Similar flood disasters, different responses: Villages in Alaska and Russia learn from each other

Floods that affected sub-Arctic villages on both sides of the Bering Strait in 2013 gave researchers in Russia and Alaska an unusual opportunity to compare disaster relief practices across the border.

In the Arctic spring of 2013, river communities on either side of the Bering Strait – Alaska’s Galena on the Yukon River and Russia’s Edeytsy on the Lena River — were devastated by similar ice-jam foods that occurred within a week of each other. Rapid melt of the rivers sent torrents of water and large ice floes that damaged or destroyed most of the houses and public infrastructure and forced evacuation of residents.