Designing Web-enabled services to provide damage estimation maps caused by natural hazards

The availability of building stock inventory data and demographic information is an important requirement for risk assessment studies when attempting to predict and estimate losses due to natural hazards such as earthquakes, storms, floods or tsunamis. The better this information is provided, the more accurate are predictions on damage to structures and lifelines and the better can expected impacts on the population be estimated. When a disaster strikes, a map is often one of the first requirements for answering questions related to location, casualties and damage zones caused by the event. Maps of appropriate scale that represent relative and absolute damage distributions may be of great importance for rescuing lives and properties, and for providing relief. However, this type of maps is often difficult to obtain during the first hours or even days after the occurrence of a natural disaster. The Open Geospatial Consortium Web Services (OWS) Specifications enable access to datasets and services using shared, distributed and interoperable environments through web-enabled services. In this paper we propose the use of OWS in view of these advantages as a possible solution for issues related to suitable dataset acquisition for risk assessment studies. The design of web-enabled services was carried out using the municipality of Managua (Nicaragua) and the development of damage and loss estimation maps caused by earthquakes as a first case study. Four organizations located in different places are involved in this proposal and connected through web services, each one with a specific role

The Development of an Empirical Workflow Process for Mapping Affected Communities of the Hurricane Felix, Nicaragua, 2007

In September 2007, the Hurricane Felix devastated the North-eastern of Nicaragua, near the Caribbean coast. The hurricane heavily affected about 400 communities from a total of 777 registered in this region. As part of the post-disaster relief measures, INETER (The National Geosciences Institute) in collaboration with other Nicaraguan agencies was requested to elaborate a GIS-based inventory for the analysis of the impact of the hurricane. The information about the affected communities by Hurricane Felix was gathered by the Civil Defence of the Nicaraguan Army. Unfortunate, the field staff had no GPS available, and in the best cases, the national topographic maps have been used to reference the affected settlements. Problems of georeferencing made it necessary to create an empirical workflow process in order to produce the affectation maps using several information sources. This paper describes the approach developed to design a workflow that allows the georeferencing of 64% of the reported sites. The remaining 36% were at least identified as belonging to a certain community in or near the affectation zone indicated

Differential Spo0A-mediated effects on transcription and replication of the related Bacillus subtilis phages Nf and ϕ29 explain their different behaviours in vivo

Members of groups 1 (e.g. ϕ29) and 2 (e.g. Nf) of the ϕ29 family of phages infect the spore forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Although classified as lytic phages, the lytic cycle of ϕ29 can be suppressed and its genome can become entrapped into the B. subtilis spore. This constitutes an alternative infection strategy that depends on the presence of binding sites for the host-encoded protein Spo0A in the ϕ29 genome. Binding of Spo0A to these sites represses ϕ29 transcription and prevents initiation of DNA replication. Although the Nf genome can also become trapped into B. subtilis spores, in vivo studies showed that its lytic cycle is less susceptible to spo0A-mediated suppression than that of ϕ29. Here we have analysed the molecular mechanism underlying this difference showing that Spo0A differently affects transcription and replication initiation of the genomes of these phages. Thus, whereas Spo0A represses all three main early promoters of ϕ29, it only represses one out of the three equivalent early promoters of Nf. In addition, contrary to ϕ29, Spo0A does not prevent the in vitro initiation of Nf DNA replication. Altogether, the differences in Spo0A-mediated regulation of transcription and replication between ϕ29 and Nf explain their different behaviours in vivo

Structure of Masaya and Momotombo volcano, Nicaragua, investigated with a temporary seismic network

International audienceSince the end of 2013, the region around the two volcanoes Masaya and Momotombo, which includes the Nicaraguan capital Managua, has shown an unusually high seismic and volcanic activity. In December 2015, the Momotombo volcano erupted after 110 years of quiescence. Since mid-December 2015, the Masaya volcano has also shown gradually increasing activity, including the formation of a lava lake in its main crater. By adding 30 broadband stations, we had temporarily (December 2016-March 2017) densified the permanent Nicaraguan seismic network around these volcanoes to study the local seismicity and image the subsurface structure. During the observation period, we observed an overall low level of seismicity. Recorded events around Momotombo likely consist of aftershocks of the M5.5 earthquake that struck this area on September, 26th, 2016. At Masaya, we did not observe volcano-tectonic events. Using the continuous waveform recordings, we perform a 3D ambient seismic noise tomography that reveals a first image of the subsurface velocity structure below the Masaya and Momotombo volcanoes. While Momotombo shows a typical elongated low shear-wave velocity anomaly that reaches depths of about 8 km, Masaya does not show indications of a deep plumbing system. At Masaya, we have indications of a shallow (0-3 km) magmatic chamber, offset to the west and not directly below the active Santiago vent, where the crater lake is located At greater depth (3-8 km) a low velocity anomaly towards the northeast coincides in location with a modelled positive gravity anomaly and could indicate the presence of a former intrusive body. With this study we want to trigger further interest in the diverse tectonic and volcanic features of Nicaragua. Future, long-term seismic imaging and monitoring projects are of critical interest for the estimation of seismic and volcanic risks in Managua and the surroundings

Crustal Thickness Variations Beneath the Central American Arc

EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Unio

Crustal Thickness of the Central American Arc

Presented before the Workshop to Integrate Subduction Factory and Seismogenic Zone Studies in Central America; Heredia, Costa Rica, June 18-22, 2007.Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (OVSICORI), Universidad Nacional.Boston, UniversityBrown UniversityINITE

Constraints on upper mantle anisotropy surrounding the Cocos slab from SK(K)S splitting

International audienceSKS and SKKS splitting observations are used to constrain the pattern of mantle flow in the Central American subduction zone beneath Costa Rica and Nicaragua. After removing the effects of shallow wedge anisotropy on SK(K)S waveforms, a best fitting model of anisotropy beneath the Cocos Plate and in the deeper mantle wedge is determined. Fast polarization directions and model symmetry axis orientations in both regions (as well as the shallow wedge) are dominated by roughly arc-parallel azimuths and, therefore, are not consistent with sublithospheric mantle flow entrained by the subducting Cocos Plate or simple two-dimensional corner flow in the wedge. In conjunction with geochemical data and local S splitting tomography, the SK(K)S splitting observations and anisotropy models are consistent with flow to the WNW within the mantle wedge on the Caribbean side of the Cocos Plate, possibly drawn through a slab window beneath Panama and southern Costa Rica. Anisotropy in the Pacific mantle beneath the Cocos Plate is also best explained by flow with a component that is roughly parallel to the strike of the slab, although the absolute direction of this flow is not uniquely constrained