, he stepped into a familiar role.

The UCLA sophomore always plays point guard in practice, going head to head against star counterpart Donovan Dent. Whenever they play together in games, Perry has to shift his approach, becoming more aggressive in trying to grab rebounds.

But with Dent sidelined as a precaution because of a muscle strain Monday night at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins needed Perry to assume the role of lead facilitator.

Finding out that he was going to start only shortly before tipoff, Perry received encouragement from his sidelined teammate.

“He really just said, ‘Keep going,’” Perry said of Dent. “Just kept giving me confidence throughout the entire game. You know, keep going right now, you’re the engine and just keep your team moving. Just be a leader.”

Perry eagerly complied, leading the No. 15 Bruins to an 83-62 victory over West Georgia that was far closer than the score indicated. The Wolves used a bombs-away approach that yielded a flurry of three-pointers and kept the game competitive for 25 minutes before Perry helped UCLA avoid embarrassment on its home court.

Making most of the highlight passes, including one in which he barreled into the paint before flinging the ball to teammate Eric Dailey Jr. in the corner for a three-pointer, Perry logged career highs across the board with 17 points, nine assists and five rebounds along with only two turnovers in 37 minutes.

It was a performance that pleased coach Mick Cronin, who said he was primarily concerned with Perry’s defense and ability to take care of the ball while finding his teammates.

“Off certain plays that we ran, he read the defense, did a good job with that,” Cronin said. “That’s what you’ve to do as a quarterback — calling the plays, if the quarterback can’t deliver the ball, you’re a pretty limited coach.”

With UCLA holding just a five-point lead against an opponent in only its second season in Division I, Perry ignited his team’s 10-0 push early in the second half that provided breathing room with an assist and a layup in transition. Eventually the Bruins (3-0) found themselves ahead by 20 points, leaving West Georgia (1-2) with no way to catch them even on a night when the Wolves made 13 of 25 three-pointers (52%).

UCLA also persevered thanks to forward Tyler Bilodeau’s 21 points on seven-for-12 shooting and Dailey’s 14 points. The Bruins were far more efficient on offense in the second half, making 14 of 25 shots (56%) to finish the game shooting 49.1%.

UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau, left, tries to drive past West Georgia forward Kenneth Chime during the first half Monday.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

But the outcome wasn’t a foregone conclusion until there were about 10 minutes left thanks to West Georgia’s success from beyond the arc. The Wolves made nine of 13 three-pointers in the first half before cooling off considerably.

“We were losing shooters,” said Perry, who was pump-faked out of the way on one three-pointer in the game’s early going. “Our deflection [total] was really low. Coach said comfortable teams make comfortable players. And they were pretty comfortable in our home gym, especially in the first half.”

Cronin said he was grateful that his team was challenged by a third consecutive lesser-conference opponent after struggling to put away Eastern Washington and Pepperdine.

“It was great that they made us compete tonight — we do not need a false sense of security,” Cronin said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, so the worst thing you can have is [an opponent] that just lays down, doesn’t pass the ball, can’t make a shot, you’re running and dunking, the crowd’s going wild. It’s such a false sense of security for what we’ve got coming Friday.”

Cronin was alluding to an early season showdown against No. 5 Arizona at the Intuit Dome.

UCLA will need not just Dent back but also the defensive intensity that has made Cronin’s teams far more formidable than they looked for much of Monday night. Dent likely will play against the Wildcats, Cronin said.

“He’s banged up, got a couple of different areas he’s banged up,” Cronin said. “It was a great chance to get him some rest.”

And, in the process, learn that the Bruins have someone else capable of running their offense.

In an era of escalating climate disasters, the ability to translate data into life-saving action has never been more critical. For the Asia-Pacific region—the world’s most disaster-prone, this is not an abstract challenge but a daily reality. At the forefront of this battle is the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which is leveraging artificial intelligence to close the gap between risk knowledge and on-the-ground resilience. In this exclusive Q&A, Kareff May Rafisura, Economic Affairs Officer at the ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction Division of ESCAP, provides a clear-eyed look at their innovative tool, SatGPT, and how it’s changing the game for communities from the remote village to the ministerial office.

1. It’s one thing to see a flood risk map, and another to break ground on a new levee. Could you walk us through how a local official might use SatGPT to confidently decide where to actually build?

Kareff May Rafisura, Economic Affairs Officer at the ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction Division of ESCAP: First, it’s worth noting that there’s growing rethinking within the science and policy communities on the long-term benefits and trade-offs of constructing artificial levees.

Going back to your question, understanding an area’s flood history is key to making smart infrastructure decisions. You wouldn’t build a levee on natural floodplains, for example. Without risk knowledge, levees might not protect communities effectively and could even cause problems downstream or in ecologically sensitive areas. SatGPT offers a rapid mapping service that helps local officials make risk-informed decisions. It significantly reduces the time and cost traditionally required to assess flood characteristics, such as frequency, spatial extent, and impacts, and converts that data into actionable information. This information is critical for decisionmakers who must weigh it alongside economic, social, and environmental considerations when determining whether, and where, to build a levee.

2. We often hear about getting tech “to the last mile.” Picture a rural community leader with a simple smartphone. How does SatGPT’s insight practically reach and help them make a life-saving decision?

Kareff: SatGPT’s strength lies in enhancing historical risk knowledge. It’s not designed to predict the next disaster, but rather to help communities prepare more effectively for it. For instance, when a rural leader needs to decide whether to evacuate ahead of a flood, she will still rely on early warnings from national meteorological services. What SatGPT can do is support smarter ex-ante planning—so that when early warning information arrives, the community is ready to respond quickly. This includes decisions on where to build shelters, how to lay out evacuation routes, and where to preposition relief supplies. These are all critical elements that must be in place to help avert disasters, as consistently demonstrated in the cyclone response histories of India and Bangladesh.

3. Floods are an urgent threat, but what about slower crises like droughts? Is the vision for SatGPT to eventually help with these less visible, but equally devastating, disasters?

Kareff: ESCAP coordinates the long-standing Regional Drought Mechanism, which has been supporting drought-prone countries in gaining access to satellite data, products, tools, and technical expertise—everything they need to conduct drought monitoring and impact assessments more effectively. Our support goes beyond making data available—we work with countries and partners to strengthen institutions and capacities, converting these data into actionable analytics and insights. We are currently working with three Central Asian countries in establishing their own Earth observation-based agricultural drought monitoring systems.

4. AI is powerful, but it can sometimes reflect our own blind spots. How are you ensuring SatGPT doesn’t accidentally worsen inequality by overlooking the most vulnerable communities in its models?

Kareff: You raised a valid concern. That’s why in our capacity development work, our participants combine SatGPT’s flood mapping with socio-economic data to pinpoint who’s most at risk and where. They work on use cases that unpack the exposure of essential services like hospitals and water treatment facilities. When these critical infrastructures fail, it’s the poorest who pay the highest price. That’s why it’s vital to understand the hazards that threaten them.

5. Governments have tight budgets. If you were making the pitch to a Finance Minister, what’s the most compelling argument for investing in SatGPT now versus spending on recovery later?

Kareff: Investing in reducing disaster risk – which involves measures taken before disasters occur to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience (e.g., early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, land-use planning) – is far more cost-effective than recovery. Every dollar invested in disaster risk reduction can save multiple dollars in future losses. While the benefits are context-specific, a recent multi-country study found that for every $1 invested, the return can be as high as $10.50.

6. The region is innovating fast, with countries like Indonesia and Thailand building their own systems. How does SatGPT aim to be a good teammate and connect with these national efforts, rather than just adding another tool to the pile?

Kareff: That’s a good point. And beyond technological innovation, we’re also seeing progress in policy and institutional innovations being put in place. Our intention is not to replace national systems, but to show what’s possible when you make risk knowledge accessible and actionable. We work closely with our national counterparts with a focus on integrating SatGPT insights into existing workflows and systems-not reinventing them.

7. Training young professionals is key. Beyond the technical skills, what’s the most important lesson you hope they take away about using this technology responsibly?

Kareff: I’m glad you recognize that today’s most pressing need goes beyond technical expertise. That’s precisely why our technical capacity-building activities are held alongside youth forums to provide a platform for young people to engage in meaningful conversations around values and motivations. As stakeholders, we all share the responsibility of upholding safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems to support sustainable development.

8. Looking ahead a year, what would a “win” for SatGPT look like on the ground? Is it a specific number of communities better protected, or a faster warning time?

Kareff: Forecasting and enhancing the forecast lead times remains the responsibility of mandated early warning agencies. SatGPT is well-positioned to support efforts to protect more communities. By enhancing the historical understanding of floods, it can help improve the accuracy of early warning information, help communities proactively plan their response, and reduce disaster risk ex-ante. In that sense, I would say that effective SatGPT roll-out would amount to both gains in space and time – more communities being warned with improved lead times for mitigative response with more reliable historical data for granular risk characterization.

9. The document mentions turning the Jakarta Declaration into action. From your vantage point, what’s the biggest spark of progress you’ve seen so far?

Kareff: One of the most promising sparks of progress has been the strengthened regional cooperation aimed at enhancing the capacity of countries—especially the countries in special situations—to overcome barriers to accessing the benefits of innovative geospatial applications. With the support of ESCAP members, we are implementing field projects, providing capacity-building and technical assistance, facilitating expert exchange, and knowledge sharing across more than a dozen countries. These efforts are helping to develop space-based solutions from the ground up to tackle sustainable development challenges such as urban poverty, air pollution, droughts, floods, and crop biodiversity loss.

10. Finally, behind all the data and code, you mention this is about protecting lives. Has working on SatGPT given you a new perspective on what “resilience” truly means for a family facing a flood?

Kareff: Having lived and worked for the United Nations in some of the world’s most flood-prone countries, I’ve witnessed first-hand how the lack of historical data can lead to underinvestment in risk reduction. Tools like SatGPT and other digital innovations are not silver bullets, but they help close this gap by converting geospatial data into actionable insights – quickly and more accessibly – to guide communities to prepare and protect lives and livelihoods.

The conversation with Kareff May Rafisura underscores a pivotal shift in disaster risk management: from reactive recovery to intelligent, data-driven preparedness. SatGPT represents more than a technological achievement; it is a practical instrument of empowerment, ensuring that from the finance minister to the rural community leader, the best available knowledge informs the decisions that save lives and safeguard futures. In the fragile balance between human vulnerability and environmental force, such tools are not just helpful, they are essential. The future of resilience in the Asia-Pacific is being written today, not in the aftermath of disaster, but in the proactive, thoughtful application of innovation like SatGPT.

Many people remain unaccounted for while camps and towns surrounding el-Fasher are overwhelmed too.

Millions of people across war-ravaged Sudan, particularly its western parts, remain in dire need of humanitarian aid as key generals show no intention of ending the civil war amid ongoing violence and killings in North Darfur’s el-Fasher.

International aid agencies called on Sunday on the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to facilitate increased entry of aid while a roadmap by mediators has failed to produce a ceasefire so far.

A week after the paramilitary force seized el-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, after an 18-month siege and starvation campaign, the situation remains catastrophic.

Tens of thousands of civilians are still believed to be trapped in the final major city in the western region of Darfur to fall to the RSF while thousands more are unaccounted for after fleeing el-Fasher.

Only a fraction of those who fled on foot from el-Fasher have made it to Tawila, a town roughly 50km (30 miles) away.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Tawila, an official with a France-based aid agency said only a few hundred more people have turned up in the town over the past few days.

“Those are very small numbers considering the number of people who were stuck in el-Fasher. We keep hearing feedback that people are stuck on the roads and in different villages that are unfortunately still inaccessible due to security reasons,” said Caroline Bouvard, Sudan country director for Solidarites International.

Bouvard said there is a “complete blackout” in terms of information coming out of el-Fasher after the RSF takeover and aid agencies are getting their information from surrounding areas where up to 15,000 people are believed to be stuck.

“There’s a strong request for advocacy with the different parties to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach these people or that at least we can send in trucks to bring them back to Tawila.”

Many of the people who have managed to survive numerous RSF checkpoints and patrols to reach Tawila have reported seeing mass executions, torture, beatings and sexual violence. Some were abducted by armed men and forced to pay a ransom on pain of death.

Many more have been forcibly displaced to the al-Dabbah refugee camp in Sudan’s Northern State. Some have been there for weeks.

Reporting from the camp, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said over the past few days, more displaced people have poured in from el-Fasher, exacerbating the humanitarian situation.

People are in need of food, clean water, medication and shelter as many are sleeping out in the open. Thousands more could turn to the camp as well as other surrounding areas over the coming days as people flee the slaughter by RSF fighters.

The United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as mediators, have all condemned the mass killings and called for increased humanitarian assistance.

“The RSF must stop engaging in retribution and ethnic violence; the tragedy in El Geneina must not be repeated,” the US Department of State said in a statement on Saturday in reference to the massacre of Masalit people in West Darfur’s capital.

“There isn’t a viable military solution, and external military support only prolongs the conflict. The United States urges both parties to pursue a negotiated path to end the suffering of the Sudanese people,” it said in a post on X.

US lawmakers have also called for action from Washington in the aftermath of the el-Fasher takeover by the RSF.

Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Friday called for the US to officially designate the RSF as a “foreign terrorist organisation”.