A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011)
After several tsunami events with disastrous consequences around the world, coastal countries have realized the need to be prepared to minimize human mortality and damage to coastal infrastructures, livelihoods and resources. The international scientific community is striving to develop and validate...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2015-07-01
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| Series: | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/15/1493/2015/nhess-15-1493-2015.pdf |
| _version_ | 1811279478700113920 |
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| author | P. González-Riancho B. Aliaga S. Hettiarachchi M. González R. Medina |
| author_facet | P. González-Riancho B. Aliaga S. Hettiarachchi M. González R. Medina |
| author_sort | P. González-Riancho |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | After several tsunami events with disastrous consequences around the world,
coastal countries have realized the need to be prepared to minimize human
mortality and damage to coastal infrastructures, livelihoods and resources.
The international scientific community is striving to develop and validate
methodologies for tsunami hazard and vulnerability and risk assessments. The
vulnerability of coastal communities is usually assessed through the
definition of sets of indicators based on previous literature and/or
post-tsunami reports, as well as on the available data for the study site.
The aim of this work is to validate, in light of past tsunami events, the
indicators currently proposed by the scientific community to measure human
vulnerability, to improve their definition and selection as well as to
analyse their validity for different country development profiles. The
events analysed are the 2011 Great Tohoku tsunami, the 2010 Chilean tsunami,
the 2009 Samoan tsunami and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The results
obtained highlight the need for considering both permanent and temporal
human exposure, the former requiring some hazard numerical modelling, while
the latter is related to site-specific livelihoods, cultural traditions and
gender roles. The most vulnerable age groups are the elderly and
children, the former having much higher mortality rates. Female mortality is
not always higher than male mortality and not always related to dependency issues.
Higher numbers of disabled people do not always translate into higher
numbers of victims. Besides, it is clear that mortality is not only related
to the characteristics of the population but also of the buildings. A high
correlation has been found between the affected buildings and the number of
victims, being very high for completely damaged buildings. Distance to the
sea, building materials and expected water depths are important determining
factors regarding the type of damage to buildings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:55:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-72faf7d2266e42888ba581cc2be3b64d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1561-8633 1684-9981 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:55:20Z |
| publishDate | 2015-07-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-72faf7d2266e42888ba581cc2be3b64d2022-12-22T03:09:40ZengCopernicus PublicationsNatural Hazards and Earth System Sciences1561-86331684-99812015-07-011571493151410.5194/nhess-15-1493-2015A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011)P. González-Riancho0B. Aliaga1S. Hettiarachchi2M. González3R. Medina4Environmental Hydraulics Institute "IH Cantabria", Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres no 15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, SpainIntergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75732 Paris CEDEX 07, FranceDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 10 Simon Abeywickrama Avenue, Mount Lavinia, 10370, Sri LankaEnvironmental Hydraulics Institute "IH Cantabria", Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres no 15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, SpainEnvironmental Hydraulics Institute "IH Cantabria", Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres no 15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, SpainAfter several tsunami events with disastrous consequences around the world, coastal countries have realized the need to be prepared to minimize human mortality and damage to coastal infrastructures, livelihoods and resources. The international scientific community is striving to develop and validate methodologies for tsunami hazard and vulnerability and risk assessments. The vulnerability of coastal communities is usually assessed through the definition of sets of indicators based on previous literature and/or post-tsunami reports, as well as on the available data for the study site. The aim of this work is to validate, in light of past tsunami events, the indicators currently proposed by the scientific community to measure human vulnerability, to improve their definition and selection as well as to analyse their validity for different country development profiles. The events analysed are the 2011 Great Tohoku tsunami, the 2010 Chilean tsunami, the 2009 Samoan tsunami and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The results obtained highlight the need for considering both permanent and temporal human exposure, the former requiring some hazard numerical modelling, while the latter is related to site-specific livelihoods, cultural traditions and gender roles. The most vulnerable age groups are the elderly and children, the former having much higher mortality rates. Female mortality is not always higher than male mortality and not always related to dependency issues. Higher numbers of disabled people do not always translate into higher numbers of victims. Besides, it is clear that mortality is not only related to the characteristics of the population but also of the buildings. A high correlation has been found between the affected buildings and the number of victims, being very high for completely damaged buildings. Distance to the sea, building materials and expected water depths are important determining factors regarding the type of damage to buildings.http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/15/1493/2015/nhess-15-1493-2015.pdf |
| spellingShingle | P. González-Riancho B. Aliaga S. Hettiarachchi M. González R. Medina A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011) Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| title | A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011) |
| title_full | A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011) |
| title_fullStr | A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011) |
| title_full_unstemmed | A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011) |
| title_short | A contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators: conclusions from tsunami impacts in Sri Lanka and Thailand (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011) |
| title_sort | contribution to the selection of tsunami human vulnerability indicators conclusions from tsunami impacts in sri lanka and thailand 2004 samoa 2009 chile 2010 and japan 2011 |
| url | http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/15/1493/2015/nhess-15-1493-2015.pdf |
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