Abstract: The devastating economic and societal impacts of COVID-19 can be substantially compounded by other secondary events that increase individuals' exposure through mass gatherings such as protests or sheltering due to a natural disaster. Based on the Crichton's Risk Triangle model, this paper proposes a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation framework to estimate the impact of mass gatherings on COVID-19 infections by adjusting levels of exposure and vulnerability. To this end, a case study of New York City is considered, at which the impact of mass gathering at public shelters due to a hypothetical hurricane will be studied. The simulation results will be discussed in the context of determining effective policies for reducing the impact of multi-hazard generalizability of our approach to other secondary events that can cause mass gatherings during a pandemic will also be discussed.

Abstract: Urban flooding has been increasing in recent years and therefore new specified methods need to be developed and applied. The rise of Web 2.0 technologies and collaborative projects based on volunteered geographic information like OpenStreetMap (OSM) lead to new dimensions of participatory practices. Thus, citizens can provide local knowledge for natural hazard analysis in a convenient way. In the following, a case study of the Quilicura community in Santiago de Chile -regularly affected by urban floods- is presented. A combination of OSM Field Papers and the risk perception of local people is applied in the concept of risk awareness maps including a questionnaire for participants? information. This explorative study is a promising approach for a complementing data source because insight into local knowledge is acquired in a fast way. Results reveal two main streets, which are identified by the participants as prone to urban floods.

Abstract: Modern critical infrastructure (CI) systems are tightly coupled, resulting in unprecedented complexity and difficulty to predict, limit and control the consequences of disruptions caused by hazards. Therefore, a paradigm shift in disaster risk management is needed: instead of focusing on predicting events, resilience needs to be improved as a basis for adequate response to any event. This paper starts from a definition of CI resilience that provides a basis for quantitative and qualitative decision support. For the quantitative modelling approach, which aims at measuring the resilience of individual CIs, we focus on two CIs of fundamental importance for disaster response: transportation and power supply. The qualitative framework details relations between CIs. The results of this research are illustrated by a case study that analyses the impact of Hurricane Sandy. The findings highlight the need for a framework that combines qualitative and quantitative information from heterogeneous sources to improve disaster resilience.

Abstract: The current Emergency Services landscape is characterized by a number of systems and networks that are isolated in nature, thus making information sharing impractical, if not impossible. Such an environment does not promote ease of information sharing, and each incident highlights the need for efficient collaboration and coordination, and the need for a holistic internetwork-a series of virtual interconnected networks-approach. In other words, it requires an overall framework that looks at safety as an overall enterprise, (albeit one with thousands of independent agency owners), with the strategic goal to facilitate greater collaboration and effectiveness of operations, and to ensure a streamlined and efficient prevention of, response to, and recovery from all-hazards. 1 Adopting a Service-Oriented enterprise approach is extremely useful and has number of advantages in such an environment. This paper defines a framework-in the context of an enterprise-an envisioned Emergency Services Enterprise Framework, and identifies the key elements of this framework.

Abstract: It is frequently conveyed, especially in the media, an idea of “increasing impact of natural hazards” typically attributed to their rising frequency and/or growing vulnerability of populations. However, for certain hazard types, this may be mostly a result of increasing population exposure due to phenomenal global population growth, especially in the most hazardous areas. We investigate temporal changes in potential global population exposure and impacts from earthquakes in the XXth century. Spatial analysis is used to combine historical population distributions with a seismic intensity map. Changes in number of victims were also analyzed, while controlling for the progress in frequency and magnitude of hazard events. There is also a focus on mega-cities and implications of fast urbanization for exposure and risk. Results illustrate the relevance of population growth and exposure for risk assessment and disaster outcome, and underline the need for conducting detailed global mapping of settlements and population distribution.

Abstract: There is a growing call for the use of open source content standards for all-hazards, all-media alert and notification systems. This paper presents findings on the implementation of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) as a content standard for a community-based hazard information network in Sri Lanka. CAP is being deployed as part of the HazInfo project, which has established last-mile networking capability for 32 tsunami-affected villages in Sri Lanka in order to study the suitability of various Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for a standards-based community hazard information system. Results to date suggest that the basic internetworking arrangement at lower technical layers has proven to be reasonably robust and reliable but that a key challenge remains in the upper layers of application software and content provision. This is evident in the apparent difficulties faced when implementing CAP messaging over multiple last-mile systems that include commercial satellite and terrestrial network technologies (C/L/X-Band, GSM, and CDMA in modes of voice and text). Lessons learned from silent tests and live exercises point to several key bottlenecks in the system where the integrity of CAP messages is compromised due to problems associated with software interoperability or direct human intervention. The wider implication of this finding is that content standards by themselves are not sufficient to support appropriate and timely emergency response activities. Those working with content standards for hazard information systems must consider closely the interoperability issues at various layers of interconnectivity.

Abstract: This paper describes research in progress exploring the use of mobile device technology and citizen sensors, as tools for emergency managers and planners to quickly to gather and map citizen perceptions of risk in communities exposed to tsunami hazards. VAPoR is an agile, deployable system developed at the Spatial Interface Research Lab that does this. It is currently being field tested on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This evaluation assesses these technologies and methods, and their potential to help emergency planners mitigate risk in coastal communities. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: Flood management is an important approach to reduce damage caused by floods. In this context, technological architectures which work in real-time are needed. However, Brazil has faced many structural difficulties in obtaining updated information on the current state of its rivers. To address this problem, this paper outlines a geosensor dashboard called AGORA-GeoDash, which processes data streams from wireless sensor networks and makes them available in the form of a set of performance indicators that are essential to support real-time decision-making in flood risk monitoring. The dashboard was built on open-source frameworks, made use of geoservices that comply with the standards of Open Geospatial Consortium, and established a Wireless Sensor Network which monitors the rivers of São Carlos/SP in Brazil. The analysis of the indicators available in two rainfall events revealed that the dashboard can provide the key information required for the decision-making process involved in flood risk management.

Abstract: Forest fire risk assessment is an important task for forest fire management and planning. This paper presents current work on the definition and implementation of forest fire risk assessment models in the Wildfire AnalystTM software with the purpose of providing support and increased value in risk assessment. Three models are presented based on the concept of forest fire risk: forest fire structural hazard model that provides the assessment of the expected easiness that a fire has to spread in a certain area, a stochastic model that assesses the fire growth potential considering as potential ignition points critical elements of electric supply networks and a stochastic model that assesses the potential impact of forest fires on these infrastructures.

Abstract: Disasters in Earth Nature Systems (in river basins and in coastal zone) are generated the systems by influence under pressure and impacts of external systems. The water related disasters include the most of hazardous processes on land and sea as follows: floods, avalanches, droughts, landslides, debris-flows, erosion, abrasion, and others. The external systems are not yet able to let know about the Time, Place, and Power of future disasters all together. However, Earth systems allow doing it because of their property to delay on exterior power. The proposed and discussed is the Moving Digital Earth (MDE) technology for outstripping estimation of the Earth Nature Systems response on exterior pressure and impacts. The MDE uses only the knowledge of current System's state and methods of the Digital Systems Analysis (DSA) by high-speed computing.

Abstract: This article provides a tool to help assess, visualise and communicate different levels of exposure, vulnerability and risk in Brazil. The Disaster Risk Index in Brazil may sensitise public and political decision-makers towards the important topic of disaster risk and climate change adaptation. This article aims to explore the feasibility and usefulness of such a national risk index that considers both natural hazard phenomena and social vulnerability. The results showed that the risk is strongly interwoven with social-economic and cultural conditions and normal everyday life, as well as with the performance of state institutions dealing with Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Risk Management, in other words, vulnerability. Spatial trends of disaster risk and vulnerability, products of this research, also have stressed the serious inequalities between and within regions of the country, which result in barriers to the development of the DRR and DRM in Brazil as a whole.

Abstract: In the event of natural disasters and extreme events like storms, floods and earthquakes, not only people, residential buildings and infrastructure, but also industry can be seriously affected. Direct losses to installations as well as indirect losses e.g. interruption of production can cause severe damage to companies and the economy as a whole. For a comparative and quantitative risk assessment and as a prerequisite for emergency planning and crisis management (e.g. planning of mitigation measures), a financial appraisal of industrial assets at risk is needed. This paper presents the reference installation approach which is a methodology that allows a consistent and transparent assessment of individual industrial asset values. In this bottom up approach due to the consideration of the heterogeneity of various industrial sectors, the obtained results can be depicted for a detailed spatial distribution and on a high degree of accuracy.