Exploring the Emergency Planning Requirements: A Qualitative Research Study at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to explore emergency planning requirements for managing disasters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study adopted interpretivism; an inductive approach; a descriptive survey; and qualitative methods to address its aim. The techniques used included a literature review and semi-structured interviews. The study sample consisted of 13 experts from the KSA General Directorate of Civil Defense (GDCD). The data were analyzed by using content analysis. The study findings revealed that the emergency planning requirements are administrative requirements, including regulations and legislation; technical requirements, which include equipment; human resources, including staff and responders; identifying, analyzing, and evaluating risks; determining the tasks and responsibilities of the relevant agencies and stakeholders; qualified leadership; determining the chain of command at national and local levels; coordination and cooperation among stakeholders; knowledge gained from local or international experiences; updated database; the availability of sufficient financial resources; completed infrastructure; and improved training and practice. The study also found that although emergency planning requirements are more or less in place, there is a need for further improvement and development; specifically, there is a need for better understanding, knowledge, and awareness. Consequently, it strongly recommends that all emergency planning requirements developed from this study should be implemented simultaneously and as an integrated whole. By doing so, it could help decision-makers and emergency planners at government emergency agencies to improve, develop, and reinforce emergency planning, specifically in reducing disaster risks

Flood Hazard Mapping and Assessment of Precipitation Monitoring System Using GIS-Based Morphometric Analysis and TRMM Data: A Case Study of the Wadi Qena Watershed, Egypt

Wadi Qena is one of the Nile Valley areas particularly at risk of severe flash flooding, located in Egypt. The study aims to verify TRMM rainfall data (TRMM 3B42), using eight stations across Egypt as well as relies on morphometric analysis to generate a flood risk map based on the ranking method. Three process could be recognized through the study, calibration, correction and verification processes. The results discuss the match daily rainfall trends of TRMM and observed data, producing a correction equation for TRMM data with root mean square error (RMSE) value of 0.837 mm d-1 and R2= 0.238 (calibration process). On the other hand, a verification process, using the developed correction equation, obtain RMSE value of 1.701 mm d-1 and R2= 0.601. The morphometric analysis shows 32 sub-basins with a hazard degree from moderate to high, amounting to 50.3% of the watershed area. Conclusively, this study confirms that the current monitoring system is not enough to cover the whole area, especially the high-risk sub-basins, and TRMM data could provide key information for water-related applications in Egypt

Assessing Resilient Post-Disaster Recovery of A Flash-Flood-Prone Area: A Study of the City of Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract The increased incidence of natural disasters over recent decades has been accompanied by a corresponding dramatic proliferation of human casualties, economic damage and recovery costs. Post-disaster processes are therefore increasingly becoming the paramount focus of disaster-management stakeholders. Current research has noted the importance of improving community resilience with respect to household capacity, organizational capacity, and social capital, as the three main assessment dimensions to enable communities to recover effectively and efficiently from future disaster events. Community resilience involves proactive preparedness and mitigation initiatives. In the context of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the lack of either precedent research or functioning post-disaster recovery policies made the 2009 and 2011 flash floods in the City of Jeddah extremely serious natural disasters. The principal objective of the research conducted for this thesis was to evaluate the importance and implications of the role of the three main assessment dimensions as well as the effect of religious aspects that characterized Saudi society during and post-disaster with respect to improving flood resilience, speeding recovery, and minimizing the detrimental impact on vulnerable communities. In addition, the optimal utilization of social capital, efficient internal cohesion, and effective resource-sharing within and across any community groups to ensure their advance preparedness and contribution are also fundamental and critical factors that must be addressed if post-disaster recovery is to be sustainable and resilient. The research entailed a literature review, including an examination of the lessons learned from the 2009 and 2011 flash floods in the City of Jeddah. Drawing from the literature, an initial resilient post-disaster assessment framework (RPDR-AF) was developed. The field case study involved three sources of information: secondary data, interviews, and field observations. Interviewees included household members, government officials, community leaders, and participating NGOs and CBOs. The empirical analysis combined qualitative and quantitative techniques focusing on themes derived from the RPDR-AF. The results of the research indicate a strong correlation between the incorporation of all three assessment concepts and the successful planning of a long-term recovery strategy. The research also shows that religious practices and leaders can be strong motivators for the implementation of effective overall post-disaster responses and can also deliver significant spiritual, emotional, and psychological support for alleviating the trauma associated with the recovery process. Based on the empirical analysis of the research results, a refined framework was developed. In addition, general and strategic recommendations were outlined to improve disaster resilience for the City of Jeddah. The framework would be useful for local government, decision-makers, volunteer organizations, local citizens (e.g., for perceiving the relevant tasks during a flash flood and act quickly accordingly), and relevant major stakeholders related to disaster management and recovery. The model was built based on a hypothetical notion that it would suit the study area considering the religious affiliation of the local citizens. However, improvement might be extended considering geographical locations and different socio-economic circumstances. Future avenues of investigation include improving the implementation of recovery planning and management as well as enhancing the knowledge and efficiency associated with the restoration, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of the assets and areas affected. In conclusion, the developed framework will provide Saudi authorities with a strategic tool for assessing and improving flood resilience and recovery and for reducing the multiple effects of a natural disaster, while effectively facilitating an enhanced capacity for resilience in other at-risk Saudi communities

RAIN-INDUCED HAZARDS IN REMOTE, LOW-RESOURCE COMMUNITIES: A CASE STUDY OF FLASH FLOODING IN THE USULUTÁN DEPARTMENT, EL SALVADOR

Rain-induced natural hazards can lead to devastating and potentially life-threatening impacts. Understanding areas susceptible to flash flooding and characterizing the intensity of flash flood events is critical in improving the mitigation and emergency preparedness of vulnerable communities. Flash floods occur on small spatial scales and for short durations making it challenging to classify flash flood susceptibility and forecast events. Modeling flash flooding becomes even more difficult when focusing on data-poor regions. This study is based in California, El Salvador, an agricultural community located in the Central American Dry Corridor (CADC), a region experiencing the impacts of climate change and associated natural hazards, including flash flood events. The research objective is to improve knowledge of rain-induced hazards in remote, low-resource communities using methods from hazard mapping and modeling. ArcGIS Pro is used to create a flash flood susceptibility map of the Usulután Department, El Salvador to gain a spatial understanding of the hazard. The Water Evaluation and Planning system (WEAP) is then applied to model sub-daily flash flooding events in a California drainage well-known for flash flooding. This study can provide insights into how an area with little surface water can still experience flash flooding, an initial step in understanding groundwater hydrology in a data-poor region. The flash flood susceptibility map created in ArcGIS Pro provides valuable information for determining potential locations of interest for flood monitoring and more in-depth analysis. The WEAP model applied field work, climate data, topography, soil infiltration rates, and other estimated variables to model flash flood events by simulating time-varying streamflow rates for various scenarios. This research seeks to promote further monitoring of rainfall and land use change, encourage increased incorporation of local knowledge to improve future flash flood research, and inspire future flash flood mapping and modeling in data-poor regions

Landscapes of Danger: A Geospatial Analysis of Perceived and Realistic Risk in Bryce Canyon National Park

The quantification of risk has inspired a wide breath of literature from the physical sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary disciplines like geography. Many attempts to estimate risk via natural hazards either focus on quantifying realistic risk or perceived risk of lay persons, with very little overlap between these paradigms. Due to this, a considerable knowledge gap exists within perceived risk and natural hazards research. This study aims to provide a comprehensive, risk estimation and assessment strategy through a multi-hazard risk assessment of Bryce Canyon National Park (BRCA). This case study analyzed knowledge of risk among visitors with perception surveys and Likert-based scales, in addition to identifying high risk areas of the park through Geographic Information Systems (gis). With a sample size of 254, a systematic stratified sampling method was implemented at specific sites in the park chosen for their distinctive viewsheds, accessibility, and popularity. To identify risky areas, two fuzzy logic models were built: one to identify areas susceptible to rockfall and another to identify areas susceptible to landslides/slumps. Overall, respondents reported feeling largely unconcerned when ranking their perception of various risks within the park (µ = 2.1, σ = .78), however, perception gaps and demographic influences were revealed on individual event types. When asked to identify dangerous areas of the park, participants tended to select locations in the main amphitheater – the most highly trafficked area of the park – even though the fuzzy logic models showed a wider range of locations were susceptible to mass wasting events

SWAT model application to estimate runoff for ungauged arid catchments experiencing rapid urbanisation: Riyadh case study

The built-up area of Riyadh city increased from approximately 4.5 km² in 1950 to reach approximately 1,600 km² by 2022 spreading over vast areas of the Wadi Hanifah and Wadi As Silayy catchments. The rapid growth of the city has led to repeated urban flooding. There is an urgent need to study surface runoff and how it is affected by land-use/land-cover (LULC) change in the ungauged catchments of the city. This study addressed that knowledge gap and was the first attempt to calibrate, validate, and run a semi-distributed model to simulate runoff depths and discharge rates for Riyadh's main catchments and sub-basins using five historical and five future scenarios. The Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used for the modelling. TerraClimate evapotranspiration (ET) data was used to calibrate the SWAT model owing to a dearth of observed runoff data across Riyadh city. The literature review revealed that the use of Terraclimate ET to calibrate SWAT models is still very limited so far. The only previous study found is Herman et al. (2020). Therefore, this study is fairly unique in that it uses Terraclimate ET to successfully calibrate and validate a SWAT model. A one-by-one sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of changing parameter values on the runoff simulations. The results indicated that simulated runoff sensitivity to selected parameter values in the calibrated SWAT models was minimal in the study area, where the relationships between simulated annual runoff and max and min runoff resulted in a very strong R2 (0.9998). The calibrated and validated SWAT models were run monthly and daily to simulate runoff and to assess the impact of several LULC change scenarios on surface runoff for both historical and future periods. The results of SWAT models of the main catchments and sub-basins located within the built-up areas demonstrated the positive effect of Riyadh’s development on runoff and discharge values for historical LULC scenarios and LULC 2030 probabilities scenarios. But the increasing rates of simulated runoff were not the same for all sub-basins due to the different proportions of urbanisation in each sub-basin. On the contrary, simulation results showed that runoff depths and discharge rates in sub-basins outside the boundaries of the built-up areas of Riyadh did not have significant changes when using historical LULC scenarios or LULC 2030 probabilities scenarios. The increase in runoff depths and discharge rates in the sub-basins reflected the direct influence of the urbanisation process on surface runoff. The increase in simulated surface runoff and discharge can be attributed mainly to the potential decrease of relatively permeable barren lands and the increase of impervious urban surfaces. Limitations faced during the SWAT model development suggest further research should aim to get detailed and accurate runoff estimates in Riyadh city to sufficiently assist decision-makers and city officials to adopt runoff and flood hazard management schemes in the city

Hydrological Modeling for Flood Risk Management and Mitigation Efforts in the Rhine River Basin

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesUrban flooding is a global issue that affects millions of people every year. It is the most frequent natural hazard to affect large cities, and causes numerous damages to personal property, city infrastructure, and in some cases loss of life. In July of 2021, western Germany was greatly impacted by urban flooding; from the 14 to 15th of July, more than 180 lives were lost due to intense rainfall and flooding, with more than 40,000 people affected. In this work the flooding of 2021 was modeled within the Upper Rhine River basin using the LISFLOOD-OS hydrological model, to conduct a flood-risk analysis in one of the most impacted states during the flooding even, Rhineland Pfalz. Further, the calibrated model was run with higher levels of precipitation to determine possible risks associated with a future flooding event in the same region. To calculate flood-risk, flood depth-damage functions were implemented on simulation outputs to determine flood-risk. Reliability of the flood-risk analysis was done by comparing Copernicus monitored flood extent data from the flooding event against the flood-risk classification map. Results show that the flooding event of 2021 could be modeled with reasonable discharge levels compared to observations from the Mainz gauging station, producing a KGE score of 0.438; further, land use classes which received the highest damage values in both the simulated flooding event of 2021 and in the future flooding event scenario were agricultural and residential areas. High-risk areas from the flood simulation of 2021 fell within Copernicus monitored flood extent areas, highlighting the potential of this methodology to be applied to future flood-risk management practices