Reducing hazard vulnerability: towards a common approach between disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation

Over the past few decades, four distinct and largely independent research and policy communities--disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, environmental management and poverty reduction--have been actively engaged in reducing socio-economic vulnerability to natural hazards. However, despite the significant efforts of these communities, the vulnerability of many individuals and communities to natural hazards continues to increase considerably. In particular, it is hydro-meteorological hazards that affect an increasing number of people and cause increasingly large economic losses. Arising from the realisation that these four communities have been largely working in isolation and enjoyed only limited success in reducing vulnerability, there is an emerging perceived need to strengthen significantly collaboration and to facilitate learning and information exchange between them. This article examines key communalities and differences between the climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction communities, and proposes three exercises that would help to structure a multi-community dialogue and learning process.     

Potential Vulnerability Implications of Sea Level Rise for the Coastal Zones of Cochin, Southwest Coast of India

This study presents the results of the impact assessment analysis of the coastal zones of Cochin along the southwest coast of India. The climatological cycle of sea level derived for the region for the period 1939–2003 has shown a range of about 17 cm. From the results obtained on the coastal sedimentary environments, it is found that climate-induced sea level rise scenarios will bring profound effects. It is also revealed that the mean beach slope and relief play a vital role in land loss of the region. The local relief of coastal zone will decrease as sea level rises, thus increasing the percentage of land above mean sea level subjected to episodic inundations. Results of the yearly probability of damages indicated the urgency to upgrade the existing designs of coastal protection structures. A brief characterisation of the issues on infrastructure and uncertainties in policy planning also are attempted.     

自然灾害的社会易损性及其影响因素研究

社会易损性是人类社会在自然灾害条件下的潜在损失,它的大小受许多因素的影响。从社会学视角出发,从人口、社会结构和社会文化三方面分析了社会易损性的影响因素,它们包括易损人群、易损职业、社会经济活动、社会组织结构、社会资本、社会保障制度、社会冲突的协调能力和灾害文化等因素。     

基于PCA与改进AHP-CRITIC法的地质灾害风险评价研究——以神木市为例

神木市是西部地区重要的能源城市,对能源的过度开发利用引发了大量地质灾害,严重阻碍着居民生产生活和城市发展建设,因此开展地质灾害风险评价研究是该地区可持续发展的必由之路。为解决多因子综合作用对评价精度的影响,根据神木市地质环境及社会经济情况选取合适的评价因子分别建立危险性和易损性评价体系,利用主成分分析（PCA）法判断、提取主成分来避免因子间相关性的干扰,计算各因子综合分值得到危险性区划图;首次将改进层次分析（AHP）-CRITIC主客观组合赋权法应用于承灾体易损性评价当中,通过该方法计算因子综合权重得到各乡镇易损指数。叠加危险区划图和易损指数图完成神木市地质灾害风险性分区,将风险区划为高、较高、中、较低和低五个等级,分别占全市面积的5.31%、7.72%、14.17%、17.08%和55.72%,表明研究区风险等级中等偏低。可为同类型地区地质灾害风险评价工作提供参考依据。     

Assessing community vulnerability to floods and hurricanes along the Gulf Coast of the United States

Hurricanes and flooding have affected millions of people and generated massive economic losses over the past several decades. Geographic information system (GIS) methods are employed in this paper to analyse coastal communities' vulnerability to these two hazards along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Specifically, two types of quantitative indicators are developed: (i) exposure to hurricanes and flooding, based on information from multiple sources; and a social vulnerability index, constructed using census data. These indices are combined to depict the spatial patterns of overall community vulnerability to hurricanes and flooding along the US Gulf Coast. The results of this study can potentially inform disaster management agencies, county governments, and municipalities in areas at heightened risk. Furthermore, the demonstration of the geographic distribution of community vulnerability can assist decision-makers in prioritising to-do items and designing policies and plans for the more effective allocation of resources. The paper ends by discussing the study's limitations and its practical implications.     

岷江上游生态环境脆弱性评价

生态环境脆弱性评价是全球生态问题和可持续发展研究中的重要内容之一。岷江上游因地质构造复杂、人地矛盾突出、生态系统异常脆弱和灵敏而备受关注。本文以岷江上游生态环境脆弱性为研究对象,选取证据权重法(WOE)进行滑坡脆弱性评价,层次分析法(AHP)进行水力侵蚀、景观破坏与污染脆弱性评价;在此基础上,进行了研究区各生态主题脆弱性的空间叠加分析;探讨了岷江上游生态环境脆弱性及其在不同影响因子作用下的空间分异特征。结果表明:研究区的滑坡脆弱性、水力侵蚀脆弱性、景观破坏与污染脆弱性均以轻微度为主,分别占研究区面积的80.43%、71.89%、75.55%;各生态环境主题脆弱性综合分析表明,54.70%的区域至少面临一种生态问题,面临两种及以上环境问题的区域占15.43%,同时面临三种环境问题的占1.35%。研究结果探讨了岷江上游生态环境存在的主要问题和影响因子,对岷江流域乃至长江流域的生态安全和可持续发展具有积极意义,未来应持续关注生态环境脆弱区的生态环境问题。     

Beyond men and women: a critical perspective on gender and disaster

Consideration of gender in the disaster sphere has centred almost exclusively on the vulnerability and capacities of women. This trend stems from a polarised Western understanding of gender as a binary concept of man—woman. Such an approach also mirrors the dominant framing of disasters and disaster risk reduction (DRR), emphasising Western standards and practices to the detriment of local, non‐Western identities and experiences. This paper argues that the man—woman dichotomy is an insufficient construct with which to address the gendered dimensions of a disaster as it fails to capture the realities of diverse gender minorities in non‐Western contexts. The paper presents case studies from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Samoa, where gender minorities display specific patterns of vulnerability associated with their marginal positions in society, yet, importantly, also possess a wide array of endogenous capacities. Recognition of these differences, needs, skills, and unique resources is essential to moving towards inclusive and gender‐sensitive DRR.     

The cultural politics of mining and natural disaster in Indonesia: by fire and sword

Natural disasters are inevitably the outcome of cultural agonisms. The cultural politics of natural disasters are shaped by competing claims and conceptions of ‘nature’. Recent disasters in Indonesia are directly linked to these contending conceptions and the ways in which different social groups imagine risk and reward. The Sidoarjo volcanic mudflow of 2006 represents a volatile and violent exemplar of contending cultural and economic claims. Like other disasters in Indonesia and elsewhere in the developing world, this ‘natural’ disaster is characterised by differing conceptions of ‘nature’ as cultural tradition, divine force, and natural resource. A new extractive project in East Java is exhibiting similar economic and cultural agonisms, particularly around the notion of development, environment, self‐determination, and tradition. This paper examines the ‘disputes over meaning’ associated with natural disasters in contemporary societies, and the ways in which they are related to human culture, social organisation, and hierarchical systems of violence.     

Adapting to climate change in the coastal regions of Bangladesh: proposal for the formation of community-based adaptation committees

The paper outlines a concept and proposal for the formation of ‘community based adaptation committees’ (CBACs) at the micro-level, and it explains how such local committees would act with respect to the existing organisation of disaster management in Bangladesh. It examines how the CBACs would be sustained locally without colliding with the present system of government. The main objective of this is to identify how the CBACs could act independently as per local demands, without any conflict with the existing system, in order to ensure sustainable adaptation in future. To achieve these objectives the author conducted interviews with key informants at both local and national levels, and also conducted eight participatory rapid appraisal sessions at eight coastal communities. The author finds that severe corruption is impeding the existing system of relief and rehabilitation at community levels. The paper emphasises that the government of Bangladesh urgently needs to formulate a national adaptation policy, and that within that policy the concept of CBACs at community level should be prioritised. This would provide the government with guidelines for the use, at community level, of adaptation funds from developed countries in order to reduce future vulnerability in Bangladesh.     

美国地震风险评估中建筑物易损性与损失组合的探讨

探讨了以美国地震灾害风险评估模型为例的建筑物易损性模型的建立方法及地震随机事件损失组合的方法.由于应用对象的不同,如用于工程项目风险的评估或是对保险资产风险的评估,其易损性模型建立的方式具有较大的差异.在工程应用中,注重对建筑结构的分析,往往使用非线性解析方法如能力频谱法等以得到结构的易损性或脆弱曲线;而保险行业常用历史数据并运用统计方法等获取所需的易损性曲线.由于工程应用的易损性曲线有更好的精准性,越来越多保险用模型采用此方法.此外,工程应用常对单一地震事件进行评估,而保险行业的模型往往涉及对大量随机事件的评估.对不同的建筑物易损性建模方法、规范标准及适用范围进行了探讨,并对随机事件损失组合方法中如何计算损失的单次超越概率(OEP)和累计超越概率(AEP)进行了介绍.