The Health Effects of Earthquakes in the Mid-1990s

This paper gives an overview of the global pattern of casualties in earthquakes which occurred during the 30-month period from 1 September 1993 to 29 February 1996. It also describes some of the behavioural and logistical regularities associated with mortality and morbidity in these events. Of 83 earthquakes studied, there were casualties in 49. Lethal earthquakes occurred in rapid succession in Indonesia, China, Colombia and Iran. In the events studied, a disproportionate number of deaths and injuries occurred during the first six hours of the day and in earthquakes with magnitudes between 6.5 and 7.4. Ratios of death to injury varied markedly (though with some averages close to 1:3), as did the nature and causes of mortality and morbidity and the proportion of serious to slight injuries. As expected on the basis of previous knowledge, few problems were caused by post-earthquake illness and disease. Also, as expected, building collapse was the principal source of casualties: tsunamis, landslides, debris flows and bridge collapses were the main secondary causes. In addition, new findings are presented on the temporal sequence of casualty estimates after seismic disaster. In synthesis, though mortality in earthquakes may have been low in relation to long-term averages, the interval of time studied was probably typical of other periods in which seismic catastrophes were relatively limited in scope.     

Overview of deaths associated with natural events, United States, 1979–2004

Analysis of the National Center for Health Statistics' Compressed Mortality File showed that between 1979 and 2004, natural events caused 21,491 deaths in the United States. During this 26-year period, there were 10,827 cold-related deaths and 5,279 heat-related deaths. Extreme cold or heat accounted for 75 per cent of the total number of deaths attributed to natural events— more than all of deaths resulting from lightning, storms and foods, and earth movements, such as earthquakes and landslides. Cold-related death rates were highest in the states of Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota, while heat-related deaths were highest in the states of Arizona, Missouri, and Arkansas. These deaths occurred more often among the elderly and black men. Other deaths were attributed to lightning (1,906), storms and foods (2,741), and earth movements (738). Most deaths associated with natural events are preventable and society can take action to decrease the morbidity and mortality connected with them.     

Overview of deaths associated with natural events, United States, 1979-2004.

Analysis of the National Center for Health Statistics' Compressed Mortality File showed that between 1979 and 2004, natural events caused 21,491 deaths in the United States. During this 26-year period, there were 10,827 cold-related deaths and 5,279 heat-related deaths. Extreme cold or heat accounted for 75 per cent of the total number of deaths attributed to natural events--more than all of deaths resulting from lightning, storms and foods, and earth movements, such as earthquakes and landslides. Cold-related death rates were highest in the states of Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota, while heat-related deaths were highest in the states of Arizona, Missouri, and Arkansas. These deaths occurred more often among the elderly and black men. Other deaths were attributed to lightning (1,906), storms and foods (2,741), and earth movements (738). Most deaths associated with natural events are preventable and society can take action to decrease the morbidity and mortality connected with them.     

香港大屿山岛自然滑坡的空间分布与影响因子浅析

香港地处热带高温多雨强风化区，且地形陡峭，人类活动对自然环境的影响较大，导致滑坡灾害成为香港地区最主要的自然灾害之一。 许多针对香港滑坡的研究侧重于研究人工斜坡上发生的滑坡，由于自然滑坡难以调查，很少有人从区域的尺度来研究自然滑坡。然而，几十年的研究和调查表明，自然地表滑坡确实代表着一种自然灾害。大屿山岛是香港地区最大的离岛，保存着相对完整的自然状态，是研究香港地区自然滑坡的理想研究区。本文利用多年航片解译的滑坡数据，在应用地理信息系统技术的基础上，分析了大屿山岛自然地表滑坡的空间分布特征及滑坡与地形、地貌、地质、土地利用和植被等相关影响因子的关系。     

香港地区滑坡体积与前期降水关系分析

滑坡灾害发生的因子可以分为两种类型 ,即滑坡体所处的环境静态因子 ,如地形、地质等 ,和滑坡的诱发因子 ,如强降水、地震等。香港地处夏季多雨的热带地区 ,每年均有大量因暴雨导致的滑坡灾害出现。为分析滑坡大小与前期降水的关系 ,文中选择了 2 6 2个滑坡样例 ,对它们进行了多种周期前期降水的定量化研究 ,发现不同类型的滑坡出现与前期降水有不同的关联关系 :每种类型的滑坡中体积较大的滑坡与前期降水均有明显的关系 ;对多数体积较小的滑坡 ,滑坡体积与前期降水量并没有明显的正相关关系。     

汶川地震滑坡发育特征及其影响因素

汶川地震是近年来我国发生的最严重的自然灾害,地震触发了大量的滑坡,造成了严重的人员伤亡和财产损失。根据汶川地震滑坡的调查和勘测,探讨了滑坡的发育特征及其影响因素,旨在为汶川地震滑坡的减灾防灾提供理论依据。分析了地震滑坡的优势坡度范围和最优坡度;地震滑坡面积-频率分布符合对数分布规律而不同于降雨等诱发滑坡的幂律分布。坡向与断层破裂方向的夹角控制着汶川地震滑坡频率、坡度和面积的分布,当坡向与断层破裂方向一致时,受地震抛掷作用滑坡发育的频率和面积的比例大、滑坡平均坡度小;当坡向与断层破裂方向相反和坡向与断层的倾向一致时,受地震撞击崩裂作用,滑坡发育的频率和面积的比例较小、滑坡平均坡度较大。     

Perception of earthquake risk in Agadir,Morocco: A case study from a Muslim community

Earthquakes are separated from other hazards in meaning, significance, and risk perception throughout the Islamic World due to their specific focus in their own chapter or surah “al-Zalzala” (99th) in the Qur'an. Unlike earthquakes that are discussed in terms or the Judgment Day or as divine punishment or retribution against the disbelieving or hypocritical—other natural hazards like floods, tornadoes, and landslides are rarely discussed. An extensive survey of earthquake survivors and longtime residents was undertaken to better understand the perceptions of seismic risk in Agadir, Morocco where two moderate earthquakes razed the city in 1960 leaving 15,000 dead and 25,000 injured. Most of the deaths were attributed to faulty construction (along with standards and enforcement), inaddition to poor evacuation plans.

During the summer of 2002, more than 250 earthquake survivors and residents were surveyed and interviewed for their knowledge and perception of the disaster forty years before. Surveys were conducted in Arabic, French and English and included questions and Likertscaled responses including extensive interviews in the hopes of obtaining ideas of their potential quake recurrence, seismology, current construction standard policies, and local and regional planning strategies. In addition, reviews the Qur'an, Hadith and classical and contemporary tafasir texts were used to investigate the guiding passages used in Islamic discussions of “al-Zalzala”.

It was found that younger persons (<25yo) were more likely to believed that brick, mortar and cement structures were always safer and stronger during and after a tremor, regardless as to whether they are iron-reinforced or sub-standard (and hazardous) stone or brick infilled. After the 1960 disaster, speedy recovery efforts often undermined concrete construction and reinforcement techniques since such ‘rebar’ was relatively unavailable. Even today, inferior and seismically unstable construction practices are widely used.

It was found that television-watchers considered themselves less knowledgeable about earthquakes, when in fact many aspects of the1960 event and earthquakes in general, were more widely understood by this group, supporting the notion that the medium of televisionis the most widely used, efficient, and fastest mass communication and education tool.

Less-educated respondents in general tended to attribute earthquakes to divine action and retribution. All questions, however, concerning the possibility of quake recurrence frequency or magnitude caused an overwhelming refusal to answer, or with the reply of ‘Allahu a'lam’ or “God is wisest”—implying or directly stating that any attempt at earthquake forecasting, quake-related construction, advanced architectural standards for seismic safety, and/or related education was ‘haram’ or prohibited by Islam.

Further discussions with participants in Agadir indicated that any guess, awareness or prediction was in fact, fortune-telling and therefore an act forbidden by the Qur'an and Hadith.

Finally, the less educated were more likely to say that Allah protected those who were devout and considered scientific assessment as futile, forecasting as forbidden, or new construction technologies as a waste since only the ‘kafir’ (non-Muslim) or ‘munafiq’ (hypocrite) were at risk to death or injury from an earthquake. These conclusions are important toward gaining an insight of perception and risky behavior in a questionably constructed city with now more than 600,000 people 40 years later, and in a region laced by active faulting.     

Spatial and temporal analysis of natural hazard mortality in Nepal

The impacts of natural hazards are typically measured in terms of loss of human lives and economic damage, and recent studies demonstrate that deaths attributed to natural hazards have increased. Using the publicly available DesInventar database, we examined spatial and temporal patterns of natural hazard mortality from 1971 to 2011 at the district and village levels of Nepal and identified natural hazards that contributed most to mortality. Spatial clusters of mortality at the district and village levels were detected using local and global spatial autocorrelation measures (Moran's I). Landslides (41.91%) and floods (32.52%) accounted for approximately three quarters of natural hazard mortalities over the study period. A Global Moran's I test positively confirmed clustering at both the district (0.199, p?p?相似文献   

Spatial and temporal patterns and the socioeconomic impacts of landslides in the tropical and mountainous Colombian Andes

Landslides are a natural hazard that presents a major threat to human life and infrastructure. Although they are a very common phenomenon in Colombia, there is a lack of analysis that entails national and comprehensive spatial, temporal, and socioeconomic evaluations of such events based on historical records. This study provides a detailed assessment of the spatial and temporal patterns and the socioeconomic impacts associated with landslides that occurred in the country between 1900 and 2018. Two national landslide databases were consulted and this information was complemented by local and regional landslide catalogues. A total of 30,730 landslides were recorded in the 118-year period. Rainfall is the most common trigger of landslides, responsible for 92 per cent of those registered, but most fatalities (68 per cent) are due to landslides caused by volcanic activity and earthquakes. An ‘fN curve’ revealed a very high frequency of small and moderate fatal landslides in the time frame.     

我国社会可接受地震人员死亡率的研究

在分析地震的特点及我国目前抗震设防中存在问题的基础上，提出了社会可接受地震人员死亡率的概念，介绍了确定可接受地震人员死亡率的方法及需要考虑的因素。同时通过对其它自然灾害和人为灾害死亡率的统计,以问卷调查的形式咨询了熟悉防震减灾工作的有关专家和政府管理部门等业内人士的意见，在此基础上，给出了较合理的社会可接受地震人员死亡率的建议值，为在抗震设防标准研究中定量考虑和控制地震人员伤亡提供了依据。     

Nutrition, Disease and Death in Times of Famine

In this article we review the relationship between malnutrition and mortality, and the interaction of morbidity, with the aim of clarifying the health risks of malnutrition in situations of famine and food insecurity. Apart from reviewing what is known about this relationship, we highlight areas where further research is needed. Among refugee and famine affected populations living in camps, there appears to be a close association between high rates of malnutrition and excess mortality. Results from communitybased prospective studies of malnutrition and mortality among individuals conclude that as nutritional status declines the risk of death increases, although the discriminating power of different nutritional indices and the strength of the association varies considerably in different locations and at different times. These differences are attributed mainly to the different prevailing patterns of morbidity and growth failure, which are influenced by both environmental and social factors. In situations of famine and population displacement, the deterioration in the health environment increases exposure to infection and is likely to raise the threshold of nutritional status which corresponds to an increased risk of mortality. This has important implications for nutritional assessments and interventions.     

地震作用下滑坡水平运动距离概率预测模型∗

地震诱发滑坡失稳是一种常见的地质灾害。如何预测地震作用下滑坡的水平运动距离对该地质灾害的防治具有重要作用。现有经验预测模型存在不能区分有阻碍滑坡和无阻碍滑坡,依据的案例较少且只能提供滑坡水平运动距离的最优估计值而无法提供其预测误差的局限。针对上述不足,首先建立包含380个案例的地震滑坡水平运动距离案例库,基于最大似然法原理,提出可同时考虑有阻碍滑坡和无阻碍滑坡的地震滑坡运动距离经验模型标定方法。单因素回归分析表明,地震作用下滑坡水平运动距离与滑坡垂直运动距离和滑坡体积具有较高的相关性,与滑坡倾角和滑坡表面长宽比相关性较小。在此基础上,通过逐步回归的方法建立滑坡水平运动距离的多因素预测模型。案例分析表明,提出的模型具有较高的预测精度。提出的地震作用下滑坡水平运动距离预测模型可为地震滑坡危险性评价提供参考。     

Injuries as a Result of California Earthquakes in the Past Decade

The devastating effects of earthquakes have been demonstrated repeatedly in the past decade, through moderate and major earthquakes such as the October 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake (5.9 on the Richter scale), the October 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1) and the January 1994 Northridge earthquake (6.7). While 'official' tallies of injuries and deaths are reported for each event, the numbers vary from report to report. For Northridge, the number of injuries vary between 8,000 and 12,000; the number of deaths from 33 to 73 (Peek-Asa et al., 1997; Durkin, 1996).While official estimates are commonly reported following disasters, the study of actual numbers, types and causes of casualties has not developed. In this paper, we identify the numbers and risk factors for injuries within community-based samples across three earthquakes in urban California. We first report the numbers and types of injuries in each earthquake and then identify risk factors specifically associated with the Northridge earthquake     

公路滑坡灾害链式反应阶段性识别方法研究

为了对公路滑坡的发育阶段做出准确判别,研究了公路滑坡灾害发育的链式反应机理,将滑坡的发育阶段划分为3个阶段。采用广泛调研和专家咨询的技术手段,从发育阶段的表现特征中选定了滑坡识别的相关因素集和评分,在此基础上采用模糊数学的方法对公路滑坡灾害的发育阶段进行了识别,并在陕南公路滑坡调查中初步应用。     

宁夏西吉县低角高速远程黄土滑坡及其形成机理分析

地震诱发黄土滑坡是1920年宁夏海原8.5级大地震在宁夏西吉县西南部的最严重地震次生灾害,该区域内滑坡规模大、密度高、类型全,主要类型是低角度、高速、远程黄土滑坡。经对典型滑坡进行野外地面调查、黄土层位划分、黄土显微结构测试和对滥泥河左右两岸的滑坡形态进行综合分析后认为:西吉地处中国黄土高原干旱地带,黄土堆积以大孔隙发育的非饱和黄土为主,地震时突发水异常使地下水位瞬间上升、黄土中孔隙水压增高、黄土自重加大,在地震力和水动力的共同作用下,导致黄土发生液化,这是该区地震诱发黄土滑坡的综合形成机理。     

From silence to resilience: prospects and limitations for incorporating non-expert knowledge into hazard management

Despite efforts to include residents in hazard management, their contributions are often undervalued because they are seen as passive recipients of intervention rather than active participants in the production of knowledge, particularly when they lack technical expertise. However, using multiple perspectives and experiences can improve hazard management strategies and create safer communities. This paper examines a Colombian landslide management program to highlight the prospects and limitations of incorporating non-expert knowledge into hazard management. The Guardianas de la Ladera (Guardians of the Slope) in Manizales, Colombia is a program in which female heads of household are hired to maintain landslide-prevention infrastructure and communicate landslide risk to the community. While the highly regarded program is perceived as having reduced the frequency of landslides and associated damages, the hierarchical institutional structure inhibits bottom-up communication, including information that could improve long-term vulnerability reduction. We argue that regardless of the location, scale, or specific hazard being addressed, incorporating non-expert knowledge into hazard management potentially illuminates sources of vulnerability not recognized by technical or development experts.     

情景驱动的区域自然灾害风险分析

随着近年来自然灾害发生频次的增加与巨灾效应的不断涌现,人们对自然灾害风险分析提出了更高的要求与期望。然而,由于人们对"风险"认识的不全面与不系统,导致了灾害风险分析理论与技术水平的停滞不前。"风险是与某种不利事件有关的一种未来情景"是我们对"风险"的诠释。据该定义可知,风险不仅仅只是着眼于过去,更重要的是要展望未来;风险不再只是历史灾难的统计,而是未来不利事件情景的分析。因此,"情景分析"成为风险研究的一项新手段,它不仅摒弃了传统方法仅着眼"过去"的局限性而实现从"过去"到"现在"到"未来"合理过渡的研究思路,而且摒弃了传统方法仅限于因子统计分析的局限性而实现系统分析的研究理念。以"情景分析"为技术手段,提出了情景驱动的区域自然灾害风险分析方法,旨在探讨对风险研究思路与技术的创新。     

A preliminary study on mortality attributed to tropical cyclones in Taiwan 2000–2014

Studies on mortality attributed to tropical cyclones often concern large-scale disasters. Attention is rarely paid to small-scale mortality over the long term. To understand the relationship between the environment and the behavior that contributes to mortality, this article uses a classification table to review the 1556 deaths attributed to tropical cyclones, named typhoons, in Taiwan during the period 2000–2014. The results demonstrate that the majority of outdoor deaths are associated with work-related activities, while most indoor deaths occur during non-work-related activities. Taking action, such as stopping the car on a bridge if the tail lights of a vehicle in front disappear, and not walking on the roadside when the road is flooded by muddy water, may help to reduce the likelihood of typhoon-attributed death. The findings also help to dispel four myths associated with typhoon-attributed mortality.     

坡度图在滑坡研究中的应用

本文阐述了坡度图的概念和作用;详细介绍了坡度尺、坡度图的作法、以及坡度图在兰州地区的应用结果;简要分析了斜坡坡度与滑坡的关系。     

An analysis of seismic risk from a tourism point of view

Global awareness of natural calamities increased after the destructive Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, largely because many foreigners lost their lives, especially in Thailand. This paper explores how best to communicate the seismic risk posed by different travel destinations to crisis management personnel in tourists' home countries. The analysis of seismic risk should be straightforward enough for non-specialists, yet powerful enough to identify the travel destinations that are most at risk. The output for each location is a point in 3D space composed of the natural and built-up environment and local tourism. The tourism-specific factors can be tailored according to the tourists' nationality. The necessary information can be collected from various directories and statistics, much of it available over the Internet. The output helps to illustrate the overall seismic risk conditions of different travel destinations, allows for comparison across destinations, and identifies the places that are most at risk.