Mechanism,prevention,and control of mining-induced dynamic disasters in underground metal mines in China:Challenges and solutions

Metal mineral resources play an indispensable role in the development of the national economy.Dynamic disasters in underground metal mines seriously threaten mining safety,which are major scientific and technological problems to be solved urgently.In this article,the occurrence status and grand challenges of some typical dynamic disasters involving roof falling,spalling,collapse,large deformation,rockburst,surface subsidence,and water inrush in metal mines in China are systematically presented,the characteristics of mining-induced dynamic disasters are analyzed,the examples of dynamic disasters occurring in some metal mines in China are summarized,the occurrence mechanism,monitoring and early warning methods,and prevention and control techniques of these disasters are highlighted,and some new opinions,suggestions,and solutions are proposed simultaneously.Moreover,some shortcomings in current disaster research are pointed out,and the direction of efforts to improve the prevention and control level of dynamic disasters in China’s metal mines in the future is prospected.The integration of forward-looking key innovative theories and technologies in the abovementioned aspects will greatly enhance the cognitive level of disaster prevention and mitigation in China’s metal mining industry and achieve a significant shift from passive disaster relief to active disaster prevention.

Strategy for Protection of Cultural Heritage Exposed to the Natural and Man-Made Activity Disasters in Serbia

Natural disasters and the adverse human activities are the key events in the history of mankind that form our history and shape our collective memory to this day.People on the planet Earth are not obsessed only with natural hazards,caused by earthquakes,floods and volcanic eruptions,and troubles unlikely come solely from the action of nature.Disasters threatening the human race can be caused also by people themselves.Both types of disasters cause vast human suffering,at the same time destroying cultural heritage as well,that has the function of determining the identity of social communities.These sufferings should be added to those that can be determined only by in-depth analyses which are derived from the synergy of natural forces and mistaken choices made by the humans,when it comes to their habitat.The proposed strategic plan for protection of built heritage in emergency situations may become the powerful catalyst for the process of revitalization by which the social tissue of community is maintained and restored,creating the symbol of resistance by which it endures each and every natural element and evil men behaviour.

A Critical Review of Community Resilience Building Framework: Contexts of Climate Change and Disasters in Bangladesh

The concept of community resilience in the contexts of climate change and disasters draws increasing attention and interest from practitioners and researchers in recent development discourse. This paper provides a critical review of six selected frameworks of community resilience building operationalized in Bangladesh over the span of years. In other words, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of resilience through a systematic analysis of the dimensions and indicators of community resilience frameworks. The analysis shows that comprehensive and effective community resilience frameworks should incorporate the missing components linked to fundamental elements of good governance, economic growth, environmental sustainability, social transformation, and capacity development. The paper concludes by highlighting a few other areas of grave concern that need more appropriate attention, considering the severe threats posed by climate change and natural disasters in line with sustainable development goals. Finally, this study recommends further research regarding the effectiveness of these frameworks in different climatic and disaster contexts that can lead the concept into a new dimension of community resilience and sustainability.

The Salient Issues of Coastal Hazards and Disasters in Nigeria

The Nigerian coastline which stretches about 853 km has four distinct morphological zones namely, Barrier Lagoon, Mahin Mud coast, Niger Delta and Strand coast. Nigeria’s coastal zone is richly blessed with various natural resources like oil, gas, fish, sand etc., which are presently being exploited for economic development. Coastal populations have increased erratically from about 20% of the National population in 1993 to approximately 51,037,122 m (30% of the national population) in 2011. Development of coastal areas in Nigeria is accelerating and user conflicts are increasing. Both natural and anthropogenic activities in the coastal zone are leading to coastal hazards and eventual rapid degradation of the area. Significant coastal hazards include coastal erosion, storm surges, floods, land subsidence, pollution, especially oil spills and possibly seismicity, which could lead to earthquakes and tsunamis. These hazards are leading to disasters and effecting the socio-economic sustainability of the coastal area.

Microseismic monitoring and forecasting of dynamic disasters in underground hydropower projects in southwest China:A review

The underground hydropower projects in Southwest China is characterized by large excavation sizes,high geostresses,complicated geological conditions and multiple construction processes.Various disasters such as collapses,large deformations,rockbursts are frequently encountered,resulting in serious casualties and huge economic losses.This review mainly presents some representative results on microseismic(MS)monitoring and forecasting for disasters in hydropower underground engineering.First,a set of new denoising,spectral analysis,and location methods were developed for better identification and location of MS signals.Then,the tempo-spatial characteristics of MS events were analyzed to understand the relationship between field construction and damages of surrounding rocks.Combined with field construction,geological data,numerical simulation and parametric analysis of MS sources,the focal mechanism of MS events was revealed.A damage constitutive model considering MS fracturing size was put forward and feedback analysis considering the MS damage of underground surrounding rocks was conducted.Next,an MS multi-parameter based risk assessment and early warning method for dynamic disasters were proposed.The technology for control of the damage and deformation of underground surrounding rocks was proposed for underground caverns.Finally,two typical underground powerhouses were selected as case studies.These achievements can provide significant references for prevention and control of dynamic disasters for underground engineering with similar complicated geological conditions.

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.

The Use of Artificial Intelligence for Disasters

In recent years, due to an increasing number of extreme meteorological events, the urgent need to use artificial intelligence in their management has emerged. The ability to handle and prevent such events requires disaster management. Artificial intelligence is extensively used in forecasting and preparing for disasters, as well as for mitigating and minimizing damage and in the response phase to effectively help in better and more rapid responses to disasters. This paper examines to identify the uses of artificial intelligence technologies in reducing the impact of various disasters and seeks to investigate the possibility of linking artificial intelligence technologies based on information and communication technology and reducing the effects of disasters. We conclude the paper with the challenges facing artificial intelligence technologies.

Study on Distribution Characteristics of Lightning Disasters in Hebei Province

Based on the special landscape and regional characteristics,the lightning location information from 1999 to 2008 and conventional observation data from 1971 to 2000 provided by electricity departments in Hebei Province were applied to analyze spatial and temporal distribution of lightning.With lighting disaster data since 2000 provided by meteorological department,and records from civil affair,statistics,insurance,and other departments,the lighting disaster distribution of Hebei Province was studied from aspects of economic and people losses,and some countermeasures for several lightning disasters industries were put forward.

Discussion on the Prevention and Control Countermeasures of Sudden Disasters on Protected Vegetable in Hebei Province

Protected vegetable production made the traditional agriculture gradually get rid of the shackles of nature, broke the seasonal traditional agriculture and realized the anti season list of agricultural products. While protected vegetables often encountered sudden disasters in production and were restricted with the conditions of low temperature and weak light. Aimed at the sudden disasters of protected vegetable production in Hebei Province,the countermeasures for disaster prevention and control were put forward from the aspects of variety selection, seedling treatment technology,grafting technique,cultivation and management,flower and fruit retention technology,application of exogenous substance,rational fertilization,transgenic technology and so on,in order to reduce production risks and cut loss,realize that protected vegetable production is safe,good-quality and efficient.

Early Warning System of Important Meteorological Disasters in Hunan Province

Based on technologies of GRADS, Delphi, WEB and an SQLServer, distri- bution system for major meteorological disasters early warning information in Hunan Province was established. The system consists of warning tips, early warning for different media and early warning query statistics and the network terminal of the system platform includes a business database server, a message platform database server, a sending server and a receiving terminal. The system enjoys some func- tions, such as examination by different users, on-time updating and effectiveness of flood prevention, construction of excessive warning channel, construction of compre-hensive warning information platform and further improvement of information distribution. The system provides references for prevention and reduction of important me- teorological disasters in Hunan.

Analysis on the Influence of Meteorological Disasters on China Tourism Industry

Main meteorological disasters and their destruction on tourism landscape (including natural landscape and human landscape) were analyzed by using the methods of statistical analysis and cited examples, the impact of meteorological disasters on tourism brand, tourism decision, tourism transport, peak tourist season and the threat on tourism industry chain were studied, the main tourism meteorological disasters in North China, East China, Central China, Northeast Region, Southeast Region and Southwest Region were summarized, and some comprehensive measures of meteorological disaster for prevention and mitigation were put forward.

Historical Changes of Ningxia Natural Disasters and Its Reason Analysis

A quantitative model is built and the historical variation of natural disasters is analyzed in this paper,by using materials as affected area(damaged area),affected population(dead and injured),casualty of livestock,collapsed houses(damaged houses),decrease of crops yield,economic loss(direct and indirect) and price index over the same period of Ningxia natural disasters(include drought,flood,gale and hail,frost,pest disasters and other disasters) during 1978-2007,and applying gray correlation analysis method.The long-term changes trend of natural disasters is analyzed by the application of the least squares method for linear trend,and the oscillation period is analyzed by using the maximum entropy statistical method.It is found that natural disasters have basically 2 to 3 years of variation period either in the whole region or in the individual regions;from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s,Ningxia is in an oscillation period with disasters attacked frequently in decadal and interannual scale under the background of climate;the increase of damage intensity of natural disasters slow down and tends to decrease since 2000.

Analysis of Meteorological Disasters in the Flowering and Fruiting Period of Sugar Orange in Guilin

The yield of sugar orange is closely related to meteorological conditions in the flowering and fruiting period, and meteorological disasters at the flowering and early fruiting stage seriously affect its yield. To study influences of meteorological disasters in the flowering and early fruiting stage on sugar orange industry in Guilin, meteorological disasters in the flowering and early fruiting stage and its defense measures were analyzed and studied. The flowering and early fruiting stage of sug- ar orange in Guilin is from March to June, and sudden change of temperature, thunderstorm, hale, hail, rainstorm and other natural disasters can cause the falling of large numbers of flowers and young fruit, damage of tree body, reduction of fruit in quantity, and decrease of its yield. Timely understanding information of disastrous weather and implementing management of water and fertilizer can effectively reduce the loss caused by meteorological disasters and ensue high quality and high yield of sugar orange.

Preliminary Study on the Major Meteorological Disasters Impacts on the Growth of Jujube Fruits

This paper aimed to explore the major meteorological disasters impacts on the growth of Jujube fruits.By analyzing statistic characters of meteorological data and historic yield data of Jujube fruits,the influence of different factors on the different growing stages of Jujube fruits was studied,in terms of temperature,precipitation,and relative humidity.The major meteorological disasters which impacted the growth of Jujube fruits were as follow:(1) Hot days when the temperature was equal to or above 30 ℃ continued over 9 days at full bloom stage;(2) The continuous rainy days lasted over 10 days at mature stage;(3) The continuous rainy days lasted over 7 days at full bloom stage;(4) Clod days when the temperature was equal to or below-22 ℃ continued over 4 days and the minimum temperature reached-24 ℃ at wintering stage.The major meteorological disasters which impact Jujube fruits were different at different stages.The most frequently occurred major meteorological disasters was the hot days when the temperature was equal to or above 30 ℃ and lasted over 9 days at full bloom stage.

Characteristics and Prevention of Secondary Geological Disasters of Wenchuan Earthquake

In the research, secondary geological disasters of Wenchuan earthquake were defined and the consequences were illustrated based on geological disasters, such as collapse, landslide and debris flow, and threats of barrier lakes. In addition, the characteristics of secondary disasters were analyzed, as follows： Rupture of geological faults lays foundation in terms of geological structure; loose solids provide resources of an earthquake; abundant rainfall and large runoffs are driving forces of an earthquake; rainstorm, flood, and long-term high temperature are major inducing factors. Furthermore, suggestions on prevention of secondary disasters were proposed in terms of prevention before, at and after an earthquake. Finally, the scientific and practical significances of secondary disasters were illustrated.

Historical drought and water disasters in the Weihe Plain

Through detailed statistics and analysis of drought and water disasters in the Weihe Plain in the historical period, we discovered that in more than 2300 years (from 370 BC to 2000 AD), natural disasters occurred most frequently in two periods. One is from 610 to 850 AD (from the late Sui Dynasty to the late Tang Dynasty) and the other is from 1580 to 2000 AD (after the late Ming Dynasty). Different natural disasters occurred synchronously, that is to say, when the drought occurred frequently, water disasters occurred frequently in the same periods. Frequencies of natural disasters, on the one hand, connected with climate changes and development course of ancient cities, while on the other, related closely to population changes. The excessive exploitation of natural resources and human disturbance and damages to ecological environment are the major reasons for the increased drought and water disasters.

Study on evaluation of cities' ability reducing earthquake disasters

Cities ability reducing earthquake disasters is a complex system involving numerous factors, moreover the re-search on evaluating cities ability reducing earthquake disasters relates to multi-subject, such as earthquake sci-ence, social science, economical science and so on. In this paper, firstly, the conception of cities ability reducing earthquake disasters is presented, and the ability could be evaluated with three basic elements the possible seis-mic casualty and economic loss during the future earthquakes that are likely to occur in the city and its surround-ings and time required for recovery after earthquake; based upon these three basic elements, a framework, which consists of six main components, for evaluating citys ability reducing earthquake disasters is proposed; then the statistical relations between the index system and the ratio of seismic casualty, the ratio of economic loss and re-covery time are gained utilizing the cities prediction results of earthquake disasters which were made during the ninth five-year plan; at last, the method defining the comprehensive index of cities ability reducing earthquake disasters is presented. Thus the relatively comprehensive theory frame is set up. The frame can evaluate cities ability reducing earthquake disasters absolutely and quantitatively and consequently instruct the decision-making on reducing cities earthquake disasters loss.

Risk Assessment of Secondary Geological Disasters Induced by the Yushu Earthquake

The Yushu Ms 7.1 earthquake occurred on April 14,2010 in Qinghai Province,China.It induced a mass of secondary geological disasters,such as collapses,landslides,and debris flows.Risk assessment maps are important for geological disaster prevention and mitigation,and also can serve as a guide for post-earthquake reconstruction.Firstly,a hazard assessment index system of secondary geological disasters in the earthquake region was built in this paper,which was based on detailed analysis of environmental and triggering factors closely related to geological disasters in the study area.GIS technology was utilized to extract and analyze the assessment index.Hazard assessment maps of secondary geological disasters were obtained by spatial modeling and overlaying analysis.Secondly,an analysis of the vulnerability of hazard bearing bodies in the area was conducted,important information,such as, population density,percentage of arable land, industrial and agricultural outputs per unit area were regarded as assessment indices to evaluate socioeconomic vulnerability.Thirdly,the risk level of secondary geological disasters of the area was obtained by the formula:Risk=Hazard×Vulnerability. Risk assessment maps were categorized into four levels,including"low","moderate","high"and"very high".These results show that some urban areas are at very high risk,including Jiegu,Chengwen,Xiaxiula and Sahuteng towns.This research can provide some references and suggestions to improve decisionmaking support for emergency relief and post- earthquake reconstruction in the study area.

Evaluation and Effect of Agro-meteorological Disasters on Agricultural Production in Liaoning Province

Based on statistic data of agricultural production and meteorological disasters in Liaoning Province from 1971 to 2008,the effect weight,disaster rate and variance value of main agro-meteorological disasters including drought,flood,wind,hail and frozen injury were calculated,and the variation characteristic of time series of agro-meteorological disasters was further analyzed,while the grade division and comprehensive evaluation of agro-meteorological disasters were carried out in our paper.The results showed that there was a negative correlation between grain yield and the degree of agro-meteorological disasters,and agro-meteorological disasters were relatively serious in 1989,1997 and 2000,with the reduction of grain yield.Meanwhile,the occurrence frequency of light disasters was highest,accounting for 39% of total years,and the adverse effect of agro-meteorological disasters on agricultural production became more and more severe decade by decade;the effect weight of drought reached 63%,so drought was the main agro-meteorological disaster influencing agricultural production.

New Thought of Meteorological Forecasting and Warning Models of Geological Disasters in Loess Plateau of North Shaanxi

The study established daily comprehensive precipitation equations and calculated respective critical daily comprehensive precipitation value of loess-collapse disasters and landslide disasters by dint of the geological disasters and corresponding precipitation data in 47 years.Considering geological disaster risk divisions,precipitation influence coefficient and daily comprehensive precipitation,hourly rolling daily-forecasting and hourly warning fine and no-gap models on the base of high temporal and spatial resolution rainfall data of automatic meteorological station were developed.Through the verifying of combination of dynamical forecasting model and warning model,the results showed that it can improve efficiency of forecast and have good response at the same time.