Risk models for natural catastrophes try to capture two things: severity (how hard a catastrophe might hit) and frequency (how often it might happen).

ECONOMIST: Reinsurance risks

"The heavy losses caused by weather-related natural catastrophes in the U.S.A. showed that greater loss-prevention efforts are needed, " Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said in a media release.

WSJ: Sandy's Insurance Bill Estimated at $25 Billion for Industry

Whether from natural catastrophes, economic collapse or the slow encroachments of sand or water, it seems likely that at least some of today's cities will meet the same fate as Ozymandias, the king of kings who built a monument to himself.

FORBES: Magazine Article

And with recent natural catastrophes proving atomic energy isn't what you'd call 'safe, ' it's a good thing the researchers down at the RMIT University in Melbourne have been hard at work figuring out how to turn you into a self-sustained energy source.

ENGADGET: Thin film coating makes everlasting energy a piezoelectric possibility

With conscripts frequently recruited to help prevent natural catastrophes or clean up afterward rural voters in this Alpine nation were clearly receptive to arguments that a professional army would not be filling sandbags to prevent flooding or shoveling out basements after mudslides.

NPR: Austria Appears To Back Status Quo Conscript Army