Flood Hazrad Assessment for Cloud Prone Rainy Areas in a Typical Tropical Environment

Pradhan Biswajeet and Shafiee Mardiana

Remote sensing offers a very useful tool for flood hazard mapping. Cloud-prone and rainy areas remote sensing (CARRS) is a critical subject with regards to global climate, biophysical, biological and biogeochemical processes. In a tropical country like Malaysia the presence of cloud throughout the year poses a bigger difficulty for utilization of the optical images. SAR system, an active remote sensing imaging system has the ability to penetrate clouds and is therefore highly recommended for flood studies in tropical regions. This paper presents the potential of SAR images and the capability of current GIS technology in flood mapping for disaster monitoring and management perspectives. Multitemporal RADARSAT SAR images were collected and processed over the northern region of Kelantan state, Malaysia. The images were pre-processed using image processing software and subsequently imported into GIS software. For rapid flood mapping purpose, a simple yet efficient Flooded Area Extraction Model which combines many geo-processing operations, e.g. geographic feature overlay, feature selection, map algebra, data conversion and extraction has been developed using the ModelBuilder function in the ArcGIS software. The developed model serves as a one-stop process that provides an environment for automatic geo-processing work with different data or parameters as input. Various ancillary data were prepared so that the analyses are more efficient and faster with minimum repetition. With the RADARSAT SAR images as the main input for the model, the flooded area for each district is calculated for every SAR image and exported into the database format (*.dbf). The information derived will be very valuable and useful for assessing flood impacts and disaster relief management.

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Water Security - Nation State and International Security Implications

Tindall James A. and Campbell Andrew A.

A terrorist attack such as poisoning and sabotage of the national water supply and water-quality infrastructure of the continental United States or any country, could disrupt the delivery of vital human services, threaten both public health and the environment, potentially cause mass casualties and pose grave public concern for homeland security. Most significantly, an attack on water resources would weaken social cohesion and trust in government. A threat to continuity of services is a potential threat to continuity of government since both are necessary for continuity of operations. Water infrastructure is difficult to protect, as it extends over vast areas across the U.S. and for which ownership is overwhelmingly nonfederal (approximately 85 percent). Since the 9/11 attacks, federal dam operators and water and wastewater utilities have established counter measures. Similar measures have been taken in countries around the world. These include enhanced physical security, improved coordination between corporate ownership, Department of Homeland Security, and local law enforcement, and research into risk assessment and vulnerability analysis to ensure greater system safety. A key issue is the proportionate additional resources directed at public and private sector specific priorities. Agencies that have the scientific and technological ability to leverage resources, exploit integrated science approaches, focus on interdisciplinary practices, utilize informatics expertise and employ a wide use of evolving technologies should play a key role in water security and related issues.

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Liquefaction Hazard Mapping of Bangalore, South India

Anbazhagan P.

This paper presents identification and mapping of vulnerable and safe zones for liquefaction hazard. About 850 bore logs data collected from geotechnical investigation reports have been used to estimate the liquefaction factor of safety for Bangalore Mahanagara palike (BMP) area of about 220 km2. Liquefaction factor of safety is arrived based on surface level peak ground acceleration presented by Anbazhagan and Sitharam5 and liquefaction resistance, using corrected standard penetration test (SPT) N values. The estimated factor of safety against liquefaction is used to estimate liquefaction potential index and liquefaction severity index. These values are mapped using Geographical information system (GIS) to identify the vulnerable and safe zones in Bangalore. This study shows that more than 95% of the BMP area is safe against liquefaction potential. However the western part of the BMP is not safe against liquefaction, as it may be subjected to liquefaction with probability of 35 to 65%. Three approaches used in this study show that 1) mapping least factor of safety irrespective of depth may be used to find liquefiable area for worst case. 2) mapping liquefaction potential index can be used to assess the liquefaction severity of the area by considering layer thickness and factor of safety and 3) mapping of liquefaction severity index can be used to access the probability of liquefaction of area.

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Consequence of Hazards on some Petroleum Storage Tanks and Model for Off-site Emergency Plan

Ruj Biswajit, Chatterjee P.K., Rehman I. and Ray B.C.

Explosions, fire and the release of toxic gase cause deaths and injuries to workers and the public, resulting in the evacuation of communities and adversely affecting the environment as a whole. The primary objective of the off-site emergency plan for a hazardous installation is the prevention of accidents. The prevention of accidents involving hazardous substances is the concern of everyone. The poolfire from a petroleum storage tank leads to fatal con-sequences. This paper highlights some salient features of the emergency scenario from four petroleum storage tanks situated in Budge Budge area, 24 Pgs(S), West Bengal, which ultimately lead to poolfire with enormous heat wave all around and their consequence analysis, affected areas, rescue and evacuation plans, communi-cation and public information systems, roles and responsibilities of the district emergency authority, police, fire and medical authorities.

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Disability Focused Disaster Recovery Planning in India: Development Perspective and Other Implications for making the Actual Mainstreaming Happen

Satapathy Sujata

Persons with disabilities comprise a heterogeneous group of people in terms of age, type of disability and the conditions which led to acquiring a disability in addition to other demographic factors such as gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. This community is considered to be at high risk during any disaster because of the unique characteristic of each disability and the special needs associated with that type of disability, diversity in pre-disaster living conditions and diversity in the disaster-imposed disability population. The populations affected by disasters contain a high proportion of the disabled. The nature of the disabilities of those affected and created by disasters is different from the rest of their non-disabled affected counterparts in terms of their specific physical, psycho-social and economic needs. All these needs are marginalized in pre-disaster life conditions and get compounded in case of a disaster or emergency situation. Thus, in addition to these disaster induced specific needs, previously existing health, psycho-social, financial and security hazards are also aggravated during such chaos time leading to a complex life condition where they are forced to live in. India has taken lot of proactive initiatives in disaster management and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into development of the country in last few years. Rigorous initiatives and measures have been pursued from legal and institutional point of view to ensure progressive integration of disaster and development issue together. Within the broader framework of disaster management, protecting rights of more vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities is a critical issue to be looked at not as a charity but as an issue of human rights. India is a signatory of the UN Conventions on Disability. Thus, the actions taken for the management and all round development of people of disabilities in a disaster situation have to be exemplary for other nations in the region. And to ensure quantity and quality safety, health, mental health, education and security services to this group in a post-disaster situation depend largely upon the policy, planning and legal arrangements of the country and how the micro level issues are linked up with the larger issue of development.

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Planning a Disaster using Information Technology: A Boon for the Eva

Dutta Baishakhi and Shastry Vijaya

Natural disasters in the world are increasing in severity day by day. In many countries, as economics grow and technologies expand, human made disasters also keep on multiplying. Various reports and data related to natural disasters prove the fact. The public and government respond when disasters strike but forget the whole issue after a while. The time has come to prepare Disaster Management Plans at all levels from village to state and state to the country.It is very difficult to maintain communications during any crisis such as earthquakes, tsunami, cyclones or floods. This paper intends to highlight some reliable and effective high speed technology which can be used before and after any vulnerabilities risks or hazards.

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Crisis Management- A Case Study on Mumbai Terrorist Attack

Shekhar Manisha

This paper examined the Indian government intervention in crisis management during 2008 terrorist attack on MUMBAI. Empirical findings show that the intervention of increasing external pressure and internal self awareness forced INDIAN Government to change its crisis management strategy. Different administrative level (local, regional, national and international) were co operatively involved in taking action and controlling crisis. A strange pattern has been observed and study has been done to find out the next probability of occurrence of crisis. Also a detailed analysis of crisis management program has been done utilizing the information of various crisis case studies that had occurred in the past.

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Association between Heavy Rainfall Events and Electron Density, Temperatures, Total Ozone

Joshi Indira Sudhir and Rekapalli Rajesh

There is a strong relation between heavy rainfall events and electron density, temperature, total ozone. The present study is concerned with this relation and it is found that solar radiation and its ionization are the main factors.

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