scholarly journals The March 2021 Thessaly earthquakes and their impact through the prism of a multi-hazard approach in disaster management

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Spyridon Mavroulis ◽  
Maria Mavrouli ◽  
Panayotis Carydis ◽  
Konstantinos Agorastos ◽  
Efthymis Lekkas
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Management ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Emergency Situation ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Important Lesson ◽  
Affected Area ◽  
Emergency Shelters ◽  
Epidemiological Characteristics ◽  
Post Disaster

In early March 2021, when Greece was struggling with the evolving third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with the highest numbers of daily cases and fatalities from its initiation, Thessaly was struck by a seismic sequence, which included the 3 March, Mw = 6.3 mainshock, its strongest Mw = 6.1 aftershock the following day and numerous large aftershocks. The mainshock caused extensive damage to houses and infrastructure, while the aftershock aggravated damage and caused widespread concern among residents. Based on post-event field surveys in the affected area, it is concluded that the old unreinforced houses with load-bearing masonry walls in the northeastern part of the Thessaly basin suffered the most, while the recent constructions remained intact. As a result, hundreds of homeless were in need of immediate temporary sheltering, which immediately mobilized the Civil Protection authorities to manage the emergency situation. This emergency had something unique, which made its management a challenge: the implementation of the earthquake emergency response actions was incompatible with the measures to limit the further spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the community during the evolving third pandemic wave. Many of the actions have been adapted to the unprecedented conditions through a prism of a multi-hazard approach to disaster management and their impact. Among others, more and different types of emergency shelters were used to prevent overcrowding, emergency supplies distribution processes were modified to prevent transmission through hands and surfaces, places for the identification and isolation of suspected COVID-19 cases were designated in emergency shelters and extensive and regular screening testing of the local population was conducted for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus. From the analysis of the daily reported COVID-19 cases in the earthquake-affected area during the pre- and post- disaster periods as well as from results of rapid testing during the post-disaster period, it was found that the viral load of the earthquake-affected villages was not increased, despite the difficult and unprecedented conditions. It can be suggested that the adaptation of the measures to the new conditions has worked beneficially to reduce the spread of the new virus among those affected and the involved staff. For this reason, this approach could be considered as good practice and important lesson learned, which can be applied to similar future compound emergencies in areas with similar geoenvironmental and epidemiological characteristics.

Lessons on COVID-19 pandemic and Earthquake Response: What we have learned from the October 30, 2020, Mw 6.9 Samos (Eastern Aegean, Greece) earthquake

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyridon Mavroulis ◽  
Maria Mavrouli ◽  
Thekla Thoma ◽  
Asimina Kourou ◽  
Maria Manousaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Affected Area ◽  
Emergency Shelters ◽  
Eastern Aegean ◽  
The Impact

<p>On October 30, 2020, an Mw=6.9 earthquake struck the eastern Aegean Sea. It was the largest earthquake in Europe and the deadliest worldwide in 2020, as it resulted in 119 fatalities (117 in Turkey, 2 in Greece) from partial or total building collapse. Moreover, it generated environmental effects and damage to the built environment in both countries. The primary earthquake environmental effects included permanent surface deformation and coseismic surface ruptures, while the secondary effects comprised tsunami, slope failures, liquefaction phenomena, hydrological anomalies and ground cracks.</p><p>Every time a strong earthquake strikes, disaster management plans for emergency response tested in drills are applied under real conditions and on large scale. Immediately after the 2020 Samos earthquake, Greek authorities launched the largest mobilization of resources for assisting the affected population since the initiation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece.</p><p>Public authorities from all administration levels, civil protection agencies as well as security and armed forces were mobilized. All emergency plans for protection of life, health and property of the affected population were applied according to the existing legislation framework. The immediate response comprised search and rescue operations, first-aid treatment and medical care, provision of emergency supplies, establishment of emergency shelters, building inspections and assessment of damage extent. Moreover, the Greek government announced immediate relief measures and financial assistance for reconstruction and repairs.</p><p>The local population and responders were exposed to geohazards including the earthquake, the subsequent tsunami and aftershocks among other effects and to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. The situation was more serious as there were many contradicting issues in the emergency response phase. Actions usually applied in the pre-pandemic period are in contradiction with the main measures for preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The novel coronavirus adds extra risk to these life-saving activities. Thus, these actions had to adapt to the newly introduced conditions and adopt provisional measures for mitigation and elimination of COVID-19 consequences.</p><p>This study focuses on the emergency response actions taken shortly after the earthquake amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They comprised establishment of the operational centres and emergency shelters in outdoor places, mandatory mask wearing indoors and outdoors at all times by all responders, immediate housing of homeless in hotels and touristic facilities in order to maintain social distancing, provision of protective equipment against COVID-19 transmission in responders and the affected population among others.</p><p>Based on the officially reported laboratory-confirmed daily COVID-19 cases in the earthquake-affected area during the pre- and post- disaster period, it is concluded that the impact of the natural hazards on the evolution of the pandemic in the affected area was negligible. The viral load was low and no increase of the infection rate was recorded.</p><p>From the aforementioned, it is concluded that the disaster management policy amid pandemic in Greece proved to be more efficient than thought with a well-planned and well-structured procedure for dealing not only with earthquakes amid pandemic, but also with other types of disasters induced by natural hazards. This approach could be used as a guide for similar compound emergencies worldwide.</p>

A study of IoT-based post-disaster management

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Kamruzzaman ◽  
Nurul I Sarkar ◽  
Jairo Gutierrez ◽  
Sayan Kumar Ray
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Management ◽  
Post Disaster

Legislation as Vulnerability Factor

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-89
Author(s):  
Jorge Gavidia ◽  
Annalisa Crivellari
Keyword(s):  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Central America ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Hurricane Mitch ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
The Many ◽  
Civil Defence ◽  
Interconnected Structure ◽  
Made In

A study conducted in Central America in 2003 shows that in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch noticeable progress was made in introducing new legislation for disaster management, understood as covering the whole cycle from prevention, preparedness and relief, to reconstruction. The new legislation includes civil defence or disaster management laws and regulations to improve their effectiveness in responding to the threat of natural disasters. A similar situation can be observed in other countries like Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The study looks into existing urban and municipal laws, regulations and planning guidelines to assess the extent to which they respond to vulnerability reduction criteria. This paper focuses on aspects of prevention and risk reduction. An attempt was made to look into the complementarities and gaps between the two sets of regulations for disaster management and for municipal/urban management. It is found that despite the many elements of good practice included in them, the links between these instruments are weak or absent on issues ranging from planning to the actual supervision of interventions on the built environment. Thus, the main elements of the edifice were there, but they did not constitute a solid, interconnected, structure, therefore, bound to fail under the loads imposed by rapid urbanisation, speculation, emergencies and weak governance structures. Institutions are often left to fend themselves in discharging their tasks. Without a coherent normative framework, and the capacity to apply it, their work is primarily driven by institutional initiative, leading to problems of underperformance, overlaps, gaps, and non-constructive competition. Thus, the institutional setup and normative framework become important factors in increasing vulnerability, as real as a building with the wrong foundations. The article reviews the mentioned aspects drawing from the experience in Central America, Cuba and Dominican Republic.

scholarly journals PUSAT PENANGGULANGAN BENCANA KABUPATEN SINTANG

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 413
Author(s):  
Gaudensius Waldi Fernando ◽  
Emilya Kalsum ◽  
Jawas Dwijo Putro
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Spatial Layout ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Complex Emergencies ◽  
Information Center ◽  
Integrated Concept ◽  
Post Disaster

Natural conditions as well as the diversity of population and culture in Indonesia cause the risk of natural disasters, social disasters and complex emergencies to arise. The implementation of emergency response is also often not supportive, the distribution of aid and services is not fast, uneven and difficult to monitor properly, so that the progress of the results of disaster emergency response activities is less objectively measurable. In Sintang Regency, in addition to natural disasters, social disasters also often occur, because the facilities are not standardized and accommodated so that services are not optimal. Judging from the existing needs, the Disaster Management Center is a facility that can assist the implementation of Disaster Emergency Response activities in Sintang Regency. The Disaster Management Center can accommodate disaster emergency response activities so that it has strategic command lines so that information confusion can be minimized so as to realize appropriate policies in dealing with disasters. The planned Disaster Management Center is a facility that functions to accommodate agencies related to pre- and post-disaster management, both as a place for disaster management and as an information center. The design method for this Disaster Management Center uses a comparison of literatures and performs data processing to describe the design process of the Sintang Regency Disaster Management Center. The mass of the building is divided into three parts separated by function and purpose. The approach to design applies an integrated concept, referring to a standardized and accommodating spatial layout.

scholarly journals Integration of the Urban Local Bodies for Disaster Mitigation in Aizawl City

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-81
Author(s):  
Malsawmi Pachuau
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Management ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Rise ◽  
The People ◽  
Post Disaster

Local government plays an integral part in the mechanism of Disaster Management in Mizoram. The local bodies are the direct representatives of the local community and the local community places their full trust in them. Post disaster measures such as mock drills, training of search and rescue teams, physical and economic relief and rehabilitation are not something new to us, yet the aspect of disaster mitigation is something which has not bred familiarity among the Mizos. The need for sensitization of the public on the importance of Disaster Mitigation is a necessity. The saying ‘Earthquakes do not kill people; buildings do’ is pertinent in urban areas. Urban areas are congested and more prone to disasters. High rise buildings, squatter settlements due to high densities and low availability of land has endangered not just the lives of the public but has also caused a massive disturbance of the ecological system. The paper covers certain Acts and Regulations of the Aizawl Municipal Corporation dealing with structural mitigation and the detection of illegal construction, unsafe buildings, and encroachments on municipal and public properties. At the local level, the councillors are involved in making, unmaking and carrying out these rules and regulations, with direct bearing on the local people. The paper also gives an account of the need of reimplementation to generate awareness, knowledge and education on Disaster Management to the people of Mizoram.

scholarly journals STATUS HAK ATAS TANAH PASCA BENCANA LIKUIFAKSI DAN RENCANA TATA RUANG WILAYAH DI KOTA PALU

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Nurhilma Lestari
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Provincial Government ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Affected Area ◽  
The People ◽  
Central Sulawesi ◽  
Post Disaster

Adapun hasil penelitian dan pembahasan sebagai berikut: 1). Masyarakat di kawasan yang terdampak likuifaksi (kelurahan petobo, kecamatan palu selatan, kota palu, provinsi sulawesi tengah) sesuai dengan pergub nomor 10 tahun 2019, bahwa masyarakat tidak dapat menuntut lagi tanahnya di kawasan terdampak likuifaksi. Sebab, sangat jelas dalam pergub nomor 10 tahun 2019 bahwa kawasan terdampak likuifaksi di kelurahan petobo termasuk dalam zona merah, yang dalam hal ini dengan dipindahkan masyarakat korban bencana likuifaksi ke lokasi lebih aman (relokasi). Maka dengan adanya relokasi tersebut, masyarakat tidak lagi dapat menuntut hak atas tanahnya di kawasan terdampak likuifaksi,2). Berdasarkan pergub nomor 10 tahun 2019,mengatur mengenai penataan ruang wilayah perlunya perubahan pemanfaatan ruang di beberapa lokasi terdampak bencana masif, maka menjadi penting penyusunan arahan pemanfaatan ruang baru yang dapat diterima oleh masyarakat. Disamping itu, di daerah-daerah yang tidak terdampak bencana, maka arahan pemanfaatan ruang lama akan mengalami perubahan minimal, atau bahkan tidak berubah sama sekali. Kesimpulan yang bisa diambil dari penelitian ini adalah Bahwa masyarakat di kawasan terdampak (Kelurahan Petobo, Kecamatan Palu Selatan, Kota Palu, Provinsi Sulawesi Tengah) sesuai dengan Pergub Nomor 10 Tahun 2019, bahwa masyarkat tidak dapat lagi menuntut tanahnya di kawasan terdampak. Sebab, sangat jelas didalam pergub Nomor 10 Tahun 2019  bahwa kawasan terdampak (Keluarahan Petobo) termasuk dalam Zona Merah, yang dalam hal ini dengan dipindahkannya masyarakat korban bencana dikawasan terdampak ke lokasi yang lebih aman (relokasi). Maka, dengan adanya relokasi tersebut, masyarakat tidak lagi dapat menuntut hak atas tanahnya dikawasan terdampak, dan Pemerintah Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Tengah telah mengeluarkan Peraturan Gubernur Sulawesi Tengah No. 10 Tahun 2019 Tentang Rencana Rehabilitasi dan Relokasi Pascabencana, yang mengatur pelaksanaan pembangunan rumah untuk relokasi korban likuifaksi yang memiliki hak atas tanah dan bangunan secara sah menurut hukum. Pembangunan tempat tinggal untuk relokasi disini prinsipnya adalah pemerataan dan adil antara luas tanah dan fisik rumah adalah samaKata Kunci: Tanah, Status Hukum, Tata Ruang, dan Bencana Alam. The results suggest the following: 1) the community in the areas affected by liquefaction is according to the governor regulation number 10 of 2019 in which the community can no longer claim their land in areas affected. It is clearly stated within it that Petobo Sub-district belongs to the red zone which means that the people affected were relocated to a safer place and thus are not able to claim the land in the affected area; 2) the governor regulation number 10 of 2019 regulates the regional spatial planning which needs change in terms of utilizing spaces in several areas affected by massive disasters. That is why it is necessary to have arrangements for the utilization of new spaces that are acceptable to the community. On the other hand, the unaffected areas would undergo either minimal or absent change. In conclusion, the people in Petobo, Palu, Central Sulawesi, based on the governor regulation number 10 of 2019, are no longer able to claim their lands as it is considered a Red Zone which only for relocating the victims of a disaster. The provincial government of Central Sulawesi has issued the 2019 Regulation of the Governor of Central Sulawesi number 10 regarding the planning of the post-disaster rehabilitation and relocation that focus on the implementation of houses construction for the victims of liquefaction who have legal rights to lands and buildings according to the law. The principal of this construction is equal and fair between the land area and the physical house.Keywords: land, legal status, spatial planning, and natural disaster.

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