Infrastructural Aspects of Rain-Related Cascading Disasters: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Cascading disasters progress from one hazard event to a range of interconnected events and impacts, with often devastating consequences. Rain-related cascading disasters are a particularly frequent form of cascading disasters in many parts of the world, and they are likely to become even more frequent due to climate change and accelerating coastal development, among other issues. (1) Background: The current literature review extended previous reviews of documented progressions from one natural hazard event to another, by focusing on linkages between rain-related natural hazard triggers and infrastructural impacts. (2) Methods: A wide range of case studies were reviewed using a systematic literature review protocol. The review quality was enhanced by only including case studies that detailed mechanisms that have led to infrastructural impacts, and which had been published in high-quality academic journals. (3) Results: A sum of 71 articles, concerning 99 case studies of rain-related disasters, were fully reviewed. Twenty-five distinct mechanisms were identified, as the foundation for a matrix running between five different natural hazards and eight types of infrastructural impacts. (4) Conclusion: Relatively complex quantitative methods are needed to generate locality-specific, cascading disaster likelihoods and scenarios. Appropriate methods can leverage the current matrix to structure both Delphi-based approaches and network analysis using longitudinal data.

Anxiety and Worry about Six Categories of Climate Change Impacts

“…In this article, we explored the ways that concern, worry, and anxiety [45,48,58,68] were related to various possible climate change impacts and consequences [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. We also examined the associations of the psychological distance to climate change to climate change anxiety and worry, both generally and within the six impact areas that were the focus of our research.…”

“…As extreme events affect areas, resources, and economic activities, impacts on lives and livelihoods form a third category of concern and relate to the second, fourth, and fifth (i.e., large-scale singular events) RFCs [1,8]. Another wide-ranging concern involves large-scale disasters that bring massive destruction and irrevocable changes and losses in the physical and ecosystemic, social, and economic domains [7][8][9][10]. Concerns about the occurrence of such apocalyptic events appear to go beyond individual weather events to encompass multiple system failures as climate-related consequences spread and cascade [10,11].…”

“…Our review of the literature suggested that a range of different climate change impacts and issues existed (e.g., ecosystem impacts and societal responses) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and that people may express different psychological responses (ranging from a lack of awareness to worry or anxiety) to these issues [58,68]. Thus, to speak simply of a person's response to climate change overlooks the possibility that people may be aware of multiple and different climate change impacts and that such impacts may each evoke different psychological responses [61][62][63][64][65][66][67].…”

“…It would be especially informative to assess these multiple responses in samples of people who already have experienced impacts from climate change. Nonetheless, our study was useful in revealing the prevalence of concern, worry, and anxiety for different possible climate change impact areas, as these have been delineated in the literature [1,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

Introduction to the Special Issue on Cascading Disaster Modelling and Prevention

“…Huggins et al [ 6 ] focused on cascading disaster propagation from one type of initial trigger: extreme rainfall. They focused on this trigger due to the increasing prevalence of storm surge and other cascading events impacting coastal cities around the world.…”