15/06/2016

Earthquakes,FloodsandLandslidesICSU

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Earthquakes,FloodsandLandslides

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ExecutiveSummaryofSciencePlanonHazardsandDisasters:Earthquakes,FloodsandLandslides

With the passage of time, the impacts of natural and human

induced environmental hazards and disasters continue to
increase.Theimportantquestionis:Why,despiteadvancesinthe
naturalandsocialsciencesofhazardsanddisasters,dolosses
continue to increase? Keeping this in mind ICSU created a
Planning Group to make suitable recommendations for
implementation.
The geographical area covered by ICSU ROAP accounts for
Earthquakes,FloodsandLandslides
morethanonehalfoftheworldspopulationandforalmost80%
of all losses due to natural hazards globally. The classical
examplesintherecentpastare:theSumatraearthquakeof2004andtheresultanttsunamithatclaimedsome
250,000 human lives and inflicted unprecedented economic losses two tropical storms that caused 130,000
deathsinBangladeshin1991andthe2002landslideinNepalwhichaffected265,000people.Chinahada
massiveearthquakeonMay12,2008claimingabout70,000lives.
ICSUhadalreadytakenamajorinitiativetoaddresstheissueofNaturalHazards,ROAPchoseNaturaland
HumanInducedEnvironmentalHazardsandDisastersinAsiaandthePacificasapriorityareainSeptember
2006.AttheBoardMeetingofROAPinTehran,Iran,inMarch2007,itwasdecidedthatROAPshallfocuson
threenaturalhazards,namelyfloods,earthquakesandlandslides.Thereareseveralbodies,andnationaland
internationalprogrammesoperatinginhazardrelatedstudiesICSUROAPseffortistocollaborateinafewniche
areas.
ThegroupnotedthespecialsituationfortheROAPgeographicalareaduetothepresenceofalargenumberof
islandsvulnerabletohazardsintheregion.Involvementofsocialscientistsisnecessarytoensurethatbenefitsof
currentdayknowledgeareappropriatelyimplementedtoreducehazards.Werecognizethattheresultsofbasic
researchformthefoundationofallscientificandtechnicalinterventions.Weshallemphasizeontheuseofthe
availableresultsandinterweavethemwithsocialsciencestomakethemeffective.
Themajorrecommendationsarehighlightedbelow.
Earthquakes
SeveralcountriesintheAsiaPacificregiondonothaveadequateearthquakerecordingfacilities,whichneedto
beidentifiedandimproved.Thedevelopmentofscenariosofpresentdaylosses(socialandeconomic),ifearlier
earthquakes recur, and building codes for earthquakeprone countries is also necessary. A major effort is
requiredtoestimatetheaccelerationsatthesurfacetakingintoconsiderationthelocalgroundconditionsand
usethemformicrozonationofmajorcities.Selfdesignednonengineeredhomescanbeimprovedenormously
bysimpleinexpensiveretrofitting.Itisalsoimportanttolearntolivewithearthquakesinearthquakeproneareas.
This is where promotion of public awareness plays a vital role. Artificial water reservoirs have
triggereddamagingearthquakes.Therearewaysandmeansnowavailabletofindsafersites.Afew(fourtofive)
casestudiesofearthquakeswouldbeveryhelpful.
Floods
Aneffortisrequiredtosetupsophisticatedfloodpredictionandwarningsystemsashasbeenalreadydonein
many developed countries. It would be important to identify vulnerability of countries to flooding and develop
suitablebuildingcodesandconstructionregulationsandaXrobustmethodologytoimplementthem.Itisalso
crucialtocommunicateinformationrelatedtofloodpreventionandmitigationtocommunitiesfortheiruse.The
proposedfloodrelatedworkwouldbecoordinatedwithotherexistingnationalandinternationalprogrammes.
Landslides
Rapidpopulationgrowthhasintensifiedurban,mountainandcoastaldevelopmentintheAsiaandthePacific
region, which are increasing humaninduced landslide hazard and landslide vulnerability in urbanized areas.
Application of landslide prevention technology is required in areas such as cultural heritage sites and other
locationsofhighsocietalvalues,whererelocationandearlywarningarenotpossibleorverydifficult.Themost
costeffective measure to mitigate landslide disasters is early warning and evacuation. Timely prediction and
earlywarningtechnology,suitablefortheAsiaandthePacificregionshouldbedeveloped.Afewcasestudiesof
landslideswouldbeveryhelpful.
DisasterManagementandCapacityBuilding

http://www.icsu.org/icsuasia/publications/scienceplanningreports/scienceplanonhazardsanddisasters/earthquakesfloodsandlandslides

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Earthquakes,FloodsandLandslidesICSU
It has been recognized that the available scientific knowledge is not being fully utilized in forecasting the
hazards,estimatingtherisks,andthenecessaryoutreachforthebenefitofthepublic,particularlyinalargepart
oftheareacoveredbyROAP.Itisimportanttostresstheroleofsocialsciencesinunderstandinghazardsand
theirmitigationandtheroleoftheprivatesectorandcivilsocietiesinbuildingandenhancingregionalcapacity
for disaster reduction, building selfsustaining capacity at various levels for different hazards and establishing
continuityincapacitybuilding.
The science plan suggests to develop projects relevant to the problems identified. We hope to improve the
situationintheAsiaPacificregionwithsupportandcollaborationofallconcernedsothatfewerhazardevents
developintodisasters.

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