Disaster information: a bibliography

ID: 1761

Au: Boudon, Georges; Semet, Michael P; Villemant, B.

Ti: Characterisation of the hydrothermal system of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, West Indies.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 35.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: The Soufriere Hills volcano has one of the most active hydrothermal systems among Lesser Antilles volcanoes. The horseshoe-shaped English's Crater (2 x 1.2 km) is the result of a flank-collapse event that produced debris avalanche deposits observed in the eastern seaside cliffs. Detailed geochemical (whole rock, trace elements, U-Th disequilibrium), mineralogical (x-ray power diffraction-XRD) and microtextural (Scanning Electron Microscope-SEM) studies on different samples representative of the entire 1995-96 period of dome growth should help confirm the nature and extent of interaction at the hydrothermal-magma interface and their influence on eruptive style.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1762

Au: Simpson, David M.

Ti: Community-based organisations and the use of drills and simulations for increasing earthquake preparedness and response.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 21.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: On April 20, 1996, over 25 cities in the California San Francisco Bay Area will conduct an earthquake drill. This regional drill will be the first of its kind in the United States. The effort is a product of a regional non-profit organisation called BAYNET (Bay Area Network) which represents cities and communities that have created community-based earthquake preparedness and training organisations. These community-based groups focus their efforts on both preparedness education and disaster response training. The groups seek to educate and train citizens in urban search and rescue, fire suppression, first aid, and other response skills. The managers who administer the community-based programmes, and who are organising the drill activity in their jurisdiction, will be surveyed immediately following the drill. Using a combination of mail and phone surveys, the programme managers will be asked about the structure of their drill, the type of simulation scenario, the level of participation, and questions relating to the interaction of volunteers with the local emergency management organisations. This paper will present the results of the programme manager survey, with a focus on the institutional and organisational design and implementation of the drills in local jurisdictions. The stated intent of sponsoring a regional "drill day" is to increase the earthquake preparedness awareness in the area and to simulate, and thereby evaluate, the activation of the volunteer community-based organisations. The paper will explore the degree to which these intentions were met. The paper will also discuss the utility and viability for using drills and simulations for these volunteer-oriented organisations. As this "drill day" is to become an annual event, recommendations will be offered regarding how to optimise the use of simulations and drills in community-based organisations on an ongoing basis.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1763

Au: Smith, Douglas L.

Ti: Comparison of seismic attenuation values for events in the Caribbean with those located in North America.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 21.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: Continuing analyses of seismograms for earthquake events recorded by the University of Florida network yield attenuation, coefficients related to the geographic origin of the event. Of 34 events subjected to reanalyses, twenty-one originated in Central and South America. Identifiable Lg phases were selected from records of events from North America, but p wave phases were used for those events from the circum-Caribbean region. An attentuation coefficient of y=0.10 per degree is derived from events which originated in North America. Efforts to independently calculate Q from transmissivity data from the upper Floridan Aquifer yielded Q values of 172 to 688. While these y and Q values are comparable to assigned values for the eastern United States, significantly higher attenuation is recognised from records of events from the circum-Caribbean region.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1764

Au: Hooper, Donald M; Kover, Thomas P; Mattioli, Glen S.

Ti: Computer-simulation models of pyroclasltic flows at the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat: application to hazard assessment.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies. Department of Geography and Geology. Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 39.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: Soufriere Hills volcano consists of a series of central andesitic lava domes. The youngest dome, Castle Peak, occupies English's Crater. The computer code FLOW3D is being used to simulate several types of gravity-driven, pyroclastic, surge, and block-and-ash flows that have been observed or may potentially occur at the Soufriere Hills volcano. These computer simulations can be extremely useful in assessing and mitigating the risk associated with several types of volcanic hazards. Because of their predominance at the Soufriere Hills volcano, an understanding of block-and-ash flows produced by the disintegration of lava domes is critical. Furthermore, because English’s Crater is open to the ENE, this region is highly susceptible to various volcanic flow products, including lahars.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1765

Au: Morrissey, Michael.

Ti: Curriculum innovation for natural disaster reduction: the experience of the Commonwealth Caribbean.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, Hazards and Hazard Management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 16.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: This survey article explores the roles of the Pan-Caribbean Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Project and the Jamaican Office of Disaster Preparedness in stimulating the incorporation of natural disaster mitigation concepts into the curricula of primary and secondary schools, and-through the sensitization of key resource persons-in infusing such concepts into primary and secondary textbooks published for the region.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1766

Au: Young, Simon R; Hoblitt, Richard P; Smith, Alan L; Devine, Joseph D; Wadge, Geoffrey; Shepherd, John B.

Ti: Dating of explosive volcanic events associated with dome growth at the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, West Indies.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology. Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 28.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: Prior to the reawakening of the Soufriere Hills volcano in 1995, research on the deposits of past eruptions of the volcano had concentrated on a well exposed sequence of block and ash flows exposed on the sea cliffs and in river valleys on the flanks of the volcano. Radiocarbon dating of these deposits yielded ages ranging from c.24 to 16 ka. A single date of 32054 had been obtained (1959) from a poorly exposed section along Hot River, which drains the breached eastern side of the summit crater. This date had not been duplicated and was thus suspect. A combination of volcanic mudflows and rainfall following the passage of 2 hurricanes and a tropical storm between early August and late October 1995 caused severe erosion in Hot River and in several other ghauts, revealing several good sections through carbon-bearing deposits from the volcano. In support of the monitoring exercise at Soufriere Hills volcano, a series of sampling visits was made and key sections investigated in the Hot River valley in order to clarify the stratigraphy and age of the most recent deposits. Radiocarbon ages obtained from one or more relatively thin pyroclastic flow deposits thought to include the same deposit as that sampled in 1959 were 20040, 24050, 27050, 29050, 32045, 35050, 42050, 43045, and 77045;an AMS date on a sample at a similar stratigraphic level about 50 m further downstream gave an age of 42025 yrs BP. Later investigations revealed a complex sequence of pyroclastic flow and lahar deposits of assumed recent age, the best section (although not necessarily the most complete) being close to the mouth of Hot River. Radiocarbon ages from a number of these units will be presented, along with petrological and geochemical data. In addition to the Hot River section, investigations of other areas revealed additional widespread deposits along the eastern coast in which Amerindian artifacts have been found along with carbon of both anthropogenic and probable volcanogenic origin. A date from the carbon collected in basal part of this deposit gave an age of 395070. Further carbon-bearing deposits within Fort Ghaut to the west of the volcano will also be described; these are not thought to be volcanogenic deposits. Investigation of the most recent deposits from the Soufriere Hills has enabled the monitoring team to better understand the style of dome-building events at this volcano.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1767

Au: Suite, Winston H. E.

Ti: Disaster management training by the case study method-its application to the Caribbean Region.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 22.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.
Ab: The paper attempts to review disaster management training in the Caribbean in the face of both natural and man-made hazards. It identifies several critical weaknesses which remain in spite of frenzied activities over the last decade. The paper also seeks to identify and discuss the elements of a disaster plan in terms of specific and concrete examples which have been ever present in the region. Finally the paper presents the case study approach as offering the maximum opportunity to train public and private sector management personnel with responsibility for safety and disaster management at the industry level.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.

ID: 1768

Au: Peacock, Walter Gillis.

Ti: Disaster mitigation, response and recovery: a socio-political ecology perspective.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 18.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: The development of effective policies related to disaster mitigation, response, and recovery demand a fuller appreciation of society structure and organisation. At best, attention usually focuses on society's relationship to the physical environment with little concern for the particular problems arising from the structure of social systems. This paper considers various structural and organisational dimensions of human societies and communities in particular, the structure of human communities related to division of labour, inequality, cooperation, competition, and conflict. Their implications for policy planning, development and implementation are discussed.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1769

Au: Chin, Myron W.

Ti: Effective mitigation strategies for hurricanes and earthquakes in the Caribbean.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 6.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: The Caribbean is affected by geological, climatic and environmental hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tropical cyclones, floods, drought, environmental pollution and deforestation. However, historically, the damage caused by earthquakes has not been as great as that caused by hurricanes and floods. In this paper therefore, effective mitigation strategies for reducing losses from hurricanes and earthquakes in the Caribbean are discussed with particular reference to the Caribbean Uniform Building Code (CUBiC) provisions for wind and earthquake loads. A brief review of these provisions is presented and it is emphasised that there is an urgent need to enforce compliance with the requirements of CUBiC and to encourage higher standards of construction quality throughout the Caribbean. Other factors affecting effective mitigation strategies are outlined and the economics and practicalities of mitigation are discussed against the background of the attitudes of the Caribbean peoples at risk and the nature of Caribbean political administrations. The paper concludes that successful and effective mitigation strategies must involve the close collaboration between the local community and the government agencies and must contain a mixture of immediately visible improvements and of less visible but long term sustainable benefits. In this regard the paper recommends the urgent completion of Part 5 of CUBiC which deals with the construction of Small Buildings.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1770

Au: Gibbs, Tony.

Ti: Effects of Hurricane Luis on structures in Antigua.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 9.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: This paper focuses on the electricity and health sectors after Hurricane Luis struck Antigua and Barbuda in the north-east Caribbean on 4 and 5, September 1995. The nature and extent of the damage are described and illustrated. The causes of failures and successes are analyzed. It is shown how the failures could have been reduced to a manageable amount and, in many cases, eliminated completely with little incremental effort and cost. The impact of building codes and standards is assessed. Damage to buildings was mainly due to weak connections of light-weight roofing materials, impact damage to glazed openings from flying objects, inadequate fixings of windows and external doors and water damage from the torrential rains. There were also several examples of catastrophic collapse of entire buildings due to unsound structural concepts. The lack of maintenance of building components contributed significantly to the damage. In the cases of structures not associated with buildings (e.g. telecommunication towers and transmission systems) inadequate specification of performance criteria at the procurement and design stages was an important factor in the failures. The actual wind speeds were not greater than should have been in a 1-in-50-year event. The introduction of mandatory building standards and codes would have a significant, positive impact in reducing losses in future hurricanes. Antigua is not only in the regular path of severe hurricanes. It is also located in the most hazardous area of seismic activity in the Caribbean Archipelago. The Interrelationship of wind-resistant and earthquake-resistant design is analysed.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1771

Au: Lynch, Lloyd L; Ramsingh, Chandradath; Ambeh, William B.

Ti: Electronically tailoring the frequency response of low cost exploration geophones for volcano monitoring applications.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 29.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: Electronically extending the bandwidth of a seismic sensor to improve its range of usefulness for a particular application is not a new idea. The primary disadvantages of instruments designed with this technique are instability problems and reduced dynamic range. If designed carefully, however, the above problems can be minimised and a broader instrument response will be obtained at relatively low cost. This is very attractive in volcano monitoring where it is often required to deploy several instruments which may be lost during an eruption. In this paper, we describe the design of a highly stable tri-axial seismometer for volcano monitoring applications. The desired response was obtained by tailoring the response of inexpensive HS-1 rotary geophones that are designed with a natural frequency of 4.5 Hz and a transductance of 4.1 V/m/s. In our design, a low noise preamplifer interface is used to optimise the self noise performance of the system. The preamplifier is followed by a two stage frequency equalizer to compensate for the low frequency roll-off of the geophone down to a frequency of 0.45 Hz. A fourth order Butterworth filter which follows is used to set the upper cut-off frequency of the system to 20 Hz. Using a broadband accelerometer, we estimated the seismic noise spectra of various seismic station sites around the Soufriere Hills volcano in Montserrat. We then verified that the self noise spectra of the instrument is below that of the seismic noise spectra for most of the usable bandwidth. We, therefore, conclude that the useful dynamic range that is offered by this instrument in volcano monitoring applications is basically the same as that of its more expensive off-the-shelf counterpart of similar bandwidth.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1772

Au: Murria, Juan.

Ti: Evaluation and mitigation of earthquake risk in the Venezuela petroleum industry: an update.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, Hazards and Hazard Management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 17.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: Most of the facilities of the Venezuela petroleum industry are located in areas of low to moderate to high seismic activity. As a consequence, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the national oil company undertook in 1991 a ten year project to evaluate the seismic risk in the critical installations of its facilities at a cost of approximately US$2.5 million. This project is being coordinated by INTEVEP, the research and development subsidiary of PDVSA with the decided cooperation of the operating petroleum and petrochemical subsidiaries CORPOVEN, LAGOVEN, MARAVEN and PEQUIVEN. This paper presents an update of the activities performed to date, the problems encountered and the solutions adopted.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1773

Au: Sergio, Mora C.

Ti: Extent and social economic significance of slope-instability in the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic).

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, Hazards and Hazard Management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 15.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: In the island of Hispaniola, slope instability phenomena are frequent, particularly intensive soil erosion and landslides. In Haiti, soil erosion is extreme and has contributed to increase the generalised food supply and environment degradation problems currently affecting this country. Landslides are also common, such as those around the Peligre reservoir and the Massif de la Selle. In the Dominican Republic, intensive erosion phenomena are not less common, such as the case of the locality of Banica, where it has reached an ultimate scale. Large landslides are widespread throughout Septentrional and Central ranges, with the well known case of the town of Carlos Diaz in the former and the vast movements generated in the latter during the passages of David and Frederic Tropical Storms in 1979. Climatic and geomorphic conditions are evidently the origin of these phenomena, which are deteriorated by the frequent transit of hurricanes and seismic activity. However, irrational human activity is steadily aggravating the situation.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.
ID: 1774

Au: Roy, Abraham K.

Ti: Generating a database for hurricanes from non-conventional sources.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, hazards and hazard management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies, Department of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 1.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: It is extremely difficult to represent a hurricane even in its mature stage by the operational assimilation systems. This is due to the lack of efficient observational network over the land in tropical regions but also due to the development of hurricanes over the oceans where they can be missed completely by the conventional observation network. Due to this reason the hurricane vortex cannot be properly represented and hence results in the poor prediction of track and intensity of the hurricanes. In this paper, a method is described to generate a complete data set for a hurricane from a few essential non-conventional sources in Caribbean weather conditions. A complete multi-level data set of zonal and meridianal wind, temperature, relative humidity and surface pressure is generated. Since no two hurricanes are similar, a number of analytical vortices are included in this method. The vortex which gives the least coefficient of spatial variation with respect to the observed hurricane is selected for hurricane reconstruction. This complete reconstruction of a hurricane can be made more realistic with the tuning of the analytical profiles with the observed data. Such a data can be used for numerical weather prediction in forecast models. The method is tested using an observed hurricane.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.

ID: 1775

Au: Roy, Abraham K; Chen, A. A; McTavish, J.

Ti: Generation of a database for the disaster management in Caribbean using WWW.

So: In: Ahmad, Rafi. ed. Science, Hazards and Hazard Management: abstracts. Kingston, University of the West Indies Department. of Geography and Geology, Unit for Disaster Studies, 1996. 2.

Co: 2^nd Caribbean Conference on Natural Hazards and Disasters; Kingston, 9-12 Oct. 1996.

Ab: The popularity of World Wide Web (WWW) as a medium of information exchange can be used for disaster management. In this paper, a method is described to create a database of disasters which can be used for emergency management in the Caribbean. This consists of a central server which hosts the database with the associated software and a number of nodes (Sub-servers) with special authorization to update the database. A Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script is used to create, update and retrieve the database. Images and videos of the disasters can also be hosted at the server at any of the nodes. The database can be mirrored at the central server as well as at the nodes. The basic skeleton of such a network is designed and is available at URL:http/wwwphysics.uwimona.ed.jm:1104/staff/visit/abraham/climate/author.html. This website will be extremely useful for scientists, engineers, policy makers and media. Although anybody can retrieve the data through WWW, only authorized individuals at the server and nodes are allowed to create and update the data. This is to protect the database from hackers and other unlawful individuals. The flexibility of the system ensures the fastest, quickest and cheapest way of information exchange across the islands of the Caribbean, which is essential for disaster emergency management.

Lo: UWI, Mona, Science Library.