The role of community-based organization in the promotion of disaster preparedness at the community level: a case study of a coastal town in the Kochi Prefecture of the Shikoku Region, Japan

The Japanese rural coastal areas are inherently vulnerable to typhoons and tsunamis. Their vulnerability has been further increasing recently, in part due to social factors such as the aging of society and depopulation. Following the Kobe earthquake of 1995, the Japanese government has promoted the Voluntary Disaster Preparedness Organization (VDPO) to build communities that are more sustainable and resilient to natural disasters. However, studies indicate that some VDPO activity has stagnated. The present study focuses on a rural coastal area in Japan and examines whether VDPO impacts residents’ awareness of disaster preparedness and also examines ties among the community. The study relies on a questionnaire survey. It reveals that VDPO contributes to improving both awareness of disaster preparedness and ties in the community.     

基于自然灾害的北京幅综合生态风险评价

经过20多年的发展,风险源评价从单一风险源扩展到多风险源,风险受体从单一受体发展到多受体,评价尺度也从种群、生态系统扩展到区域和景观水平。但总体说来,对多风险源、多过程的多个生态系统层次的风险评价尚不成熟。运用数字高程模型、干燥度分布图、植被指数、人口密度以及8种自然灾害风险源频率分布图、土地利用图、植被类型图、陆地生态系统生态资产分布图等数据,基于ArcGIS 9.2平台,综合考虑生态的脆弱性,风险源的发生频率,受体的暴露水平、危害程度等,对多风险源、多个生态系统综合的北京幅生态风险进行评价。旨在对区域综合生态风险评价方法进行探讨。评价结果显示：（1）高风险区主要为本区环渤海湾沿岸,包括天津市,河北唐山、沧州,山东滨州、东营、潍坊等沿海地带;以及本图幅西部、北部的太行山地,包括河北省、北京市及图幅西部的山西、河南部分地区;（2）较低生态风险区所占比例较高,达42.55%,可见降低生态风险有很大的潜力;（3）高强度的人类开发,尤其是在滨海地区围海造陆,将会导致沿海地区生态风险更高。     

Tourists and disasters: lessons from the 26 December 2004 tsunamis

The 26 December 2004 tsunamis around the Indian Ocean exposed the vulnerability of many coastal communities, including those serving tourists. To draw conclusions regarding disaster risk reduction for tourism in coastal areas, this study surveyed international tourists who survived the tsunami regarding their perceptions and experiences of the disaster. Semi-structured interviews were completed between January and June 2005 of 55 primary interviewees who were international tourists in locations affected by the tsunami. The qualitative data from the interviews yielded commonalities across four main themes with relevance to disaster risk reduction: information and awareness, warning systems, personal preparation, and livelihoods. Three areas are suggested as topics to highlight for further investigation: the connections between sustainable tourism and disaster vulnerability, the role of tourists in disasters, and disaster risk reduction education.     

Sustainability of urban drainage management: a perspective on infrastructure resilience and thresholds

Urban wastewater infrastructures have been threatened by natural and socioeconomic disturbances. This study investigates infrastructure resilience against the risks of long-term changes rather than natural disasters. Urban expansion that leads to an increased urban runoff and massive population movements that cause fluctuations in domestic emissions are considered in this study. Pollution permits for water bodies are adopted as constraints on wastewater infrastructures. A land use-based accounting method, combined with a grid-based database, is developed to map domestic discharge and urban runoff to service areas of wastewater treatment plants. The results of a case study on downtown Sanya, the most famous seashore tourist attraction in China, show that the average resilient values of three sub-catchment areas in 2010 were -0.57, 0.10 and 0.27, respectively, a significant spatial variation. The infrastructure in the Sanya River sub-region is the least flexible, and is more likely to fail due to unstable inflows. The resiliencies will increase to 0.59, 1.01 and 0.54, respectively, in 2020, a considerable improvement in robustness. The study suggests that infrastructure resilience needs to be taken into further consideration for urban planning and the related realm of urban governance to foster more robust wastewater management under various risks.     

Disaster prevention and reduction in Anthropocene

Natural disasters cause considerable property damage and loss of life as well as destruction of ecosystem and natural resources. In the context of global change, extreme events are expected to increase in both frequency and intensity. To prevent natural disasters and mitigate the loss, we need to act quickly and effectively. It would be conducive to achieve sustainable economic development, reduce disaster vulnerabilities and risks, and build resilience through implementing effective measures of disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.     

Coastal community resilience: analysis of resilient elements in 3 districts of Tamil Nadu State, India

India has a long coastline of about 7,517 km. with 20% occupying the coastal area. Due to increase in population; people have been exploring the possibility of developmental opportunities in the coastal areas. Tsunami in 2004 was another unexpected natural catastrophe which badly affected many South Indian coastal states especially the state of Tamil Nadu. Coastal communities here are increasingly at risk from many chronic and episodic coastal hazards which threaten the health and stability of coastal ecosystems and communities. The degradation of the coastal environment from chronic human-induced actions threaten food security, livelihoods, the overall economic development and well being of coastal communities. Disasters big or small affecting the coastal communities are reminders that, coastal communities are not resilient to normally recurring hazards. This fact has raised the question of developing community resilience since the most effective approach to reducing the long-term impact of coastal hazards would be to enhance capacities of coastal communities through initiatives which are aimed at ensuring a sustainable recovery in the aftermath of a disaster as well as reducing people’s vulnerability to these disasters. Eight elements of resilience i.e., Governance, Coastal Resource Management, Land Use and Structural Design, Society and Economy, Risk Knowledge, Warning and Evacuation, Emergency Response and Disaster Recovery have been identified which are considered essential to reduce risk from coastal hazards, accelerate recovery from disaster events, and adapt to changing conditions by the affected community. In this paper, all the eight resilience elements have been examined with respect to vulnerability and capacity assessment in selected Tsunami (2004) affected districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in order to identify the extent of resilience.     

基于VSD模型的经济发达地区生态脆弱性评价——以太湖流域为例

自然与人为双重因素导致的生态脆弱性是研究关注的热点,但是较少有研究定量揭示2种因素共同作用下的生态脆弱区的空间格局,并提出针对性的空间管制措施。本文以经济发达的太湖流域为案例,借助Polsky等人提出的VSD模型,通过暴露度、敏感性和适应能力分解脆弱性,并构建包含自然和人为因素在内的、由10个要素和21个指标组成的指标体系,对太湖流域生态脆弱性进行定量评价,结果表明：（1）暴露度、敏感性、适应能力和生态脆弱性均呈现“东北高、西南低”格局;（2）太湖流域以中低强度的脆弱区为主,不脆弱区、一般脆弱区、较脆弱区、很脆弱区和极脆弱区占比分别为19%、26%、33%、15%和7%;（3）现状建设用地绝大部分分布于相对脆弱的区域内,不同类型建设用地的分布特征存在明显差异,城乡居住用地主要分布于较脆弱区和很脆弱区内,独立工业用地主要分布在较脆弱区、很脆弱区和极脆弱区内,交通用地则主要分布于一般脆弱区和较脆弱区内;（4）原有自然因素导致的脆弱性依然存在,人类活动强度增大已经成为是太湖流域脆弱性的主要诱因,人类活动范围的扩大和强度的增加将会导致脆弱性的进一步增高。结合脆弱性分区及其诱因,对不同类型脆弱区提出了空间开发或生态保护的建议和措施。极脆弱区以疏散人口和产业、强化生态建设为主;很脆弱区和较脆弱区是未来开发建设的重点,要坚持适度开发、生态开发,避免脆弱性提高;一般脆弱区作为区域开敞空间,以农业生产为主,坚持点状开发;不脆弱区以生态建设和环境保护为主,是太湖流域主要的生态服务供应地。     

A ‘coastal-hazard GIS’ for Sri Lanka

Following the 2004 tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka, it was apparent that mapping the coast’s vulnerability was essential for future protection of the local populations. We therefore developed a prototype ‘Coastal-hazard GIS’ for Sri Lanka so as to provide an effective tool for decision makers to limit the impact of natural coastal hazards such as sea level rise, tsunamis, storm surges and coastal erosion, and thus protect the exposed assets (population, property, settlements, communications networks, etc.). The prototype was developed on a pilot site in Galle through building up homogeneous data on the land/sea interface from studies conducted on the exposure of the coastal populations, the aim being to enable an evaluation of the hazards combined with the vulnerability and thus an analysis of the risks. Coastal risk scenarios are developed so as to estimate the impacts and consequences of an event (tsunami, storm, etc.) on the assets, the principle behind this being that if, in general, the coastal hazard cannot be decreased, then a better knowledge of it through simulation should make it possible to limit the vulnerability and thus the risk. The Coastal-hazard GIS will also provide a planning tool in terms of locating new settlements, expanding urban areas, siting coastal protection works, etc.     

Seismic vulnerability assessment of water supply network in Tianjin,China

The water supply network （WSN） system is a critical element of civil infrastructure systems. Its complexity of operation and high number of components mean that all parts of the system cannot be simply assessed. Earthquakes are the most serious natural hazard to a WSN, and seismic risk assessment is essential to identify its vulnerability to different stages of damage and ensure the system safety. In this paper, using a WSN located in the airport area of Tianjin in northern China as a case study, a quantitative vulnerability assessment method was used to assess the damage that the water supply pipelines would suffer in an earthquake, and the finite element software ABAQUS and fuzzy mathematic theory were adopted to construct the assessment method. ABAQUS was applied to simulate the seismic damage to pipe segments and components of the WSN. Membership functions based on fuzzy theory were established to calculate the membership of the components in the system. However, to consider the vulnerability of the whole system, fuzzy cluster analysis was used to distinguish the importance of pipe segments and components. Finally, the vulnerability was quantified by these functions. The proposed methodology aims to assess the performance of WSNs based on pipe vulnerabilities that are simulated and calculated by the model and the mathematical method based on data of damage. In this study, a whole seismic vulnerability assessment method for a WSN was built, and these analyses are expected to provide necessary information for a mitigation plan in an earthquake disaster.     

城市居住区景观绿化格局改善热环境变化的遥感监测分析

以上海中心区域同地段的独立小区为研究对象,利用遥感技术对影响居住区内热环境改善方面的几个主要关键因子（居住区面积、建筑容积率、绿化覆盖率、乔木配置和斑块破碎率）进行了分析模拟,以期为解决居住区热环境状况,提供准确、有效的科学数据。结果表明,在区域平均气温达35℃时,居住区绿化覆盖率每增加10%,可降温0.15℃;居住区乔木面积比每增加10%,可降温0.17℃;居住区平均斑块面积每增加100 m2,可降温0.1℃。总体上,居住区的热岛效应随着绿化率、乔木比例和平均斑块面积的增加而降低,居住区温度与着绿化率、乔木比例和平均斑块面积之间存在显著的负相关,通过这3个指标拟合建立的居住区＂热环境指数＂,可以为航片拍摄获取每个居住区的热环境状况而成为可能。     

Unlocking ecosystem based adaptation opportunities in coastal Bangladesh

Coastal ecosystems generate diverse services, such as protection, production of food, climate regulation and recreation across the globe. These services are vital for extremely vulnerable coastal areas for enhancing present and future adaptation capacity under changing climate. Bangladesh has long coastline which provides opportunities to large population for multiple resource uses; and threats from extreme natural disasters. The CBACC-Coastal Afforestation is the priority initiative of Bangladesh NAPA that has come in actions under first LDCF adaptation project. The project has focused to reduce climatic vulnerability through enhancing resilience of coastal forests and adaptive capacity of communities. With a total of 6,100 ha of new mangrove plantation and introducing 10 important mangrove species in existing monoculture areas, the project increased protective and carbon rich forest coverage, and also functional capacity of coastal vegetation to adapt to current and future climatic shocks. Concurrently, the project developed co-benefit regime for community based adaptation through innovating integrated land uses for livelihoods of adjacent households. A new land use model (Forest, Fish and Fruit-Triple F) has been implemented to restore fallow coastal lands into community based livelihood adaptation practices. The Triple F practice has reduced inundation and salinity risks and freshwater scarcity in cultivation of agricultural crops and fish. The rational land uses improved household adaptation capacity of landless households through short-, mid- and long-term income generation. The project lesson has further focus to justify the land use innovation for harnessing potential opportunities of ecosystem based adaptation in coastal Bangladesh.     

Coastal flood management in rural planning unit through land-use planning: Kaikhali, West Bengal, India

The Indian subcontinent is highly prone to the detrimental impacts of hazards viz. cyclones, floods and storm surges. Of late, these events have become extreme in nature and intensity. While occurrence and severity of the events is being linked to the phenomenon of climate change, their devastating potentialities are also getting triggered due to lack of resilience and coping capacity of the human community. That in turn depends on distribution of activities over the land i.e. land use pattern, affecting the socio -economic conditions directly. A coastal village often lacks infrastructural support, administrative attention and planning standards compared to a coastal city, thereby making it more vulnerable to disasters like flood. In a coastal city it is easy to govern and manage livelihood as land use depends highly on anthropogenic decisions. While in a coastal village, activities would highly depend on its natural characteristics viz. coastal geomorphology, soil, vegetation cover i.e. governance of livelihood by the eco-system. Hence, managing disaster through in-situ pro-active or developmental measures in a rural planning unit though imperative, is a challenging task. This paper focuses on spatial planning techniques for Restoration of ecological buffers and livelihood enhancement that would sustainably combat the impact of flood at village level in a coastal area. Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques have been used extensively in this study as application tools.     

湖南省农业生态环境建设的问题与对策

湖南作为长江流域重要的农业大省，在主要农产品产量大幅度增长的同时，农业生态环境中存在的问题仍然严重，生态环境整体上尚未根本好转。湖南生态环境中存在的问题主要有；灾害频率和强度提高；不适当的丘岗山地与坡耕地开发造成了严重的水土流失；环境污染日趋严重。文章结合已有研究工作，提出了湖南农业生态建设主攻方向和措施。作者认为，(1)加强水土流失治理，是减少水旱灾害的根本措施。水土流失治理的重点是综合开发潜力大、人类垦殖活动频繁、环境相对脆弱的丘陵地区。(2)要构建人地协调的高效农业生态系统。在丘岗山区，依据不同自然条件，构建高效农业生态系统。达到提高生产率并保护生态环境的目的；在平原湖区调整农业布局，实行避灾减灾种植制度。(3)要依靠科技进步，促进农业生态建设。     

Soil lead (Pb) in residential transects through Lubbock,Texas: a preliminary assessment

Residential lead (Pb) contamination, resulting from decades-long use of leaded gasoline and lead-based paint, is likely to be present in soils in most urban areas. A screening level sampling effort demonstrated that Lubbock, Texas, USA, like other cities of its age and size, has areas of elevated soil Pb. This effort was based on soil sampling performed on residential, commercial and thoroughfare properties. The focus of this study was to investigate that component of soil contamination due to combustion of leaded gasoline. Soils were collected from the 1–2 cm surface layer from street-side property borders, well away from buildings that might lead to soil contamination from leaded paint chips. All samples were analyzed for Pb after a 1 M HNO₃ mild extraction to determine the amount of bioavailable Pb. Two of three transects through the city demonstrated significant trends of decreasing Pb concentrations with distance from the city center, paralleling a decrease in developed property age. Peak soil Pb concentrations outside city development was 4.9 ± 0.6 mg/kg while the median concentration for the city was 35.4 mg/kg. Peak soil Pb concentrations in the city center ranged from 90.0 to 174.0 mg/kg and decreased exponentially to 6.0–9.0 mg/kg at the furthest terminus of the residential transects.     

Household Location Choices: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: Successful conservation efforts require understanding human behaviors that directly affect biodiversity. Choice of household location represents an observable behavior that has direct effects on biodiversity conservation, but no one has examined the sociocultural predictors of this choice relative to its environmental impacts. We conducted a case study of the Teton Valley of Idaho and Wyoming (U.S.A.) that (1) explored relationships between sociodemographic variables, environmental attitudes, and the environmental impact of household location choices, (2) assessed the potential for small household sizes in natural areas to multiply the environmental impacts of household location decisions, and (3) evaluated how length of residency predicted the environmental attitudes of people living in natural areas. We collected sociodemographic data, spatial coordinates, and land‐cover information in a survey of 416 households drawn from a random sample of Teton Valley residents (95% compliance rate). Immigrants (respondents not born in the study area) with the lowest education levels and least environmentally oriented attitudes lived in previously established residential areas in disproportionately high numbers, and older and more educated immigrants with the most environmentally oriented attitudes lived in natural areas in disproportionately high numbers. Income was not a significant predictor of household location decisions. Those living in natural areas had more environmental impact per person because of the location and because small households (<3 people/household) were 4 times as likely in natural areas as large households. Longer residency in natural areas predicted less environmentally oriented attitudes, suggesting that living in natural areas does not foster more concern for nature. Because populaces are rapidly aging, growing more educated, and potentially growing more environmentally oriented, these patterns are troubling for biodiversity conservation. Our results demonstrate a need for environmentalists to make household location decisions that reflect their environmental attitudes and future research to address how interactions between education level, environmental attitudes, population aging, and household location choices influence biodiversity conservation.     

城市绿地滞尘作用机理和规律的研究进展

城市绿地的滞尘作用是城市绿地重要的生态功能之一。综述了城市绿地的滞尘机理、变化规律。城市绿地的滞尘机理主要分为3种方式：滞留、附着和粘附;城市绿地滞尘能力与滞尘时间、城市环境、植物种、植物群落结构等因素存在密切的联系。不同植物滞尘能力的差异很大,总体规律表现为乔木植物〉灌木植物〉草本植物;但就单位叶面积来说,滞尘能力均以草本植物〉灌木植物〉乔木植物〉藤本植物;主要原因是垂直高度不同,灌草能有效截留地面的扬尘（城市中灰尘的主要来源）。研究表明,同种类植物种在封闭式环境条件下叶片滞尘量明显低于开敞式环境条件下的滞尘量,因此,在城市不同环境中的植物滞尘能力表现为工业区〉商业交通区〉居住区〉清洁区。随着季节和滞尘时间的变化,每种植物都存在一个滞尘限度,如果无雨水或人为干扰,最终达到一个动态平衡。从城市绿地群落的垂直结构看,乔—灌—草型的绿地具有相对较好的滞尘作用,是目前较为理想的绿地类型;另外,在城市绿地面积明显不足的情况下,以藤本植物为主的垂直绿化将成为城市绿化发展的新方向。同时,在城市绿地滞尘机理、规律以及植物滞尘能力评价等方面仍需要进一步深入研究。     

南疆西部不同植被类型NDVI对风沙灾害的响应

不同植被类型对风沙灾害的响应研究有助于风沙灾害的遥感监测评估和防灾减灾工作。采用传统统计学和空间自相关方法,利用MODIS的每日反射率和土地类型产品,分析了风沙灾害后南疆西部不同植被类型NDVI的变化规律及其空间分布特征。结果表明：风沙灾害后,研究区不同植被类型NDVI的差异在增大,NDVI变化值在一0．3865~0．4148之间,NDVI减小的面积占整个研究区面积的54．98％,变异系数增大值在2．44％～36．75％之间;受到风沙灾害的影响,研究区植被NDVI全局Moran’SI系数从0．7982减小到0．6786,但在空间上仍存在显著的正相关性,具有显著的空间集聚特征;由NDVI差值的局部空间自相关指标集聚图以及不同植被类型NDVI差值的空间关联区域面积百分比,可以发现落叶针叶林和裸地或低植被覆盖地受风沙灾害的影响较小,郁闭灌丛和作物受风沙灾害的影响较大。上述关于风沙灾害后南疆西部不同植被类型的变化及其空间格局的研究结果,不仅证明了防护林的风沙阻挡作用,也可以为风沙灾害的防治工作提供参考依据。     

Application of Markov-chain model for vegetation restoration assessment at landslide areas caused by a catastrophic earthquake in Central Taiwan

The 921 earthquake caused a catastrophic disaster in Central Taiwan. Ten years have passed since the earthquake occurred. Vegetation succession is the basis for establishing a restoration reference which plays an important role in vegetation restoration at landslide sites. Generally, growth conditions for grass are easier and the growth rate is faster than that for trees. Therefore, grass can be considered a pioneer species or an important reference for the early vegetation succession stage. This is the reason why grass is required to be extracted from other land covers. Integrating remote sensing, geographic information system and image classification into vegetation succession models is very important. In this study, the Markov chain model was applied for vegetation restoration assessment and discussion. Chiufenershan and Ninety-nine peaks were selected as the study areas. Five SPOT satellite images are used for land cover mapping and vegetation restoration simulations. Four categories of land covers were extracted, including forest, grass, bare land and water, respectively. From the transitive probability matrix (derived from any two land covers), the results show that vegetation restoration at the Chiufenershan and Ninety-nine peaks landslide areas is ongoing, but that has been disturbed by natural disasters.     

Assessment of a model of pollution disaster in near-shore coastal waters based on catastrophe theory

In this study, a model for assessing of environmental disasters in near-shore areas was developed using a multi-criteria evaluation method of catastrophe theory. The assessment model involved scenarios of eutrophication, pollution with heavy metals and organic compounds. An evaluation system of the model was composed of seven mesosphere indicators and twenty underlying indicators including water chemistry, water physics, water biology, heavy metals and organic pollutants in water and surface sediments. The model was applied to possibility assessment of environmental disasters in different functional regions of the Dalian Bay in 2001 and 2006. Results showed that the environmental disaster indicators in 2001 were equivalent to the Level 4 standard values of marine functional areas, but the eutrophication disaster indicators were lower than the Level 4 standard values. It is consistent with the occurrence of a large-scale red tide in Dalian Bay in 2001. In 2006, eutrophication remained the dominant problem of the region but organic pollutants, such as oil, were reduced remarkably. This coincided with ongoing local environmental-friendly practices for industries.     

挠力河流域农垦开发中居民地景观生态特征的变化

运用G IS、景观格局分析与聚落分析方法定量分析了挠力河流域在快速农垦开发中居民地分布格局的时空变化,探讨了景观格局形成的机制。景观指数分析表明近50 a来居民地面积和数目激增,居民地斑块面积、聚集度增大,表明人类对挠力河流域景观扰动持续增强。在所有背景地类中,居民地与耕地的邻接比例最高。伴随居民地和耕地迅速扩张,两者邻接比例呈上升趋势,两者相互影响越来越大。不同时期居民地扩张强度高值区分布有所不同,主要分布在早期的耕地新增区,1954—2000年挠力河流域居民地扩张高值区最终主要分布于该流域的西部与中部。虽然居民地数目和面积均激增,各居民地之间的距离亦呈缩短趋势,但居民地最近邻点指数表明,近50 a来挠力河流域居民地分布类型一直为随机分布,农垦经济仍占主导地位,人为规划比城镇发达地区薄弱。