Workers continue to search the ruins of a large earthquake that hit Morocco Friday. Officials say almost 2,500 were killed in the quake, but that they expect that number will rise. The United Nations said the magnitude 6.8 earthquake affected 300,000 people. The damage (损失) was great because the starting point of the shaking was not far below the ground.

It is the strongest quake to hit the North African nation since 1900. And, it is reported to be the country’s deadliest since 1960, when at least 12,000 people were killed in and near the city of Agadir.

So far, Morocco has accepted support from four countries — Spain, Qatar, Great Britain and the United Arab Emirates. Other nations have offered help as well. Groups from the Moroccan army left Monday from Amizmiz to move into the small mountain villages. Heavy equipment was sent to clear the roads and both visitors and local people lined up to give blood.

Many people continued to sleep outside, fearing smaller earthquakes that often follow a major one. In the village of Imgdal, women and children gathered outside and some kept warm around an open fire on Monday morning.

On a road near the town of Adassil, near the epicenter (震中), one rescue (救援) worker, Ayman Koait, was trying to clear the rocks that were restraining trucks from getting by. He said other roads were in bad shape. “We’re trying to open them, too,” said Ayman Koait.

People said they dug through the ruins of their homes looking for relatives. They also moved rocks and walls looking for important items.

Many of the homes are made from wood, rock and mud, which made them fall easily when the ground started shaking. One military (军方的) worker said “it is difficult to pull people out alive” because the walls turned into ruins and did not leave any space for air.

East Africa is experiencing the worst desert locust outbreak in decades. Climate events have accelerated breeding of the pest across the region, and with a sudden rise in the locust population expected in coming weeks, urgent actions and funds are needed to prevent a human crisis.

Twenty million people in six of the eight East African countries are most affected by an ongoing desert locust outbreak at risk of serious food insecurity. Considered among the most destructive of moving pests, an adult locust can consume 2g of plants per day, affecting crops and grasslands. A group typically holds 20 to 150 million locusts per square kilometer and can move hundreds of kilometers per day, invading areas covering millions of square kilometers. An active group, therefore, can destroy crops and grasslands within a very short period of time.

That global warming could increase the risk of desert locust crisis was proposed over ten years ago, and in February, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that the current outbreak is linked to the effects of climate change: “warmer seas mean more perfect breeding ground for locusts”. The outbreak has its origins in 2018, when a series of windstorms in the Arabian Peninsula (阿拉伯半岛) enabled the warm and wet conditions the desert locust requires to breed and band undetected in remote regions. Though our focus here is migration west, dreadful outbreaks of the desert locust have been experienced to the east.

The situation is going out of control. A rescue operation and financial support admit no delay.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) can take out only US$138 million for rapid response and immediate action — controlling the spread of the desert locust and safeguarding livelihoods. They say the maths is clear: about half the funding (资助) is needed for supervision, ground and sky control, and uniting efforts; the other half is needed for livelihoods and food security of farmers. As for the huge gap, they have called on the international community to act now through funding. However, by the end of February, just US$69 million had been promised.

This most alarming crisis has developed and is worsening in East Africa. The funds needed to control the situation become very difficult to achieve and the gap is a big concern.

For decades, American National Park visitors have been told that they hold the health and safety of the areas they visit in their hands. But as it turns out, stopping wildfires is simply not that easy, researchers say. And while some forest experts support plans that could greatly reduce the risk of widespread burns, they will cost billions of dollars and take decades. And even so risks will still exist.

The rapid increase in the frequency and intension(强度)of wildfires in recent years follows centuries of growing human influence on forests. We tend to put out wildfires as quickly as possible. But that instinct(本能)has allowed brush and trees that would normally die off in the occasional fire to continue growing in some areas. So when fires do strike, they can’t be controlled because these plants allow them to burn much more seriously.

Climate change has also created more favorable conditions for wildfires. Fires spread more quickly in warm temperatures caused by global warming. Conditions like climate change-related drought(干旱)also increase the likelihood of wildfires. A lack of access to water kills trees and plants and dry conditions transform the brush into a material that burns easily.

“Due to climate change and other factors, fire seasons tend to be longer and drier,” says Dong Rideout, professor of forest and rangeland stewardship at Colorado State University. “It turns out that fuel treatment programs can address both.”

Newer strategies for controlling wildfires include a number of different methods for reducing forest and plant life. government and forest protection officials have increasingly invested in programs to remove the extraneous(外来的)brush that helps fires spread quickly. Prescribed burns are one of the most effective---and controversial(引起争议的)----methods of reducing fire risk. In a prescribed burn, fire officials set fire to an area easily attacked by fire. Setting controlled fires allows forest workers to remove plant material under the conditions that they know will keep the fire from spreading too rapidly. Prescribed burns also help remove extraneous species that might destroy the native habitat, and in turn, crate more dead brush that could lead to bigger fires.

The method has grown in popularity in recent years, but still faces challenges, particularly in areas where burns might threaten local air quality.

Efforts to use these preventive methods have been increased in recent yeas, but experts say funding needs to be increased rapidly before wildfires spread across the globe. Governments have devoted billions of dollars to addressing wildfires, but the money has largely gone to putting out existing fires, as the number and intensity of wildfires increases.