Tuesday 29 May 2012

Upcoming Conferences

Some upcoming conferences this year dealing with natural hazards are listed below. All descriptions of the conferences are taken directly from the website advertising the conference. Of particular note is the Beijing conference which will have a session dedicated to cascading hazards.

Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop


Since 1975, the Natural Hazards Center has hosted the Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop for 400 federal, state, and local emergency officials; representatives of nonprofit and humanitarian organizations; hazards researchers; disaster consultants; and others dedicated to alleviating the impacts of disasters.
37th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Application Workshop
Saturday, July 14 through Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Omni Interlocken Resort
Broomfield, Colorado


The International Research Committee on Disasters Researchers Meeting and the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association Practitioners Meeting will immediately follow the main Workshop from Tuesday, July 17 through Wednesday, July 18.


The Third Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM Society)

Beijing Normal University (BNU) in Beijing, China, on Sept. 7-9, 2012. The theme of the conference is “From surprise to rationality: Managing unprecedented large-scale disasters”.


In recent years, there have been increasing number of large-scale disasters (LSDs) occurring around the world, among which there have been some of the worst cases ever in history, e.g. the “3.11” Tohoku earthquake in Japan. The fact of rising numbers of major natural disasters and increasing losses claimed despite of years of efforts devoted to natural disaster risk reduction has resulted in wide concern about the traditional approaches of coping with natural disasters. Particularly, the frequent arrival of large-scale disasters that exceed local coping capacity urges new paradigms of risk management. The 3rd Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management aims to promote focused discussion on the Integrated Risk Governance issues for large-scale disasters. Researchers in the field of disaster risk research are invited to gather in Beijing from developed countries from North America, Europe and East Asia, and from developing countries from Asia, Africa and South America. They shall spend 3 days in intensive discussion on the scientific, technical, economic, financial, and educational issues regarding large-scale disasters. The ultimate purpose is to find new approaches to coping with natural disasters, further filling the gap between science and implementation, and enhancing collective decision-making.

 


8th International Conference on Risk Analysis and Hazard Mitigation


19 - 21 September, 2012
Island of Brac, Croatia

Risk Analysis 2012 is the eighth international conference on risk analysis and hazard mitigation. Covering a series of important topics of current research interest and with many practical applications, the conference is concerned with all aspects of risk analysis and hazard mitigation, associated with both natural and anthropogenic hazards.

International Conference on Hazards & Disasters 2012


20-21 September 2012
Negombo, Sri Lanka

The ICRD/ ICAS joint Conference  on Hazards & Disasters 2012 offers a valuable opportunity to network with colleagues from many countries who share the same goals. Scientists and experts in hazards and disaster risk management are invited to participate in this International Conference on Hazards & Disasters 2012.

Session themes for the conference cover a rich and diverse range of research topics. We hope these sessions will bring researchers from across the globe together to discuss broad questions of common interest and provide a platform to establish relationships with new colleagues. You will be enlightened with innovative ideas and solutions at Hazards & Disasters 2012 and take initiatives to forge better solutions to reduce future risks and threats of hazards.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Matrix of multi-hazards


A while ago I created a matrix table to get clear in my mind the links between hazards. The result is displayed below. The table should be read from left to right. The primary hazard is listed in the vertical far left column, while the secondary hazard it triggers is listed along the top horizontal row.

It is by no means a complete or definitive guide to multi-hazards, but is a useful tool for trying to visualise the connections. If anyone has any suggestions to alter the table, I would be glad to hear them.



Earthquake
Volcano
Flood
Tsunami
Landslide
Avalanche
Lahar
Mudflow
Hurricane
Earthquake

Shaking = gaps for magma

Displacement of water
Shaking
Shaking



Volcano
Eruption force

Glacier burst
Displacement of water
Flank collapse
Eruption/ shaking of snow on top
Tephra (+ melting)
Tephra (+ melting)
Tephra (?)
Flood




Undercutting

Entrainment of material
Entrainment of material

Tsunami


Water onto land






Landslide

Pressure change on flank
Block and break of river/lake
Displacement of water



Provision of material

Avalanche


Damming/ burst and melting
Displacement of water


Provision of transport
Provision of transport

Lahar


Provision of liquid






Mudflow


Provision of liquid






Hurricane
Pressure changes (?)
Water into gaps into magma
Heavy precipitation

Saturation of slopes

Heavy precipitation
Heavy precipitation



At the EGU, Joel Gill presented a much more robust matrix of multi-hazards. He intends to publish the results by the end of the summer, so watch this space for updates...