Multi-hazard mitigation challenges during the Covid-19 crisis? Evidence from the tropical regions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrajit Pal ◽  
Parameshwar Udmale ◽  
Sylvia Szabo ◽  
Malay Pramanik ◽  
Satya Venkata Sai Aditya Bharawaz Ganni
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Monsoon Season ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
Meteorological Drought ◽  
World Health ◽  
Flood Hazards ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Floods And Droughts ◽  
Meteorological Hazards ◽  
Coastal Floods

<p>Across the world, health and disaster managers face the challenge of responding to natural hazards such as cyclones, floods, and droughts while minimizing the impacts of Covid-19. The tropical cyclones and floods affect vulnerable communities and result in losses of life and damages. The drought situations can weaken the agricultural economy and local livelihoods. How these impacts could be amplified by the Covid-19, mainly during the monsoon season, is of great importance for informed-planning. The present study aims to assess exposure to hydro-meteorological hazards (tropical cyclones, floods, and droughts) in terms of the number of people affected, economic activities exposed, and how these hazards superimposed over the Covid-19 pandemic could impact the different phases of disaster risk management cycle. The study focuses on three deltas, namely, Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta spanning over India and Bangladesh, and Red River (RR) and Mekong River (MK) deltas in Vietnam.</p><p>Present research found that the GBM delta suffers from frequent cyclones and floods and less with coastal floods and droughts, whereas the MK delta suffers from riverine and coastal floods and droughts. The RR delta faces frequent tropical cyclones, riverine and coastal floods, and droughts. Populations living in Red delta (100%) exposed more to tropical cyclone as compared to GBM (2.22%) and the Mekong delta (0%) with 50-year return period (RP). Similarly, about 36.46 (0.28), 83.24 (47.23), and 72.76 (33.49) % population of the GBM, RR, and MK deltas are exposed to riverine (coastal) flood hazards with 10-year RP, respectively. During May-Aug 2020, a maximum of 0.76, 100, and 33.49 % population in a month was exposed to meteorological drought (SPI3 below -1) in the GBM, RR, and MK deltas, respectively.</p><p>The results include probabilistic exposure of urban area, cropland, livestock, and GDP to major hydro-meteorological hazards on a similar line. In the second part, the study explores the number of Covid-19 cases reported at the administrative level 2 and draws qualitative inferences on how tackling multi-hazards in the deltas could have become more challenging during the ongoing pandemic and vice versa.  The study recommends that the pandemic has resulted in an urgent need to incorporate health emergency disasters while designing hydro-meteorological disaster management plans.</p>

Suspended sediment dynamics during the inter-monsoon season in the subaqueous Mekong Delta and adjacent shelf, southern Vietnam

2014 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 509-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Unverricht ◽  
Thanh Cong Nguyen ◽  
Christoph Heinrich ◽  
Witold Szczuciński ◽  
Niko Lahajnar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suspended Sediment ◽  
Monsoon Season ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
Sediment Dynamics ◽  
Southern Vietnam

scholarly journals Hypocalcemia is associated with disease severity in patients with dengue

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (09) ◽  
pp. 1205-1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godwin R Constantine ◽  
Senaka Rajapakse ◽  
Priyanga Ranasinghe ◽  
Balasundaram Parththipan ◽  
Ananda Wijewickrama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Hemorrhagic Fever ◽  
Prognostic Indicator ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
World Health ◽  
Free Calcium ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Probable Case ◽  
Significant Difference

Introduction: Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical regions. Serum free calcium (Ca2+) is known to be important in cardiac and circulatory function. We evaluated association between serum Ca2+ level and severity of dengue. Methodology:A cross-sectional study was carried out at a tertiary care private hospital in Sri Lanka. A probable case of dengue was diagnosed and classified according to World Health Organization criteria and confirmed by either IgM antibody, PCR, or NS1 antigen detection. Socio-demographic details were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Results: The sample size was 135. The mean age was 26.1 years, and the majority were males (n = 80, 59.3%). DHF was diagnosed in 71 patients (52.6%). Mean serum Ca2+ level of the study population was 1.05 mmol/L (range 0.77–1.24). Mean serum Ca2+ was significantly higher in patients with dengue fever (DF) (1.09 mmol/L) than in those with DHF (1.02 mmol/L) (p < 0.05). A significant difference was observed between mean serum calcium levels of DHF I and DHF II. Prevalence of hypocalcemia in DHF and DF patients was 86.9% (n = 60) and 29.7% (n = 11), respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Serum Ca2+ levels significantly correlated with dengue severity. Serum Ca2+ levels were significantly lower and hypocalcemia was more prevalent in patients with DHF than in patients with DF. Further studies are required to determine whether hypocalcemia can be utilized as a prognostic indicator and to evaluate effectiveness of calcium therapy in prevention of dengue complications.

scholarly journals ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES REGARDING DENGUE FEVER AMONG ADULT POPULATION OF DISTRICT DIR LOWER, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-74
Author(s):  
Aminullah ◽  
Soaib Ali Hassan ◽  
Ashfaq Ahmed Khawaja Khail ◽  
Abdul Waris ◽  
Gul Alam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Dengue Fever ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Hemorrhagic Fever ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Viral Pathogen ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Preventive Practices

Background: Dengue is a major public-health concern throughout globe especially tropical and sub-tropical regions. Dengue fever is transmitted by bite of female mosquito caused by human viral pathogen that belongs to the genus Flavivirus of the family Flaviviridae. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 50-100 million dengue infections occur each year and that almost half the world's population lives in countries where dengue is endemic. The first confirmed dengue hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Pakistan occurred in 1994. Since then, epidemics of dengue fever have been reported in the region with increasing frequency and expanding geographic distribution.Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitudes and preventive practices regarding dengue fever among adult population.Methods: This study was a Cross sectional descriptive survey conducted among adult population in Union council Ouch and Chakdarah district Dir Lower, KPK province Pakistan. The study was collected in the months of October to December 2015. Sample size was calculated through sample size formula calculation and total of 419 subjects including male and females were interviewed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire selected through simple random sampling technique.Results: Majority of study population were males (79.3%) and living in houses made of bricks (68.3%). Majority of population was unaware regarding dengue fever transmission, its sign and symptoms and treatment (58.9%). Respondents' main source of information was TV and radio. The study participants consider dengue as a fatal disease and the preventive practices from mosquito bite were recorded as, full clothing (24.4%) followed by use of repellents (10%). Around half of the respondents were using bed net for dengue prevention in which 36% got it from various NGOs working in the district.Conclusion: There is lack of knowledge about dengue fever among the communities. Preventive practices can be improved by increasing knowledge and its translation into sustainable practices.

scholarly journals Topographical features of rainfall-triggered landslides in Mon State, Myanmar, August 2019: spatial distribution heterogeneity and uncommon large relative heights

Landslides ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suman Panday ◽  
Jia-Jyun Dong
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Monsoon Season ◽  
Slope Angle ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Landslide Volume ◽  
Long Run

AbstractContinuous 5-day (August 4–9, 2019) torrential rainfall in the monsoon season triggered more than 90 landslides on northwest-southeast extended mountain range of Mon State, Myanmar. In this study, remote sensing images, DEM, and limited fieldworks were used to create the landslide inventory. The topography features of these landslides are analyzed via ArcGIS. The largest one occurred on 9 August 2019 and caused 75 deaths and 27 buildings were damaged. This landslide occurred on gentle topography (slope angle, 23°) with long run-out, in which the angle of reach was relatively low (10°). The volume was 111,878 m3 was mainly composed of weathered granite and red soil and the sliding depth was approximately 7.5 m. Topographic characteristics including the relative slope height, angle of reach, and slope angle of source area of 35 landslides with areas > 4000 m2 were analyzed. The spatial distribution characteristics and topographic features of the 35 landslides below are distinguished: (1) the concentration of most of landslides on southwest-facing slopes showing the heterogeneous spatial distribution of landslide; (2) an uncommon landslide distribution in which more than half of landslide originates from upper slope; (3) the range of the angle of the source area (17°–38°) compatible with the internal friction angle of soils in tropical regions (17°–33°); and (4) the tangent of the angle of reach is generally smaller than 0.5 (angle of reach < 27°) shows a relative high mobility and the relation between landslide mobility and the slope angle of the landslide source area is similar to the one of earthquake-triggered landslides, even though the triggering mechanism, landslide type, and landslide volume are dramatically different.

Giardia infections

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Andrew Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Transmitted Disease ◽  
Failure To Thrive ◽  
Protozoan Parasite ◽  
Diarrhoeal Disease ◽  
World Health ◽  
Intestinal Protozoan ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Worldwide Distribution ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Antony Van Leeuwenhoek

Giardia is a ubiquitous intestinal protozoan parasite of vertebrates and the most common intestinal pathogen of humans and domestic animals with a worldwide distribution including both temperate and tropical regions.Giardia was first observed in 1681 by Antony van Leeuwenhoek in his own faeces (Dobell 1920), and the organism has intrigued biologists and clinicians ever since. However, the first detailed description of the parasite was not given until two centuries later by Lambl (1859). Koch’s postulation was proven by Rendtorff in 1954 when he successfully transmitted symptomatic Giardia infection to human volunteers following orally administered cysts. The first symptoms of clinical giardiasis were reported in the early 1920s, although the significance of Giardia as a cause of diarrhoeal disease was controversial for many years (see Farthing 1994; Cox 1998), and it is only recently that the significance of Giardia as a cause of chronic disease in children and its association with failure to thrive, wasting and malabsorption syndromes has been fully realised (reviewed in Farthing 1994; Hall 1994; Gracey 1994; Rabbani and Islam 1994; Hesham et al. 2005; Savioli et al. 2006; Thompson 2008).The question of Giardia ’s role as a source of zoonotically transmitted disease again has been controversial. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that Giardia should be considered as a zoonotic agent in 1979 (Anon. 1979). Since that time, increasing circumstantial epidemiological evidence from waterborne outbreaks, the results of some cross-infection experiments and molecular characterization studies of Giardia isolates from humans and other animals has led most authorities to conclude that Giardia should be considered a zoonotic parasite (Acha and Szyfres 2003; Savioli et al. 2006; and reviewed in Thompson 2004). However, as discussed below, the frequency of zoonotic transmission is uncertain.

scholarly journals On the flood peak distributions over China

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 5133-5149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Yang ◽  
Lachun Wang ◽  
Xiang Li ◽  
Jie Gao
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Flood Hazards ◽  
Flood Peak ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Flood Peaks ◽  
Landfalling Tropical Cyclones

Abstract. Here we for the first time present a nationwide characterization of flood hazards across China. Our analysis is based on an exceptional dataset of 1120 stream gauging stations with continuous records of annual flood peaks for at least 50 years across the entire country. Our results are organized by centering on various aspects of flood peak distributions, including temporal changes in flood series and their spatial variations, the statistical distribution of extreme values, and the properties of storms that lead to annual flood peaks. These aspects altogether contribute to an improved understanding of flood hydrology under a changing environment over China and promote advances in flood science at the global scale. Historical changes in annual flood peaks demonstrate frequent abrupt changes rather than slowly varying trends. The dominance of decreasing annual flood peak magnitudes indicates a weakening tendency of flood hazards over China in recent decades. We model the upper tails of flood peaks based on the generalized extreme value (GEV) distributions. The GEV shape parameter is weakly dependent on drainage area, but it shows spatial splits tied to rainfall climatology between northern and southern China. Landfalling tropical cyclones play an important role in characterizing the upper-tail properties of flood peak distributions especially in northern China and southeastern coast, while the upper tails of flood peaks are dominated by extreme monsoon rainfall in southern China. Severe flood hazards associated with landfalling tropical cyclones are characterized by complex interactions of storm circulations with synoptic environments (i.e., mid-latitude baroclinic disturbances) and regional topography.

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