Special issue  

In the past decades, the risk to society due to natural hazards has increased around the globe. The Andes region is particularly exposed to natural hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides, volcanic activity, forest fires, and others. To mitigate these threats, effective risk management is indispensable, for which reliable and up-to-date information is essential. The complex relationships between multiple and consecutive natural hazards, the exposed population, a dynamic vulnerability, and critical infrastructures lead to cascading effects which are often not considered. Furthermore, the assessment, quantification, and propagation of intrinsic and epistemic uncertainty are mostly not considered. This can lead to inadequate or even misleading risk management strategies, thus hindering efficient prevention and mitigation measures, and ultimately undermining the resilience of societies.

The special issue aims at making a significant contribution to single-hazard and multi-hazard risk assessment, including exposure and dynamic vulnerability, and progressing towards the analysis of cascading effects. Specific topics of this special issue include, but are not limited to,

• new methods and techniques for (multi-)hazard scenarios, exposure, and vulnerability modelling;
• new methods and techniques for impact assessment, cascading effects, and loss estimation;
• design, development, and implementation of tools for the analysis of multi-risks;
• analysis and development towards practical applications for stakeholders and decision makers.

The special issue asks for contributions that address countries of the Andes region. Submissions for all manuscript types such as research articles, review articles, and brief communications are welcome.