GIS-based emergency and evacuation planning for volcanic hazards in New Zealand

Abstract

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide a range of techniques which allow ready access to data, and the opportunity to overlay graphical location-based information for ease of interpretation. They can be used to solve complex planning and management problems. All phases of emergency management (reduction, readiness, response and recovery) can benefit from GIS, including applications related to transportation systems, a critical element in managing effective lifelines in an emergency. This is particularly true immediately before and during a volcanic eruption.
 The potential for volcanic activity in New Zealand is high, with 10 volcanoes or volcanic centres (Auckland, Bay of Islands, Haroharo, Mayor Island, Ruapehu, Taranaki, Tarawera, Taupo, Tongariro (including Ngauruhoe) and White Island) recognised as active or potentially active. In addition there are many active and potentially active volcanoes along the Kermadec Island chain. There is a great deal of background information on all of these volcanoes, and GIS is currently being used for some aspects of monitoring (e.g. ERS and Envisat radar interferometry for observing deformation prior to eruptions). If an eruption is considered imminent, evacuation may be necessary, and hence transportation systems must be evaluated. Scenarios have been developed for many centres (e.g. Taranaki/Egmont and Bay of Plenty volcanoes), but so far the use of GIS in planning for evacuation is limited.
 This paper looks at the use of GIS, indicates how it is being used in emergency management, and suggests how it can be used in evacuation planning.

Assessing the effectiveness and the economic impact of evacuation: the case of Vulcano Island, Italy

“…Several simulation and modelling approaches have been proposed and used for evacuation including cellular automata, game theoretic, discrete events, multi-criteria decision support systems (Cole et al, 2005;Marrero et al, 2013), agent-based (Voight et al, 2000;Carver and Quincey, 2005;Jumadi et al, 2016), and experimental methods (Yang et al, 2015). Evacuation modelling has been performed for small and medium scale emergencies such as building fire, structural blast (Pluchino et al, 2015), metro stations (Wang et al, 2013), oil and gas platforms and factories (Cheng et al, 2018), university campuses (Asgary and Yang, 2016).…”

Impact of Volcanic Ash on Road and Airfield Surface Skid Resistance

“…St Helens, United States of America 1980 17 Ash became slick when wet [17][18][19] Hudson, Chile 1991 not specified Traction problems from ash on road [7,20] Tavurvur and Vulcan, Papua New Guinea 1994 1000 Vehicles sunk and stuck in deep ash, although passable if hardened [21][22][23] Sakurajima, Japan 1995 >1 Roads slippery [22,24] Ruapehu, New Zealand 1995-96 "thin" Slippery sludge from ash-rain mix (roads closed) [22,25] Soufrière Hills, United Kingdom (overseas territory) 1997 not specified Rain can turn particles into a slurry of slippery mud [26] Etna, Italy 2002 2-20 Traction problems, although damp and compacted ash easier to drive on [22] Reventador, Ecuador 2002 2-5 Vehicles banned due to slippery surfaces [22,27] Chaitén, Chile 2008 not specified Reduced traction caused dam access problems [28,29] Merapi, Indonesia 2010 not specified Slippery roads caused accidents ( Figure 2) and increased journey times [30] Pacaya, Guatemala 2010 20-30 Slippery roads with coarse ash [9] Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Chile 2011 >100 2WDs experienced traction problems (wet conditions) [31] Shinmoedake, Japan 2011 not specified Ladders very slippery [32] Kelud, Indonesia 2014 1-100 Roads slippery with increased accident rate [33] Sinabung, Indonesia 2014 80-100 Road travel impracticable in wet muddy ash [34] Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 14 July 2017 doi:10.20944/preprints201707.0032.v1 4 of 39…”

Organisational Issues in Implementing an Information Sharing Framework: Lessons from the Matata Flooding Events in New Zealand

“…According to Cole et al (2005) no large-scale events impacting upon large populated areas have been observed in New Zealand, possibly due to the short history of European settlement (160 years). The common incidents in New Zealand have been short-lived, and relatively small scale, mainly associated with storms and floods.…”