Comparison of Two Watershed Models for Addressing Stakeholder Flood Mitigation Strategies: Case Study of Hurricane Alex in Monterrey, México

In the urban area, flooding becomes the most common disaster that has not been resolved until today. The utilization of river border area into housing and lack of absorption area becomes the trigger factor of urban flooding, as what is happening around Way Halim River on Seroja street. In this area, floods often happen during the rainy season, with the latest events recorded on January 21st, 2021. Analysis of flood intensities and discharges can be parameters for the decision-making of flood mitigation strategies. This study aims to analyze the flood discharges along Way Halim River, Seroja street by comparing the flood discharges resulting from three analysis methods of Synthetic Unit Hydrograph (SUH) including Gama I SUH, Nakayasu SUH, and Snyder SUH. Finally, suitable flood mitigation strategies were also proposed in this study based on the flood discharges and rain intensities. The results showed that Nakayasu SUH had the highest peak flood discharge than Snyder SUH and Gama I SUH. Based on the results of the investigation of land suitability; and analysis of rainfall intensities and flood discharges, the proposed flood mitigation in Seroja street is by installing biopore infiltration holes along Seroja street for storing water and reducing the risk of flooding in the area.

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SEISMIC RISK AND RESILIENCE ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES: CASE STUDY ON A BLACK CARBON PLANT

10.31219/osf.io/5aswh ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

George Karagiannakis

Keyword(s):

Seismic Risk ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Fragility Curves ◽

Human Life ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Industrial Plants ◽

Plant Equipment

This paper deals with state of the art risk and resilience calculations for industrial plants. Resilience is a top priority issue on the agenda of societies due to climate change and the all-time demand for human life safety and financial robustness. Industrial plants are highly complex systems containing a considerable number of equipment such as steel storage tanks, pipe rack-piping systems, and other installations. Loss Of Containment (LOC) scenarios triggered by past earthquakes due to failure on critical components were followed by severe repercussions on the community, long recovery times and great economic losses. Hence, facility planners and emergency managers should be aware of possible seismic damages and should have already established recovery plans to maximize the resilience and minimize the losses. Seismic risk assessment is the first step of resilience calculations, as it establishes possible damage scenarios. In order to have an accurate risk analysis, the plant equipment vulnerability must be assessed; this is made feasible either from fragility databases in the literature that refer to customized equipment or through numerical calculations. Two different approaches to fragility assessment will be discussed in this paper: (i) code-based Fragility Curves (FCs); and (ii) fragility curves based on numerical models. A carbon black process plant is used as a case study in order to display the influence of various fragility curve realizations taking their effects on risk and resilience calculations into account. Additionally, a new way of representing the total resilience of industrial installations is proposed. More precisely, all possible scenarios will be endowed with their weighted recovery curves (according to their probability of occurrence) and summed together. The result is a concise graph that can help stakeholders to identify critical plant equipment and make decisions on seismic mitigation strategies for plant safety and efficiency. Finally, possible mitigation strategies, like structural health monitoring and metamaterial-based seismic shields are addressed, in order to show how future developments may enhance plant resilience. The work presented hereafter represents a highly condensed application of the research done during the XP-RESILIENCE project, while more detailed information is available on the project website https://r.unitn.it/en/dicam/xp-resilience.

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A Conflict between Traditional Flood Measures and Maintaining River Ecosystems? A Case Study Based upon the River Lærdal, Norway

Water ◽

10.3390/w13141884 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 1884

Author(s):

Ana Juárez ◽

Knut Alfredsen ◽

Morten Stickler ◽

Ana Adeva-Bustos ◽

Rodrigo Suárez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing Data ◽

Freshwater Ecosystems ◽

River Channel ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Flood Events ◽

Protection Measures ◽

River Ecosystems ◽

Hydraulic Models

Floods are among the most damaging of natural disasters, and flood events are expected to increase in magnitude and frequency with the effects of climate change and changes in land use. As a consequence, much focus has been placed on the engineering of structural flood mitigation measures in rivers. Traditional flood protection measures, such as levees and dredging of the river channel, threaten floodplains and river ecosystems, but during the last decade, sustainable reconciliation of freshwater ecosystems has increased. However, we still find many areas where these traditional measures are proposed, and it is challenging to find tools for evaluation of different measures and quantification of the possible impacts. In this paper, we focus on the river Lærdal in Norway to (i) present the dilemma between traditional flood measures and maintaining river ecosystems and (ii) quantify the efficiency and impact of different solutions based on 2D hydraulic models, remote sensing data, economics, and landscape metrics. Our results show that flood measures may be in serious conflict with environmental protection and legislation to preserve biodiversity and key nature types.

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Numerical modelling of seepage analysis using SEEP/W: A case study for the Kerian River Flood Mitigation Project (Phase 3) in Bandar Baharu, Kedah

IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering ◽

10.1088/1757-899x/1101/1/012007 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1101 (1) ◽

pp. 012007

Author(s):

N F Mohd Nordin ◽

H Mohamad ◽

H Alarifi

Keyword(s):

Numerical Modelling ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Phase 3 ◽

Seepage Analysis ◽

Mitigation Project ◽

River Flood

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Investigation of multiple flood mitigation strategies for an urban catchment using semi-distributed hydrological modelling

Arabian Journal of Geosciences ◽

10.1007/s12517-021-07619-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (15) ◽

Author(s):

Elanchezhiyan Duraisekaran ◽

Tamilselvi Mohanraj ◽

Jeciliya Selva Kiruba Samuel ◽

Sudharsanan Rajagopalan ◽

Ravikumar Govindasamy

Keyword(s):

Hydrological Modelling ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Urban Catchment ◽

Distributed Hydrological Modelling

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The Potential for Transmission of Coronaviruses via Sports Equipment; A Cricket Case Study

International Journal of Sports Medicine ◽

10.1055/a-1500-4620 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rory England ◽

Nicholas Peirce ◽

Joseph Torresi ◽

Sean Mitchell ◽

Andy Harland

Keyword(s):

Viral Load ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Infected Person ◽

Review Of Literature ◽

Airborne Transmission ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Transmission Pathways ◽

Respiratory Droplets

AbstractA review of literature on the role of fomites in transmission of coronaviruses informed the development of a framework which was used to qualitatively analyse a cricket case study, where equipment is shared and passed around, and identify potential mitigation strategies. A range of pathways were identified that might in theory allow coronavirus transmission from an infected person to a non-infected person via communal or personal equipment fomites or both. Eighteen percent of potential fomite based interactions were found to be non-essential to play including all contact with another persons equipment. Six opportunities to interrupt the transmission pathway were identified, including the recommendation to screen participants for symptoms prior to play. Social distancing between participants and avoiding unnecessary surface contact provides two opportunities; firstly to avoid equipment exposure to infected respiratory droplets and secondly to avoid uninfected participants touching potential fomites. Hand sanitisation and equipment sanitisation provide two further opportunities by directly inactivating coronavirus. Preventing players from touching their mucosal membranes with their hands represents the sixth potential interruption. Whilst potential fomite transmission pathways were identified, evidence suggests that viral load will be substantially reduced during surface transfer. Mitigation strategies could further reduce potential fomites, suggesting that by comparison, direct airborne transmission presents the greater risk in cricket.

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Management of personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic in England and the state of New York: A comparative case study

Journal of Emergency Management ◽

10.5055/jem.0531 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 71-89

Author(s):

Amy Barber, BSc ◽

Annaëlle Vinzent, BS ◽

Imani Williams, BA

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Supply Chain ◽

Health Systems ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

New York State ◽

The United States ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Comparative Case Study ◽

Protective Equipment

Background: The COVID-19 crisis placed extraordinary demands on the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the beginning of 2020. These were coupled with shocks to the supply chain resulting from the disease. Many typically well-resourced health systems faced subsequent shortages of equipment and had to implement new strategies to manage their stocks. Stockpiles of protective equipment were held in both the United States and United Kingdom intended to prevent shortages. Method: Cross-comparative case study approach by applying Pettigrew and Whipp’s framework for change management. Setting: The health systems of England and New York state from January 2020 to the end of April 2020. Results: Both cases reacted slowly to their outbreaks and faced problems with supplying enough PPE to their health systems. Their stockpiles were not enough to prevent shortages, with many distribution problems resulting from inadequate governance mechanisms. No sustainable responses to supply disruptions were implemented during the study period in either case. Health systems planned interventions along each part of the supply chain from production and importing, to usage guidelines. Conclusion: Global supply chains are vulnerable to disruptions caused by international crises, and existing mitigation strategies have not been wholly successful. The existence of stockpiles is insufficient to preventing shortages of necessary equipment in clinical settings. Both the governance and quality of stockpiles, as well as distribution channels are important for preventing shortages. At the time of writing, it is not possible to judge the strength of strategies adopted in these cases.

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Guidance for Human Action Evaluations for External Flood Risk Assessment

Volume 4: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Coupled Codes; Decontamination and Decommissioning, Radiation Protection, Shielding, and Waste Management; Workforce Development, Nuclear Education and Public Acceptance; Mitigation Strategies for Beyond Design Basis Events; Risk Management ◽

10.1115/icone24-60451 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Raymond E. Schneider ◽

Srinivasa Visweswaran ◽

John Fluehr ◽

H. Alan Hackerott

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

Human Action ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Human Reliability Analysis ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Investment Protection ◽

Performance Shaping Factors ◽

Flooding Hazards

For many years external flooding hazards have been recognized as significant contributors to plant risk. However, it was not until the events at Fukushima that there was a concerted effort on the part of the utilities to reassess the plant external flood design basis, identify external flood vulnerabilities and take actions to address them. For many plants, resolution of low probability high consequence floods will likely be addressed by a combination of actions involving enhancements to flood protection and hazard mitigation strategies. Over time, as plants decide on which strategies to apply there is an expectation that the most effective way to develop and justify these strategies will involve probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) concepts. The PRA framework is well suited for performing a human reliability analysis (HRA). Within that framework, HRA evaluations focus on operator and plant staff actions taken in response to plant initiating events (e.g., loss of offsite power, etc.). For many external floods, advance warning of an impending external flood event provides the trigger for pre-emptive manual actions to potentially reconfigure the plant through temporary installation of flood barriers. Unlike the post-initiator actions which tend to be more narrowly focused, these pre-emptive actions are taken in a less controlled environment, may be ad hoc, and may potentially be in competition with site investment protection activities, site evacuation, etc. The purpose of this paper is to define the challenges in defining an approach for treating external flood actions, identifying external flood timelines, identifying the manual actions/organizational environment during external flooding scenarios and proposing an integrated strategy for quantifying those actions. The proposed quantification process is rooted in management science concepts for evaluating project reliability. The overall methodology identifies flood significant performance shaping factors, and identifies three (3) factors, namely time available for flood mitigation, proper access to plant site following flood and environmental factors, as having an overarching impact on the performance shaping factors affecting each of the flood mitigation tasks.

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The use of tabletop exercises in nuclear security education

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education ◽

10.1108/jarhe-11-2017-0146 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 344-356

Author(s):

Michael Shattan ◽

Adam Seybert ◽

Robert Boone Gilbreath ◽

Stephen Dahunsi ◽

Howard L. Hall

Keyword(s):

Homeland Security ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Content Type ◽

Outbreak Management ◽

Security Education ◽

Nuclear Security ◽

Course Material ◽

Direct Student ◽

Effective Use

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of tabletop exercises (TTXs) in graduate nuclear security education, their effectiveness and their relationship to traditional forms of classroom instruction. The paper highlights both the benefits and challenges of TTX implementation—the former including higher student motivation and material retention, and the latter including motivational shifts toward “winning” and possible student exclusionary behavior. Design/methodology/approach Survey results from 49 former students in a US university were collected electronically and combined with anecdotal evidence from student, facilitator and teaching assistant interviews following five iterations of a specifically designed, semester-long, TTX case study. The case study focused on securing a fictional nuclear facility. Findings Students found the TTX more memorable and retained more course material when asked to compare the TTX’s effectiveness to long-term course projects in other courses. Their in-class motivations tended to shift from traditional classroom motivations toward “winning,” and “not letting down their classmates.” In some iterations, students also observed classmates becoming more tempted to cheat or otherwise violate academic ethics. Mitigation strategies to prevent such temptations (e.g. removing direct student vs student TTX structures) were found to be effective. Originality/value This is the first report on the effective use of a semester-long TTX in a graduate nuclear security classroom. The flexibility of this instructional tool demonstrates its applicability to other classroom subjects including homeland security, emergency management, disease outbreak management and public policy among others.

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NYC Transit Flood Resiliency: Case Studies of Recently Completed Mitigation Strategies

IABSE Congress, New York, New York 2019: The Evolving Metropolis ◽

10.2749/newyork.2019.2616 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy Savery

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Case Studies ◽

Hurricane Sandy ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Storm Event ◽

Design Flood ◽

Transit Systems ◽

Flood Depth ◽

Deployment Time

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) suffered significant damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and hired Arup to design flood mitigation strategies for various system vulnerabilities.Arup developed innovative permanent solutions to mitigate the various system vulnerabilities identified, including working with specialty fabricators to develop products for these specific purposes in order to provide the required protection of up to 14 feet of flood depth.These efforts have resulted in innovate, new, purpose driven methods of flood mitigation that were not previously available on the market. These new systems result in dramatically reduced deployment time ahead of a storm event as well as a significant increase in the performance of the mitigation including reduced leakage rates.This paper reviews various system vulnerabilities present in transit systems and presents case studies for the various mitigation strategies that were developed.

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