Areas vulnerable to natural disasters and damage estimation of infrastructure in Busan, Korea

Since the damages caused by disasters associated with climate anomalies and the diversification of the social structure increase every year, an efficient management system associated with a damage assessment of the areas vulnerable to disasters is demanded to prevent or mitigate the damages to infrastructure. The areas vulnerable to disasters in Busan, located at southeastern part of Korea, were estimated based on historical records of damages and a risk assessment of the infrastructure was performed to provide fundamental information prior to the establishment of the real-time monitoring system for infrastructure and establish disaster management system. The results are illustrated by using geographical information system(GIS) and provide the importance of the roadmap for comprehensive and specific strategy to manage natural disasters.

Research on the Application of Meteorological Disaster Losses Assessment Technology

According to the influence degree of meteorological disaster,we analyzed the existing deficiencies in hazard assessment,proposed the fuzzy evaluation method of quantitative assessment.The casualties caused by meteorological disasters and ecological damages to the environment,direct economic losses,efficiency losses,rescue losses,reconstruction and other assessment indices were converted into more accurate indicators of losses indexes.The quantitative formula of the meteorological disasters damage assessment was summarized.The disasters damage grades and damage indexes were used as the relative assessment indices of meteorological disaster losses.Finally,a damage assessment application example was given to verify the validity of the assessment methods.

Risk Analysis Using Multi-Source Data for Distribution Networks Facing Extreme Natural Disasters

Distribution networks denote important public infrastructure necessary for people’s livelihoods.However,extreme natural disasters,such as earthquakes,typhoons,and mudslides,severely threaten the safe and stable operation of distribution networks and power supplies needed for daily life.Therefore,considering the requirements for distribution network disaster prevention and mitigation,there is an urgent need for in-depth research on risk assessment methods of distribution networks under extreme natural disaster conditions.This paper accessesmultisource data,presents the data quality improvement methods of distribution networks,and conducts data-driven active fault diagnosis and disaster damage analysis and evaluation using data-driven theory.Furthermore,the paper realizes real-time,accurate access to distribution network disaster information.The proposed approach performs an accurate and rapid assessment of cross-sectional risk through case study.The minimal average annual outage time can be reduced to 3 h/a in the ring network through case study.The approach proposed in this paper can provide technical support to the further improvement of the ability of distribution networks to cope with extreme natural disasters.

Damage and geological assessment of the 18 September 2011 M_w 6.9 earthquake in Sikkim,India using very high resolution satellite data

Post-disaster very high resolution（VHR） satellite data are potential sources to provide detailed information on damage and geological changes for a large area in a short time.In this paper,we studied landslides triggered by the M_w 6.9 earthquake in Sikkim,India which occurred on 18 September 2011 using VHR data from Cartosat-1,GeoEye-1,QuickBird-2 and WorldView-2 satellites.Since the earthquake-affected area is located in mostly inaccessible Himalayan terrain,VHR data from these satellites provided a unique opportunity for quick and synoptic assessment of the damage.Using visual change analysis technique through comparison of pre- and post-earthquake images,we assessed the damage caused by the event.A total of 123 images acquired from eight satellites,covering an area of4105 km2 were analysed and 1196 new landslides triggered by the earthquake were mapped.Road blockages and severely affected villages were also identified.Geological assessment of the terrain highlighted linear disposition of landslides along existing fault scarps,suggesting a reactivation of fault.The landslide inventory map prepared from VHR images also showed a good correlation with the earthquake shake map.Results showed that several parts of north Sikkim,particularly Mangan and Chungthang,which are close to the epicentre,were severely affected by the earthquake,and that the event-based landslide inventory map can be used in future earthquake-triggered landslide susceptibility assessment studies.

Remote Sensing Based Rapid Assessment of Flood Crop Damage Using Novel Disaster Vegetation Damage Index(DVDI)

Accurate crop-specific damage assessment immediately after flood events is crucial for grain pricing,food policy,and agricultural trade.The main goal of this research is to estimate the crop-specific damage that occurs immediately after flood events by using a newly developed Disaster Vegetation Damage Index(DVDI).By incorporating the DVDI along with information on crop types and flood inundation extents,this research assessed crop damage for three case-study events:Iowa Severe Storms and Flooding(DR 4386),Nebraska Severe Storms and Flooding(DR 4387),and Texas Severe Storms and Flooding(DR 4272).Crop damage is assessed on a qualitative scale and reported at the county level for the selected flood cases in Iowa,Nebraska,and Texas.More than half of flooded corn has experienced no damage,whereas 60%of affected soybean has a higher degree of loss in most of the selected counties in Iowa.Similarly,a total of 350 ha of soybean has moderate to severe damage whereas corn has a negligible impact in Cuming,which is the most affected county in Nebraska.A total of 454 ha of corn are severely damaged in Anderson County,Texas.More than 200 ha of alfalfa have moderate to severe damage in Navarro County,Texas.The results of damage assessment are validated through the NDVI profile and yield loss in percentage.A linear relation is found between DVDI values and crop yield loss.An R2 value of 0.54 indicates the potentiality of DVDI for rapid crop damage estimation.The results also indicate the association between DVDI class and crop yield loss.

Effects of Climate Change on the Main Food Crops in Summer,Autumn and the Countermeasures Study

By using the full and accurate meteorological data,the changes of major meteorological factors in the half century during 1950-2008 in Xuzhou were analyzed.The results showed that the rainfall increased 23% in summer,and the temperature in winter,spring respectively rose by 1.9 and 2.5 ℃.It illustrated that the climate in Xuzhou had the obvious change.The more rainfall in summer caused that the flood disaster aggravated,and autumn maturing dry crops severely reduced the yield.The warming in winter caused that the wheat grew luxuriantly,and the frost resistance declined.In spring,the premature senility was easy to happen,which affected the high and stable yield.All of these directly affected the food security and peasant increase income.By the change of wheat suitable sowing date and contrasting,analyzing on the yields of paddy rice,dry crops,the necessity of adjusting the crops variety,sowing date and layout was demonstrated.The measures which answered the climate change were given,and the huge economic benefits which were brought by these measures were also analyzed.