Developing a Web 2.0 technology for hazard response simulation

Published version used with permission from Higher Education Academy. Miller, S., & France, D. Proceedings of the HEA STEM Learning and Teaching Conference, 2012.Students studying disaster/hazard management in UK Higher Education institutions (HEi's) traditionally focus on hazard mapping and process analysis, but have limited opportunities to develop their risk communication skills which are required during emergency response situations. These skills are vital for the real world and employment. Opportunities to develop risk communication skills are not readily available to students during their studies as employers are reluctant to offer placements due to legal barriers. Therefore, universities have to develop tools to provide students with this vital ‘real-world’ experience. Over the last two years, the department of Geography & Development Studies at the University of Chester has begun to explore and evaluate the role of the Web 2.0 tool, Yammer (microblogging/communication tool) for natural hazard (volcano) simulation exercises. This paper highlights the continuing development of the natural hazard simulation exercise through input from external emergency/contingency practitioners locally and internationally to enhance its usability. Input from practitioners has resulted in the adaptation of the tool to flooding hazard emergency response and to other geographically based scenarios (e.g. crime analysis). The input from professionals in the field has enhanced the quality of the exercise/tool as well as providing students with vital employability skills currently used in the workplace of hazard management. Feedback from students highlighted their feeling of a ‘real-life’ pressure situation in which ‘real-time’ decisions have to be made in response to a rapidly changing environment. At the same time they indicated that their experience was stimulating, fun, innovative and enabled networking and interactive opportunities between tutors and students. The development of the Web 2.0 simulation tool through contributions from practitioners and an assessment as to whether the use of such technologies enhances student-learning experience is the focus of this paper.Higher Education Academ

Transitioning to Organic Rice Farming in Thailand: Drivers and Factors

The Thai government has made it part of the long-term strategy to produce more organic rice, particularly for the Chinese market, to sustain Thai economic growth. However, whilst there has been an increase in organic rice farming, the rate has been relatively slow compared to conventional methods. This research focuses on determining the drivers and factors that influences conversion to organic rice farming in order to better inform local and national policies. It provides an insight into the processes in the decision-making process of famers and the practices they use. Questionnaire and interview data from farmers from the leading rice production region, Surin was analyzed using logistic regression to understand the driver for of organic rice farming and well as the barrier and challenges of adopting to this practice. The findings highlight the critical role of extension farm officers in promoting, educating and motivating farmers to take on organic farming. The ability to access (affordable) loans through local cooperative and land-ownership were also key motivational factors. Young people (under 25) are not engaging with farming generally and this is a major barrier to long-term growth in the organic rice industry in Thailand

April 2010 UK Airspace closure: Experience and impact on the UK’s air-travelling

Ash emitted from the Eyjafjallajökull Icelandic volcano and which drifted into UK airspace resulted in the airspace being closed between the 14th and 20th of April 2010. The airport closure resulted in over a million travellers being affected and highlighted the shortcomings of airlines, travel agencies and governments to respond adequately to such crisis. In the current (2010) economic climate, where airline and travel companies are declaring themselves bankrupt with increased frequency, it is imperative that passengers do not lose confidence in the industry, which may impact directly on the industry’s continuing economic viability. Understanding passengers’ experiences is crucial to remedying negative experiences and harnessing ‘good practice’ for the advancement of the industry. To gain a better understanding of the crisis and its impact, a questionnaire was administered to members of the UK air-travelling public immediately after the airspace was re-opened. This research highlights the problems faced by passengers throughout the crisis and the way it impacted on their lives and livelihoods. Analysis of the survey results indicates two general themes regarding passengers’ support during the crisis. First, the needs for accommodation support during the crisis, and second, the need for effective, efficient, timely and reliable communication during the crisis, particularly to those stranded overseas. The latter is the dominant theme and the one that caused passengers the most stress, anxiety and inconvenience. Just over 90% of all those surveyed highlighted the failure of airline, travel agencies and/or government to provide timely and appropriate information as the major issue during the airspace closure. The airspace closure also caused adverse health impacts, with seventy-percent of respondents highlighting this as a concern. Although passengers were greatly inconvenienced and found their insurance cover insufficient during the crisis, fifty-six percent indicated that they would not take out additional ash cloud cover, with most citing the risk as too low to warrant it and/or the additional expense too much. Seventy-nine percent of respondents indicated that the crisis had little or no impact on their decision to fly in the futur

Development of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) activities and an Evaluation of their Impact on Learning: Geoscience students’ perceptions,

Recently, the recognition of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) tools in natural hazard management and disaster reduction has gained prominence. A successful CERC will ensure the relevant stakeholders are effective communicating with each other. This requires a clear plan and set of principles that enables the stakeholders to function effectively in a crisis. Students hoping to work in the emergency and natural hazard management field need to develop these skills. This paper outlines the development of a range of risk communicating activities including simulation exercises for undergraduate Geoscience students. Progress in the development of the students risk communication skill through the series of activities is tracked and evaluated. Results indicate that 87% of the students perceived their risk communication skills were good or excellent after undertaking the exercises compared to 26% before. This paper also evaluates the impact of the activities and if they motivated them to learn more about the subject as a whole. Students generally indicated that the exercises motivated them to learn more about natural hazard management and they felt that they have become better risk communicators. They also indicate that they gained a more in-depth understanding of the requirements of effective and timely communications should they need to develop a CERC strategy during a crisis

Geographical information systems (GIS) applied to landslide hazard mapping and evaluation in north-east Wales

Slope instability is a significant environmental hazard in North-East Wales, responsible for important damage to roads and built-up areas. During the late 1980s and the 1990s, systematic landslide mapping and hazard modelling was completed for a number of landslide prone areas within Great Britain, but no such study has to date been carried out for North Wales. This thesis reports on the creation of a digital landslide inventory for North-East Wales and the use of a Geographical Information System (GIS) to create the first landslide susceptibility models for the area. The research has resulted in the most comprehensive landslide inventory of NorthEast Wales completed to date. This was accomplished through a combination of aerial photograph interpretation, field mapping and data collection from secondary sources (e.g. consultancy reports, newspapers), yielding a database that records 430 landslides for the area. This represents a 76% (186 landslides) increase on the number of landslides recorded for the area in the UK national landslides database. The landslides in North-East Wales are almost entirely situated inland, with less than 1% on the coast. Approximately 84% of the landslides occur ~ithin drift geology and 16% in solid geology. For the slides of known type, 46% are translational slides, 47% rotational slides, 3% flows, 3% falls and 1% complex failures. The type and distribution of landsliding in the area shows notable differences to that found in areas of similar bedrock geology elsewhere in the UK (e.g. Derbyshire and South Wales). Analysis shows that the main landslide controlling parameters in North-East Wales are: lithology, drift material, slope angle, proximity to known faults (structural weaknesses) and proximity to fluvial channels (undercutting). These factors were weighted statistically based on their estimated contribution to slope instability, and combined to create the landslide susceptibility models using a statistical (multiple logistic regression) approach. The resulting models divide the landscape of NorthEast Wales into areas of 'low', 'moderate' and 'high' landslide susceptibility using calculated probability values. These models indicate that 8% of the surface exposure of drift deposits and 12% of the area of solid geology are classified as being of high or very high susceptibility to slope instability. Validation of the models indicates that they have success rates of up to 80% in predicting the location of known (documented and mapped) landslides. This compares very favourably to models produced elsewhere. The usefulness of the models as a landslide management tool has also been explored by carrying out a landslide impact survey for built-up areas of Holywell and Greenfield Valley in the north of the study area, where there are a number of well defined ('known') landslides. The landslide impact survey highlights that damage to the built environment extends beyond these known landslides into areas indicated by the models as being of high and very high susceptibility to slope instability. This emphasises the value of GIS techniques, incorporating direct and indirect landslide mapping, in landslide susceptibility modelling and associated landslide management

Coastal landslide mapping of the Black Ven Spittles complex, Charmouth

Landslides are not generally perceived as natural hazards that significantly affect the UK. However, slope instability affects many parts of Britain including the Dorset and Devon coastline. Black Ven Spittles is a classic landslide complex along this coastline, exhibiting some of the largest and most dynamic landslips in Europe. It has a long history of instability with significant events occurring as recently as 2008 when a succession of rock falls occurred towards the western side of the complex, uncovering waste material from the old town tip. With the beach adjacent to the landslide regularly used by tourists, fossil hunters and locals for recreational activities, it is of paramount importance that landslides be mapped to determine the active areas. Such mapping may be used for effectively managing the risk posed for this landslide complex. Through field and geospatial mapping techniques utilising remote sensing imagery and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), the most updated geomorphic map of the landslide complex is presented. The maps produced as a result of this research identify how the ‘system’ has changed since 1996 when the most comprehensive geomorphic map prior to this research was published. The most active section of the landslide complex is near the village of Charmouth, which is popular with tourists and fossil-hunters. By identifying this increasing risk, management can be better informed and the public made more accurately aware of this natural hazar

THE USE TOPOGRAPHIC DATABASE FOR NON STANDARD PROJECTS

The touristic maps are the one of the most popular and widely used among the society type of map. However the ones are not official map and no government entity of Poland responsible for producing and distributing this types of maps. Therefore they are not free for local governments. Tourist on line maps are an ideal way for cities and region to promote their local business community. Indeed, it is estimated that hundred billion is spent on travel and tourism annually in the Poland. This is why local governments spend a large financial outlay for the creation of online tourist maps. But the tourist maps created base on non-standardized and official source become quickly outdated and update them is expensive. It seems to be good solution use constantly updated topographic databases for produce tourist maps to promote cities. The one is funded with taxes therefore can be usable without fees for public entities and it is national resource not classified for national security reasons. The series of articles about use topographic database for non-standard project topics will present an algorithm and legal and technological limitations appearing during the attempts to use topographic maps to create online tourist maps base on topographic databases. The article is an introduction to this subject

Rainfall Thresholding and Susceptibility assessment of rainfall induced landslides: application to landslide management in St Thomas, Jamaica

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10064-009-0232-zThe parish of St Thomas has one of the highest densities of landslides in Jamaica, which impacts the residents, local economy and the built and natural environment. These landslides result from a combination of steep slopes, faulting, heavy rainfall and the presence of highly weathered volcanics, sandstones, limestones and sandstone/shale series and are particularly prevalent during the hurricane season (June–November). The paper reports a study of the rainfall thresholds and landslide susceptibility assessment to assist the prediction, mitigation and management of slope instability in landslide-prone areas of the parish

Geographical information systems (GIS) applied to landslide hazard mapping and evaluation in north-east Wales

Slope instability is a significant environmental hazard in North-East Wales, responsible for important damage to roads and built-up areas. During the late 1980s and the 1990s, systematic landslide mapping and hazard modelling was completed for a number of landslide prone areas within Great Britain, but no such study has to date been carried out for North Wales. This thesis reports on the creation of a digital landslide inventory for North-East Wales and the use of a Geographical Information System (GIS) to create the first landslide susceptibility models for the area. The research has resulted in the most comprehensive landslide inventory of NorthEast Wales completed to date. This was accomplished through a combination of aerial photograph interpretation, field mapping and data collection from secondary sources (e.g. consultancy reports, newspapers), yielding a database that records 430 landslides for the area. This represents a 76% (186 landslides) increase on the number of landslides recorded for the area in the UK national landslides database. The landslides in North-East Wales are almost entirely situated inland, with less than 1% on the coast. Approximately 84% of the landslides occur ~ithin drift geology and 16% in solid geology. For the slides of known type, 46% are translational slides, 47% rotational slides, 3% flows, 3% falls and 1% complex failures. The type and distribution of landsliding in the area shows notable differences to that found in areas of similar bedrock geology elsewhere in the UK (e.g. Derbyshire and South Wales). Analysis shows that the main landslide controlling parameters in North-East Wales are: lithology, drift material, slope angle, proximity to known faults (structural weaknesses) and proximity to fluvial channels (undercutting). These factors were weighted statistically based on their estimated contribution to slope instability, and combined to create the landslide susceptibility models using a statistical (multiple logistic regression) approach. The resulting models divide the landscape of NorthEast Wales into areas of 'low', 'moderate' and 'high' landslide susceptibility using calculated probability values. These models indicate that 8% of the surface exposure of drift deposits and 12% of the area of solid geology are classified as being of high or very high susceptibility to slope instability. Validation of the models indicates that they have success rates of up to 80% in predicting the location of known (documented and mapped) landslides. This compares very favourably to models produced elsewhere. The usefulness of the models as a landslide management tool has also been explored by carrying out a landslide impact survey for built-up areas of Holywell and Greenfield Valley in the north of the study area, where there are a number of well defined ('known') landslides. The landslide impact survey highlights that damage to the built environment extends beyond these known landslides into areas indicated by the models as being of high and very high susceptibility to slope instability. This emphasises the value of GIS techniques, incorporating direct and indirect landslide mapping, in landslide susceptibility modelling and associated landslide management.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Geographical information systems (GIS) applied to landslide hazard mapping and evaluation in north-east Wales

Slope instability is a significant environmental hazard in North-East Wales, responsible for important damage to roads and built-up areas. During the late 1980s and the 1990s, systematic landslide mapping and hazard modelling was completed for a number of landslide prone areas within Great Britain, but no such study has to date been carried out for North Wales. This thesis reports on the creation of a digital landslide inventory for North-East Wales and the use of a Geographical Information System (GIS) to create the first landslide susceptibility models for the area. The research has resulted in the most comprehensive landslide inventory of NorthEast Wales completed to date. This was accomplished through a combination of aerial photograph interpretation, field mapping and data collection from secondary sources (e.g. consultancy reports, newspapers), yielding a database that records 430 landslides for the area. This represents a 76% (186 landslides) increase on the number of landslides recorded for the area in the UK national landslides database. The landslides in North-East Wales are almost entirely situated inland, with less than 1% on the coast. Approximately 84% of the landslides occur ~ithin drift geology and 16% in solid geology. For the slides of known type, 46% are translational slides, 47% rotational slides, 3% flows, 3% falls and 1% complex failures. The type and distribution of landsliding in the area shows notable differences to that found in areas of similar bedrock geology elsewhere in the UK (e.g. Derbyshire and South Wales). Analysis shows that the main landslide controlling parameters in North-East Wales are: lithology, drift material, slope angle, proximity to known faults (structural weaknesses) and proximity to fluvial channels (undercutting). These factors were weighted statistically based on their estimated contribution to slope instability, and combined to create the landslide susceptibility models using a statistical (multiple logistic regression) approach. The resulting models divide the landscape of NorthEast Wales into areas of 'low', 'moderate' and 'high' landslide susceptibility using calculated probability values. These models indicate that 8% of the surface exposure of drift deposits and 12% of the area of solid geology are classified as being of high or very high susceptibility to slope instability. Validation of the models indicates that they have success rates of up to 80% in predicting the location of known (documented and mapped) landslides. This compares very favourably to models produced elsewhere. The usefulness of the models as a landslide management tool has also been explored by carrying out a landslide impact survey for built-up areas of Holywell and Greenfield Valley in the north of the study area, where there are a number of well defined ('known') landslides. The landslide impact survey highlights that damage to the built environment extends beyond these known landslides into areas indicated by the models as being of high and very high susceptibility to slope instability. This emphasises the value of GIS techniques, incorporating direct and indirect landslide mapping, in landslide susceptibility modelling and associated landslide management.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo