Showing papers on "Natural disaster published in 2002"

Chaos theory, informational needs, and natural disasters

Abstract: This study applies chaos theory to a system-wide analysis of crisis communication in a natural disaster. Specifically, we analyze crisis communication during the 1997 Red River Valley flood in Minnesota and North Dakota. This flood, among the worst in modern American history, consumed entire metropolitan areas, displacing thousands of people. The conditions and decisions leading to the disaster, and the subsequent reactions are retraced. Communication related to river crest predictions (fractals), the shock at the magnitude of the crisis (cosmology episode), novel forms of reorganizing (self-organization), and agencies that aided in establishing a renewed order (strange attractors) are evaluated. Ultimately, we argue that preexisting sensemaking structures favoring rationalized, traditional views of a complex system led officials to make inappropriately unequivocal predictions and ultimately diminished the effectiveness of the region's crisis communication and planning.

Natural Disaster, Mitigation and Sustainability: The Case of Developing Countries

Abstract: The application of sustainable development principles to natural disaster mitigation in developing countries is examined. Three main and interrelated aspects are considered: land-use planning and policies; shelter design, building materials and construction methods; and institutional organization at local, provincial, national and international levels. These three aspects are illustrated on the basis of experiences of human settlements in specific disaster situations and of housing the poor in developing countries in general. Taking into consideration the scale of the problem and the variety of conditions, the most pressing issues are identified, along with the different remedies and the major areas for policy intervention. However, transferring these ideas into implementation strategies, in which creative combinations of solutions, priorities, timeframes and resources are to be identified, will depend on a particular disaster situation and obviously cannot be carried out without detailed examination of t...

Environmental disaster and the archaeology of human response

Abstract: This cross-cultural study of the response by human groups to major environmental disruption brings together archaeological experts on Mediterranean Europe, Asia, Eurasia, Peru, Mexico, and the US desert Southwest. Using the school of geographical analysis known as Hazard Research to identify the key attributes of natural disasters and the human social systems that respond to them, researchers consider environmental variables such as the magnitude, speed, and extent of the disaster as well as social variables such as population density, wealth distribution, and political complexity to analyse and assess the damage potential of various types of natural disasters. Such analyses can be useful in generating hypotheses about human response to disaster and in evaluating catastrophic models of socio-political collapse. The research in this book tends to show that social collapse is an unusual outcome of environmental disaster. The authors hope to identify general patterns of human response to such disasters, and the chapters cover major themes such as timing and human agency.

Satellite remote sensing as a tool in Lahar disaster management.

Abstract: At least 40,000 deaths have been attributed to historic lahars (volcanic mudflows). The most recent lahar disaster occurred in 1998 at Casita volcano, Nicaragua, claiming over 2,500 lives. Lahars can cover large areas and be highly destructive, and constitute a challenge for disaster management. With infrastructure affected and access frequently impeded, disaster management can benefit from the synoptic coverage provided by satellite imagery. This potential has been recognised for other types of natural disasters, but limitations are also known. Dedicated satellite constellations for disaster response and management have been proposed as one solution. Here we investigate the utility of currently available and forthcoming optical and radar sensors as tools in lahar disaster management. Applied to the Casita case, we find that imagery available at the time could not have significantly improved disaster response. However, forthcoming satellites, especially radar, will improve the situation, reducing the benefit of dedicated constellations.

Population, poverty, and vulnerability: mitigating the effects of natural disasters

Abstract: Mitch is considered to be the most powerful hurricane to have hit Central America and the Caribbean in the last two centuries as well as one of the most destructive natural disasters of recent times. Its passage exposed the underlying vulnerability of this region and threatened the very fabric of the societies affected. Not only did it test these societies’ capacity to face critical issues, but it also brought into question their social, economic, and political structures. Mitch, however, was not an isolated incident. Central America and the Caribbean are perennially exposed to natural hazards of a physical, geological, or meteorological nature. Table 1 portrays the deaths resulting from the region’s recent vulnerabilities and various natural hazards. During the last 30 years, Central American natural disasters have caused more than 56 million deaths and $22.45 billion dollars of economic damage. Such destruction has contributed to the deterioration of the region’s living conditions as well as to a reduction in its rates of economic growth (ECLAC & CCAD, 2002). Natural hazards become disasters because Central America is extremely vulnerable. Social factors (high levels of poverty), economic factors (failure to consider natural disasters in the location and characteristics of economic activity), and environmental factors (inappropriate land use on steep slopes, deforestation, erosion, inappropriate location of settlements, and occupation of watersheds) all compound this vulnerability (SICA, 1999). Given this blend of natural and social conditions in the region, the recurrence of Mitch-type events can be expected in Central America and the Caribbean. Unfortunately, global attention to such threats tends to wane quickly, with international assistance focusing principally on issues of short-term recuperation rather than on mediumand long-range prevention. A critical lesson from past disasters has not yet been put into practice: more effective contributions require a longrange preventive approach directed to structural issues rather than short-term remedial actions. Within this perspective of longer-range prevention, policymakers need to pay greater attention to the role of population dynamics. It would seem obvious that demographic factors such as settlement POPULATION, POVERTY, AND VULNERABILITY: MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTERS

Popular mobilization and disaster management in Cuba

Abstract: Cuba has effectively implemented a system of popular mobilization and education to prepare people for such natural disasters as hurricanes. Compliance with evacuation orders is impressive. Top priority is attached to saving lives. The country's acclaimed programme accounts for the limited toll of Hurricane Michelle in November 2001, which was the most powerful storm since 1944. Five Cubans died in the storm, which wreaked havoc in Jamaica, Honduras, and Nicaragua. This article reviews recent Cuban experience in disaster preparedness, which was achieved despite material scarcity. Since the prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of increased susceptibility to disasters in future, Cuba's record deserves wide attention. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hurricane! Coping With Disaster

Abstract: A new AGU book, Hurricane! Coping With Disaster, analyzes the progress made in hurricane science and recounts how advances in the field have affected the public's and the scientific community's understanding of these storms. The book explores the evolution of hurricane study, from the catastrophic strike in Galveston, Texas in 1900—still the worst natural disaster in United States history—to today's satellite and aircraft observations that track a storm's progress and monitor its strength. In this issue, Eos talks with Robert Simpson, the books' senior editor. Simpson has studied severe storms for more than 60 years, including conducting one of the first research flights through a hurricane in 1945. He was the founding director of the (U.S.) National Hurricane Research Project and has served as director of the National Hurricane Center. In collaboration with Herbert Saffir, Simpson helped design and implement the Saffir/Simpson damage potential scale that is widely used to identify potential damage from hurricanes.

Remote sensing and geographic information systems for natural disaster management

Abstract: Natural disasters are extreme events within the earth's system that result in death or injury to humans, and damage or loss of valuable goods, such as buildings, communication systems, agricultural land, forest, natural environment etc. Disasters can have a purely natural origin, or they can be induced or aggravated by human activity. The economic losses due to natural disasters have shown an increase with a factor of eight over the past four decades, caused by the increased vulnerability of the global society, due to population growth, urbanisation, poor urban planning, but also due to an increase in the number of weather-related disasters. The activities on natural disaster reduction in the past decade, which was designated by the UN as the "International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction", unfortunately have not led to a diversion of this increasing loss trend. In future even more work has to be done in disaster management. For the management of natural disasters a large amount of multi-temporal spatial data is required. Satellite remote sensing is the ideal tool for disaster management, since it offers information over large areas, and at short time intervals. Although it can be utilised in the various phases of disaster management, such as prevention, preparedness, relief, and reconstruction, in practice up till now it is mostly used for warning and monitoring. During the last decades remote sensing has become an operational tool in the disaster preparedness and warning phases for cyclones, droughts and floods. The use of remote sensing data is not possible without a proper tool to handle the large amounts of data and combine it with data coming from other sources, such as maps or measurement stations. Therefore, together with the growth of the remote sensing applications, Geographic Information Systems have become increasingly important for disaster management. This chapter gives a review of the use of remote sensing and GIS for a number of major disaster types.

Bangladesh : disasters and public finance

Abstract: Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Physical hazards that could potentially cause considerable loss of life and catastrophic physical damage and disruption to society and the national economy include exceptionally widespread riverine flooding, severe tropical cyclones and associated coastal storm surges, drought and earthquakes. In addition, rapid on-set flash flooding, tornadoes and riverbank erosion are frequent causes of more localized, but nevertheless intense human suffering and losses. Because of Bangladesh's large densely settled population, low income and widespread poverty, the impacts of disasters have been the focus of considerable international attention and a substantial body of investigations from environmental, social and wider economic perspectives. However, this study is the first systematic investigation into the implications of disasters on the public finances in Bangladesh, apart from assessments of short-term impacts of individual events such as the extreme floods of 1998. Major disasters have had massive human and social impacts: official estimates are that 139,000 people were killed during the 1991 cyclone, whilst 31 million were directly affected by the 1998 floods. These extreme events also have clearly demonstrable negative impacts on the Bangladesh economy. However, the relative severity of these economic effects of disaster shocks has considerably diminished since the 1960s and highly vulnerable post-conflict 1970s.

Community emergency preparedness: a manual for managers and policy makers

Abstract: Human and economic losses from natural disasters continue to rise around the world, a trend punctuated by highly devastating events such as Hurricane Mitch in Central America (1998) and the earthquake in Gujarat in India in 2000, when tens of thousands of people were killed or severely injured and communities containing hundreds of thousands of people have still not recovered from the inflicted damage. The International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) was launched by the United Nations in the 1990s, in a bold attempt to reduce such losses by transferring knowledge to mitigate hazards to the developing world where 90% of natural disasters and 96% of the deaths occur. The IDNDR did have the effect of focusing the attention of many scientists, especially those involved in the earth and meteorological sciences and engineering, towards the application of their work in reducing natural hazards. The …

The last straw : integrating natural disaster mitigation with environmental management

Abstract: This paper examines the ways in which natural resources management and environmental degradation affect natural hazard risk, and makes a preliminary assessment of the importance of such linkages and the extent of their incorporation into disaster mitigation strategies and activities. Our analysis is based upon case studies in three countries in the Caribbean: Dominica, the Dominican Republic and St. Lucia, which are all highly vulnerable to natural hazards. In these three countries, detailed comprehensive analyses of these linkages do not exist. Such detailed analyses are also beyond the scope of this paper, which is a desk study without benefit of direct of site field surveys or experience. Nevertheless, we have found strong circumstantial evidence from documents and interviews to support the conclusion that natural resources and environmental management can have a significant influence on natural hazard risks. For instance, the degradation of mangroves, reefs and natural beaches affects storm surge and wave risk, and deforestation and unsustainable agricultural practices on mountain slopes lead to increases in flood and landslide risk, locally and downstream. These linkages are often recognized in the disaster management literature, but they have not been incorporated in appropriate strategies and activities.

Development and Use of Natural Hazard Vulnerability-Assessment Techniques in the Americas

Abstract: Sufficient knowledge, experience, and expertise exist to warrant a continuous, systematic, and critical review of natural hazard vulnerability-assessment techniques ~VAT! and their applications. This position is a reflection of the supply side of natural hazard disaster theory and practice. Academic, technical, scientific, as well as economic and social science professionals are showing increased interest in examining and explaining the specifics of risk associated with natural hazard phenomena. Surely, this is due in part to society’s increased awareness of risk from seemingly greater and more dangerous sources of peril. However, it also reflects a decades-old evolution of curiosity and concern about the response of populations and their physical, economic, and social infrastructure to atmospheric, hydrologic, and geologic events. There is a demand side to the position as well. Notable are the increasing losses, litigation, language, and lamentations related to natural hazard events. Economic losses and the number of persons affected, but not killed, due to natural hazard events are increasing throughout the Western Hemisphere. This reflects unresolved risk–much of which has been generated by development actions. It is also taking place in the face of seemingly boundless development opportunities to tie together economies and thus societies with their social, political, institutional, scientific, and technical underpinnings. In the absence of a global threat of assured mutual destruction ~such as in the case of nuclear war!, risks due to natural hazard events that distinguish between societies or nations ~indeed the lack of catastrophic risks that give advantage to some societies or nations, or portions thereof! are worth recognizing. For some, risk management of societies and nations is the defining factor in development. This special issue of the Natural Hazards Review, and indeed the NHR as a publication, is part of a review of natural hazard VAT. Natural hazard VAT development, application, and case study preparation helps to fill a void where a broader and deeper set of explorations and experiences are impacting, if not conditioning, the natural hazard vulnerability-assessment agenda in America in an increasingly interconnected way. The characteristics of the techniques include hazard focus, geographical and sector focus, subject and purpose of the vulnerability assessment, and input and output parameters. Regarding the natural hazard focus, there is a tradition of concentrating on earthquake and flood hazards, each sponsored by their associated scientific and technical communities, and together representing the vast majority of all losses in America over the past several decades. Focusing on earthquakes puts an emphasis on catastrophic loss. The resulting risk-management solutions are generally the responsibility of the individual vulnerable entity given that hazard modification and hazard avoidance are often not vi-

The Mount Parnitha (Athens) Earthquake of September 7, 1999: A Disaster Management Perspective

Abstract: Strong earthquakes in the proximity of densely inhabited urban areas pose one ofthe most complicated disaster management situations faced by societies today. Herethe experience and principal disaster management lessons learned from the earthquakenear Athens, Greece, in September 1999, are presented. A review of the earthquakeaffected region reveals that Athens continues to expand in area, thus becoming moreexposed to seismic activity from neighbouring seismogenic areas. The earthquake of7 September 1999 became Greece's costliest natural disaster, despite its moderatemagnitude, and occurred in an area of low seismic activity, only 18 kilometres fromthe city centre. What were the effects of the earthquake on the building stock of Athens in statistical terms? How can a society with relatively modest financial means react when close to 100,000 properties are suddenly rendered uninhabitable or need costly repairs? What were the relief actions taken by a government that is experienced in dealing with frequent earthquake disasters in other parts of the country? What needs to be done to improve earthquake safety and preparedness?Has the recovery process two years after the earthquake reached a satisfactory level? What were the effects on the insurance industry? These are some of the issues discussed in this paper, which forms an initial study of the disaster management aspects of this event. The official information sources in this paper are from various Greek sources. It was thought useful to include some of these (e.g., theresults of the damage surveys; the government's estimates of the cost of the recovery; the measures for relief assistance; the data about the recovery process) for the benefit of international and local readers interested in earthquake disaster management issues.

Science, terrorism, and natural disasters.

Abstract: S ince the September 11 terror attacks, scientists and the policy community have focused on ways in which science might be applied toward reducing the risks or consequences of future attacks. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has appointed a committee under the co-chairmanship of Lewis Branscomb and Richard Klausner to explore the vulnerability of the United States and other Western nations. The committee will do well to consider how mitigating threats from terrorism could also serve to reduce the consequences of natural hazards, for the two are linked in some unexpected ways. Other efforts have explored vulnerability in less alarming contexts, and there is much to be learned from them. Modern industrial societies, because they are complex arrangements optimized for efficiency, tend to be quite resistant to random failure; but careful studies of various networks, including subsystems of our own efficient industrial economy, reveal a troublesome feature. The Internet exemplifies the pattern: It consists of multiple nodes that interact through links. Some nodes are highly connected to other nodes; some are linked to only a few. The organization is scale-free, because added nodes connect preferentially to others that are already well connected. Such networks are robust with respect to random failure. But they are highly vulnerable to targeted disruption of the most highly connected nodes. Terrorists rely on knowing where these vulnerabilities lie. Like these creations of modern societies, genomes are highly buffered in ways that protect cell function against random mutation. But mutations in the few genes encoding proteins that play critical nodal roles in metabolism or structure are likely to be lethal. Mutation can't pick these genes out; unlike terrorists, who look for the weak spots in social infrastructures. We tend to assume that natural disasters attack targets randomly, just as mutations do. But the way we have arranged our society geographically has distributed its potential targets nonrandomly with respect to natural hazards. In a conference called “Crowding the Rim” at Stanford University last summer, geologists, disaster mitigation and relief experts, and others assessed the consequences of earthquakes, tsunamis, extreme weather events, volcanic eruptions, and other natural occurrences. An extraordinary array of transportation, communication, and economic nodes occupies the “ring of fire”—that is, the Pacific Rim, from Lima through Los Angeles, Seattle, Anchorage, Tokyo, and Taipei. These nodes, rapidly growing along with the human population of the Rim, lie on a map that features high seismic and volcanic activity, along with coastal mountains that are vulnerable to landslides and the heavy precipitation that causes them. The consequences of a major event in this area have been foreshadowed by recent occurrences. The 1999 earthquake in Taiwan was not only costly in terms of life and property there, it disrupted economies as distant as San Jose, California, where electronic industries stalled for lack of the components made in that country. The linkages we have built to connect the U.S. West Coast and Asia are all vulnerable to “echo” disruption of this kind, and much larger and more devastating earthquakes are in prospect for Seattle and San Francisco. Because our societies have been made vulnerable both to natural disasters and to human attack, we can obtain a double dividend from successful planning; but prevention alone will not accomplish both ends. Terror attacks can be predicted and prevented or turned aside if we can apply our science effectively. Natural disasters, even where we can identify likely targets, as along the Rim, can be predicted only statistically and not prevented at all. Solutions that will work for earthquakes and extreme weather events must therefore be focused on redesign and/or recovery. Redesign would require retrofitting society to create a more diffuse and distributed infrastructure. Recovery, which is more doable, entails plans for relief, development of redundant and backup systems, and incorporation of disaster resistance into the design of new installations. Science can play a role in helping with prevention and mitigation as well as recovery and repair. It will make its greatest contribution if we consider our vulnerability to terror attacks and to natural disasters jointly rather than separately. Because our social and economic arrangements have made us vulnerable to both, we can gain from working on them together with a program that involves the social sciences as deeply and as actively as the natural sciences.

Preliminary study on sand-dust storm disaster and countermeasures in China

Abstract: As a kind of natural disasters, sand-dust storms frequently occur in deserts and their surrounding areas. The occurrence of this disaster in China’s northwest and north China has exerted an extremely adverse effect upon the environment in China. The management of sand-dust storms is of a systematic project closely related with the environment such as agriculture, ecosystem, forestry, water conservancy, meterology and other aspects. Therefore, studies of the formation, the basic features, causes, temporal-spatial distribution, developing-trend and related disasters of sand-dust storms in China are conducted based on satellite data. The experience of sand-dust storms control and countermeasures in the United States and some other countries are referred. Meanwhile, preliminary countermeasures relating to sand-dust storms in China are proposed.

Risk assessment and regionalization of waterlogging disasters in hubei province

Abstract: With the development of disaster research and economy, disaster analyses from a point of risk view have become a new research area, which will help decision makers to choose optimal technical polices to manage disaster and to set up disaster-reduced tactics. Waterlogging is one of the most severe disaster in Hubei province. According to the statistics,the annual average flooded area and of flood-damaged area are 0.806 2 and 0.470 7 miltion hm\+2, respectively. The obvious increase of waterlogging in Jianghan plain and east of Hubei from 1980 to 1999, had badly threatened and restricted sustainable economy develpement in the province.In terms of natural disaster risk analysis rules, the regional difference of waterlogging risk degree is assessed synthetically, based on the analysis of disaster hazard, vulnerability and anti-disaster ability. The risk regionalization of waterlogging in Hubei province is made by using of a categorical index for representing risk degree, including terribly heavy,heavy,middle and light, the four risk regionalization. Some suggestions and measures were proposed,for references of disaster management and disater-alleviated tactics.

The Successful Experience in Disaster Risk Management in Japan: Focus on Earthquake Disaster

Abstract: Second, recent natural disasters have proved that damage caused by disasters vary greatly according to social and institutional factors rather than physical and engineering ones. They strongly depend on preparedness, relief and rescue arrangements, and quick recovery and reconstruction measures. Thus, currently, the concept of disaster management rather than disaster prevention is widely accepted and its importance is gradually being recognized. A typical example is the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Kobe, which occurred on 17 January 1995.

Assessing environmental impacts during natural disaster: the development of a rapid environmental assessment methodology

Abstract: The linkages between disaster and environmental damage are recognized as important to predicting, preventing and mitigating the impact of disasters. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures are well developed for non-ndisaster situations. However, they are conceptually and operationally inappropriate for use in disaster conditions, particularly in the first 120 days after the disaster has begun. The paper provides a conceptual overview of the requirements for an environmental impact assessment procedure appropriate for disaster conditions. These requirements are captured in guidelines for a Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment (REA) for use in disasters. The REA guides the collection and assessment of a wide range of factors which can indicate: (1) the negative impacts of a disaster on the environment, (2) the impacts of environmental conditions on the magnitude of a disaster and, (3) the positive or negative impacts of relief efforts on environmental conditions. The REA also provides a foundation for recovery program EIAs, thus improving the overall post disaster recovery process. The REA is designed primarily for relief cadres, but is also expected to be usable as an assessment tool with disaster victims. The paper discusses the field testing of the REA under actual disaster conditions.

Natural disaster reduction in Europe: a Don Quixotic project in the face of a changing world?

Abstract: The interrelations between the physical environment systems, human systems, and man-made environment are unstable and constantly changing. However, traditional hazard mitigation policy considers natural hazards as isolated, static processes and not as a product of these three components, Therefore, mitigation is a linear trend and response an event-focused reaction, both rarely viewed as an integral part of a much larger context. Consequently, disaster reduction measures are often like Don Quixote fighting against wind mills. In order to shape disaster mitigation actions just as dynamic as the ever-changing processes which are responsible for natural disasters, changes in the social relation to natural hazards are needed. This paper outlines the shifts necessary for a holistic sustainable hazard mitigation from a scientific perspective, It is argued that the concept of vulnerability is an adequate technique for disaster reduction strategies which permits socializing spatial-temporal characteristics and pixelising actual-objective parameters, A first approach is presented which is applied in northern Spain to assess susceptibility of given spatial unit to flood and landslide hazard. It is presumed that the constant assessment of vulnerability is more capable to seize the variable factors which are responsible for disaster losses than traditional strategies. Furthermore, the results provide a useful tool for decision-makers in disaster mitigation policy.

Construction of Flood Control Engineering and Countermeasures for Flood Disaster Mitigation in Taihu Basin

Abstract: Taihu Basin is one of the most developed region in China. Flood disaster was the main natural disaster, during the past decades the water conservancy situation and its function in flood control in the basin was analyzed in this paper. By summarizing the flood control experiences, the author puts forward some idea about flood control of water conservancy in new situations. Finally, the flood disaster mitigation goal and controlling countermeasures of Taihu Basin were given.

Catastrophes - Natural and Man-Made Disasters

Abstract: Natural disasters are a growing public health problem in the increasing number of events and the numbers of people affected. This chapter focuses on some of the background health issues behind this global trend as they apply to aid workers. Technological disasters differ in many important respects from natural disasters in their causes and health impacts, and their frequency is much lower as they are inherently preventable by engineers and government regulation. Avoiding technological disasters is more straightforward than mitigating natural hazards, but disaster workers should include both types of disaster in an all-hazards approach to planning and preparedness. Thus an earthquake may trigger the failure of a hazardous installation such as a nuclear reactor, or floodwaters may become contaminated with toxic materials. Man-made humanitarian emergencies from conflicts or political repression (complex disasters) may also be complicated by natural hazards, or responses to events such as floods in war zones can be inhibited by the threat of landmines.