Die Schutzfunktion in Windwurfflächen

Protection against natural hazards on windthrow areas We give an overview on natural hazard processes on windthrow areas during the first 20 years after the winterstorm Vivian (1990). This overview is based on 1) repeated pulling experiments and a long-term analysis of stem movements in the uncleared winthrow area Cavorgia/Disentis, 2) the assessment of avalanche protection function of 26 windthrow areas, and on (3) StorMe cadastral data of natural hazard events on windthrow areas. The effective heights and stem resistance of lying logs have been reduced to ca. 40% of the original values on average in the uncleared winthrow area Cavorgia/ Disentis. In particular on very steep (>45°) and rocky slopes, some of the stems have moved several meters. Most of the 26 investigated windthrow areas did not fulfill any of the considered criteria to effectively protect against avalanches. Nevertheless, very few avalanches and rockfall events were observed on Vivian areas. The relatively large number of shallow landslides in the years after the windthrow could, however, be a sign of a certain time with increased landslide susceptibility. Our results and observations suggest that the increased terrain roughness after Vivian largely compensated for the decreased protection effects against avalanche and rockfall of former stands structures during the first years after the storm. After 20 years, the terrain roughness effect has strongly decreased and reliable protection against mass movements depends in most cases on a sufficiently advanced natural forest regeneration or on additional post-windthrow plantations. It is important to consider specific conditions on the level of single slopes when planning measures against natural hazards in windthrow areas.

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Long-Term Consequences of Natural Disasters

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.013.72 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Ilan Noy ◽

William duPont

Keyword(s):

Natural Disasters ◽

Natural Hazards ◽

San Francisco ◽

Economic Activity ◽

Natural Hazard ◽

Local Economy ◽

Forthcoming Article ◽

Poor Countries ◽

Country Level

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. Please check back later for the full article. What are the long-term economic and demographic impacts of disasters? Do disasters caused by natural hazards lead to long-term declines in economic activity, or do they stimulate the local economy because of the added investment and the upgrading of infrastructure? What are the main facets of the economy that are impacted in the long term—population, incomes, employment, other parameters, or none at all? Are the long-term impacts of disasters caused by natural hazards different from those caused by man-made shocks, such as civil wars or terrorist attacks? The type and severity of the natural hazard surely have an effect on the kinds of dynamics experienced after a disaster, but so do the levels of exposure of people and wealth (in the form of man-made infrastructure), and the social and economic vulnerabilities that characterize the affected area. Additionally, one needs to differentiate, when examining long-term impacts, between direct and indirect damage, and whether this distinction assists us in explaining different trajectories. The role of policy in shaping long-term outcomes is potentially very important. While it is difficult to claim significant agreement on any one topic, some intriguing insights have been emerging in recent research. To discuss the long-term economic impact of natural disasters, one must first define impact. A common way to determine this impact is to compare the economy post-disaster to its state prior to the disaster. Some argue that an economy has recovered when it returns to pre-disaster levels. This approach can be misleading as the evidence suggests that, in some cases, economies that were severely impacted by disasters may experience a brief return to pre-disaster levels, occasioned by the boom in reconstruction spending, but then decline back to experience long-term decline associated with the disaster event itself or the fear it has created of future events. It is clear from the above example that the appropriate comparison is to a counterfactual scenario without event. Of course, even more challenging is to identify, or predict, what would have happened had the disaster not occurred. Not surprisingly, the ways in which this counterfactual, disaster-free state is identified may determine the conclusions reached. A minority of observers argue that it is common to see economies and communities reconstructed to a better state than they were pre-disaster (a “build-back-better” scenario), and others conclude that disasters occasioned by natural hazards are benign in the long term, at least at a large enough scale (potentially at the country level). On the other hand, very poor countries, very small countries, or regional economies within countries can all experience significant and very prolonged declines in economic activity in the aftermath of catastrophic natural hazard events. These adverse developments can be experienced as long-term declines in populations (e.g., New Orleans, post-2005), long-term declines in incomes and employment (e.g., Kobe, post-1995), very long-term declines in asset prices (the Dust-Bowl midwestern United States, post-1930s), or shifts in the sectors of economic activity (San Francisco, post-1906).

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Resilience of Railway Transport to Four Types of Natural Hazards: An Analysis of Daily Train Volumes

Infrastructures ◽

10.3390/infrastructures6120174 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (12) ◽

pp. 174

Author(s):

Vigile Marie Fabella ◽

Sonja Szymczak

Keyword(s):

Natural Hazards ◽

Natural Hazard ◽

Negative Binomial ◽

Mass Movements ◽

Reverse Causality ◽

Railway Network ◽

Railway Traffic ◽

Railway Infrastructure ◽

Data Regression ◽

Traffic Volumes

A crucial step in measuring the resilience of railway infrastructure is to quantify the extent of its vulnerability to natural hazards. In this paper, we analyze the vulnerability of the German railway network to four types of natural hazards that regularly cause disruptions in German rail operations: floods, mass movements, slope fires, and tree falls. Using daily train traffic data matched with various data on disruptive events, we quantify the extent to which these four types of natural hazard reduce daily train traffic volumes. With a negative binomial count data regression, we find evidence that the track segments of the German railway network are most vulnerable to floods, followed by mass movements and tree-fall events. On average, floods reduce traffic on track segments by 19% of the average daily train traffic, mass movements by 16%, and tree fall by 4%. Moreover, when more than one type of natural hazard affects the track segment on the same day, train traffic on that segment falls by 34% of the average train traffic. Slope fires have an ambiguous and nonrobust effect on train traffic due to the reverse causality due to its triggering factors. This is the first study that attempts to rank different natural hazards according to their impact on railway traffic. The results have implications for the selection of resilience strategy and can help prioritize policy measures.

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Natural hazard risks in Central Africa: a transdisciplinary approach towards disaster risk reduction

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15809 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Caroline Michellier ◽

Olivier Dewitte ◽

François Kervyn

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

Natural Hazards ◽

Natural Hazard ◽

Central Africa ◽

Disaster Risk ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Civil Protection ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact

Natural hazards have significant impact on society (people, assets, services, livelihoods and economic growth). Over the past decades, natural hazard disaster risks have increased globally. Due to high population densities, frequently on the rise and combined with high societal vulnerability, natural hazard disasters disproportionately hit regions of the Global south. In addition, these regions are environments where natural hazard and disaster risks are under-researched, and where the population remains under-informed. This is particularly the case of Sub-Saharan Africa: multiple challenges, such as economic development, population growth, environmental issues, and climate change associated to natural disasters risk, are burdened by scientific data scarcity associated with the lack of widely disseminated knowledge to the public. This has a significant negative impact on development.To cope such a context, the Royal Museum for Central Africa works in partnership with 10 Central African institutions. In DRC, this partnership involves the Institut G&#233;ographique du Congo (Kinshasa and Goma), the Goma Volcano Observatory, the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles Lwiro, the Universit&#233; Officielle de Bukavu, the Universit&#233; de Goma and the Civil Protection (North and South Kivu); in Burundi, with the Universit&#233; du Burundi; and, in Uganda, with the Mbarara University of Science and Technology.The overall long-term objective of the partnership is to contribute to mitigating natural hazards and associated risks in Central Africa. More specifically, it aims to develop knowledge, expertise, awareness and support for local, national and regional initiatives by following three specific objectives: 1/ academic training of PhD and master students, in order to strengthen the local scientific knowledge regarding risk understanding and assessment, in support to local universities, 2/ hazard and disaster data collection through the development of two citizen scientists networks in collaboration with the Civil Protection in charge of disaster risk prevention and management, to promote long term data collection, storage and analysis, 3/ improving awareness and risk preparedness with the use of a natural disaster risk awareness-raising board game in secondary schools and the implementation of two local geohazards information centres, opened for the general public, in collaboration both with disaster risk managers and scientists of the region.To summarise, the RMCA&#8217;s partnership aims to target a wide range of stakeholders concerned by natural hazard risks and disasters, from academic or research groups to citizens and policy makers, in the concern of enhancing disaster risk communication, and contribute to the development of risk culture. The impact of the tools implemented will be analysed with a view to contributing not only to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Action, but also to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Orangutan behavior in Kutai National Park after drought and fire damage: Adjustments to short- and long-term natural forest regeneration

American Journal of Primatology ◽

10.1002/ajp.22480 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 77 (12) ◽

pp. 1276-1289 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Anne E. Russon ◽

Purwo Kuncoro ◽

Agnes Ferisa

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Forest Regeneration ◽

Natural Forest ◽

Fire Damage ◽

Short And Long Term ◽

Natural Forest Regeneration

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National Hazards Vulnerability and the Remediation, Restoration and Revitalization of Contaminated Sites—2. RCRA Sites

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020965 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 965

Author(s):

Kevin Summers ◽

Andrea Lamper ◽

Kyle Buck

Keyword(s):

Natural Hazards ◽

Environmental Protection Agency ◽

Natural Hazard ◽

Hazardous Materials ◽

Contaminated Sites ◽

Protection Agency ◽

Community Revitalization ◽

Toxic Materials ◽

Large Populations

Natural hazards can be powerful mechanisms that impact the restoration of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) contaminated sites and the community revitalization associated with these sites. Release of hazardous materials following a natural hazard can impact communities associated with these sites by causing the release of hazardous or toxic materials. These releases can inhibit the restoration of the sites, thus altering the long-term sustainable community revitalization. Hazard-related contaminant releases in areas characterized by large populations can create problems equal to those posed by the original site clean-up. Similarly, natural hazards can enhance the probability of future issues associated with the renovated sites. This manuscript addresses the co-occurrence of 12 natural hazards (singly and in combination) at individual RCRA sites. The co-occurrence was determined by the co-location of exposure likelihoods determined from the Cumulative Resilience Screening Index (CRSI) and the site locations for RCRA facilities provided by Environmental Protection Agency. Results showed that several natural hazards were likely to occur at RCRA facilities and these occurrences should be included in management and policy evaluations of these sites.

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