Resilience and v​ulnerability assessm​ents in natural haza​rds and risk analysi​s
Resilience and v​ulnerability assessm​ents in natural haza​rds and risk analysi​s
Editor(s): S. Fuchs, M. Keiler, and T. Glade
Given the conditions of global environmental change such as outlined in the Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, impacts from natural hazards on natural and human systems are manifest worldwide. Such impacts are the result of both the frequency and magnitude of the hazard and the exposure of the society or elements at risk, such as buildings or infrastructure lines. In recent years, the concepts of vulnerability and resilience (again) became popular in environmental hazard and risk management. Ideas and concepts of vulnerability and resilience are used by various scholars from different scientific disciplines – as well as by practitioners and institutions – and hence are used in multiple disciplinary models underpinning either a technical or a social origin of the concept and resulting in a range of paradigms for either a qualitative or quantitative assessment, both scale-dependent. Despite the growing amount of studies recently published, current approaches are still driven by a divide between natural and social sciences, even if some attempts have been made to bridge this gap.

Acknowledging different roots of disciplinary paradigms, methods determining structural, economic, institutional or social vulnerability and resilience should be interwoven in order to enhance our understanding of vulnerability and resilience, and to adapt to ongoing global change processes. Therefore, there is a need to expand our vision on hazard and risk management, integrating adaptation and mitigation approaches into the broader context of related governance arrangements.

This special issue summarizes the assessment of different types of vulnerabilities (e.g. social, personal, structural, economic, political, environmental) and resilience and presents applications to different natural hazards. The main focus is to present multiple strategies based on developments from different disciplines and to discuss these according to similarities, but also differences. Researchers as well as practitioners will be encouraged to present case studies and applications, as well as conceptual ideas and new methods on the analysis with respect to natural hazards. The contributors are encouraged to use the supplementary material options provided by NHESS.

This special issue is related to session NH9.7 of the EGU General Assembly 2015, held in Vienna, Austria, but is also open to other contributions not presented during this session.

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18 Jul 2017
Editorial to the special issue on resilience and vulnerability assessments in natural hazard and risk analysis
Sven Fuchs, Margreth Keiler, and Thomas Glade
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1203–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1203-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1203-2017, 2017
24 Mar 2017
Assessing the risk posed by natural hazards to infrastructures
Unni Marie K. Eidsvig, Krister Kristensen, and Bjørn Vidar Vangelsten
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 481–504, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-481-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-481-2017, 2017
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26 Jan 2017
Development and testing of a community flood resilience measurement tool
Adriana Keating, Karen Campbell, Michael Szoenyi, Colin McQuistan, David Nash, and Meinrad Burer
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 77–101, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-77-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-77-2017, 2017
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19 Dec 2016
Assessing population exposure for landslide risk analysis using dasymetric cartography
Ricardo A. C. Garcia, Sérgio C. Oliveira, and José L. Zêzere
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 2769–2782, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2769-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2769-2016, 2016
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26 Oct 2016
Towards thresholds of disaster management performance under demographic change: exploring functional relationships using agent-based modeling
Gunnar Dressler, Birgit Müller, Karin Frank, and Christian Kuhlicke
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 2287–2301, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2287-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2287-2016, 2016
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07 Oct 2016
Risk assessment in the North Caucasus ski resorts
Anton Y. Komarov, Yury G. Seliverstov, Tatyana G. Glazovskaya, and Alla S. Turchaninova
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 2227–2234, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2227-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2227-2016, 2016
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03 Aug 2016
Vulnerability curves vs. vulnerability indicators: application of an indicator-based methodology for debris-flow hazards
Maria Papathoma-Köhle
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 1771–1790, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1771-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1771-2016, 2016
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29 Jul 2016
Enhancing local action planning through quantitative flood risk analysis: a case study in Spain
Jesica Tamara Castillo-Rodríguez, Ignacio Escuder-Bueno, Sara Perales-Momparler, and Juan Ramón Porta-Sancho
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 1699–1718, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1699-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1699-2016, 2016
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15 Jun 2016
A review of multivariate social vulnerability methodologies: a case study of the River Parrett catchment, UK
I. Willis and J. Fitton
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 1387–1399, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1387-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1387-2016, 2016
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