376 research outputs found
Tsunami risk in the Aegean Sea and the role of systematic field, laboratory and documentary studies: the case of the 1956 tsunami
No full textCoastal flood vulnerability assessment with geomatic methods: Test sites of western Thailand, Sydney (Australia) and aeolian islands (south tyrrhenian sea, Italy)
No full textThe work undertaken in this PhD thesis is aimed at the development and testing of an innovative methodology for the assessment of the vulnerability of coastal areas to marine catastrophic inundation (tsunami). Different approaches are used at different spatial scales and are applied to three different study areas:
1. The entire western coast of Thailand
2. Two selected coastal suburbs of Sydney – Australia
3. The Aeolian Islands, in the South Tyrrhenian Sea – Italy
I have discussed each of these cases study in at least one scientific paper: one paper about the Thailand case study (Dall’Osso et al., in review-b), three papers about the Sydney applications (Dall’Osso et al., 2009a; Dall’Osso et al., 2009b; Dall’Osso and Dominey-Howes, in review) and one last paper about the work at the Aeolian Islands (Dall’Osso et al., in review-a).
These publications represent the core of the present PhD thesis. The main topics dealt with are outlined and discussed in a general introduction while the overall conclusions are outlined in the last section
High energy marine flood deposits on Astypalaea Island, Greece: possible evidence for the AD 1956 southern Aegean tsunami
No full textHigh energy marine sediments are described from Livadia and Stavros, Astypalaea Island, Greece, which are tentatively interpreted to be associated with the southern Aegean tsunami of 9th July AD 1956. At Livadia, the marine provenance of imbricated pebble deposits (referred to here as the Imbricated Clast Unit, or ICU) are inferred from two observations. Firstly, the similarity between the clasts comprising the ICU and contemporary beach sediments, and secondly the inclusion of foraminiferal tests within the sediment matrix. Derivation from the AD 1956 tsunami, rather than from a storm surge, is inferred from the uniqueness of the deposits within the sedimentary record, their distinct imbrication, and 137Cs and 210Pb dating of overlying and underlying sediments. The top of the ICU occurs at +2.00 metres above sea level (m a.s.l.) indicating a minimum flood level at this location. At Stavros, a gravel with rounded clasts incorporating marine mollusca is found on exposed cliff surfaces up to an elevation of +10.00 m a.s.l. These gravels are also interpreted as having been deposited by the AD 1956 tsunami. The elevation of the deposits and topographic observations indicate that previously reported run-up elevations were over-estimated. The results shown here represent the first systematic investigation into sedimentary deposits possibly associated with a modern tsunami within the Aegean Sea region of Greece
Assessing the vulnerability of buildings to tsunami in Sydney
No full textAustralia is vulnerable to the impacts of tsunamis and exposure along the SE coast of New South Wales is especially high. Significantly, this is the same area reported to have been affected by repeated large magnitude tsunamis during the Holocene. Efforts are under way to complete probabilistic risk assessments for the region but local government planners and emergency risk managers need information now about building vulnerability in order to develop appropriate risk management strategies. We use the newly revised PTVA-3 Model (Dall'Osso et al., 2009) to assess the relative vulnerability of buildings to damage from a "worst case tsunami" defined by our latest understanding of regional risk – something never before undertaken in Australia. We present selected results from an investigation of building vulnerability within the local government area of Manly – an iconic coastal area of Sydney. We show that a significant proportion of buildings (in particular, residential structures) are classified as having "High" and "Very High" Relative Vulnerability Index scores. Furthermore, other important buildings (e.g., schools, nursing homes and transport structures) are also vulnerable to damage. Our results have serious implications for immediate emergency risk management, longer-term land-use zoning and development, and building design and construction standards. Based on the work undertaken here, we recommend further detailed assessment of the vulnerability of coastal buildings in at risk areas, development of appropriate risk management strategies and a detailed program of community engagement to increase overall resilience
Validating a Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment Model (the PTVA Model) Using Field Data from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
No full textThe ''PTVAM'' tsunami vulnerability assessment model [Papathoma and Dominey-Howes: 2003, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 3, 733-744; Papathoma et al.: 2003, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 3, 377-389], like all models, requires validation. We use the results from posttsunami surveys in the Maldives following the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to 'evaluate' the appropriateness of the PTVAM attributes to understanding spatial and temporal vulnerability to tsunami damage and loss. We find that some of the PTVAM attributes are significantly important and others moderately important to understanding and assessing vulnerability. Some attributes require further investigation. Based upon the ground-truth data, we make several modifications to the model framework and propose a revised version of the PTVAM (PTVAM 2)
“Reducing the Loss": using high-resolution vulnerability assessments to enhance tsunami risk reduction strategies
No full textAustralia is at risk from tsunamis and recent work has identified the need for detailed models to assess the vulnerability of buildings to damage during tsunamis. Such models will be useful for underpinning the development of land-use zoning regulations, the identification of appropriate design standards and construction codes and in outlining community relevant tsunami disaster risk reduction strategies by local emergency managers. Such strategies might include the identification of coastal areas that require evacuation, the identification of specific buildings that might be the focus of search and rescue efforts, and the demarcation of ‘safe’ evacuation areas and structures within expected tsunami flood zones. Dall’Osso and Dominey-Howes use the results of a very high-resolution assessment of building vulnerability to tsunami (using the PTVA -3 Model) at Manly, Sydney to illustrate how vulnerability assessments could be used to enhance tsunami risk reduction
A revised (PTVA) model for assessing the vulnerability of buildings to tsunami damage
No full textThe Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment (PTVA) Model (Papathoma, 2003) was developed in the absence of robust, well-constructed and validated building fragility models for assessing the vulnerability of buildings to tsunami. It has proven to be a useful tool for providing assessments of building vulnerability. We present an enhanced version (PTVA-3) of the model that takes account of new understanding of the factors that influence building vulnerability and significantly, introduce the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for weighting the various attributes in order to limit concerns about subjective ranking of attributes in the original model. We successfully test PTVA-3 using building data from Maroubra, Sydney, Australia
Disaster declarations associated with bushfires, floods and storms in New South Wales, Australia between 2004 and 2014
No full textAustralia regularly experiences disasters triggered by natural hazards and New South Wales (NSW) the most populous State is no exception. To date, no publically available spatial and temporal analyses of disaster declarations triggered by hazards (specifically, bushfires, floods and storms) in NSW have been undertaken and no studies have explored the relationship between disaster occurrence and socio-economic disadvantage. We source, collate and analyse data about bushfire, flood and storm disaster declarations between 2004 and 2014. Floods resulted in the most frequent type of disaster declaration. The greatest number of disaster declarations occurred in 2012-2013. Whilst no significant Spearman's correlation exists between bushfire, flood and storm disaster declarations and the strength of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase, we observe that bushfire disaster declarations were much more common during El Niño, and flood disaster declarations were five times more common during La Niña phases. We identify a spatial cluster or 'hot spot' of disaster declarations in the northeast of the State that is also spatially coincident with 43% of the most socio-economically disadvantaged Local Government Areas in NSW. The results have implications for disaster risk management in the State. © The Author(s) 2016.Dominey-Howes is supported by ARC grant number DP130100877 Perkins is supported by ARC research grant number DE140100952
Something borrowed, something new: navigating the emerging field of queer disaster studies
No full textThis chapter presents a brief history of the research, policy and practice that have informed the emergence of gender and sexual diversity in disasters, climate change and humanitarian crises, or ‘queer disaster studies’ in short. It explores critiques of the dominance of western terminology and practices in the development of queer disaster studies; the emerging field’s debt to feminist and queer theorists and HIV/AIDS community activists; and the important role played by the queering of human geography. The chapter poses disaster justice as a framework that can draw together the culturally and geographically disparate work that has been conducted on queer disaster studies within and across different sectors and disciplines
Queering disasters, climate change and humanitarian crises: an introduction
No full textThe introduction provides a guide for navigating the edited collection. It outlines the book’s organisation, structure and key themes; the relationships between empirical studies and first-hand, personal accounts; and a summary of each chapter and vignette. It concludes with some reflections on how the collection might be used to further the development of queer-inclusive disaster research, policies, programmes and services
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