Environmental and socioeconomic dynamics of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Penang,Malaysia

This paper addresses some of the environmental and socioeconomic dimensions of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on Penang, Malaysia. We aim to offer wide access to unique and perishable data, while at the same time providing insight to ongoing debates about hazards, vulnerability and social capital. Our social survey examines some of the dynamics that shaped the tsunami impact, response and recovery process. While in terms of lives lost Penang may not conform to arguments surrounding vulnerable environments, the recovery process is more marked by social disparities in terms of the ability to access resources. Our physical survey records local topography, flow depth and flow direction, and charts the differential impact of the tsunami. Yet measuring hazards is not a straightforward process, and relies on reflexive methodologies and eyewitness accounts.     

地震灾害情景下产业空间网络风险评估——以日本丰田汽车为例

以日本东南海地震为情景,以日本丰田汽车及其关联企业为例,基于工厂个体数据及其部件供应的拓扑和空间网络,模拟灾害风险在产业网络中扩散转移过程,建立直接损失与间接功能损失的评估模型,为产业空间网络风险评估提供新的思路和方法借鉴。结果表明：在东南海地震情景下,丰田汽车约48.1%的工厂将直接受损,其中生产设施损失约5587亿日元,厂房建筑损失约1980亿日元。由于关键工厂受损,将间接导致整个产业网络中断。在最长37日恢复情景下,将造成约9230亿日元的间接功能损失。地震灾害对丰田汽车产业网络影响显著,有必要采取有效措施进行减灾降险。     

Indian Ocean tsunamis: environmental and socio-economic impacts in Langkawi, Malaysia

We report the results of a study of the physical characteristics and socio-economic impacts of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December 2004 on the tourist island of Langkawi, Malaysia. In comparison with many other locations struck by the tsunami, the immediate physical and socio-economic impacts in Langkawi were relatively minor. A detailed survey of the watermark and ground elevations was undertaken in the worst affected area between Sungei Kuala Teriang and Sungei Kuala Melaka. Here, the tsunami reached a maximum elevation of 4.29 m as it crossed the coast, with a maximum flow depth of 2.0 m and a very consistent run-up elevation relative to mean sea level of 300 ± 10 cm. The tsunami inundated inshore areas for 300 m and penetrated inland along creeks for 500–1000 m. Structural damage to buildings was confined to within 50–150 m of the shoreline where about 10% of the houses were completely destroyed and 60–70% suffered significant structural damage. Damage was particularly severe in areas where there was no engineered coastal protection, but while coastal revetments did provide enhanced protection for houses at the waterfront, the coastline in the study area appeared to be more heavily impacted than elsewhere in Langkawi because wave energy was focused on the area by offshore breakwaters built to protect the Langkawi port and airport. Emergency response after the tsunami was rapid and efficient but would have been improved if the local police station had not been rendered inoperative by the first wave, and if a mechanism had been in place to ensure that informal advance warnings transmitted between Phuket (Thailand), Langkawi and Penang (Malaysia) by tourist operators could have been more widely disseminated.     

Livelihoods in transition: transnational gold mining operations and local change in Cajamarca, Peru

This paper examines how transnational gold mining operations are transforming rural household livelihoods in the Cajamarca region of Peru. In particular, this paper evaluates how Newmont Mining Corporation's Minera Yanacocha (MYSA) mining operations are altering access to the produced, human, natural and social capital resources that households utilize to produce their livelihoods. The paper argues that while access to produced and human capital resources has increased in the past decade, albeit unevenly, access to natural and social capital resources has declined. The paper begins with a discussion of new frameworks for evaluating local livelihood change and household access to resources. Subsequently, the paper describes Peru's new transnational mining sector, livelihoods and livelihood change in the Cajamarca region. The paper then presents the results of case study field research evaluating the impacts of MYSA on household access to resources in three communities. Finally, the paper concludes with a critical discussion of livelihoods frameworks and how they can contribute to geographic studies.     

Eruptive response of oceanic islands to giant landslides: New insights from the geomorphologic evolution of the Teide-Pico Viejo volcanic complex (Tenerife, Canary)

Large sector collapses are a major component of oceanic islands evolution. Here we show that voluminous events such as the Icod landslide on Tenerife (Canary Islands) cause dramatic changes on the magma feeding system and control the subsequent volcanic and geomorphologic evolution of the eruptive complex over a period of more than 150 kyr. Instantaneous unloading by the Icod landslide is marked by the development of a large phonolitic explosive eruption dated at 175 ± 3 ka and interpreted as reflecting the immediate emptying of a shallow pre-existing magma chamber. Geochronological, geomorphological and geochemical analyses, carried out on the post-landslide volcanic succession sampled in a 4.4 km-long underground water-recovery gallery, provide further evidence for an enhanced extrusion of primitive lavas starting in the 10 kyr time interval following the failure. Rapid construction (< 40 kyr) of a thick basaltic volcano in the landslide scar at high eruptive rates (up to 8 km³ kyr⁻¹) increased the lithostatic pressure which then favored the intermittent storage of basic magma under the edifice. This resulted in more episodic construction evidenced by a significant decrease in output rates and the increasing occurrence of lavas with intermediate composition from 117 ± 7 to 52 ± 7 ka. An apparent volcanic gap is observed between 52 ± 7 and 18 ± 1 ka, after which highly differentiated lavas have been dominantly erupted. We propose that part of the gap can be explained by the individualization of a shallow magma reservoir a few kilometers below the base of the Teide volcano. During recent periods, vertical and lateral extrusions of trachytic and phonolitic viscous bodies from this storage area contributed to increase the slope of the main edifice up to 35°, overall favoring its present-day instability.     

北美洲干旱灾害应对策略及其对中国的启示

在全球气候变化背景下,各地极端气候事件有上升趋势。其中以洪涝和干旱灾害对人类生活的影响最大、最频繁。在长期应对干旱灾害的经历中,北美洲各国逐渐形成了较为完善的干旱灾害应对模式,通过立法、风险管理、制定干旱计划、工程措施与非工程措施相结合等多种手段降低干旱灾害带来的损失。通过文献查阅与综述方法,结合北美洲国家相关网站介绍...     

Gated barriadas: Responses to urban insecurity in marginal settlements in Lima,Peru

The explosive growth of so‐called marginal settlements in Latin America's cities has received considerable academic attention in past decades. The inability of the state to adequately provide affordable housing for a rapidly growing urban population has meant that these neighbourhoods relied on community mobilization to achieve common objectives of basic infrastructure and legal recognition. With increasing consolidation and less need for coordinated action, many local organizations lost their rationale. Fear of crime and violence, a major concern in Latin American metropolises, is inscribed on the urban landscape by a growing number of gated and fortified residential enclaves for the better‐off. Marginal neighbourhoods, however, experience a ‘security gap’ as they receive insufficient police protection and lack the financial resources to employ private guards. In many cases, the real or perceived insecurities of inner‐city life have prompted organized bottom‐up, mostly informal and sometimes vigilante, responses. Drawing on research on the rise of informal security‐related interventions in the neighbourhoods of Lima Metropolitana, Peru, this paper explores the rationales underlying the different approaches and adoptions, including the involvement of the main actors, community associations and other local interest groups.     

Chinese Trade in Latin America Compared to the European Union and the United States: The Case of Technology-Intensive Exports

Using trade data submitted by United Nations member states from 1995 to 2013, this article contributes to understanding China's trade with Latin America. By employing and building on the TECH score methodology, this project highlights China's growing economic connectivity with nine large and important Latin American economies. The analysis conducted here shows that compared with exports originating from other, more traditional foreign investors (i.e., the United States and the European Union member states), Chinese exports to these Latin American countries—although growing in sophistication over time—are relatively less technologically sophisticated during the study period. This work clarifies that in spite of these Latin American economies being highly complementary (for their natural resources and consumer markets) to China's manufacturing-intensive economy and despite the rapid growth in bilateral and biregional trade, China's displacement of traditional foreign actors, in terms of its technology-intensive exports to the region, is not supported by the data to date.     

Vulnerability of families and households to natural hazards: A case study of storm surge flooding in Sarasota County,Florida

The role that family and household structure, size, and ethnic/racial composition play in increasing or decreasing vulnerability to natural hazards, which has been missing from the literature, is investigated. The study first reviews the conceptual foundations of the relationships between families/households and natural hazards vulnerability and then employs a principal components analysis to uncover spatial variations in the vulnerability of families and households to hurricane storm surge hazards in Sarasota County, Florida. The analysis identifies and maps five principal components that explain approximately 83% of the variance in family/household population: nuclear families/households; Black families/households; nonfamily, young adult group households; Hispanic families/households; and Asian families/households. Comparison of storm surge risk maps with the locations of these families/households shows the relative vulnerability of each of these family/household categories, with elderly householders living alone on exposed barrier islands being the most vulnerable. The research suggests that family and household structures integrate several socio-demographic vulnerability indicators central to most social vulnerability assessments. Results indicate that future research and hazard mitigation policies should focus on families and households as core analytical units. Findings also suggest that recognizing the diversity of families and households is important to reducing vulnerability to natural hazards.     

Sun,sea, sand and tsunami: examining disaster vulnerability in the tourism community of Khao Lak,Thailand

The impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on coastal tourism communities highlights the vulnerability of tourism destinations to external shocks. Based on fieldwork conducted in Thailand in the wake of this disaster, this paper addresses one fundamental question: what sociopolitical and environmental conditions contributed to the vulnerability of the affected tourism community of Khao Lak in the southern Phang Nga Province. We argue that an understanding of the root causes of destination vulnerability is vital not only for the successful implementation of regional recovery plans, but also for building long‐term resilience against future shocks. In the absence of an appropriate tourism vulnerability framework, this paper analyzes Khao Lak's vulnerability through an innovative theoretical framework comprised of the sustainability vulnerability framework, relational scale and place. The findings reveal that Khao Lak's vulnerability is shaped by 13 interlinked factors. These are the complex outcomes of social norms and developmental and dynamic governance processes driven by the competing agendas and scaled actions of key government and industry stakeholders. The identification and understanding of the drivers of Khao Lak's vulnerability and a strong vulnerability framework have significant implications for the wider tourism community. First, the empirical findings provide tourism communities with a blueprint for understanding the foundations of their vulnerability to external shocks. Second, the tourism vulnerability framework presented here provides destination communities and government stakeholders with an analytical tool through which to analyze their unique sociopolitical conditions. Together, these empirical and theoretical contributions bring us closer to securing sustainable livelihood futures for tourism dependent communities.     

地震灾害预测和应急模拟系统的设计与应用——以永安市城市应急系统为例

城市防震减灾是地震潜在频发区提高自然灾害防治能力建设的重要方面。本文结合福建省永安市城市防震减灾信息管理系统的建设,探讨设计防震减灾数值模型,分析模型集成的关键技术,构建了地震风险评估、建筑物易损性评价、生命与财产损失估算、救援与救灾管理调度等模型和基于GIS开发的震害预测和应急模拟系统。该系统在福建省永安市的实际应用表明,通过对地震灾害预测结果的分析,可加强城市抗震中的薄弱环节,为灾区政府应急响应和制订对策提供决策支持辅助信息,从而显著提高城市防震减灾的综合能力。     

区域土地生产潜力对全球气候变化的响应评价——以中国北方农牧交错带中段为例

由于气候变化的不确定性,尤其由于区域对气候变化响应评价工作直接关系到区域气候变化对策的制定和区域发展,进行针对气候变化的响应研究比气候变化的影响评价研究更具现实意义。气候变化对区域土地利用会产生一系列的影响,这种影响作用下的区域的反应-相应的变化、必要的适应性调整和适应能力-即是对气候变化的响应。以敏感度和适应能力度量的脆弱性作为衡量区域对气候变化响应的指标,增强了不同研究工作的比较性,正在日益为有关学者接受,并在全球开始研究工作。本文对应用脆弱性理论进行区域气候变化响应研究做了有益的探索。选择气候变化的时间、空间变化明显的中国北方农牧业交错带的中段作为研究案例,分别对农牧业土地生产潜力相对气候变化的敏感度和区域对气候变化的适应能力进行了定量和半定量的计算与评价,从这两个方面给出脆弱性的表述作为对研究区域土地生产潜力对全球气候变化的响应评价。     

Foreword to the special issue: climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in the Arctic

The Arctic climate is changing, carrying wide-ranging implications for indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants, businesses, industry and government across the circumpolar region. The latest scientific assessments indicate that change is happening faster than previously thought, and that the Arctic will continue to experience dramatic climate change in the future. This special edition of Polar Research brings together nine papers on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in the Arctic, providing important insights on the nature of the risks and opportunities posed by climate change in the circumpolar region, highlighting opportunities for policy response and providing insights on how to conduct effective climate change research with Arctic communities.     

秦巴山区乡村交通环境脆弱性及影响因素——以陕西省洛南县为例

山区乡村长期处于地形地貌制约、自然灾害频发的风险胁迫之下,乡村交通系统网络化水平低、抗灾能力弱,交通环境脆弱性问题突出。以秦巴山区洛南县为例,基于人地关系脆弱性的暴露、敏感、应对能力3个维度构建了涵盖风险事件、地理特征、关键出行路径、路网结构、交通工具、家庭资本等要素的乡村交通环境脆弱性基本构成框架,并针对性建立了评估指标体系。依托ArcGIS和GeoDa软件解析了洛南县交通环境脆弱性的空间结构和空间自相关特征,运用地理加权回归模型探寻了自然、人口、社会、经济因素对交通风险应对能力的影响及空间差异。结果显示：交通环境脆弱性以县城及城郊为中心向外递增形成圈层结构,且垂直差异显著;暴露度、敏感性均与应对能力呈现显著的空间负相关性,脆弱性局部“热点”区域广泛分布于北部中山地带,且陷入了高暴露、高敏感、低应对能力的窘境。“冷点”区域多为城郊或邻近镇区的村庄,敏感性低,应对能力高;地形条件、产业分布、人口结构与受教育程度、家庭规模对交通风险应对能力有显著影响,影响性质及强度存在空间差异。     

The 2014 volcanic eruption in Fogo and the reterritorialization process: from risk to geographic resilience

The population of Fogo Island, in Cape Verde, shows a peculiar relationship with the living territory, given that the eminence of volcanic risk is a reality they face every day. The 1951 and 1995 eruptions were particularly scarring in this insular geography, leaving in several generations of Cape Verdeans, the mark of a creation‐destruction‐restart cycle, as well as an attitude of symbiosis with nature. This article is intended to present and discuss results from a scientific research paper based on a study conducted on Fogo Island, in Cape Verde, in February 2016, where researchers sought to understand the local population's response to the last volcanic eruption (from November 2014 to February 2015), in a logic of deterritorialization‐reterritorialization, namely in terms of community and territorial resilience. The analysis method was based on direct observation, with record of the views in a field journal, as well as the biographic narratives of all those who were affected, through questionnaires and interviews.     

Climate and causation in the Swedish Iron Age: learning from the present to understand the past

The paper reassesses the role of climate as a factor shaping changes in settlement and landscape in the Swedish Iron Age (500 BC–AD 1050). Two reasons motivate this re-evaluation. First, high-resolution data based on climate proxies from the natural sciences are now increasingly available. Second, the climate-related social sciences have yielded conceptual and theoretical developments regarding vulnerability and adaptability in the present and recent past, creating new ways to analyse the effects of climatic vs. societal factors on societies in the more distant past. Recent research in this field is evaluated and the explicitly climate deterministic standpoint of many recent natural science texts is criticized. Learning from recent approaches to climate change in the social sciences is crucial for understanding society–climate relationships in the past. The paper concludes that we are not yet in a position to fully evaluate the role of the new evidence of abrupt climate change in 850 BC, at the beginning of the Iron Age. Regarding the crisis in the mid-first millennium AD, however, new climate data indicate that a dust veil in AD 536–537 might have aggravated the economic and societal crisis known from previous research.