Earthquake Risk Assessment of Sabah, Malaysia Based on Geospatial Approach

Sabah is located in the northeast region of East Malaysia and recognized as the most active seismic areas in Malaysia. The scalability and frequency of earthquakes are growing due to the existence of both local and distant ground motions from active faults, with more than 100 earthquake events have been recorded since 1923. On the other hand, the skewed socio-economic development process associated with the rapid population growth and changes in the family structure, inequality issues, and the lack of adaptation measures would intensify the vulnerability of the earthquakes. Key elements linked to socio-economic vulnerability need to be address in order to reduce the risk of earthquake. Based on previous studies, we identified vulnerabilities from a multi-dimensional perspective consisting of exposure, resilience and capacity across districts. Subsequently, a holistic indicators system with 18 variables was constructed to assess the potential earthquake vulnerability in Sabah, Malaysia. The accumulated data will present an earthquake vulnerability classification using a Geographical Information System (GIS) approach. Finally, the earthquake risk was derived by integrating the earthquake vulnerability map with earthquake hazard map proposed by the Department of Mineral and Geoscience (JMG) Malaysia. The results of the analysis revealed that the highest levels of earthquake risk accounts for 15.5% were concentrated in the eastern part of the Sabah region; the high-risk areas accounts for 7.7%; the moderate-risk areas accounts for 11.3%; and the area of low to very low risk accounts for 65.4%. Accordingly, it is expected that the derived earthquake vulnerability and risk map will allow the policymakers and response teams to improve the earthquake disaster mitigation and management in Sabah

Earthquake Risk Assessment of Sabah, Malaysia Based on Geospatial Approach

Sabah is located in the northeast region of East Malaysia and recognized as the most active seismic areas in Malaysia. The scalability and frequency of earthquakes are growing due to the existence of both local and distant ground motions from active faults, with more than 100 earthquake events have been recorded since 1923. On the other hand, the skewed socio-economic development process associated with the rapid population growth and changes in the family structure, inequality issues, and the lack of adaptation measures would intensify the vulnerability of the earthquakes. Key elements linked to socio-economic vulnerability need to be address in order to reduce the risk of earthquake. Based on previous studies, we identified vulnerabilities from a multi-dimensional perspective consisting of exposure, resilience and capacity across districts. Subsequently, a holistic indicators system with 18 variables was constructed to assess the potential earthquake vulnerability in Sabah, Malaysia. The accumulated data will present an earthquake vulnerability classification using a Geographical Information System (GIS) approach. Finally, the earthquake risk was derived by integrating the earthquake vulnerability map with earthquake hazard map proposed by the Department of Mineral and Geoscience (JMG) Malaysia. The results of the analysis revealed that the highest levels of earthquake risk accounts for 15.5% were concentrated in the eastern part of the Sabah region; the high-risk areas accounts for 7.7%; the moderate-risk areas accounts for 11.3%; and the area of low to very low risk accounts for 65.4%. Accordingly, it is expected that the derived earthquake vulnerability and risk map will allow the policymakers and response teams to improve the earthquake disaster mitigation and management in Sabah

Urban Transformation as a tool for Disaster Mitigation

Urban transformation projects are prepared with the purpose to sanitize decayed areas, to make cities beautiful and to create economic vitality. Since natural hazards threaten large metropolitan areas, urban transformation is pronounced together to mitigate disasters. This approach of urban transformation includes land use decisions related to hazard, risk and vulnerability analysis and to enhance the implementation of building codes respecting the current standards with application of urban transformation methodologies. Ideally urban transformation methodologies include not only physical and economic improvement but also provide social improvement concerning people who live in the area. Urban transformation seems to be the government’s primary tool for disaster mitigation by guiding urban development and improving the quality of housing stock in Turkey. Several attempts since 2005 to pass a bill to institutionalize this controversial strategy finally succeeded in 2010. In June, Law No. 5998, an amendment to Municipal Law No5393 of 2005, expanded item 73 on urban transformation projects to give municipalities the power to initiate Urban Transformation projects to rehabilitate urban areas or to mitigate disaster risk. According to this item in metropolitan areas, district municipalities can implement such projects within their jurisdictions with the approval of the metropolitan municipal council. Therefore Istanbul (Turkey) which is the biggest metropolitan area and waiting a big earthquake in next 30 years will be subjected to several urban transformation projects in the near future. In the paper, the urban transformation related to disaster mitigation approach will be discussed in the case of Istanbul in terms of descriptive analysis and proposals for future development.

"Last-Mile" preparation for a potential disaster

Extreme natural events, like e.g. tsunamis or earthquakes, regularly lead to catastrophes with dramatic consequences. In recent years natural disasters caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, destruction of infrastructure, disruption of economic activity and loss of billions of dollars worth of property and thus revealed considerable deficits hindering their effective management: Needs for stakeholders, decision-makers as well as for persons concerned include systematic risk identification and evaluation, a way to assess countermeasures, awareness raising and decision support systems to be employed before, during and after crisis situations. The overall goal of this study focuses on interdisciplinary integration of various scientific disciplines to contribute to a tsunami early warning information system. In comparison to most studies our focus is on high-end geometric and thematic analysis to meet the requirements of small-scale, heterogeneous and complex coastal urban systems. Data, methods and results from engineering, remote sensing and social sciences are interlinked and provide comprehensive information for disaster risk assessment, management and reduction. In detail, we combine inundation modeling, urban morphology analysis, population assessment, socio-economic analysis of the population and evacuation modeling. The interdisciplinary results eventually lead to recommendations for mitigation strategies in the fields of spatial planning or coping capacity

Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South

Environmental changes have significant impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods, particularly the urban poor and those living in informal settlements. In an effort to reduce urban residents’ exposure to climate change and hazards such as natural disasters, resettlement programmes are becoming widespread across the Global South. While resettlement may reduce a region’s future climate-related disaster risk, it often increases poverty and vulnerability, and can be used as a reason to evict people from areas undergoing redevelopment. A collaboration between the Bartlett Development Planning Unit at UCL, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and the Latin American Social Science Faculty, Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South collates the findings from 'Reducing Relocation Risks', a research project that studied urban areas across India, Uganda, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. The findings are augmented with chapters by researchers with many years of insight into resettlement, property rights and evictions, who offer cases from Monserrat, Cambodia, Philippines and elsewhere. The contributors collectively argue that the processes for making and implementing decisions play a large part in determining whether outcomes are socially just, and examine various value systems and strategies adopted by individuals versus authorities. Considering perceptions of risk, the volume offers a unique way to think about economic assessments in the context of resettlement and draws parallels between different country contexts to compare fully urbanised areas with those experiencing urban growth. It also provides an opportunity to re-think how disaster risk management can better address the accumulation of urban risks through urban planning

A Global Analysis of the Relationship Between Urbanization and Fatalities in Earthquake-Prone Areas

Urbanization can be a challenge and an opportunity for earthquake risk mitigation. However, little is known about the changes in exposure (for example, population and urban land) to earthquakes in the context of global urbanization, and their impacts on fatalities in earthquake-prone areas. We present a global analysis of the changes in population size and urban land area in earthquake-prone areas from 1990 to 2015, and their impacts on earthquake-related fatalities. We found that more than two thirds of population growth (or 70% of total population in 2015) and nearly three quarters of earthquake-related deaths (or 307,918 deaths) in global earthquake-prone areas occurred in developing countries with an urbanization ratio (percentage of urban population to total population) between 20 and 60%. Holding other factors constant, population size was significantly and positively associated with earthquake fatalities, while the area of urban land was negatively related. The results suggest that fatalities increase for areas where the urbanization ratio is low, but after a ratio between 40 and 50% occurs, earthquake fatalities decline. This finding suggests that the resistance of building and infrastructure is greater in countries with higher urbanization ratios and highlights the need for further investigation. Our quantitative analysis is extended into the future using Shared Socioeconomic Pathways to reveal that by 2050, more than 50% of the population increase in global earthquake-prone areas will take place in a few developing countries (Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh) that are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. To reduce earthquake-induced fatalities, enhanced resilience of buildings and urban infrastructure generally in these few countries should be a priority

URBAN DESIGN FOR TSUNAMI IMPACT MITIGATION; APPLICATION OF PHYSICAL ELEMENT

Abstract_ The increasing of tsunami event has called the integration of urban design for disaster impact mitigation. The Geodynamics position of many global cities puts latter areas are highly vulnerable to earthquake followed by tsunamis. In supporting its function as the main hub in social and economic and protecting environment, the employment of urban design for tsunami impact mitigation is hypothesized as sustainable mean. Therefore, this paper seeks the possibility of employment of urban design’s physical element for tsunami impact mitigation within disaster studies field using literature and case studies for Indonesian cities context. This study recommends that Infrastructure planning and design, Coastal forest, Early warning system, Emergency road network planning, Pre-tsunami evacuation planning and Building design and construction are suitable physical element for impact mitigation. Keywords: Urban Design; Tsunami; Mitigation; Physical Element

Natural and Technological Hazards in Urban Areas

Natural hazard events and technological accidents are separate causes of environmental impacts. Natural hazards are physical phenomena active in geological times, whereas technological hazards result from actions or facilities created by humans. In our time, combined natural and man-made hazards have been induced. Overpopulation and urban development in areas prone to natural hazards increase the impact of natural disasters worldwide. Additionally, urban areas are frequently characterized by intense industrial activity and rapid, poorly planned growth that threatens the environment and degrades the quality of life. Therefore, proper urban planning is crucial to minimize fatalities and reduce the environmental and economic impacts that accompany both natural and technological hazardous events

REMOTE OPERATION OF THE WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER

The remote control of real time derivation of earthquake location and magnitude and the issuance of tsunami and earthquake bulletins was done using off-the-shelf remote control software and hardware. Such remote operation of the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center can decrease the time needed to respond to an earthquake by eliminating travel from the duty standers’ home to the tsunami warning center

Achieving an integrated approach to reduce urban vulnerability against earthquake

The linkage between spatial planning and disaster management has been ignored in the urban area of Iran longtime. By extending of urbanization and industrialization in Iran, cities are faced problems such as expansion on hazard prone areas. The central issues of this study are to explore the relationship between risk reduction and urban development in both theory and practice, and to emphasize the need for better cooperation between spatial planning and disaster management in rapidly urbanizing regions. The main goal of the study is to examine and develop a spatial planning methodology that is led to promoting the urban resilience. Several research questions concerning the integration of disaster management and spatial planning, and information for planning support, have been examined. Extensive literature review, quantitative and qualitative analysis based on the primary and secondary data collection have been applied to answer these questions. In the Iranian context, urban planning and disaster management are both undergoing a complex transformation process in concepts, contents, working approaches and institutionalization. The city of Mashhad is the case study. Mashhad urban development process shows that the goals of disaster management in disaster prone areas have not been adequately reflected in the spatial planning system. A multi-disciplinary approach to deal with the conflicts of disaster risk reduction process and land use impacts in the urbanizing areas has not yet been fully developed. The trend of urban development in Mashhad shows that the size of the urban expansion spatially informal settlements will be larger in the coming decades and the pressure on high risk and disaster prone areas. Several new problems which may emerge on an even larger scale will make the situation more serious and complicated especially when an integrated solution of disaster risk reduction has not been fully realized. Therefore it is urgent to have integrated planning options from the strategic level to the local action level. This is the key point of the conceptual model for integrated plan-making process for urban planning system presented in this study