“Natural hazards are threatening events, capable of producing damage to the physical and social space where they take place not only at the moment of their occurrence, but on a long-term basis due to their associated consequences. When these consequences have a major impact on society and/or infrastructure, they become natural disasters.”
This quote and the photo above appeared in an article in the Journal “Geomorphology,” in 2002, titled: Geomorphology, Natural Hazards,Vulnerability and Prevention of Natural Disasters in Developing Countries. In the intervening 18 years, a substantial number of serious geologic and climatological events have occurred, but this particular paper, written by Dr. Irasema Alcántara-Ayala (Professor of Natural hazards and Risk at the National Autonomous University of Mexico), remains, in my opinion, one of the most substantive explanations of the critical importance of a strong understanding of geomorphology to effective hazard mitigation.
One of the reasons I find it such a benchmark in the literature is its focus on the issue of vulnerability—particularly in poorer and less resilient populations. Dr. Alcántara-Ayala continues:
Natural disasters occur worldwide; however, their impact is greater in developing countries, where they occur very often. In most cases, the occurrence of natural disasters in these countries is due to two main factors:
First, there is a relation with geographical location and geological–geomorphological settings. Developing or poor countries are located to a great extent in zones largely affected by volcanic activity, seismicity, flooding, etc.
The second reason is linked to the historical development of these poor countries, where the economic, social, political and cultural conditions are not good, and consequently act as factors of high vulnerability to natural disasters (economic, social political and cultural vulnerability).
The enhanced vulnerability of less resilient populations is a problem, not only in the developing world, but right here in the United States. A brief article by Dr. Mark Altaweel (University College London), posted in 2017 on the site GeographyRealm.com, included an excellent summary of why this is so. Specifically, he said:
Informal settlements, or slums, and identifying land use change using geomorphological principles is not only important in identifying hazards, or areas where terrain might be unstable and susceptible to disasters, but as population pressures in some countries have increased more settlement is occurring in marginal lands. A large percentage of people, estimated as potentially as high as one third of the global population, now live in slums, many occupying terrain that are vulnerable to flooding, earthquakes, or poor drainage that can create contaminated water supplies. Geomorphology, as a critical component of physical geography, is needed to understand natural landform changes and potential hazards for populations.
Settlements in rural lowlands of the South and Midwest, floodplains in coastal Texas and Louisiana, and vulnerable hillsides in places like Appalachia immediately come to mind. But urban neighborhoods are equally vulnerable—if not more so, given the density of populations and the poor condition of mitigation infrastructure (e.g., storm water management). Dr. Altaweel adds that:
Land use changes, such as pavement that prevents the absorption of water, have hastened physical changes in places where runoff has increased in places due to a lack of open ground and vegetation that absorbs water. Urban environments are often particularly vulnerable to natural disasters as they rapidly change a landscape through removal of native vegetation and construction that paves over land. Urban planning needs to account for natural geomorphic events so that as new urban areas are developed geomorphic factors that would affect urban places could be replicated through proper drainage or use of construction materials that are best adapted to the local environment, including factors such as humidity, rainfall, and temperature.
It is in these urban areas, in particular, where the impact of man-made “improvements” within the natural environment can exacerbate the life-threatening impacts of a natural event. Urban flooding, loss of life and property to earthquake, and the danger of unstable soils are all potential threats to US cities.
The concept of “climate justice” (the fact that climate change-related events impact underprivileged populations to a greater degree) is one aspect of this concern, but its focus is too often on climate mitigation activities, when more attention should be focused on adaptation and resilience. Hazard mitigation plans should more fully address the potential for the greatest loss of life in America’s vulnerable urban centers.
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