Comparative analysis of spring flood risk reduction measures in Alaska, United States and the Sakha Republic, Russia

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017River ice thaw and breakup are an annual springtime phenomena in the North. Depending on regional weather patterns and river morphology, breakups can result in catastrophic floods in exposed and vulnerable communities. Breakup flood risk is especially high in rural and remote northern communities, where flood relief and recovery are complicated by unique geographical and climatological features, and limited physical and communication infrastructure. Proactive spring flood management would significantly minimize the adverse impacts of spring floods. Proactive flood management entails flood risk reduction through advances in ice jam and flood prevention, forecasting and mitigation, and community preparedness. With the goal to identify best practices in spring flood risk reduction, I conducted a comparative case study between two flood-prone communities, Galena in Alaska, United States and Edeytsy in the Sakha Republic, Russia. Within a week from each other, Galena and Edeytsy sustained major floods in May 2013. Methods included focus groups with the representatives from flood managing agencies, surveys of families impacted by the 2013 floods, observations on site, and archival review. Comparative parameters of the study included natural and human causes of spring floods, effectiveness of spring flood mitigation and preparedness strategies, and the role of interagency communication and cooperation in flood risk reduction. The analysis revealed that spring flood risk in Galena and Edeytsy results from complex interactions among a series of natural processes and human actions that generate conditions of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Therefore, flood risk in Galena and Edeytsy can be reduced by managing conditions of ice-jam floods, and decreasing exposure and vulnerability of the at-risk populations. Implementing the Pressure and Release model to analyze the vulnerability progression of Edeytsy and Galena points to common root causes at the two research sites, including colonial heritage, unequal distribution of resources and power, top-down governance, and limited inclusion of local communities in the decision-making process. To construct an appropriate flood risk reduction framework it is important to establish a dialogue among the diverse stakeholders on potential solutions, arriving at a range of top-down and bottom-up initiatives and in conjunction selecting the appropriate strategies. Both communities have progressed in terms of greater awareness of the hazard, reduction in vulnerabilities, and a shift to more reliance on shelter-in-place. However, in neither community have needed improvements in levee protection been completed. Dialogue between outside authorities and the community begins earlier and is more intensive for Edeytsy, perhaps accounting for Edeytsy's more favorable rating of risk management and response than Galena's

Minimising flood risk accumulation through effective private and public sector engagement

Flooding is a global problem affecting both developing and developed countries. Academics and practitioners in climate science frequently argue that changing climatic conditions are likely to worsen the length and severity of these flood events, which will have catastrophic consequences to economies and social lives of communities world over. Whilst the overall consequences affecting many regions have been established, effective and efficient strategies to cope with the effects of flooding and building up resilience strategies have not properly evolved. This paper examines this issue by exploring effective strategies undertaken in partnerships between private and public stakeholders. The paper details two case studies conducted in a developed and a developing country to investigate what global strategies for coping and resilience to flooding have worked in practice. The two case studies: Cockermouth in Cumbria, UK and Patuakhali in Bangladesh provide interesting insights on how some of the strategies work within the chosen developed and developing country contexts. The case study findings are mapped against UNISDR’s ten-point checklist under the “Making Cities Resilient Campaign”. In conclusion the paper examines how these findings can be incorporated within city development plans to develop stakeholder capacity and capability and eventually build up resilient cities

Minimising flood risk accumulation through effective private and public sector engagement

Flooding is a global problem affecting both developing and developed countries. Academics and practitioners in climate science frequently argue that changing climatic conditions are likely to worsen the length and severity of these flood events, which will have catastrophic consequences to economies and social lives of communities world over. Whilst the overall consequences affecting many regions have been established, effective and efficient strategies to cope with the effects of flooding and building up resilience strategies have not properly evolved. This paper examines this issue by exploring effective strategies undertaken in partnerships between private and public stakeholders. The paper details two case studies conducted in a developed and a developing country to investigate what global strategies for coping and resilience to flooding have worked in practice. The two case studies: Cockermouth in Cumbria, UK and Patuakhali in Bangladesh provide interesting insights on how some of the strategies work within the chosen developed and developing country contexts. The case study findings are mapped against UNISDR’s ten-point checklist under the “Making Cities Resilient Campaign”. In conclusion the paper examines how these findings can be incorporated within city development plans to develop stakeholder capacity and capability and eventually build up resilient cities

Construction safety and digital design: a review

As digital technologies become widely used in designing buildings and infrastructure, questions arise about their impacts on construction safety. This review explores relationships between construction safety and digital design practices with the aim of fostering and directing further research. It surveys state-of-the-art research on databases, virtual reality, geographic information systems, 4D CAD, building information modeling and sensing technologies, finding various digital tools for addressing safety issues in the construction phase, but few tools to support design for construction safety. It also considers a literature on safety critical, digital and design practices that raises a general concern about ‘mindlessness’ in the use of technologies, and has implications for the emerging research agenda around construction safety and digital design. Bringing these strands of literature together suggests new kinds of interventions, such as the development of tools and processes for using digital models to promote mindfulness through multi-party collaboration on safet

Climate Services to Support Sustainable Tourism and Adaptation to Climate Change

Tourism is one of the largest global economic sectors, is a vital contributor to the economy of many nations, and is highly promoted as an important means of future development and poverty reduction in developing countries. The interface between climate and tourism is multifaceted and complex, with broad significance for tourist decision-making and expenditures, as well as industry marketing and operations worldwide. With the close relationship of tourism to the environment and climate, the integrated effects of climate change are anticipated to markedly affect tourism businesses and destinations, as well as the destination choices and mobility of individual tourists in the decades ahead. As recent major natural, political, and economic shocks have demonstrated, the tourism sector has relatively high adaptive capacity. Improved climate services will be vital for travelers and tourism businesses and destinations to adapt to climate change in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable manner. This paper outlines the range of applications of weather and climate information within the tourism sector and discusses priorities for future work to advance climate services for weather risk management and climate change adaptation for the tourism sector

Proactive construction safety systems and the human factor

The paper undertakes an extensive and critical review of published works concerning the state of the art in safety systems based on building information modelling (BIM). It finds that despite considerable developmental work, much of the focus has been on the design and planning stages of projects. A gap still exists during the construction stage due to the unexpected dynamics that occur on site and the way that responsive human behaviour is not always predictable or rational. Modern proactive safety systems offer advanced real-time tracking of workers on site, which can be concurrently mapped onto a BIM model of the progressive construction. Such technology aims to provide realtime audio warnings to individual workers if they wander too close to hazards. However, the review raises new and under-explored challenges concerning the human factor - especially the way workers interact with such technology. Evidence from other industries suggests that possible areas of concern include mistrust in warnings, ignoring warnings, over-reliance on technology and 'the boy who cried wolf' syndrome. Poor ergonomic design may lead to the technology being under-utilised. An ongoing agenda for behavioural testing is recommended to assist further development

Human Factors Standards and the Hard Human Factor Problems: Observations on Medical Usability Standards

With increasing variety and sophistication of computer-based medical devices, and more diverse users and use environments, usability is essential, especially to ensure safety. Usability standards and guidelines play an important role. We reviewed several, focusing on the IEC 62366 and 60601 sets. It is plausible that these standards have reduced risks for patients, but we raise concerns regarding: (1) complex design trade-offs that are not addressed, (2) a focus on user interface design (e.g., making alarms audible) to the detriment of other human factors (e.g., ensuring users actually act upon alarms they hear), and (3) some definitions and scope restrictions that may create “blind spots”. We highlight potential related risks, e.g. that clear directives on “easier to understand” risks, though useful, may preclude mitigating other, more “difficult” ones; but ask to what extent these negative effects can be avoided by standard writers, given objective constraints. Our critique is motivated by current research and incident reports, and considers standards from other domains and countries. It is meant to highlight problems, relevant to designers, standards committees, and human factors researchers, and to trigger discussion about the potential and limits of standards

Exploring the data needs and sources for severe weather impact forecasts and warnings : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Management at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Figures 2.4 & 2.5 are re-used with permission.The journal articles in Appendices J, L & M are republished under respective Creative Commons licenses. Appendix K has been removed from the thesis until 1 July 2022 in accordance with the American Meteorological Society Copyright Policy, but is available open access at https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-21-0093.1Early warning systems offer an essential, timely, and cost-effective approach for mitigating the impacts of severe weather hazards. Yet, notable historic severe weather events have exposed major communication gaps between warning services and target audiences, resulting in widespread losses. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has proposed Impact Forecasts and Warnings (IFW) to address these communication gaps by bringing in knowledge of exposure, vulnerability, and impacts; thus, leading to warnings that may better align with the position, needs, and capabilities of target audiences. A gap was identified in the literature around implementing IFWs: that of accessing the required knowledge and data around impacts, vulnerability, and exposure. This research aims to address this gap by exploring the data needs of IFWs and identifying existing and potential data sources to support those needs. Using Grounded Theory (GT), 39 interviews were conducted with users and creators of hazard, impact, vulnerability, and exposure (HIVE) data within and outside of Aotearoa New Zealand. Additionally, three virtual workshops provided triangulation with practitioners. In total, 59 people participated in this research. Resulting qualitative data were analysed using GT coding techniques, memo-writing, and diagramming. Findings indicate a growing need for gathering and using impact, vulnerability, and exposure data for IFWs. New insight highlights a growing need to model and warn for social and health impacts. Findings further show that plenty of sources for HIVE data are collected for emergency response and other uses with relevant application to IFWs. Partnerships and collaboration lie at the heart of using HIVE data both for IFWs and for disaster risk reduction. This thesis contributes to the global understanding of how hydrometeorological and emergency management services can implement IFWs, by advancing the discussion around implementing IFWs as per the WMO’s guidelines, and around building up disaster risk data in accordance with the Sendai Framework Priorities. An important outcome of this research is the provision of a pathway for stakeholders to identify data sources and partnerships required for implementing a hydrometeorological IFW system

Barriers to Communicating Disaster Response Information to the Public during Disaster Situations

Effektive Kommunikation von Gefahrenabwehrinformationen vor, während und nach einer Katastrophe kann Leben retten und dazu beitragen, dass Betroffene Zugang zu Rettungsmaßnahmen erhalten. In dieser Hinsicht dienen Meldungen dazu, die Allgemeinheit zu informieren und deren Handlungen zu beeinflussen. Dennoch bleiben gewünschte Reaktionen in vielen Fällen aus, oder erweisen sich als unzureichend um den Folgen von Katastrophen entgegenzuwirken. Somit wird trotz der Veröffentlichung von Warnungen eine große Zahl an Menschen von Katastrophen beeinträchtigt oder kommt sogar zu Tode. Außerdem leiden viele Menschen im Anschluss an Katastrophen weiter, obwohl Hilfe zur Verfügung steht. Die Absicht dieser Forschungsarbeit besteht darin festzustellen, welche Faktoren effektive Kommunikation innerhalb einer Katastrophensituation erschweren. Obwohl die jeweiligen Akteure im Katastrophenkommunikationssystem darauf abzielen die Allgemeinheit zu informieren, berücksichtigen sie Kommunikationsprobleme oft nicht angemessen. Allerdings können Kommunikationsprobleme der Grund dafür sein, dass Meldungen die Allgemeinheit entweder nicht erreichen, oder nicht vollständig verstanden werden. Je weniger Informationen der Öffentlichkeit zur Verfügung stehen, desto größer ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass Menschen Entscheidungen fällen, die ihr Leben gefährden. Meine Herangehensweise an dieses Problem erfolgte von der Systemperspektive. Ziel eines jeden Katastrophenkommunikationssystem besteht darin, die öffentliche Sicherheit in Bezug auf eine Katastrophensituation zu gewährleisten. Dieses Ziel wird durch den Kommunikationsvorgang erreicht. In aller Regel umfasst ein Katastrophenkommunikationssystem ein komplexes Netzwerk aus Menschen, Organisationen und Kommunikationskanälen. Hierbei fungiert das Katastrophenkommunikationssystem im Rahmen einer Katastrophenumgebung, die sich fortlaufend ändert. Die Kombination aus einem komplexen Kommunikationssystem zum Einen und einer dynamischen Katastrophenumgebung zum Anderen verschärft Kommunikationsprobleme. Mit Hilfe von drei Fallstudien wurde ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis erlangt, wie Gefahrenabwehrinformationen die Allgemeinheit während einer Katastrophensituation tatsächlich erreichen. In diesem Zusammenhang wurden Typhoon Haiyan und Hagupit auf den Philippinen sowie das Gorkha Erdbeben in Nepal untersucht. Quantitative Umfragen mit Individuen und lokalen Amtsträgern aus Katastrophengebieten wurden durchgeführt. Mit Schlüsselpersonen aus verschiedenen Regierungs- und Nichtregierungsorganisationen wurden qualitative Befragungen absolviert. Die Ergebnisse der Fallstudien erläutern wie Individuen und Regierungsvertreter in beiden Ländern im Verlauf einer Katastrophensituation einerseits Informationen ersuchen und andererseits miteinander kommunizieren. Ebenso zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass Verhaltensweisen hinsichtlich Beschaffung und Kommunikation von Informationen von Geschlecht, Standort und Alter abhängen. Zugleich haben die Fallstudien dazu beigetragen, die verschiedenen Akteure innerhalb des Katastrophenkommunikationssystems zu benennen und ihre Beziehungen untereinander zu verdeutlichen. Des Weiteren wurden thematische Analysen ausgearbeitet, um fundierte Kenntnisse über charakteristische Inhalte der Gefahrenabwehrmeldungen zu gewinnen. Dazu wurden für insgesamt 21 Katastrophenereignisse die dazugehörigen Meldungen bezüglich der Sachlage ausgewertet. Die thematischen Analysen führten zur Entwicklung von Klassifikationsschemen. Diese unterteilen den Inhalt einer Gefahrenabwehrmeldung in bestimmte Kategorien um weiterführende Untersuchungen unternehmen zu können. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird eine Methodik zur Analyse der Gefahrenabwehrmeldungen in Echtzeit vorgestellt. Durch das Zusammenführen der Fallstudienergebnisse, der thematischen Analysen sowie der Literatur ist ein konzeptionelles Modell für ein typisches Katastrophenkommunikationssystem entstanden. Der Zweck des Modells liegt darin, die Diskussion bezüglich Katastrophenkommunikationsplänen und Problemlösungsvorschlägen zu verbessern. Im Hinblick auf die ermittelten Hindernisfaktoren gegenüber effektiver Kommunikation findet dieses Modell Anwendung bei der Frage, wie es Akteure dabei unterstützen kann eben solche Hindernisfaktoren zu beheben. Schlussendlich haben die Ergebnisse Auswirkungen auf alle Individuen und Organisationen, die bestrebt sind mit der Öffentlichkeit im Verlauf einer Katastrophe zu kommunizieren