Integrating Remote Sensing and Social Science - The correlation of urban morphology with socioeconomic parameters

The alignment, small-scale transitions and characteristics of buildings, streets and open spaces constitute a heterogeneous urban morphology. The urban morphology is the physical reflection of a society that created it, influenced by historical, social, cultural, economic, political, demographic and natural conditions as well as their developments. Within the complex urban environment homogeneous physical patterns and sectors of similar building types, structural alignments or similar built-up densities can be localized and classified. Accordingly, it is assumed that urban societies also feature a distinctive socioeconomic urban morphology that is strongly correlated with the characteristics of a city’s physical morphology: Social groups settle spatially with one’s peer more or less segregated from other social groups according to, amongst other things, their economic status. This study focuses on the analysis, whether the static physical urban morphology correlates with socioeconomic parameters of its inhabitants – here with the example indicators income and value of property. Therefore, the study explores on the capabilities of high resolution optical satellite data (Ikonos) to classify patterns of urban morphology based on physical parameters. In addition a household questionnaire was developed to investigate on the cities socioeconomic morphology

On the importance of risk knowledge for an end-to-end tsunami early warning system

Warning systems commonly use information provided by networks of sensors able to monitor and detect impending disasters, aggregate and condense these information to provide reliable information to a decision maker whether to warn or not, disseminates the warning message and provide this information to people at risk. Ultimate aim is to enable those in danger to make decisions (e.g. initiate protective actions for buildings) and to take action to safe their lives. This involves very complex issues when considering all four elements of early warning systems (UNISDR-PPEW), namely (1) risk knowledge, (2) monitoring and warning service, (3) dissemination and communication, (4) response capability with the ultimate aim to gain as much time as possible to empower individuals and communities to act in an appropriate manner to reduce injury, loss of life, damage to property and the environment and loss of livelihoods. Commonly most warning systems feature strengths and main attention on the technical/structural dimension (monitoring & warning service, dissemination tools) with weaknesses and less attention on social/cultural dimension (e.g. human response capabilities, defined warning chain to and knowing what to do by the people). Also, the use of risk knowledge in early warning most often is treated in a theoretical manner (knowing that it is somehow important), yet less in an operational, practical sense. Risk assessments and risk maps help to motivate people, prioritise early warning system needs and guide preparations for response and disaster prevention activities. Beyond this risk knowledge can be seen as a tie between national level early warning and community level reaction schemes. This presentation focuses on results, key findings and lessons-learnt related to tsunami risk assessment in the context of early warning within the GITEWS (German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning) project. Here a novel methodology reflecting risk information needs in the early warning context has been worked out. The generated results contribute significantly in the fields of (1) warning decision and warning levels, (2) warning dissemination and warning message content, (3) early warning chain planning, (4) increasing response capabilities and protective systems, (5) emergency relief and (6) enhancing communities’ awareness and preparedness towards tsunami threats. Additionally examples will be given on the potentials of an operational use of risk information in early warning systems as first experiences exist for the tsunami early warning center in Jakarta, Indonesia. Beside this the importance of linking national level early warning information with tsunami risk information available at the local level (e.g. linking warning message information on expected intensity with respective tsunami hazard zone maps at community level for effective evacuation) will be demonstrated through experiences gained in three pilot areas in Indonesia. The presentation seeks to provide new insights on benefits using risk information in early warning and will provide further evidence that practical use of risk information is an important and indispensable component of end-to-end early warning

Generating tsunami risk knowledge at community level as a base for planning and implementation of risk reduction strategies

More than 4 million Indonesians live in tsunami-prone areas along the southern and western coasts of Sumatra, Java and Bali. Although there now exists a Tsunami Early Warning Center in Jakarta, installed after the devastating 2004 tsunami, it is essential to develop tsunami risk knowledge within exposed communities as a basis for tsunami disaster management. Communities need to implement risk reduction strategies to mitigate potential consequences. The major aims of this paper are to present a risk assessment methodology which (1) identifies areas of high tsunami risk in terms of potential loss of life, (2) bridges the gaps between research and practical application, and (3) can be implemented at community level. High risk areas have a high need of action to improve people’s response capabilities towards a disaster and thus to reduce the risk. The methodology developed here is based on a GIS approach and combines hazard probability, hazard intensity, population density and people’s response capability to assess the risk. Within the framework of the GITEWS (German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System) project, the methodology was applied to three pilot areas; one of which is southern Bali. Bali’s tourism is concentrated for a great part in the communities of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. Here alone, about 20,000 people live in high and very high tsunami risk areas. The development of risk reduction strategies is therefore of significant interest. A risk map produced for the study area in Bali can be used for local planning activities and the development of risk reduction strategies

Role of community's vulnerability at local level and its contribution to tsunami risk in Indonesia: Study case at Padang municipality

It has been generally understood that majority of the coastal region in Indonesia are potentially affected by tsunami disaster risk. Several tsunami disasters reported had been struck some coastal region in Indonesia. The worst evidence was in Aceh in 2004 which killed more than 150.000 peoples. One month after Tsunami disaster in Aceh, The World Conference on Disaster Reduction at Kobe in 2005 outlined the significant endeavor to develop the understanding on community’s vulnerability in order to reduce the disasters risk. Vulnerability together with natural hazard is the factors which determine the degree of risk. However, natural hazard, its magnitude and intensity, is beyond of human control; in contrary vulnerability is a factor that is influenced by the process of human social activity. Consequently, vulnerability plays an important role to determine the degree of the disaster risk. Therefore, it is very important to increase the understanding of vulnerabilities, its role and contribution, within different social groups in order to reduce the risk of disaster. This study is objected to examine the vulnerability of the exposed community to tsunami disaster at three priorities area in Indonesia which potentially affected by tsunami hazard. This paper advances the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of vulnerability to understanding the spatial dimension of vulnerability. It shows an insight into different methodologies and data sources that can be used to assess various characteristics of vulnerability. The initial result of this study, by means of household-questionnaires based, are shown and discussed. This study demonstrates some vulnerability variation at the pilot areas that may affect the communities to the tsunami risk. In this paper is presented the preliminary result of vulnerability assessment at Padang Municipality as an example

Risk and vulnerability assessment to tsunami and coastal hazards in Indonesia: Conceptual framework and indicator development

Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Modelling is an important component for an effective End-to-End Tsunami Early Warning System and therefore contributes significantly to disaster risk reduction. The knowledge about elements at risk, their susceptibility, coping and adaptation mechanisms are a precondition for the setup of people centred warning structures, local specific evacuation planning and recovery policy planning. In the past the quantification of vulnerability was mainly based on economic damage assessments. According to the three pillars of sustainable development, we develop and present indicators for the socio-economic and physical dimension of vulnerability. The main task of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) together with the United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the Indonesian partners is an assessment of vulnerability and coastal risk towards tsunami threats. The study presented here is embedded in the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GI-TEWS) project, where DLR and UNU-EHS aim at developing indicators to measure the vulnerability of coastal areas of Sumatra, Java and Bali exposed to tsunami risk. Products of the three years project include new physical and socio-economic vulnerability assessment, vulnerability and risk maps and guidelines for decision makers how to monitor and conduct continuous vulnerability assessment for effective early warning and the disaster mitigation strategies. This paper outlines in more detail the conceptual basis of the research, the process of indicator development and the project status

Tsunami risk assessment for local communities in Indonesia to provide information for early warning and disaster management

Decision makers at the community level need detailed information on tsunami risk in their area. Knowledge on potential hazard impact, exposed elements such as people, critical facilities and lifelines, coping capacity and recovery is crucial to plan precautionary measures to mitigate potential impacts of tsunamis on society and the environment. In this study a community level risk assessment methodology is presented. Thereby the risk assessment encompasses and discloses weaknesses within the components exposure, susceptibility, response and recovery potential at the community level. This means that detailed information is generated on dynamic exposure factors (e.g. day and night distribution of exposed people, location and properties of critical facilities), people ability to respond and evacuate potential damage on the built environment, local emergency response capability and local ability for rehabilitation and recovery. To quantify these risk components detailed surveys have been conducted to collect the necessary information. Based on these data on socio-economic household properties, critical facilities locations, building damage potential, potential vertical and horizontal evacuation areas and their properties an in-depth risk assessment has been conducted. The study presents first results of studies which have been performed in several pilot areas in Indonesia. They are based on common developed methodologies at the community level. The results and products can be used for tsunami disaster adaptation and mitigation planning, but also to improve people and institutional preparedness and awareness. General guidelines on how to conduct the assessment are being developed and shall be incorporated into community level disaster management strategies

Risk assessment to low frequency - high impact coastal hazard in Indonesia: Integrating tsunami hazard and vulnerability assessment in the context of Early Warning

The development of a risk assessment methodology reflects the different stages of the disaster management cycle (warning chain and response phase). Consequently the risk components hazard, exposure (e.g. how many people are exposed?), susceptibility (e.g. are the people able to receive a warning?), coping capacity (are the people able to evacuate?) and recovery (are the people able to restore their livelihoods?) are addressed and quantified. Thereby, the risk assessment encompasses three steps: (i) identifying the nature, location, intensity and probability of a threat (hazard assessment); (ii) determining the existence and degree of vulnerabilities and exposure to those threats (e.g. the physical and socio-economic spheres) and (iii) identifying the coping capacities and resources available to address or manage threats. The assessment methodology presented follows a people-centered assessment approach to deliver relevant risk and vulnerability information for the purposes of early warning and disaster management considering the entire coastal areas of Sumatra, Java and Bali facing the Sunda trench. Thereby it is demonstrated how to characterise and quantify risk and vulnerability components as hazard intensity, people and critical infrastructure exposed, their susceptibility and coping capacity. Additionally, dedicated products like maps, guidelines and other information products are developed according to end user needs. The currently established risk assessment results cover the entire coast of Sumatra, Java and Bali facing the Sunda trench. This information on the location of high, moderate and low tsunami risk areas is available on different scales (down to 1 : 100 000 map scale) and aggregation levels (e.g. desa / warning segments). Furthermore the assessed risk information and products are integrated in the database of the Early Warning Center to be used for decision support. To link national scale decision making whether to warn or not in case of a tsunami occurence, the risk products can also be provided to local level decision makers to react adequately concerning their local risks