De la prensa a las apps. Un recorrido por la comunicación de los riesgos naturales en la prensa escrita y el papel de las nuevas tecnologías

Es conocido el uso de la prensa como fuente de información y del impacto social que los fenómenos naturales provocan. También se considera útil la prensa como un indicador de la percepción social. Con el fin de analizar estos aspectos, se ha construido una base de datos en ACCESS, PRESSGAMA, con más de 16.500 noticias publicadas en la prensa escrita. PRESSGAMA contiene noticias relacionadas con desastres naturales y cambio climático para el periodo 1981-2010 a partir de una actualización sistemática para el diario La Vanguardia, uno de los más importantes en Cataluña. Para cada una de las noticias se ha creado una ficha completa con información como el titular, la fecha de publicación, la disposición y extensión, palabras clave e información sobre el episodio. A partir de esta información se ha analizado la evolución de las noticias y el tratamiento que se le ha dado a los riesgos naturales a lo largo de este periodo de tiempo. Además, se han identificado diferentes factores que influyen en la cobertura informativa y la percepción de estos eventos. La aparición de los medios digitales y las redes sociales ha supuesto grandes cambios en la comunicación del riesgo. Actualmente cuando se produce un desastre la cobertura informativa es muy elevada y prácticamente instantánea. La ciudadanía ha pasado a tener un papel más activo y protagonista, desde ser únicamente receptores a difundir e incluso generar nuevas noticias. En el campo de la comunicación de los riesgos naturales esta cuestión genera retos y oportunidades. Por esta razón también se ha analizado el papel de internet, las redes sociales y aplicaciones móviles en la comunicación del riesgo. Como ejemplo se presentará el caso de la aplicación FLOODUP, una aplicación para compartir información sobre inundaciones

Influencia de la orografía y de la inestabilidad convectiva en la distribución espacial de lluvias extremas en Cataluña

All the flash flood events in Catalonia in the last half century have been methodically studied, with special emphasis on the Novernber 1982 event. The relationship between the space distribution of the rainfall and the orography has been analysed. On the basis of the Palma de Mallorca radiosonde ascents, the convective instability has been ascertained and the minimum necessary ascent for the instabilization has been obtained. Streamlines in the lower troposphere have been drawn, which has enabled us to ascertain the dominant flow direction. Some hydrological information has also been included

Dossier pedagógico sobre los riesgos de las inundaciones y las tormentas

Podeu consultar la versió catalana a http://hdl.handle.net/2445/8610 i la versió anglesa a http://hdl.handle.net/2445/8611 Este trabajo se ha realizado gracias al apoyo de: "Grupo de Análisis de situaciones Meteorológicas Adversas (GAMA)-Universitat de Barcelona; Proyecto EDRINA-06 (FECYT. Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia); Proyecto europeo FLASH (FP6-2005-Global-4) no. 036852Dosier pedagógico compuesto por fichas sobre inundaciones, tormentas y aspectos de prevención. Partes: Observación de la atmosfera (conceptos generales, meteorología, métodos de pronóstico); Inundaciones y Tormentas; Ecología de las inundacionesEste trabajo se ha realizado gracias al apoyo de: "Grupo de Análisis de situaciones Meteorológicas Adversas (GAMA)-Universitat de Barcelona; Proyecto EDRINA-06 (FECYT. Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia); Proyecto europeo FLASH (FP6-2005-Global-4) no. 03685

Flash-floods in Catalonia: the social perception in a context of changing vulnerability

In assessing a flood event two risk components need to be considered: the intrinsic hazard of the hydrome- teorological event causing the flood and the vulnerability of the area where the precipitation has been registered. In the present study four flood events selected by the FLASH Eu- ropean project have been classified according to the charac- teristics of the meteorological event (classification according to hazard) and according to the physical and economic dam- ages caused (classification according to vulnerability). The social impact of these events is analysed taking into account the growth of the population. An increase in the number of extraordinary flash-floods was detected in the areas with a major growth of the population, as a consequence of an in- creased vulnerability of these areas, both from a physical per- spective (exposure of infrastructures) and from an economic perspective (more goods exposed). In addition, the numer- ous non-native inhabitants of the region are not aware of the meteorological risks characteristic of the area, and this con- tributes to increased social vulnerabilit

Trends in flash flood events versus convective precipitation in the Mediterranean region: The case of Catalonia

The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential relationship between flash flood events and convective precipitation in Catalonia, as well as any related trends. The paper starts with an overview of flash floods and their trends in the Mediterranean region, along with their associated factors, followed by the definition of, identification of, and trends in convective precipitation. After this introduction the paper focuses on the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, for which there is a long-term precipitation series (since 1928) of 1-min precipitation from the Fabra Observatory, as well as a shorter (1996–2011) but more extensive precipitation series (43 rain gauges) of 5-min precipitation. Both series have been used to characterise the degree of convective contribution to rainfall, introducing the β parameter as the ratio between convective precipitation versus total precipitation in any period. Information about flood events was obtained from the INUNGAMA database (a flood database created by the GAMA team), with the aim of finding any potential links to convective precipitation. These flood data were gathered using information on damage where flood is treated as a multifactorial risk, and where any trend or anomaly might have been caused by one or more factors affecting hazard, vulnerability or exposure. Trend analysis has shown an increase in flash flood events. The fact that no trends were detected in terms of extreme values of precipitation on a daily scale, nor on the associated ETCCDI (Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices) extreme index, could point to an increase in vulnerability, an increase in exposure, or changes in land use. However, the summer increase in convective precipitation was concentrated in less torrential events, which could partially explain this positive trend in flash flood events. The β parameter has been also used to characterise the type of flood event according to the features of the precipitation. The highest values correspond to short and local events, usually with daily β values above 0.5, while the minimum threshold of daily β for catastrophic flash floods is 0.31.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft