The unperceived risk to Europe’s coasts: tsunamis and the vulnerability of Cadiz, Spain
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Birkmann, Jörn; Teichman, Korinna von; Welle, Torsten; González Rodríguez, Ernesto Mauricio
Date
2010-12Derechos
Atribución 3.0 España
Publicado en
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciencesm,Volume 10, Number 12, 2010
Publisher
Copernicus Publications
Abstract:
Abstract. The development of appropriate risk and vulnerability
reduction strategies to cope with tsunami risks is a
major challenge for countries, regions, and cities exposed to
potential tsunamis. European coastal cities such as Cadiz are
exposed to tsunami risks. However, most official risk reduction
strategies as well as the local population are not aware of
the probability of such a phenomenon and the potential threat
that tsunami waves could pose to their littoral. This paper
outlines how tsunami risks, and particularly tsunami vulnerability,
could be assessed and measured. To achieve this, a
vulnerability assessment framework was applied focusing on
the city of Cadiz as a case study in order to highlight the
practical use and the challenges and gaps such an assessment
has to deal with. The findings yield important information
that could assist with the systematic improvement of societal
response capacities of cities and their inhabitants to potential
tsunami risks. Hazard and vulnerability maps were
developed, and qualitative data was obtained through, for example,
focused group discussions. These maps and surveys
are essential for the development of a people-centred early
warning and response system. Therefore, in this regard, the
Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North
Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and connected seas promoted
by the UNESCO-Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission (IOC) should encompass these assessments to
ensure that action is particularly intensified and fostered by
those potentially exposed. That means that besides the necessary
technical infrastructure for tsunami detection, additional
response and adaptation measures need to be promoted – particularly
those that reduce the vulnerability of people and regions
exposed – in terms of national systems. In addition, it
is important to develop emergency preparedness and awareness
plans in order to create an integrated regional Tsunami EarlyWarning System (TEWS) by 2011. The findings of the
paper are based on research conducted within the framework
of the EC funded project TRANSFER: “Tsunami Risk ANd
Strategies For the European Region”, a project that aims to
improve the understanding of tsunami processes in the Euro-
Mediterranean region, to develop methods and tools to assess
vulnerability and risk, and to identify strategies for the reduction
of tsunami risks.
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