Modelling the spatial distribution of five natural hazards in the context of the WHO/EMRO Atlas of Disaster Risk as a step towards the reduction of the health impact related to disasters

Morjani, Zine El Abidine El; Ebener, Steeve; Boos, John; Ghaffar, Eman Abdel; Musani, Altaf

doi:10.1186/1476-072x-6-8

Cited by 51 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…An approach to overcome this problem is the standardization to a common measure. Reviewing numerous studies (e.g., Heinimann et al 1998;Odeh Engineers, Inc 2001;Delmonaco et al 2006b;El Morjani et al 2007;Bartel and Muller 2007;Thierry et al 2008), two major standardization approaches can be distinguished: (1) the classification of hazards (qualitative approach) and (2) the development of indices (continuous, semiquantitative approach).…”

Section: Comparability Of Hazards Due To Differing Process Characterimentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of analyzing multi-hazard risk: a review

et al. 2012

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Many areas of the world are prone to several natural hazards, and effective risk reduction is only possible if all relevant threats are considered and analyzed. However, in contrast to single-hazard analyses, the examination of multiple hazards poses a range of additional challenges due to the differing characteristics of processes. This refers to the assessment of the hazard level, as well as to the vulnerability toward distinct processes, and to the arising risk level. As comparability of the single-hazard results is strongly needed, an equivalent approach has to be chosen that allows to estimate the overall hazard and consequent risk level as well as to rank threats. In addition, the visualization of a range of natural hazards or risks is a challenging task since the high quantity of information has to be depicted in a way that allows for easy and clear interpretation. The aim of this contribution is to give an outline of the challenges each step of a multi-hazard (risk) analysis poses and to present current studies and approaches that face these difficulties.

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Section: Comparability Of Hazards Due To Differing Process Characterimentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of analyzing multi-hazard risk: a review

et al. 2012

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“…In the field of meteorology, a much more common metric is apparent temperature, measured using the heat index (Anderson et al, 2013). This metric has seen wider adoption in the health and meteorological communities due to its dependence solely on humidity and temperature (e.g., Perry et al, 2011;Kysely and Kim, 2009;El Morjani et al, 2007;Burkart et al, 2011;Basara et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived temperature in the course of climate change: an analysis of global heat index from 1979 to 2013

Lee

Brenner

2015

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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Abstract. The increase in global mean temperatures resulting from climate change has wide reaching consequences for the earth's ecosystems and other natural systems. Many studies have been devoted to evaluating the distribution and effects of these changes. We go a step further and propose the use of the heat index, a measure of the temperature as perceived by humans, to evaluate global changes. The heat index, which is computed from temperature and relative humidity, is more important than temperature for the health of humans and animals. Even in cases where the heat index does not reach dangerous levels from a health perspective, it has been shown to be an important factor in worker productivity and thus in economic productivity.We compute the heat index from dew point temperature and absolute temperature 2 m above ground from the ERA-Interim reanalysis data set for the years 1979-2013. The described data set provides global heat index aggregated to daily minima, means and maxima per day (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.841057). This paper examines these data, as well as showing aggregations to monthly and yearly values. Furthermore, the data are spatially aggregated to the level of countries after being weighted by population density in order to facilitate the analysis of its impact on human health and productivity. The resulting data deliver insights into the spatiotemporal development of near-ground heat index during the course of the past three decades. It is shown that the impact of changing heat index is unevenly distributed through space and time, affecting some areas differently than others. The data can serve as a basis for evaluating and understanding the evolution of heat index in the course of climate change, as well as its impact on human health and productivity.

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“…land use, road network, settlements, elevation) and temporal (wind patterns, variation of population density) data coming from disparate sources (El Morjani et al 2007). However, the main limitations in the application of geo-informatics remain the following: (1) the high data demand and cost, (2) the need for an integrated analysis of multi-type/format data, (3) the need of frequent updates of such data and (4) datasets of parameters that are difficult to map directly, such as those relevant to the assessment of social vulnerability (Ebert et al 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vulnerability assessments are typically achieved by (1) defining vulnerability ''themes'', (2) defining vulnerability indicators for each theme and (3) weighting each parameter to compile final global vulnerability maps (D'Ercole 1996; Stieltjes and Mirgon 1998;Torrieri 2002;Aceves-Quesada et al 2007;El Morjani et al 2007). Since the main limitation of this study was the availability and the precision of the wide variety of data required by our analysis, we had to define vulnerability indicators based on the free and global datasets described above.…”

Section: Delineation Of Proxy Variables For Vulnerability Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

A fast GIS-based risk assessment for tephra fallout: the example of Cotopaxi volcano, Ecuador-Part II: vulnerability and risk assessment

2012

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Modelling the spatial distribution of five natural hazards in the context of the WHO/EMRO Atlas of Disaster Risk as a step towards the reduction of the health impact related to disasters

Abstract: Background: Reducing the potential for large scale loss of life, large numbers of casualties, and widespread displacement of populations that can result from natural disasters is a difficult challenge for the individuals, communities and governments that need to respond to such events.

Cited by 51 publications

References 20 publications

Challenges of analyzing multi-hazard risk: a review

Challenges of analyzing multi-hazard risk: a review

Perceived temperature in the course of climate change: an analysis of global heat index from 1979 to 2013

A fast GIS-based risk assessment for tephra fallout: the example of Cotopaxi volcano, Ecuador-Part II: vulnerability and risk assessment

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