Reducing Vehicle Submersions and Consequent Fatalities on Highway I-75 in Florida (Alligator Alley): Effectiveness of a Cable Safety Barrier System

Objective: We evaluated the effectiveness of a Cable Safety Barrier (CSB) system in preventing Run-Off-Road (ROR) Vehicle Immersions (VIs) and fatalities in canals along the I-75 freeway (Alligator Alley) in Collier County, Florida. The CSB system, which runs along both sides of the 80-km stretch of freeway and was installed between 2003 and 2004. Methods: Data from the Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) were used to compare annual VIs and VI fatalities between pre-installation of the CSB system (1995-2002) to post-installation (2005-2012). As well, post-installation data from the Florida Department of Transport (FDOT) (2007-2011) and police reports were reviewed to determine the number of, and manner in which, vehicles were either contained by, or crossed, the CSB by either penetrating or overriding the barriers. Results: Pre- to post-installation, total accidents increased from 81.4/y to 106.2/y, accidents resulting in VIs decreased from 13.8% to 2.4%, and accidents resulting in VI fatalities decreased from 3.4% to 0.4% (FDOT). Fatal vehicle immersions decreased from 2.4/y to 0.9/y (P<0.01) and vehicle immersion fatalities decreased from 3.3/y to 1.4/y (P<0.05) (FARS). Post-installation, 531 accidents occurred with 110 ROR vehicles travelling towards the canals; 91 vehicles contacted the CSB with only 14 vehicles (15.4%) penetrating the barrier, and 7 (7.7%) overriding the barrier (FDOT). Conclusion: The CSB system along I-75 in Collier County dramatically decreased ROR vehicles from reaching the parallel canals, and consequent vehicle immersion fatalities. Results support the installation of lateral CSB systems on other high-risk roadways to reduce ROR crashes into water, or with other secondary hazards.

A Study of the Hazard Level and Vulnerability of the Society Against Debris Flow of Merapi in the Putih River Watershed, Indonesia

Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia with a relatively fast period of around 2-7 years. The impact of hazards arising from a fire eruption, such as primary hazards, namely hazards that occur directly, secondary hazards, namely hazards that occur indirectly or take place after an eruption, tertiary hazards, namely environmental damage around the volcano. This study aims to determine the value of the hazard level and vulnerability to debris flow in the Putih River watershed. The research method used in this study is to use the scoring and weighting method. The results obtained from the scoring and weighting methods, Srumbung and Mranggen villages have a debris flow hazard with a total value of 2.6 which falls into the high hazard level category. The results show that Srumbung Village obtained a total value of 7.92 which is included in the medium level of vulnerability category. Parameters that have a big influence on the level of community vulnerability to debris flows in the two villages are social aspects with a value of 3 and economic aspects with a value of 2.4.

Preparation and Performance of a Biological Dust Suppressant Based on the Synergistic Effect of Enzyme-Induced Carbonate Precipitation and Surfactant

To control dust pollution caused by open-pit coal mining and reduce or avoid the secondary hazards of existing dust suppressants to the environment. A biological dust suppressant was prepared through the synergistic effect of surfactant and enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation. The optimal ratio of biological dust suppressant was determined, and the dust suppressive effect and dust-fixing mechanism of biological dust suppressant were studied. The results showed that when the concentration of alkyl glucoside (APG) was 0.3%, the concentration of urea-CaCl2 was 0.6 mol/L, and the volume ratio of urease to urea-CaCl2 was 1:3, the wind erosion resistance of coal dust was enhanced by 86.69%. The adsorption of biological dust suppressant and coal dust is mainly due to the electrostatic interaction between surfactant and coal dust. The mineralization product is calcite type CaCO3, and its can consolidate coal dust due to the formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between CaCO3 and coal dust.

A Statistical Model for Earthquake And/Or Rainfall Triggered Landslides

Natural hazards can be initiated by different types of triggering events. For landslides, the triggering events are predominantly earthquakes and rainfall. However, risk analysis commonly focuses on a single mechanism, without considering possible interactions between the primary triggering events. Spatial modeling of landslide susceptibility (suppressing temporal dependence), or tailoring models to specific areas and events are not sufficient to understand the risk produced by interacting causes. More elaborate models with interactions, capable of capturing direct or indirect triggering of secondary hazards, are required. By discretising space, we create a daily-spatio-temporal hazard model to evaluate the relative and combined effects on landslide triggering due to earthquakes and rainfall. A case study on the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna is presented, which suggests these triggering effects are best modeled as additive. This paper demonstrates how point processes can be used to model the triggering influence of multiple factors in a large real dataset collected from various sources.

PENGARUH HAZARD KIMIA TERHADAP KESEHATAN

Hazard adalah suatu kondisi atau tindakan atau potensi yang dapat menimbulkan kerugian terhadap manusia, harta benda, proses, maupun lingkungan. Hazard ini akan tetap menjadi bahaya tanpa menimbulkan dampak/ konsekuensi ataupun berkembang menjadi accident bila tidak ada kontak (exposure) dengan manusia. Sebagai contoh, panas yang keluar dari mesin pesawat tidak akan menimbulkan kecelakaan jika kita tidak menyentuhnya. Proses kontak antara bahaya dengan manusia ini dapat terjadi melalui tiga mekanisme, yaitu: manusia yang menghampiri bahaya, bahaya yang menghampiri manusia melalui proses alamiah, serta manusia dan bahaya saling menghampiri.Hazard dapat diklasifikasikan atas Primary Hazards dan Secondary Hazards. Primary Hazards contohnya seperti hazard fisik, hazard kimia, hazard biologi, hazard psikososial, dan hazard ergonomi. Klasifikasi bahaya primer (primary hazards) menurut jenisnya tersebut membawa juga pengertian mengenai sumber bahaya terbagi atas manusia, peralatan, material/ bahan, dan lingkungan tempat berlangsungnya pekerjaan yang kurang memadai.Dari berbagai macam jenis potensi bahaya salah satunya yaitu potensi bahaya kimia. Bahan kimia yang ada disekitar pekerja pada dasarnya merupakan sebuah potensi bahaya. Hazard kimia adalah potensi bahaya yang disebabkan oleh sifat dan karakteristik kimia yang dimiliki bahan tersebut. Hazard kimia ini sangat berbahaya jika kita tidak mengetahuinya secara detail seperi apa sifat dari bahan tersebut. Perlunya penanganan yang intensif terhadap potensi bahaya ini. Bahan-bahan tersebut mempunyai resiko untuk mengganggu Kesehatan pekerja. Banyak penyakit salah satunya keracunan dan kanker yang sering terjadi akibat paparan zat kimia yang berlebihan pada pekerja

The Prevalence of Fall and Related Factors in Iranian Elderly: A Systematic Review

Objective: Aging is one of the critical and growing stages in Iran. Falling is one of the most common problems in this period that leads to mobility, social limitations and even death. To increase the awareness and prevent secondary hazards due to falls, this study was conducted as a review article aiming the prevalence of falls based on evidence and related factors in Iranian elderly. Materials & Methods: In this study, the Prism method includes research published from 2008 to 2018 focusing on the prevalence of falls based on evidence and related factors in the Iranian elderly and the keywords prevalence, falls, falls-related factors, the elderly In the scientific database of PubMed and Scopus, Google Scholar, SID, Magiran, Irandoc. After reviewing the studies, 394 articles were obtained and finally, by reviewing the abstracts, 14 articles were selected. Results: The results of Iranian studies were reported very differently. There was a significant relationship between aging, marriage, education, neurological diseases, painkillers, and home safety. Conclusion: The findings of this review study show an increase in the frequency of falls in the Iranian elderly that it is worthwhile to consider one of the health policies in this period of life to prevent and reduce the causes of falls at this age to reduce costs. Reduce the health caused by fall related injuries. Since prevention and education programs are not implemented in the elderly, the results of this study can help identify the importance of treatment costs and the harmful status.

Seismic risk: the biases of earthquake media coverage

The capacity of individuals to cope with threatening situations depends directly on their capacity to anticipate what will come next. The media should play a key role in that respect, but an extensive analysis of earthquake media coverage by the international news reveals systematic biases. Exploring a corpus of 320 888 news articles published by 32 worldwide newspapers in 2015 in English, Spanish or French, we found that the press covers a very small number of events: 71 % of the news about seismic events was dedicated to only 3 earthquakes (among the 1559 magnitude 5+ events). A combination of frequency and content analysis reveals a typical framing of the “earthquake news”. Except for the “Nepal quake”, the duration of the coverage is usually very short. Thus, the news tends to focus on short-term issues: the event magnitude, tsunami alerts, human losses, material damage and rescue operations. Longer-term issues linked to the recovery, restoration, reconstruction, mitigation and prevention are barely addressed. Preventive safety measures are almost never mentioned. The news on impacts shows a peculiar appetency for death counts, material damage estimates and sensationalism. News on the response tends to emphasize the role played by the international community in helping the “poor and vulnerable”. The scientific content of the coverage is often restricted to mentions of the magnitude, with the concept of the seismic intensity being largely ignored. The notion of the “seismic crisis” also seems unclear, with aftershocks sometimes being treated as isolated events. Secondary hazards are barely mentioned, except in the case of tsunami alerts. Together, these biases contribute to fatalistic judgments that damage cannot be prevented. If scientific messages are to be communicated, they should be broadcast a few hours after an event. Why not take the opportunity to familiarize people with the real timeline of seismic disasters?

Seismic Risk: The Biases of Earthquake Media Coverage

The capacity of individuals to cope with threatening situations depends directly on their capacity to anticipate what will come next. The media should play a key role in that respect, but an extensive analysis of earthquake media coverage by the international press reveals systematic biases. Exploring a corpus of 320 888 news articles published by 32 worldwide newspapers in 2015 in English, Spanish or French, we found that the press covers a very small number of events: 71 % of the news was dedicated to only 3 earthquakes (among the 1559 of magnitude 5+). A combination of frequency and content analysis reveals a typical framing of the earthquake news. Except for the Nepal quake, the duration of the coverage is usually very short. The news thus tends to focus on short-term issues: the event magnitude, tsunami alerts, human losses, material damage, and rescue operations. Longer-term issues linked to the recovery, restoration, reconstruction, mitigation and prevention are barely addressed. Preventive safety measures are almost never mentioned. The news on impacts show a peculiar appetency for death counts, material damage estimates and sensationalism. News on the response tends to emphasize the role played by the international community in helping the poor and vulnerable. The scientific content of the coverage is often restricted to mentions of the magnitude, with the concept of the seismic intensity being largely ignored. The notion of the seismic crisis also seems unclear, with aftershocks sometimes being treated as isolated events. Secondary hazards are barely mentioned, except in the case of tsunami alerts. Together, these biases contribute to fatalistic judgments that damage cannot be prevented. If scientific messages are to be communicated, they should be broadcast a few hours after an event. Why not taking that opportunity to familiarize people with the real timeline of seismic disasters?

DAMPAK RISIKO SECONDARY HAZARD DI SEKITAR BENCANA LUMPUR LAPINDO TERHADAP PERUBAHAN LINGKUNGAN

Bencana lumpur berdampak pada lansekap wilayah Kabupaten Sidoarjo khususnya di Kecamatan Porong, Kecamatan Tanggulangin, dan Kecamatan Jabon Kabupaten Sidoarjo. Fenomen bencana lumpur yang terjadi pada tahun 2006 ternyata saat ini masih memberikan ancaman lanjutan (secondary hazards) pada lingkungan sekitarnya, seperti pencemaran air, amblesan tanah, dan lain-lain. Tujuan dari penelitian ini yaitu untuk mengidentifikasi dampak ancaman lanjutan (secondary hazard) terhadap lingkungannya dan dilanjutkan pada pola persebaran spasial wilayah terdampak dari risiko secondary hazards bencana lumpur di Kabupaten Sidoarjo. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif untuk mendeskripsikan karakteristik bencana lumpur yang kemudian divisualkan secara spasial melalui pemetaan. Berdasarkan hasil analisis bahwa (1) risiko Secondary Hazards di kawasan luapan lumpur lapindo bervariatif diantaranya pencemaran air dan tanah, pencemaran udara, amblesan tanah dan perubahan mata pencaharian. Salah satunya pada pencemaran air yaitu berubahnya warna dan bau yang tidak sedap (2) Pencemaran air memiliki pola persebaran tersebar dan tertinggi. Hal ini disebabkan pencemaran air tidak diikuti oleh batas administrasi. satu titik sungai yang tercemar di sekitar luapan bencana lumpur akan berdampak pada sungai lainnya

Rainfall Information System Based on Weather Radar for Debris Flow Disaster Mitigation

Rainfall-triggered debris flow has caused multiple impacts to the environment. It. is regarded as the most severe secondary hazards of volcanic eruption. However, limited access to the active volcano slope restricts the ground rain measurement as well as the direct delivery of risk information. In this study, an integrated information system is proposed for volcanic-related disaster mitigation under the framework of X-Plore/X-band Polarimetric Radar for Prevention of Water Disaster. In the first part, the acquisition and processing of high-resolution X-band dual polarimetric weather/X-MP radar data in real-time scheme for demonstrating the disaster-prone region are described. The second part presents the design of rainfall resource database and extensive maps coverage of predicted hazard information in GIS web-based platform accessible both using internet and offline. The proposed platform would be useful for communicating the disaster risk prediction based on weather radar in operational setting.