This work investigates the dependence between drought hazard and yield anomalies of rainfed cropping systems in the Iberian Peninsula using the copula theory. The applied methodology allows to estimate the likelihood of wheat- and barley-loss under drought conditions and a dependence among extreme values is suggested. From the decision-making point of view this study aims to contribute to the mitigation of drought-related crop-failure.

Vegetation indices based on satellite images, such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), have been lately used for damaged pasture insurance. The occurrence of damage is usually defined by NDVI thresholds mainly based on Normal statistics. In this work a pasture area in Spain was delimited by MODIS images. An analysis of NDVI distributions was applied to seek for the best statistical distribution. The results show that Extreme Value distributions present better fit than Normal ones.

Several authors have shown evidence of electromagnetic measurements prior to earthquakes. However, these investigations lack a physical mechanism to support them. That is why we developed a theory that could explain many of these phenomena. Specifically, we demonstrate that the generation of microcracks in the lithosphere due to stress changes can explain and describe these electromagnetic phenomena.

This works provides a simple and fast approach to improve tsunami warning systems in the near field. A color-coded warning map is produced almost instantaneously after the seismic information is received. Time is crucial in the near field case, for instance, the tsunami waves generated in the chilean trench arrives at the coastline around 10–15 minutes. Seismic information takes 3–5 minutes to be ready, we produece a first warning map after 6 minutes of the earthquake origin time.

Rockfall boulders can travel long distances down slope and it is important to predict how far to prevent fatalities. A comparison of earthquake data from New Zealand during summer and full-scale rockfall experiments in the same soil during winter shows that during dry seasons boulders travel further downslope because the soil is harder. When using predictive tools, engineers and geologists should take soil conditions (and seasonal variations thereof) in to account.

This paper provides an approach to apply data assimilation method to stability analysis and parameter update and feedback in a landslide. The experiment is implemented by particle filter algorithm. The result FS sequence of TRIGRS output decreases continuously with time and the assimilation can effectively correct the FS of the model output. The RMSD of FS indicates the assimilation results can correct the estimation of TRIGRS output close to actual observations.

In 2005, northern Pakistan was hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was located near capital of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir and also affected Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region. It was believed that the local topography might have significant role in direct and indirect damage in the region. This study shows that the local topography played significant role in the earthquake induced damage in the region.

Climate change and global warming scenario increase the odds of worsening drought. Therefore, precise characterization and regional monitoring of drought are the major challenge. In this paper, we provide a new way to formulate and improve temporal data of precipitation for the Standardized Drought Index (SDI) type tools. Results show that improved estimates are good candidates for modelling and monitoring hydrological drought with more precision.

Flood forecasting and simulation in semiarid regions are always poor, and a single criterion assessment provides limited information for decision making. Here, we propose a multicriterion assessment framework combining the absolute relative error, the flow partitioning and the confidence interval to assess the most striking feature of an event-based flood––the peak flow. Our results show that the accepted rates of flood events improve a lot under the multicriterion assessment framework.

This paper investigates why earthquake insurance in California is so unpopular despite a significant risk. For that, homeowners’ behavior has been investigated based on the evolution of the earthquake insurance industry in California since its premises. This study shows that most of homeowners disregard earthquake insurance because the premium amount is too high and not because they underestimate the risk. We conclude that new insurance solutions must be designed to fill this protection gap.

It is necessary to do some prevention study of landslide hazard like the early warning and deformation prediction. This research proposes a new strategy to predict displacement of the landslide. Results confirm the accuracy and effectiveness of this method in displacement prediction, which can provide assistance in early risk assessment and landslide forecasting.

The paper study investigates the use of measured water levels to reduce uncertainties bounds of a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model output. Uncertainty assessment generally is not reported in practice due to the lack of best practices and too wide uncertainty bounds. Hence, a novel method to reduce the bounds by constraining the model parameter, mainly roughness, is presented. The operational practitioners as well as researchers benefits from the study in the field of flood risk management.

This work investigates the formation of a hailstorm over the Tropical Bolivian Andes. Using the WRF atmospheric model, we are able to numerically reconstruct it and we assess the main factors (mountains, lake and surface heating) in the storm formation. We propose physical mechanisms that have the potential to improve the forecasting of similar events; which are known to have a big impact over the Bolivian Altiplano, especially the region near Titicaca lake.

This paper make deep evluation of a new mthod for modelling site amplification factor. Though implement this method and make simulation for different cases, we can find that this method show better performance than the previous method and JMA Report. We will better understanding the advantage and disadvantage of this method, although there are some problems needed to consider carefully and to be solved, it shows good potential to be used in the future earthquake early waring system in the world.

Large positive and negative sea level anomalies at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea are produced by cyclones moving along the Mediterranean storm track, which are mostly generated in the western Mediterranean. The wind around the cyclone center is the main cause of sea level anomalies when a shallow water fetch is present. The inverse barometer effect produces a positive anomaly near the cyclone pressure minimum and a negative anomaly at the opposite side of the Mediterranean Sea.

A method for risk mitigation of secondary lahars, triggered by violent rainfalls, is proposed as alternative to works for their containment or deviation, that could cause future disasters. It is based on the controlled generation of small lahars as a result of collapse of frail dams by backfill, forming momentary ponds as in natural cases. LLUNPIY verifies by simulation path, velocity, thickness, erosion of lahars, that could be produced; a complex case study for Vascún Valley, Ecuador is shown.

This study aims to identify clusters of landslide events within a global database that are triggered by the same rainfall event. Results show that 14 % of all studied landslide events are actually part of a landslide cluster consisting of at least 10 events. However, in a more regional analysis this number ranges from 30 % for the West Coast of North America to 3 % in the Himalaya Region. These findings provide an improved understanding for managing landslide mitigations on a larger scale.

The work carried out for this study is part of a collaborative research program studying the impact of ground hazards on transportation infrastructure in Canada. The focus of the paper is the testing and application of a new simulation technique which can model the movement of falling rock material. These initial tests show that our simulation technique is capable of re-producing material accumulations from rockfall events which occurred above a section of railway in British Columbia, Canada.

On 8 August 2017, a Ms 7.0 earthquake struck the Jiuzhaigou region of Sichuan Province which triggered numerous landslides. In this study, a landslide susceptibility map was generated by using an integrated weighted index model. Results indicated that the integrated model has superior fitting performance and predictive capability. We expect that the generated landslide susceptibility map can be served as the scientific basis to mitigate hazards of the earthquake-triggered landslides.

Tsunami can be destructive when it inundates the coastal areas. In recent years, the positive role of coral reefs in mitigating the tsunami waves has aroused the attentions among the scholars. We therefore investigate the tsunami wave interaction with a reef profile via a sophisticated numerical model. We find that the low-lying coastal areas, fringed by coral reefs with milder back-reef beaches and smaller lagoons, are less susceptible to the coastal inundation during a tsunami event.

In this study the SMC-Flood Database for the municipalities of the Mediterranean coast of mainland Spain is presented. This database has enabled the reconstruction of 3008 cases of flooding on a municipal scale between 1960 and 2015. The data analysis reveals a growing trend in the frequency and area affected by floods. The main novelty lies in the fact that we have detected a clear latitudinal gradient of growing intensity and severity of floods with a north–south direction.

This paper introduces the INSPIRE index, which quantifies seismic risk of reinforced concrete buildings relatively to a portfolio. A rapid visual survey form is also proposed, which allows to (1) calculate the INSPIRE index, (2) calculate a tsunami risk index, (3) define archetype buildings to be analysed in more detail. The effectiveness of such instruments is demonstrated with an application to 85 school buildings in Indonesia, also comparing the results with more detailed computer simulations.

Temperate fruit trees account for almost half of the global fruit production. Fruit trees stop their growth during the coldest months of the year until meeting a required cold accumulation. Under future global warming scenarios, a reduction in cold accumulation in Spain is projected. This threatens the viability of some actual tree crops and varieties in some areas, but other varieties with less requirements can be used. Our results allow adapting future tree plantations under climate change.

In the current study (N = 118), we found evidence for a buffering effect of community resilience (as a form of social support) on post-disaster mental health and life satisfaction. Our work shows that previous work might has underestimated the effect of social support on post-disaster adjustment. Applying (statistical) moderator analysis, the current work contributes to the discussion on the role of social factors for mental health outcomes of flooding.

The paper focuses on psychological impacts of river floods and flash floods on affected individuals. Since the connection between psychological characteristics and protection motivation is not yet fully understood, potential coherences are investigated with regard to both flood types. As a main result, the frequency of remembering an event seems to be positively connected to a greater willingness to protect oneself, especially if affected by a weaker flood event.

The field survey and laboratory tests were conducted and analyzed in detail. A conceptual model was proposed to elaborate the formation process and mechanism of this instability. The structural characteristic of mobilized material, rupture surface, topography saltation, and seasonal variation of groundwater exposure could be regarded as valid proofs in identifying ancient landslides. Long-term monitoring and emergency civil protection actions are necessary.

Drought events are of great importance in most Mediterranean climate regions and the impacts caused on rainfed crops are particularly evident. In this study the impacts of drought on two representative rainfed crops in Spain (wheat and barley) are assessed by testing various worldwide drought indices and two datasets at different spatial resolution.

Feasibility of flood forecasting with 1600 rainfall forecasts was investigated. The rainfall forecasts were obtained from an advanced data assimilation system. The high probability of flood occurrence was predicted, which could not be possible by the operational forecast. The necessity of emergency flood operation was shown with a long leading time. This suggests it is worth to invest on increasing numbers of meteorological ensembles to improve flood forecasting.

In coastal environments, extreme water levels driving flooding are often generated by many individual processes like storm surge, streamflow, and tides. To estimate flood drivers along a coastal river, we merge statistical simulations of ocean and river forcing with a hydraulic model to produce water levels. We find both ocean and river forcing are necessary for producing extreme flood levels like the 100-yr event, highlighting the need for considering compound events in flood risk assessments.

A mega-flood in 1998 caused tremendous losses in China, and triggered large investments in flood risk management. However, flood memory change over time while rapid urbanization and climate change pose new challenges. Novel flood risk management approaches are thus required in addition to reinforcing structural protection, such as levees. These include a risk-based urban planning and a coordinated water governance system with public participation.

Our ability to manage estuaries is currently limited by a poor understanding of how they will evolve into the future. This study explores flooding conditions at two U.S. Pacific estuaries as controlled by changing climate. The hazard is characterized using a variety of models that track oceanic, atmospheric, and hydrologic forcing at decadal scales. It is found that flood surface height varies significantly across estuaries and can be expected to change in complex ways moving into the future.

Natural hazard risk management today aims to involve all actors possibly affected by damage. Citizens are regarded as responsible actors in risk mitigation. Practitioners therefore face the challenge of building social capacity towards such a culture of risk. Research on capacity building in Alpine countries, however, so far lacks empirical evidence on individual preparedness in the common population. This study for the first time provides insights for research and practice.

Through the developments of radar and optical remote sensing in temporal, spectral, spatial, and global coverage, availability of images either at low cost or free of charge, large variety of applications are possible. This study assessed efficacy of Radar Induced Factors in identifying landslide susceptibility regions by considering the significance of radar inherent characteristics for disaster studies. With integration of radar factors, high and very low susceptibility regions are increased.

In this study, we show that both the model horizontal resolution and air-sea flux parameterization can exert large influence on tropical cyclone intensity simulation but with different impacts on wind structures. We highlight the intensification and contraction of TC eyewall in response to the reduction of grid spacing. We also suggest that a well-developed eyewall is more conducive to the positive effect of flux formulas on TC development.