The Swedish Geotechnical Society’s methodology for risk management: a tool for engineers in their everyday work

The Swedish Geotechnical Society has adopted a general methodology for risk management in geotechnical engineering projects to reduce the costs related to negative outcomes of geotechnical risks. This technical note highlights the main features of the methodology and strives to inspire the international geotechnical community to apply sensible risk management methods. In the authors’ opinion, a successful geotechnical risk management needs to be structured, be tailored to the project, and permeate the engineers’ everyday work. Then, sufficient quality can be achieved in the project with larger probability.     

Landslide susceptibility zonation method based on C5.0 decision tree and K-means cluster algorithms to improve the efficiency of risk management

Machine learning algorithms are an important measure with which to perform landslide susceptibility assessments,but most studies use GIS-based classification methods to conduct susceptibility zonation.This study presents a machine learning approach based on the C5.0 decision tree(DT)model and the K-means cluster algorithm to produce a regional landslide susceptibility map.Yanchang County,a typical landslide-prone area located in northwestern China,was taken as the area of interest to introduce the proposed application procedure.A landslide inventory containing 82 landslides was prepared and subse-quently randomly partitioned into two subsets:training data(70％landslide pixels)and validation data(30％landslide pixels).Fourteen landslide influencing factors were considered in the input dataset and were used to calculate the landslide occurrence probability based on the C5.0 decision tree model.Susceptibility zonation was implemented according to the cut-off values calculated by the K-means clus-ter algorithm.The validation results of the model performance analysis showed that the AUC(area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve)of the proposed model was the highest,reaching 0.88,compared with traditional models(support vector machine(SVM)=0.85,Bayesian network(BN)=0.81,frequency ratio(FR)=0.75,weight of evidence(WOE)=0.76).The landslide frequency ratio and fre-quency density of the high susceptibility zones were 6.76/km2 and 0.88/km2,respectively,which were much higher than those of the low susceptibility zones.The top 20％interval of landslide occurrence probability contained 89％of the historical landslides but only accounted for 10.3％of the total area.Our results indicate that the distribution of high susceptibility zones was more focused without contain-ing more"stable"pixels.Therefore,the obtained susceptibility map is suitable for application to landslide risk management practices.     

中国冰冻圈变化的适应研究：进展与展望

冰冻圈变化的适应研究是冰冻圈科学领域的新兴研究方向,是当今自然科学与社会科学交叉融合跨学科集成研究的典型代表。起步于2007年的中国冰冻圈变化适应研究,经历了早期的探索,研究重点由评价脆弱性发展为量化冰冻圈变化的影响,形成以影响/风险—脆弱性—适应全链条的完善的研究体系,研究方法突破传统的指标体系赋权法的不足,初步实现了定量化,有机结合影响/风险、脆弱性、适应三方面的研究结果,使冰冻圈变化的适应措施由偏重宏观性、普适性开始转向更有针对性。未来中国冰冻圈变化的适应研究应拓展、完善和深化现有的理论体系,构建冰冻圈与社会经济耦合模型,科学量化冰冻圈全要素变化的影响,建立不同利益相关者与科学家共同参与的研究新模式,科学有效应对与适应冰冻圈变化及其影响。     

Flood insurance arrangements in the European Union for future flood risk under climate and socioeconomic change

Flood risk will increase in many areas around the world due to climate change and increase in economic exposure. This implies that adequate flood insurance schemes are needed to adapt to increasing flood risk and to minimise welfare losses for households in flood-prone areas. Flood insurance markets may need reform to offer sufficient and affordable financial protection and incentives for risk reduction. Here, we present the results of a study that aims to evaluate the ability of flood insurance arrangements in Europe to cope with trends in flood risk, using criteria that encompass common elements of the policy debate on flood insurance reform. We show that the average risk-based flood insurance premium could double between 2015 and 2055 in the absence of more risk reduction by households exposed to flooding. We show that part of the expected future increase in flood risk could be limited by flood insurance mechanisms that better incentivise risk reduction by policyholders, which lowers vulnerability. The affordability of flood insurance can be improved by introducing the key features of public-private partnerships (PPPs), which include public reinsurance, limited premium cross-subsidisation between low- and high-risk households, and incentives for policyholder-level risk reduction. These findings were evaluated in a comprehensive sensitivity analysis and support ongoing reforms in Europe and abroad that move towards risk-based premiums and link insurance with risk reduction, strengthen purchase requirements, and engage in multi-stakeholder partnerships.     

内蒙古东南部暴雨洪涝灾害风险评估与区划——以通辽市为例

文章选取通辽市各气象站点气象数据、基础地理信息数据、历史灾情数据、第二次土地调查数据及相关社会经济等统计数据,基于自然灾害风险原理,利用数理统计、层次分析法及空间叠加分析等方法,提出了通辽市暴雨洪涝灾害风险评价指标体系,得到通辽市暴雨洪涝灾害风险评估空间分布图。结果表明:高风险区主要分布在通辽市北部山区、中东部地区及偏南部地区,包括扎鲁特旗鲁北镇、科尔沁区、科左中旗东南部及库伦旗东南部;而科左后旗大部地区易形成由短时强降水引发的洪涝,为次高风险区;低风险区及次低风险区主要分布在通辽市中部、西南部地区,包括开鲁县、奈曼旗北部、科左中旗西部。     

Return period and risk calculations for ocean wave energy applications

The statistical behavior of wave energy at a site strongly depends on the wave characteristics. Wave energy converters fail to produce energy when there are no sufficiently available wave heights. Hence, evaluation of return periods and risk values of the minimum wave height becomes important for wave energy studies. A time index representing the minimum wave height is proposed here for ocean wave applications. Persistence plays a significant role in the calculation of return period and risk. Although ignoring the serial independence makes calculations easy, it leads to overestimations of the real status. In this paper, return periods and risk values are compared with each other by taking into consideration independent and dependent situations. Application of the study is achieved for the stations located in the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.     

黄河三角洲沿岸海浪风暴潮耦合作用漫堤风险评估研究

海浪、风暴潮是重要的海洋灾害因子,过去人们主要对这些灾害因子本身进行研究,而对它们作用的承灾体研究甚少。实际上,只有它们作用的承灾体遭到破坏,才产生海洋灾害。本研究的目的就是要针对海浪风暴潮漫堤灾害,提出漫堤灾害的风险评估标准及风险评估方法和程式,为沿海防灾减灾提供科学依据。针对黄河三角洲示范区,根据漫堤程度,提出了漫堤灾害风险等级标准,并基于建立的海浪和风暴潮潮汐数值模式及长期预测结果,提出了风险评估方法和程式步骤。对黄河三角洲近岸海域主要堤段进行了多年一遇和典型台风过程漫堤灾害的风险评估。得到的结果是:该区沿岸海堤在风暴潮水位下一般都不能发生水位漫堤现象,只有加上波浪作用时,才会出现海水漫堤;当发生五十年一遇的风暴潮、浪时,多数的海堤的风暴潮、浪漫堤灾害风险在3—4级,即有效波高的浪已爬上或接近爬到堤顶;9216和9711号台风所产生的风暴潮、浪灾害约为150—200年一遇的情况。从实际情况看,本研究中提出的漫堤风险评估标准、评估方法是可行的,评估结果为有效防减海浪风暴潮漫堤灾害造成的损失提供了参考。     

同步改正法平均海面传递应用于海南岛礁测绘的探讨

同步改正法因其特点和优势被广泛应用于平均海面传递,文中从平均海面的理论定义和实际计算两方面出发,对同步改正平均海面传递法原理进行了论述。利用海南岛周边的长期验潮站数据,按单站传递和多站组网传递分别分析了同步改正平均海面传递的规律。结果表明,单站传递同步观测10 d能满足岛礁测绘对垂直基准面精度的要求,采用多站组网传递能较明显地减少同步时长较短时的极限误差。当采用多站组网平均海面传递同步观测5 d,其极限误差可达10 cm以内,建议在同步观测时间有限时采用该方法。结合海南岛验潮站和岛礁分布情况,同步改正平均海面传递法应用于海南岛礁测绘是可行的。     

The anatomy of a disaster, an overview of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina created the one of the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States, resulting in over 1600 fatalities and $30B in direct economic losses in southern Louisiana. The Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines experienced the highest surge level recorded in North America and Katrina-generated waves in the Gulf of Mexico that equaled the highest previously measured by NOAA buoys. What happened in New Orleans epitomizes the risk of living below sea level in a coastal city, depending on structures that were the result of considerable compromise and piecemeal funding and construction. The Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force was established to examine the performance of the New Orleans and southeast Louisiana hurricane protection system and provide real-time input to the repairs and rebuilding of the system. In addition to this atypical just-in-time forensic analysis, the task force examined the risk of living in New Orleans prior to and following the repairs to the hurricane protection system. Much of the forensic analysis depended on modeling and simulation of hurricane surge and waves. With virtually all measurement instruments swept away by Katrina, only models and high-water marks were available to recreate the conditions that the structures experienced during the storm. Because of the complexities of the region and the processes involved, simulation of hurricane surge and waves required many fresh ideas and new approaches and these topics, along with new concepts for future planning and design, are the focus of this special issue. Yet, the need to influence the repair and rebuilding of the damaged structures prior to the next hurricane season (roughly 9 months) dictated using existing computational tools that were ready to go. The same modeling and simulation approach was put to work to define the surge and wave hazard New Orleans faces for the future. To put this important body of work in context, this paper provides a broad overview of the entire scope of work of the task force and summarizes its principal findings.     

Risk identification and perception in the fisheries sector: Comparisons between the Faroes,Greece, Iceland and UK

This paper presents the findings of risk identification and risk perception research conducted in relation to the fisheries systems of four distinct and diverse European countries: Faroes, Iceland, Greece and the UK. Risk research traditionally attempts to quantify the potential threat or consequences from a range of risk events or hazards. This research, however, adopted a social sciences perspective and so assumed that a risk event or hazard can mean different things to different people and that these perceptions are also context and culturally dependent. Risk perceptions were examined and risk registers developed in each country for a range of stakeholder groups. A ‘mental modelling’ approach was adopted in a series of qualitative interviews. Findings were examined in terms of a wide range of psychological, social and cultural risk theories. Differences in risk perceptions were noted between stakeholder groups and countries and contextual influences were examined such as the widely differing fisheries management systems used in each country. This research provides one of the first attempts to systematically evaluate risks and perceptions across a range of fisheries-systems. The findings support social science theories which argue that risk is a subjective, as opposed to objective, concept and that this subjectivity will therefore affect our attempts to assess and manage those hazards we think we can potentially influence or control.