Search Results (165)

Complex landslides have characteristics and parameters that are difficult to analyze. The landslide on 16 June 2024 in the rural community of Quilloturo (Tungurahua, Ecuador) caused severe damage (14 deaths, 24 injuries, and hundreds of affected families) related to the area’s geological, social, and anthropogenic conditions. Its location in the eastern foothills of Ecuador’s Cordillera Real exacerbated the effects of a landslide involving various processes (mud and debris flows, landslides, and rock falls). This event was preceded by intense rainfall lasting more than 10 h, which accumulated and caused natural damming of the streams prior to the event. The lithology of the investigated area includes deformed metamorphic and intrusive rocks overlain by superficial clayey colluvial deposits. The relationship between the geological structures found, such as fractures, joints, schistosity, and shear, favored the formation of blocks within the flow, making mass movement more complex. Geomorphologically, the area features a relief with steep slopes, where ancient landslides or material movements, composed of these colluvial deposits, have already occurred. At the foot of these steep slopes, on plains less than 300 m wide and bordered by the Pastaza River, there are human settlements with less than 60 years of emplacement and a complex history of territorial occupation, characterized by a lack of planning and organization. The memory of the inhabitants identified mass movements that have occurred since the mid-20th century, with the highest frequency of occurrence recorded in the last decade of the present century (2018, 2022, and 2024). Furthermore, it was possible to identify several factors within the knowledge of the inhabitants that can be considered premonitory of a mass movement, specifically a flood, and that must be incorporated as critical elements in decision-making, both individual and collective, for the evacuation of the area. Full article

Urban floods are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, highlighting the need for real-time information that supports safe evacuation decision-making. This study proposes and validates an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based methodology for real-time urban flood monitoring using an actual flood event caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor at the Seondeok Intersection in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea. The method comprises three simple steps: (1) collecting UAV images and data; (2) generating spatial and terrain information through photogrammetry; and (3) estimating flood extent, depth, and volume using GIS-based analysis. A total of 796 UAV images were processed, yielding a flooded area of 3847.36 m², a flood volume of 13,895.13 m³, and a maximum depth of 0.75 m. To assess performance, UAV-derived results were compared with XP-SWMM simulation outputs. Significant discrepancies were observed in flood extent, inundation volume, and flood persistence, indicating that hydrological models may not fully capture localized drainage failures or site-specific conditions in urban environments. These findings demonstrate that UAV-based monitoring provides a more accurate representation of actual flood and can supply high-resolution, rapidly obtainable information essential for real-time evacuation. This study provides empirical evidence of UAV applicability during the flood event itself and highlights its potential to enhance disaster-response capability, improve decision-making, and strengthen the resilience and sustainability of flood-prone urban areas. Full article

Land subsidence in Maceió, Brazil, has triggered a significant urban crisis, resulting in widespread evacuations, population displacement, and, in some cases, the partial or complete destruction of neighborhoods. However, the full extent and underlying mechanisms beyond the mining epicenter have remained unclear. This study presents a comprehensive, city-wide subsidence assessment (2016–2024) that tests a multi-mechanistic hypothesis. SBAS-InSAR (Sentinel-1) ground-motion data are integrated with geological and geomorphological context, well-density mapping, and physical–environmental and morphological metrics to delineate and characterize subsiding zones. The results reveal several patterns of deformation: in addition to the central bowl associated with rock salt mining, a peripheral, elongated corridor extends along the Mundaú Lagoon shoreline, diffuse low-gradient zones occur within the coastal urban belt, and a peri-urban subsidence corridor is identified. The identifyed subsidence areas cover approximately 55 km² (10.8% of the city), with about 5 km² exhibiting rates exceeding 10 mm yr⁻¹. These patterns correspond to sedimentary plains and areas of intensive well use, extending far beyond the salt mining crisis zone. The primary contribution of this work is the identification of multiple subsidence mechanisms through an integrated analytical workflow, demonstrating that subsidence in Maceió constitutes a compound hazard that progressively increases city-wide risks of flooding, coastal and lagoonal erosion and slope instabilities, with direct consequences for structural integrity. The findings underscore the urgent need for risk-management strategies that address mining legacies, uncontrolled groundwater abstraction, and proper urban planning to prevent future crises. Full article

Urban inland flooding has become a serious problem in many cities because heavy rain often exceeds the capacity of drainage systems. In Japan, GIS-based evacuation maps are commonly used to support disaster preparedness, but they still have several limitations. In particular, they do not avoid flooded road segments and cannot generate multiple evacuation options at the same time. This study proposes an improved evacuation route method using the free and open-source software QGIS. The method combines flood-depth data with road network processing to remove roads where the predicted water depth is higher than 0.5 m. It also provides several evacuation paths to different shelters at the same time. A case study in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, demonstrates that about 1.37% of the road network becomes unusable during an inland-flood scenario. Several existing evacuation routes also pass through hazardous areas, but the QGIS-based method avoids these areas in most cases. Since the workflow uses only built-in QGIS functions and does not require programming or plug-ins, it is easy to reproduce and apply in other regions. This study offers a practical and low-cost method to support inland-flood evacuation planning for local governments. Full article

With the rapid development of metro–commercial integration, ensuring the safety of building operations has become increasingly critical. This study proposes a comprehensive safety evaluation framework tailored to integrated metro–commercial complexes. The framework establishes a hierarchical indicator system encompassing risk management, human safety management, facility and equipment safety, intelligent information management, and integrated crowd and operational risk. By combining historical records, real-time sensor data, and management logs, secondary indicators are quantified and normalized, while a hybrid weighting method integrating expert judgment and statistical analysis ensures both theoretical validity and empirical robustness. A case study demonstrates the framework’s applicability, yielding an overall operational safety score of 0.601, which corresponds to a “Moderate” level. Detailed analysis identifies deficiencies in flood resilience, intelligent monitoring reliability, and crowd-related fire risks, underscoring the complexity of safety challenges in such facilities. Targeted optimization measures—including enhanced drainage redundancy, condition-based equipment maintenance, improved intelligent monitoring, evacuation corridor expansion, and catering fire safety upgrades—are shown to substantially improve the composite safety index and operational resilience. This study contributes a dynamic, data-driven, and interpretable evaluation methodology that not only supports scientific safety management in metro–commercial buildings but also provides a reference for broader applications in multifunctional urban infrastructure. Full article

Increasing rainfall intensity and altered temporal patterns due to climate change pose significant threats to pedestrian safety in highly urbanized areas. Reliable pedestrian safety assessment is therefore essential for evacuation planning and flood risk management. This study evaluated pedestrian stability under various rainfall patterns and return periods using four instability indicators derived from hydraulic and empirical formulations. To mitigate indicator-dependent variability, the normalized indicators were combined into an integrated instability index through an ensemble-averaging approach. The flood-intensity-based indicator systematically underestimated non-walkable areas compared with force-balance-based indicators, whereas the integrated index produced more consistent spatial patterns of pedestrian risk across rainfall scenarios. The most hazardous conditions occurred under the 1 h, Huff fourth-quartile storm, highlighting the influence of late-peaking rainfall on short-duration urban flooding. These findings demonstrate that the proposed ensemble-averaged framework enhances the robustness of pedestrian flood risk evaluation and provides a quantitative basis for prioritizing mitigation measures and evacuation planning in urban areas. Full article

Floods are among the most devastating natural hazards, causing widespread damage to lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure, particularly in vulnerable river basins. The Cagayan River Basin (CRB), the largest and most flood-prone basin in the Philippines, remains a significant challenge for disaster risk management. This study developed an event-based hydrologic–hydraulic modeling framework by coupling HEC-HMS rainfall–runoff simulations with HEC-RAS 2D unsteady flow routing to produce validated flood hazard maps. Inputs included rainfall from 41 gauge stations and observed inflows from the Magat Dam, processed in HEC-DSS. Validation utilized 137 surveyed flood marks collected from post-flood surveys, community reports, government archives, and household RTK measurements, with a concentration in Tuguegarao City. The coupled model reproduced key hydrograph peaks with moderate accuracy (R² = 0.56, Bias = +0.32 m, RMSE = 1.61 m, MAE = 1.43 m), although NSE (−2.30) reflected the limits of daily rainfall inputs. Simulated hazard maps identified 767.97 km² of inundated area (approximately 2.77% of CRB), concentrated along the floodplain and at the Magat confluence. Unlike previous scenario-based or localized efforts, this study delivers the first basin-wide, event-validated flood hazard maps for the CRB using integrated depth and depth–velocity criteria. The resulting hazard layers provide a scientific basis for strengthening evacuation planning, guiding land-use and infrastructure decisions, and supporting long-term resilience strategies in one of the Philippines’ most flood-prone rivers. Full article

Background and clinical significance. Penetrating cardiothoracic wounds require prompt treatment in order to decrease mortality and morbidity. Surgical therapy, aimed at bleeding control and removal of damaged tissue, varies widely from the direct suture of parenchymal lacerations to pneumonectomy, which is characterized by high mortality rates. We report our experience with a patient in hemorrhagic shock due to a gunshot wound to the chest, successfully treated by pneumorrhaphy under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Case presentation. A 53-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest was admitted to our Emergency Department. A bedside ultrasonography revealed left pleural and pericardial effusion. He was hemodynamically instable, so he was immediately transferred to the operating room by the cardiac and Thoracic Surgery teams. Through a median sternotomy approximately 2 L of blood were evacuated and a deep laceration of the left upper lobe was discovered. The massive bleeding could not be controlled, leading to pleural cavity flooding. The surgical team decided to institute emergency CPB and perform lung repair by pneumorrhaphy, under circulatory support. The patient survived and was discharged on p.o. day 20. Conclusions. Clinical expertise, adequate instrumental equipment and a high level of interdisciplinary team-work favorably affected the patient’s outcome. Full article

In light of urbanization, climate change, and the escalation of extreme weather events, flood management is becoming more and more important. Improving community resilience and reducing flood risks require prompt decision-making and effective communication. This study investigates how flood management systems can incorporate Large Language Models (LLMs), especially those that use Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures. We suggest a multimodal framework that uses a Flood Knowledge Graph to aggregate data from various sources, such as social media, hydrological, and meteorological inputs. Although LLMs have the potential to be transformative, we also address important drawbacks like governance issues, hallucination risks, and a lack of physical modeling capabilities. When compared to text-only LLMs, the RAG system significantly improves the reliability of flood-related decision support by reducing factual inconsistency rates by more than 75%. Our suggested architecture includes expert validation and security layers to guarantee dependable, useful results, like flood-constrained evacuation route planning. In areas that are vulnerable to flooding, this strategy seeks to strengthen warning systems, enhance information sharing, and build resilient communities. Full article

This study proposes a method to quantitatively assess evacuation demographics during regional floods using Mobile Spatial Statistics (MSSs). It focuses on Koriyama City, affected by Typhoon Hagibis in 2019, as well as Yamagata City, which experienced torrential rains in July 2020, when COVID-19 infection risks in evacuation shelters could have affected evacuation behavior. Both events led to flooding. MSS provided by NTT Docomo were used to explore the dynamics of the population. Evacuees’ demographics, according to the changes in river levels, were presented by gender and age group. Our results show differences in evacuation dynamics between the two regions: In Koriyama, younger people were more likely to evacuate faster; in Yamagata, older people moved faster than other age groups. At the evacuation peak, the average relative evacuation ratios were 2.2 times higher for women in their 20s in Koriyama, and 2.5 times higher for women in their 30s in Yamagata. Gender differences indicate that women were more likely to evacuate than men. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on evacuation dynamics remains unclear; however, concerns about infection risk in shelters may have influenced people’s willingness to evacuate. MSSs provide a robust representation of evacuation dynamics in the local context and can help municipal governments develop more targeted evacuation policies, such as tailored warnings for specific age groups and enhanced support for older adults. Full article

Background and Aim: Natural hazard-related disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods pose significant risks to older adults, individuals with disabilities, and those with chronic health conditions. Transportation-related challenges during and after evacuation can severely impact their safety, mobility, and recovery. This scoping review examines the current evidence to identify research gaps and inform strategies to improve evacuation outcomes and long-term resilience for these at-risk groups. The STEPS framework (Spatial, Temporal, Economic, Physiological, Social) was applied to guide the analysis and interpretation of findings. Methods: This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines and searched five databases, including PubMed, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete, EMBASE, and Web of Science for primary studies on transportation and disaster evacuation among vulnerable populations. Results: Twenty studies were included. Four key areas of concern were identified: (1) immediate transportation barriers during evacuation, (2) prolonged transportation disruptions post-disaster, (3) anticipated logistical challenges in future evacuation planning, and (4) inconsistent and inaccessible communication of transportation-related information during emergencies. These challenges intersected with all five STEPS dimensions. Conclusions: Transportation barriers remain a persistent and under-addressed risk factor in disaster contexts for vulnerable groups. The STEPS framework helped reveal the multidimensional nature of these issues, emphasizing the need for integrated planning, assistive transport options, inclusive communication systems, and stronger public–private coordination. Future research should focus on collecting disaggregated data, evaluating interventions, and supporting inclusive policy reforms tailored to each type of disaster. Full article

Emergency evacuation signage in metro stations plays a critical role in guiding occupants to evacuate quickly and safely. However, variations in placement height and other display attributes can affect the perceptual efficiency of signage. This study takes a metro station in Changsha, China, as an example and constructs two virtual disaster scenarios—fire and flood. An eye-tracking experiment was designed and conducted, yielding 164 valid experimental samples (89 fire, 75 flood). We compared the visual effectiveness of signage at three heights: low (0–0.8 m), medium (0.8–2 m), and high (>2 m). The results indicate that (1) low-position signage exhibits superior immediacy and should be prioritized for emergency response; (2) medium-position signage strikes a balance between perceived importance and immediacy, serving effectively as central nodes for both routine and emergency purposes; (3) high-position signage presents significant advantages in perceived importance and is suitable for conveying comprehensive, multi-level evacuation information. This research provides empirical evidence for optimizing the spatial layout of emergency evacuation signage in metro stations, offering valuable guidance for enhancing emergency evacuation capabilities in subway environments. Full article

Taipei’s metropolitan region faces frequent typhoon impacts that test its urban resilience. This study examines the relationship between Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) urban spatial forms and Taipei’s resilience against typhoons, considering both physical urban morphology and planning factors. We apply a Dynamic Analytic Network Process (DANP), an integrated DEMATEL-ANP multi-criteria approach to evaluate and prioritize key resilience-related spatial and planning factors in TOD areas. Rather than using GIS flood modeling, we emphasize empirical indicators derived from local data, including urban density, transit accessibility, historical typhoon flood impacts, infrastructure vulnerability, and demographic exposure. An extensive literature review covers TOD principles, urban resilience theory, and DANP methodology, with a particular emphasis on the Taiwanese context and case studies. Empirical results reveal that specific TOD characteristics indeed enhance typhoon resilience. High-density, mixed-use development around transit can reduce overall exposure to hazards by curbing sprawl into floodplains and enabling efficient evacuations. Using DANP, we find that infrastructure robustness and emergency planning capacity emerge as the most influential factors for resilience in Taipei’s TOD neighborhoods, followed by land use and management and transit accessibility. Weighted rankings of Taipei’s districts suggest that centrally located TOD-intensive districts score higher in resilience metrics, while peripheral districts with flood-prone areas tend to lag. The Discussion explores these findings, considering planning policies—noting that TOD can bolster resilience if coupled with adaptive infrastructure and inclusive planning—and compares them with examples like Singapore’s integrated land use and transit strategy, which dramatically reduced flood risk. The study concludes with policy implications for integrating TOD and climate resilience in urban planning, and contributions of the DANP approach for complex urban resilience evaluations. Full article

The real-time forecast estimates of total water levels (TWL) associated with coastal storms by the Boston Office of the National Weather Service (NWS), and the analysis, identification, and field mapping of storm tide pathways (STP) by the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) within the forecast region, has led to improved model forecasts, enhanced allocation of resources prior to storm impact (e.g., placement of flood control measures, identification of evacuation routes, development of applications to visualize and communicate threats, etc.), and increased public awareness of the practical implications of sea level rise and storm-related coastal flooding. Both NWS modeling and STP mapping are discussed here. The coupling of these methods began in 2016–2017 in Provincetown, MA, and its utility was highlighted during the new storm of record for most of southern New England, a nor’easter in January 2018. The use of this information by managers, stakeholders, and the public has increased since combining the TWL modeling and STP mapping in an online portal in 2021, and it continues to be used by emergency managers and the public to plan for approaching coastal storms. Full article

Greece faces increasing exposure to natural hazards—particularly wildfires, floods, and earthquakes—driven by climatic, environmental, and spatial factors. This study systematically reviews 108 peer-reviewed publications and official reports, applying PRISMA methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of the national civil protection system. The analysis reveals localized progress, notably in earthquake preparedness due to strict building codes and centralized oversight, but also persistent systemic weaknesses. These include fragmented governance, coordination gaps across agencies, insufficient integration of spatial planning, limited local preparedness, and reactive approaches to disaster management. Case studies of major events, such as the 2018 Mati wildfires and 2023 Thessaly floods, underscore how communication breakdowns and delayed evacuations contribute to substantial human and economic losses. Promising developments—such as SMS-based early warning systems, joint training exercises, and pilot GIS risk-mapping tools—illustrate potential pathways for improvement, though their application remains uneven. Future priorities include strengthening unified command structures, enhancing prevention-oriented planning, investing in interoperable communication systems, and fostering community engagement. The findings position Greece’s civil protection as structurally capable of progress but in need of sustained, systemic reforms to build a resilient, prevention-focused framework for increasing disaster risks. Full article