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Density currents, fluid flows driven by differences in density, play a crucial role in disaster prevention for water pollution and tsunami mitigation, particularly due to thermal releases from power plants. Understanding their dynamics is pivotal for effective mitigation strategies. While the influence of seabed and lake bottom topography on density currents is well-studied, research on how embankment shapes affect these currents has been limited. This study aimed to fill this gap by experimentally and numerically analyzing the flow dynamics of density currents using various embankment shapes in a controlled water tank environment. The findings revealed distinct variations in density perturbation across different embankment shapes. Specifically, density currents exhibited reduced head velocities in embankments shaped as right-angled triangles, rectangles, and L-shapes, in that sequential order. This research underscores the significance of embankment design in modifying density currents, offering valuable insights for optimizing disaster management strategies related to water pollution and tsunami hazards induced by thermal effluents from industrial sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire detection is a critical task in environmental monitoring and disaster prevention, with traditional methods often limited in their ability to detect fire and smoke in real time over large areas. The rapid identification of fire and smoke in both indoor and outdoor environments is essential for minimizing damage and ensuring timely intervention. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to fire and smoke detection by integrating a vision transformer (ViT) with the YOLOv5s object detection model. Our modified model leverages the attention-based feature extraction capabilities of ViTs to improve detection accuracy, particularly in complex environments where fires may be occluded or distributed across large regions. By replacing the CSPDarknet53 backbone of YOLOv5s with ViT, the model is able to capture both local and global dependencies in images, resulting in more accurate detection of fire and smoke under challenging conditions. We evaluate the performance of the proposed model using a comprehensive Fire and Smoke Detection Dataset, which includes diverse real-world scenarios. The results demonstrate that our model outperforms baseline YOLOv5 variants in terms of precision, recall, and mean average precision (mAP), achieving a mAP@0.5 of 0.664 and a recall of 0.657. The modified YOLOv5s with ViT shows significant improvements in detecting fire and smoke, particularly in scenes with complex backgrounds and varying object scales. Our findings suggest that the integration of ViT as the backbone of YOLOv5s offers a promising approach for real-time fire detection in both urban and natural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are differences between Western mainstream culture and traditional Indigenous culture in the way they address sustainable development. The spirit of sustainability has been emphasized and practiced by Indigenous cultures for hundreds or even thousands of years, but it is increasingly disappearing over time due to the threat of natural disasters. It is necessary to recover this practice of sustainable development from its roots in traditional Indigenous knowledge. This study considers the possibility and utility of incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into Indigenous education for sustainability, a topic that has not been addressed by other studies. Based on a literature review, the proposed framework and content for this study focus on Indigenous disaster prevention. The specific topic was chosen to be most relevant to young Indigenous children. STEM indicators from the US next-generation science standards (NGSS) were referenced to create the proposed STEM teaching objectives, which were designed to be specifically appropriate for Indigenous curricula and teaching activities. Additionally, the cultural curriculum model was adopted to reform the Indigenous curriculum and teaching model by utilizing the transformation and social action approaches. Finally, the five-stage learning cycle was used as the framework to implement the curriculum, intertwined with the principles of the spiral curriculum, to co-construct an instructional example of Indigenous education for sustainability for future reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The complicated geological environment of deep rocks poses new challenges to tunnel and mining engineering. Some thorny disasters such as large deformation of soft rock and rockburst are becoming more and more prominent. However, the classic tunnelling methods represented by the mine tunnelling method and the new Austrian tunnelling method are generally unsatisfactory in addressing these issues due to the limited self-stability of surrounding rock mass. Therefore, the excavation compensation method (ECM) with the core of active stress compensation has been proposed and applied in practical engineering construction to solve the above problems. After extensive engineering practice, the theoretical foundation, key technologies, and construction system of ECM have been established and improved. This article provides a comprehensive overview of this novel tunnelling method. In addition, its controlling effects on surrounding rock are demonstrated by two typical engineering examples. It could provide some new ideas and references for the development of future tunnelling technology.

Facing persistent natural catastrophes, the necessity for disaster prevention products in afflicted cities becomes paramount. Modular design has proven to be a viable method for streamlining transportation and manufacturing processes for disaster prevention products. However, existing post-disaster prevention products often fail to incorporate the green modular concept, with limited research on spatial allocation strategies. In response to the current challenges, a new breed of green post-disaster prevention products is urgently warranted to mitigate the impact of major natural disasters and safeguard lives and property. To achieve the goal, this study employs a combined analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information systems (GIS) analysis to propose an inflatable cabin for emergency disaster prevention, specifically designed for flood scenarios. Using the inflatable cabin as an empirical case, this study introduces a layered design approach progressing from macro to meso and then to micro levels to construct an objective decision-making model to prioritize key design elements, develop spatial post-disaster prevention strategies, and analyze the mechanical performance. Results indicate that at a distance of 30 m from the base of the slope (SPIC), the impact force is most significant, reaching up to 1.8 × 10⁷ kN. As the distance increases from 30 m to 150 m, the maximum impact force decreases by an order of magnitude, and the average impact force decreases by approximately two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, this comprehensive approach, which starts from a holistic design perspective and culminates in optimizing individual disaster structures, offers practical significance for engineering design research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Resilience" is the ability to recover after being affected by a disaster or accident. Companies are expected to be resilient against accidents and disasters; however, no method comprehensively evaluates corporate resilience. As a preparation for developing such an evaluation method, this study examines the 13 Resilience Indicators developed by "Resilient Organisations" as one of the models for organizational resilience to assess whether it comprehensively covers the factors that contribute to corporate resilience. This study compares the indicators with past accidents and disaster cases. Consequently, the study determined that the 13 Resilience Indicators do not explicitly cover the following four factors: (1) risk diversification related to external resources such as suppliers, (2) prompt decision-making and action, (3) countermeasures to protect corporate reputation, and (4) a never-give-up attitude. It cannot be said that this is a definitive conclusion, as subjectivity intervenes in various ways in the examination process. However, this study identified factors that should be considered while developing a model that comprehensively includes factors that contribute to corporate resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing landslide susceptibility in a municipality is crucial for disaster prevention, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN´s) have proven effective in this analysis. This study aimed to model landslides susceptibility in the municipality of Joinville, Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil, using ANNs. The municipality has a significant history of such events, allowing for an inventory of occurrence areas (OC) through polygon mapping on satellite images. For non-occurrence areas (NO), a 1 km radius buffer was used, subtracting OC from it. Random points were generated at 10 m intervals, with a value of 1 for OC and 0 for NO. The explanatory variables were divided into three groups: (i) morphometric variables, (ii) horizontal distances to roads and structural lineaments, and (iii) geo-environmental cartographic databases. Five ANN´s configurations were tested. Validation employed metrics such as area under the ROC curve (AUC) and overall accuracy (ACC), with the best modeling yielding an AUC of 0.90 and ACC of 0.84. This result utilized all explanatory variables except land use and cover, which caused a slight bias in the ANN due to the predominance of landslides in forested areas in the inventory. Geology played a crucial role in determining susceptibility.

A systematic understanding of the spatial distribution of meteorological disasters that affect cotton growth, such as rainstorms, gales, and hail, is important for reducing plant losses and promoting sustainable development. Our study aimed to evaluate the risk of meteorological disasters during cotton growth and analyze their spatial distribution and driving factors. A risk assessment model for major meteorological disasters during cotton cultivation in Xinjiang was established by integrating entropy weight methods and an analytic hierarchy process. A cotton meteorological disaster risk assessment index system, including the vulnerability of disaster-bearing bodies, hazards of disaster-causing factors, and exposure of disaster-bearing bodies, was constructed using Google Earth Engine. We determined the comprehensive risk levels of major meteorological disasters for cotton in various regions of Xinjiang. Research shows that the selection of indicators is very important, and crop risk assessment with a clear disaster-bearing body can make the results more accurate. It is necessary to consider the risk assessment of multiple disaster species for meteorological disaster risk assessment. The results revealed spatial differences in the meteorological disaster risk for cotton in 2020. The very high and high risks for cotton accounted for 42% of the cotton planting area, mainly distributed in Karamay, Tacheng, Kashgar, Changjizhou, Kezhou, and Ilizhou. Consequently, this study provides a scientific basis for cotton cultivation in Xinjiang, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the adverse effects of climate change-induced frequent extreme disasters on agricultural production and supply stability, this study develops a comprehensive agricultural disaster prevention system based on current adaptation strategies for mitigating agricultural meteorological disasters. The primary goal is to enhance disaster preparedness and recovery through three core platforms: a fine-scale weather forecast service system, a crop disaster early warning system, and an agricultural information service platform for disasters. The results show that every major agricultural production township in Taiwan now has dedicated agricultural weather stations and access to refined weather forecasts. Additionally, a disaster prevention calendar for 76 important crops is established, integrating cultivation management practices and critical disaster thresholds for different growth periods. Utilizing this calendar, the crop disaster early warning system can provide timely disaster-related information and pre-disaster prevention assistance to farmers through various information dissemination tools. As a disaster approaches, the agricultural information service platform for disasters provides updates on current crop growth conditions. This service not only pinpoints areas at higher risk of disasters and vulnerable crop types but also offers mitigation suggestions to prevent potential damage. Administrative efficiency is then improved with a response mechanism incorporating drones and image analysis for early disaster detection and rapid response. In summary, the collaborative efforts outlined in this study demonstrate a proactive approach to agricultural disaster prevention. By leveraging technological advancements and interdisciplinary cooperation, the aim is to safeguard agricultural livelihoods and ensure food security in the face of climate-induced challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Ciencias Sociales (13159518) is the property of Revista de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad del Zulia Venezuela and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Attaining skillful decadal predictions for the western North Pacific tropical cyclone (TC) emerges as a formidable challenge, mainly stemming from the limited prediction skills of Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV) within the state‐of‐the‐art models. Assessing sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project models' retrospective predictions finds that the predictability of PDV transcends the expectations set by raw forecasts featured by constrained temporal skills and low signal‐to‐noise ratio. Employing a refined approach, we selectively identify the models that capture the diverse phases of PDV and subsequently adjust their variances. This tailored approach yields a compelling concordance between the predicted PDV and observation in phases and variances. Anchored in the heightened prediction skill of PDV, we establish a sophisticated statistical model adept at predicting the latitude of TC's lifetime maximum intensity (LMI). The near‐term prediction indicates a sustained poleward migration of LMI latitude by 1.53° during 2020–2027, increasing subtropical East Asia's TC‐related disaster vulnerability in the coming decade. Plain Language Summary: Tropical cyclones (TCs) account for one‐third of the deaths and economic losses from weather‐, climate‐ and water‐related disasters. This ratio tends to be much greater in the East Asia region due to its neighborhood to the busiest TC basin in the world‐the western North Pacific (WNP). However, it is particularly challenging to make skillful decadal predictions for the WNP TC activity due to the limited prediction skill of Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV), the foremost driver for the TC decadal variability. Here, we find that the capacity of the current state‐of‐the‐art climate model predicting PDV can be substantially improved. The improved prediction indicates that the latitude of the TCs' lifetime maximum intensity will migrate poleward in 2020–2027, making subtropical East Asia more vulnerable to TC disasters. The finding has profound implications for disaster prevention and mitigation strategies in subtropical East Asia, offering pivotal insights that can significantly enhance preparedness measures. Key Points: Near‐term prediction of tropical cyclone (TC) activity depends on Models' skills to predict Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV), which is limitedWe substantially improved PDV's hindcast skill and the refined approach predicts a PDV negative phase in the near‐term (2020–2027)The predicted PDV phase implies a poleward shift of location of TC's lifetime maximum intensity, increasing subtropical East Asia's TC‐related risk [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In decision making related to protective action against hazard risk, scrutinization of hazard-related information seems favorable for accurate risk evaluation. It is, however, unknown how such a risk-scrutiny attitude is related to sensitivity in risk perception or the difference in the types of information (e.g., sensory vs. numerical). Furthermore, how these attitudes are related to evacuation-prone individual factors, which may inform the psychological mechanisms of these attitudes, remains unknown. To address these questions, we conducted an online experiment (n = 1,200) using evacuation decision-making task with 40 earthquake scenarios where tsunami risks were manipulated using sensory or numerical information. Factor analysis identified risk-sensitive attitude, risk-scrutiny attitude, and sensitivity to sensory (vs. numerical) information. Risk-sensitive attitude was positively related to a evacuation-prone trait, that is emotion regulation, while risk-scrutiny attitude was negatively related to another evacuation-prone trait, leadership. The results demonstrated the independence of risk-scrutiny attitude from risk-sensitive attitude, as well as their independence from information types. Importantly, our results supported the notion that the suppression of optimistic bias is critical for risk-sensitive attitude and that the motivation to resolve the cognitive dissonance may underlie the risk-scrutiny attitude and delayed protective response. The current results have implications for psychological theories of protective decision making and development of disaster communication and education systems for tsunami and potentially other types of disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to consider the effects and problems of a tsunami evacuation drill support system that visualizes dynamic tsunami data and evacuees' locations. The system was developed and operated during a tsunami evacuation drill experiment. The location information application transmits evacuees' locations in real time using the GPS and network functions of a multi-function terminal. The web application visualizes tsunami data and evacuees' locations with animation on a web map using WebGIS. By operating the system in the tsunami evacuation experiment, the study could immediately evaluate the evacuation drills through real-time visualization of the evacuees' actions. Feedback, including the results and evaluations of the evacuation drills, was provided to the participants. Before receiving feedback, 50% of the participants positively evaluated the drill results. However, 42.1% of the participants changed their evaluation to negative after receiving feedback. Additionally, by emphasizing the speed of action during evacuation as one of the important factors for quick evacuation, the system helped to alter participants' disaster prevention awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the journal Frontiers in Earth Science, discussing the instability mechanism and disaster prevention of jointed rock masses. The presence of joints and discontinuities in rock masses can lead to instability and pose risks to engineering structures. The editorial highlights the progress made in this field, including studies on the mechanical properties of rock samples, failure characteristics of stratified and fractured rock masses, blasting vibration propagation in tunnels, and the evolution process of tunnel instability. The editorial also provides a list of papers published on this research topic for further exploration. [Extracted from the article]

Facing persistent natural catastrophes, the necessity for disaster prevention products in afflicted cities becomes paramount. Modular design has proven to be a viable method for streamlining transportation and manufacturing processes for disaster prevention products. However, existing post-disaster prevention products often fail to incorporate the green modular concept, with limited research on spatial allocation strategies. In response to the current challenges, a new breed of green post-disaster prevention products is urgently warranted to mitigate the impact of major natural disasters and safeguard lives and property. To achieve the goal, this study employs a combined analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information systems (GIS) analysis to propose an inflatable cabin for emergency disaster prevention, specifically designed for flood scenarios. Using the inflatable cabin as an empirical case, this study introduces a layered design approach progressing from macro to meso and then to micro levels to construct an objective decision-making model to prioritize key design elements, develop spatial post-disaster prevention strategies, and analyze the mechanical performance. Results indicate that at a distance of 30 m from the base of the slope (SPIC), the impact force is most significant, reaching up to 1.8 × 10⁷ kN. As the distance increases from 30 m to 150 m, the maximum impact force decreases by an order of magnitude, and the average impact force decreases by approximately two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, this comprehensive approach, which starts from a holistic design perspective and culminates in optimizing individual disaster structures, offers practical significance for engineering design research.

Earthquakes threaten humanity globally in complex ways that mainly include various socioeconomic consequences of life and property losses. Resilience against seismic risks is of high importance in the modern world and needs to be sustainable. Sustainable earthquake resilience (SER) from the perspective of structural engineering means equipping the built environment with appropriate aseismic systems. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are a class of advanced materials well suited for fulfilling the SER demand of the built environment. This article explores how this capability can be realized by the innovative SMA-based superelasticity-assisted slider (SSS), recently proposed for next-generation seismic protection of structures. The versatility of SSS is first discussed as a critical advantage for an effective SER. Alternative configurations and implementation styles of the system are presented, and other advantageous features of this high-tech isolation system (IS) are studied. Results of shaking table experiments, focused on investigating the expected usefulness of SSS for seismic protection in hospitals and conducted at the structural earthquake engineering laboratory of the University of Bonab, are then reported. SSS is compared with currently used ISs, and it is shown that SSS provides the required SER for the built environments and outperforms other ISs by benefitting from the pioneered utilization of SMAs in a novel approach.

This paper uses various channels to collect the data of earthquake disasters in 2022, and collates the global seismic activities and earthquake disasters in 2022. The change curves of global disaster earthquake frequency and casualties in recent 20 years and the distribution map of disaster earthquakes in 2022 were drawn. By summarizing the earthquake information and disaster conditions causing casualties, a detailed analysis of major earthquake disasters was made. The main characteristics of global earthquake disasters in 2022 were summarized, and major earthquake events in Afghanistan were listed. Compared with last year’s earthquake, the number of casualties caused by earthquake disasters in 2022 has decreased, and the disaster earthquakes are characterized by concentrated casualties and frequent secondary disasters. In view of the prominent causes of earthquake casualties, this paper puts forward corresponding earthquake disaster prevention measures and suggestions.

Palu City is one of the city centers in the world which is located on a fault line that is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. The latest earthquake and tsunami occurred on September 28, 2018 with a magnitude of Mw 7.4, which was centered on the ground and caused a large tsunami in Palu City. The earthquake and tsunami claimed 4,194 lives and damaged 55,102 buildings while missing, heavily, and lightly damaged. To reduce the impact of disasters, it is necessary to make efforts to increase awareness based on local wisdom so that it can be easily implemented in the community of Palu City. Local wisdom was explored by the people of Palu City and saw its effect on the level of alertness to disasters caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Local wisdom ombo is obtained from the people of Palu City, which contains a prohibition on building close to clean water sources. Data collection was carried out by conducting interviews with 121 affected communities regarding their knowledge, attitudes, and environmental conditions related to the level of vigilance. For environmental variables, local activity was a parameter included in the survey. The results of the analysis showed that the level of knowledge about the earthquake and tsunami as well as attitudes based on local wisdom increased the level of vigilance in disaster risk reduction efforts in Palu City. The results of the analysis showed that the implementation of attitudes based on local wisdom can affect the level of alertness with a value of 0.87, which means that the application of local wisdom can increase preparedness for earthquake and tsunami disaster. Indigenous latent variables (knowledge, attitudes, and environmental conditions) had a strong effect on exogenous latent variables (earthquake and tsunami preparedness) with an R2 value of 0.741. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the results of the seismic hazard survey in Yunnan Province, four exceedance probabilities of peak ground acceleration were converted into earthquake magnitudes using the empirical relationship between epicentral intensity and magnitude. By using logistic regression, earthquake magnitude, source depth, cover layer thickness, and fault type were used as independent variables to calculate the probability of co-seismic displacement for different earthquake magnitudes. Using the magnitude-displacement empirical model in the southwestern region of China, horizontal and vertical displacements were obtained with a 95 % confidence level. The results show that all Holocene faults have the ability to produce surface displacement, but from the perspective of probabilistic hazard, the probability of surface rupture in the short term is low, while the probability of surface rupture for each fault significantly increases over a long time scale. Buildings with different service lives should adopt different avoidance strategies, and buildings with shorter service lives (<50a) can consider not avoiding active faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi-dimensional and multi-sliding surface measurement of deep-seated displacement on landslides poses a significant technical challenge in landslide monitoring and early warning. The fixed borehole inclinometer serves as an important measurement method based on drilling for this purpose. In this study, a novel flexible measurement array for deep- seated landslide displacement and its installation and measurement process were developed, enabling higher accuracy in full- hole multi-dimensional deformation measurement. The measurement array consists of individual measurement probes as basic units, connected in series through coaxial cables and high-pressure rubber hoses, forming a flexible measurement array. Each probe is equipped with acceleration and magnetic field sensors, allowing for the measurement of borehole inclination and azimuth angles and providing a more comprehensive understanding of the deformation of deep-seated landslide. This flexible measurement array resolves the limitations of traditional fixed inclinometers, such as limited probe quantity or inaccurate installation positions that fail to reflect the deformation trend of the landslide body. Moreover, it eliminates the need for auxiliary installation accessories like pulleys and inclinometer pipes, simplifying the mechanical structure and installation process, which represents an advancement in methodology and an improvement in measurement techniques. This array provides a more comprehensive and improved monitoring tool for disaster prevention and mitigation, thereby enhancing the level of geological hazard monitoring and early warning technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quito's 2011 urban plan incorporated the zoning "Landslide Risk Zones", banning new buildings. This policy, with weak technical backing, had inaccuracies that impacted households' safety and their economies. After ten years of implementation and reforms, this policy still does not solve the problem. This analysis proposes lessons for the future and for similar contexts. This case study reviewed plans, urban regulations, and municipal studies on landslide risk since 1990. This input was triangulated with interviews with municipal officials and the analysis of land management data. To contrast this, layers of risk zones, the 2005-2017 period events, and areas highly susceptible to landslides were spatially overlaid. For ten years, 81% (644 hectares) of highly hazardous areas were not protected as risk zones, leaving risk generation unchecked. Conversely, 25% (218 hectares) of the risk zone area did not present high susceptibility to landslides, affecting landowners. Recently, the 2021 urban plan updated an affectation layer of 260 thousand hectares of the highest landslide-susceptible areas in Metropolitan Quito, where only 27% of the 2005-2017 events coincided with this highest landslide-susceptible areas. This latest plan opens the possibility of specifying preventive planning with planning instruments for smaller territory scales, and a master plan for risk management is expected. The 2011 zoning for landslide risk prevention, the objective of which was landslide risk reduction, had inaccuracies that left territories with high landslide-susceptibility unprotected, and affected the owners of risk-free properties. Although there were mid-term studies with better results, the policy was not updated until 2021. However, the new layer barely covers 27% of the damaged sites, and future plans of smaller city scales are scheduled to detail the risk zoning, while more events continue to occur, with extreme climatic variability becoming more frequent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Altinay, Z.; Morris, L.L., and Reams, M.A., 2023. Information needs of coastal residents in Louisiana, U.S.A.: Implications for risk communication. Journal of Coastal Research, 39(6), 1170–1179. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. This study aims to address the gap between communication practices and adoption of hazard-mitigation behavior in a deltaic land that experiences chronic coastal hazards, including storm surges and shoreline erosion. Focusing on Louisiana's coastal crisis, first, an online questionnaire was distributed to identify hazard mitigation patterns and information needs of a subset of southern Louisiana residents. A follow-up focus-group discussion sought to delve deeper into residents' experiences with community communication practices as well as the obstacles with dissemination of hazard-mitigation information to nontechnical audiences. Participants recommended the establishment of stronger public-private partnerships, increased use of visual information, and the necessity of providing clear and comprehensive details regarding funding and financial assistance programs to communicate hazard mitigation strategies. Findings provide a starting point for building local knowledge through extension engagement related to the delivery of hazard-mitigation information and discuss how to engage in proactive outreach methods to raise awareness about risk and hazard mitigation for both technical and nontechnical audiences. It combines the theoretical framework of community resilience with principles of communication. Results of this study contribute to an understanding of the barriers to household-level mitigation actions within the community; provide community feedback for extension agents and state and local officials; and suggest discussion points in the context of the Louisiana Coastal Master Plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large fires in factories cause severe human casualties and property damage. Thus, preparing more economical and efficient management strategies for fire prevention can significantly improve fire safety. This study deals with property damage grade prediction by fire based on simplified building information. This paper's primary objective is to propose and verify a framework for predicting the scale of property damage caused by fire using machine learning (ML). Korean public datasets are collected and preprocessed, and ML algorithms are trained with only 15 input data using building register and fire scenario information. Four models (artificial neural network (ANN), decision tree (DT), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and random forest (RF)) are used for ML. The RF model is the most suitable for this study, with recall and precision of 74.2% and 73.8%, respectively. Structure, floor, causes, and total floor area are the critical factors that govern the fire size. This study proposes a novel approach by utilizing ML models to accurately and rapidly predict the size of fire damage based on basic building information. By analyzing domestic fire incident data and creating fire scenarios, a similar ML model can be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly summarized a special issue named “Application of Novel High-Tech Methods to Geological Hazard Research”, which includes several aspects of geological hazard prevention and mitigation, such as characteristics and mechanisms, numerical simulations, susceptibility and hazard assessment, monitoring and early warning, prevention and control measures, and geotechnical research of geological hazards. These studies further promoted a deep understanding of the mechanism of geological hazards and the application of high-teches and new methods in geological disaster prevention and reduction.

The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake is one of the earthquakes that have occurred multiple times in the past as part of the Sagami Trough earthquakes. These earthquakes, which occurred at the plate boundary, occurred in 1495 (Meio Earthquake), 1703 (Genroku Earthquake), and again in 1923, causing significant damage to various areas in Kanto, including Tokyo and Yokohama, and it came to be known as the Great Kanto Earthquake. The Sagami Trough earthquakes have consistently brought strong tsunami disasters to various areas in Kanto, extending from the Sagami Bay coast to the Boso Peninsula, and residents along the coast were highly aware of the risk of tsunamis occurring after major earthquakes. Although a tsunami occurred in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, it is believed to have had a wave height approximately half that of the tsunami in the Genroku Earthquake. However, this tsunami destroyed the livelihoods of villages and caused significant damage. In this study, we aim to reexamine historical records related to the tsunami in the Great Kanto Earthquake and objectively evaluate the actual situation of this tsunami disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Progress in Earthquake Sciences is the property of China Earthquake Administration, Institute of Geophysics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Accelerated urbanization has made the disaster situation increasingly severe, especially that related to geological disasters, floods, fires, and other disasters. In response to high-frequency disasters, external disaster prevention spaces, mainly urban green spaces, play a key role in sheltering and housing. While many current studies focus on the balanced layout of green space, which improves their disaster prevention and avoidance capacity to a certain extent, there is insufficient consideration of disaster distribution and population demand, leading to conflicts between green space supply and demand. Therefore, this study further explores the efficiency improvement of disaster-prevention and risk-avoidance green space (DPRAGS) from the perspective of matching supply and demand. Taking the main urban area of Nanjing as an example, we rely on ArcGIS, combined with the maximum capacity limitation coverage model, and conduct green space layout analysis through analysis of urban infrastructure, disaster risk, and the demand and supply of DPRAGS. The research results show that compared with previous green space planning methods involving suitability assessment and accessibility analysis, the unitized planning method, mainly based on supply and demand matching, can better meet the refuge requirements of demand points and improve the rationality of green space layout. This study enriches the theory of urban green space planning and guides the planning of DPRAGS in typical densely populated metropolises, such as Nanjing. Additionally, it can help develop emergency plans and management rules and regulations, ultimately enhancing evacuation efficiency during disasters and improving overall urban disaster prevention and emergency management capabilities.

The Taipei Dome Complex is located in Taipei, Taiwan. It is a composite park with a multi-functional dome and incorporates a shopping mall, restaurants, cinemas, and an office building. In 2017, Taipei, Taiwan hosted the Universiade, and thousands of people protested. Smoke bombs were thrown, and the police were attacked. Due to its location in the "Circum-Pacific seismic belt" and the fact it is affected by the subtropical monsoon climate, Taiwan suffers frequent natural disasters. We aim to define the security risk factors for the Taipei Dome Complex by assessing flood simulation from the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction, earthquake simulation of the Taiwan Earthquake Loss Estimation System (TELES), and a case study of a terrorist attack. We propose 24 risk factors from five major perspectives: equipment safety, traffic accidents, human resources, security management, and disaster events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emphasizing the need to provide a coordinated flood management strategy in the country and avoid acting in an isolated way when it occurs, improving the attitude of flood control during floods, and controlling floods with comprehensive analysis are among the main purposes of the current study. In this study, the environment's physical, technological, social, economic, and political characteristics are considered to assess the urban flood risk. This study entails a discussion of flood hazard control in Benin City, the capital city of Edo State of Nigeria. The research methodology involves employing both interviews and questionnaire distribution. First, three key persons involved in flood control are interviewed at the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), which coordinates disaster risk reduction in the state, and then, the responses are classified into themes that are used to prepare the questionnaire to be distributed in four main regions. The questionnaires are distributed to the employees in institutions concerned with flood control and to the general population living in the region. Based on the obtained results from the interviews, some methods that could be applicable in controlling flooding in the region are listed. The results showed that the most important ones are flood warning systems, flood prevention through using the building resilient infrastructure and community programs, protection and mitigation through using natural processes, and strategic implementation of a flood emergency plan through sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effectiveness of parapets in preventing overtopping failures of small-scale homogeneous reservoir dams under seismic loads. In this study, a parapet covered the entire width of the dam crest and was designed to ensure its weight is transmitted to the dam crest. The test included four modes: initial mode, first seepage, seismic, and second seepage. The results show that without parapets the crack length and width expand significantly in the dam crest during the seismic mode, and the effect was large in the second seepage mode. The crack depth increased by 11.3–24 times during the seismic mode and expanded up to 73.3% of the dam height in the longitudinal direction along the axis of the crack formed in the dam crest during the second seepage mode. These findings suggest that the earthquake weakened the dam body, making it vulnerable to penetration. In contrast, the parapet structure effectively suppressed most of the tensile cracks by increasing the constraint force. Additionally, no crack expansion or tearing occurred during the second seepage mode post-earthquake, indicating improved seismic performance and suppression of seepage deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In recent years, a combination of forestry decline and global climate change has led to heavy rains and landslides in Japan that have caused extensive forest damage through woody debris outflow. The current configuration of impermeable sabo dams has insufficient capacity to capture woody debris under these conditions; therefore, improvements to permeable sabo dams, which have a high woody debris capture capacity, are underway; these sometimes involve the addition of steel fittings. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of such measures in consideration of the factors affecting woody debris flow. After reviewing a woody debris outflow that occurred during a heavy rain disaster in northern Kyushu, Japan, we propose woody debris countermeasures that consider basin and runoff characteristics. Our results indicate that woody debris flow occurs later than sediment flow. Therefore, we performed experiments to test the effectiveness of various methods to slow water flow using the terrain conditions at the nearest valley outflow point. Finally, we propose woody debris countermeasure policies considering basin characteristics, to promote the future preservation of river basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gravel and sediment frequently build up in holes during the anchor cable installation process, which makes it harder to install the anchor cable and causes reinforcement to fail, which can lead to accidents. In this paper, a bit anchor setup approach is proposed to set up a drill bit at the front of the anchor cable to aid the anchor cable drilling. The feasibility of this approach is established with the aid of DEM-MBD joint simulation and proves the correctness of the simulation model. The major elements affecting drilling effectivity have been studied by the use of 'check + simulation'. The effects exhibit that the axial velocity and working aperture are negatively correlated with the drilling resistance of the anchor cable; the feed price is positively related to the anchor cable drilling resistance; with the increase in anchor cable pitch, the drilling resistance of the anchor cable changes into a hump shape. When the bit is 0.2 m from the backside of the hole, the particle pace vector at the decrease stop of the bit gives a conical distribution. This paper is of fantastic magnitude in relation to the environment-friendly setup of anchor cables and protection against disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal resources have always been the focus of attention in the field of sustainable development. Based on the problem of surrounding rock control in close-distance coal seams, first, a mechanical model of floor failure was established based on the 29204 working face in Dongqu Mine; the failure mechanism of the floor was revealed by the zero displacement line, and a method to judge the occurrence state of the roof in the lower coal seam was put forward. Furthermore, by FLAC3D numerical simulation software, the mechanical model is verified, and the optimal support parameters are optimized, and the optimal water–cement ratio and grouting pressure are determined to be 0.6 and 3 MPa respectively. The application shows that the roof displacement is reduced by about 73.48% compared with the control group. Compared with the control group, the cable stress decreased by about 50.68%, and the application effect is remarkable. The research results provide an effective solution to ensure the sustainable development of coal resources and disaster prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, concerns about ecosystem loss and the threat of disasters have emerged. Understanding people's perception of the ecosystem's value will lead to disaster adaptation through ecosystem conservation. We incorporated use and disaster attributes into a contingent valuation study to investigate Japanese peoples' perceptions of the value of various ecosystems. We construct a concept representing ecosystems' perceived disaster prevention and mitigation functions by investigating the effects of use status and disaster concerns on people's preferences. Results revealed that almost all of the ecosystem's disaster prevention and mitigation functions are not perceived by people. In some cases, people mistakenly avoid ecosystems that protect people from disasters. In conclusion, this concept and its findings facilitate an understanding of people's perceptions of disaster prevention mitigation functions of ecosystems and promote the concrete practice of conserving ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed a simulation model of detailed in-hospital disaster response to a mass casualty incident based on the analysis of related documents and actual in-hospital disaster response training, aiming to assess the hospital's response capacity under various disaster situations. This simulation model includes detailed models of patients, floor configurations, resources, and response tasks, which consider resource requirements for the treatment of different patients with various injuries and physical conditions. The model covers patients' arrivals to hospitalization or discharge. We conducted simulations of the target hospital to test two resource allocation strategies under two patient scenarios. By comparing the results under different resource allocation strategies, we found that the X-ray photography examination capacity could become a fundamental bottleneck in responding to mass casualty incidents. Also, we found that the appropriate resource allocations and quick replenishment could alleviate the negative effect of resource shortages and maintain a higher performance. Furthermore, the results show that the length of stay can be heavily affected by the patients' configuration. As a result, by monitoring and anticipating the situation, a resilient and responsive resource allocation strategy must be prepared to handle such uncertain disaster situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, a critical analysis of the 1980 Irpinia-Basilicata (southern Italy) postearthquake phase has been carried out, with particular attention to the Basilicata region. Post-earthquake policies were mainly addressed towards the physical reconstruction and socio-economic development of the affected areas. As for the development process, the expected results from the industrialisation and infrastructure works have been rather poor or indeed not achieved, mainly as a consequence of red tape, inefficiency and sometimes corruption events. On the other hand, impressive steps ahead have been made in terms of knowledge advancement concerning the assessment and reduction of seismic risk, with the creation of important education and research institutions in Basilicata. Furthermore, the relationship between earthquake disaster and territorial development has been examined, starting from some prominent studies proposed in the literature. The evolution of vulnerability levels to earthquakes of some countries around the world have been evaluated. Specifically, considering a time span of about 40 years (1980-2020), the data related to the number of deaths caused by earthquakes with respect to the population exposed has been analysed and some comparisons have been carried out. Although limited, since referring to a single risk indicator, the results confirm the close link between seismic consequences and socio-economic characteristics of the affected communities, as a poignant lesson for planning effective risk mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early evacuations reduce the damage caused by catastrophic events such as terrorism, tsunamis, heavy rains, landslides, and river floods. However, even when warnings are issued, people do not easily evacuate during these events. To shorten the evacuation time, initiative-evacuation and its executors, initiative evacuees, are crucial in inducing other evacuations. The initiative evacuees take the initiative in evacuating and call out to their surroundings. This paper proposes a fast method to induce initiative-evacuation based on social graphs. The candidates are determined in descending order of the number of links for each person. The proposed method was evaluated through simulations. The simulation results showed a significant reduction in evacuation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides are frequent in the Nanpeng River fault zone in southwest Yunnan. Based on a Zhen Qing Expressway survey, the geological conditions and characteristics of landslides in this area were studied. The conclusions are as follows: 1) the geological background was the internal cause of local highly steep slopes and broken rock masses. The main landslide types in study area are fault-type and accumulation landslides. 2) The formation of fault-type landslides is related to endogenous causes, such as tectonic movements, but they are less easily triggered than accumulation landslides. Accumulation landslides are related to broken rock masses and are sensitive to external factors such as rainfall and artificial unloading. 3) The coordinated control of permanent support engineering, local deformation control, and overall support reinforcement should be considered as preventive measures.

Large fires in factories cause severe human casualties and property damage. Thus, preparing more economical and efficient management strategies for fire prevention can significantly improve fire safety. This study deals with property damage grade prediction by fire based on simplified building information. This paper’s primary objective is to propose and verify a framework for predicting the scale of property damage caused by fire using machine learning (ML). Korean public datasets are collected and preprocessed, and ML algorithms are trained with only 15 input data using building register and fire scenario information. Four models (artificial neural network (ANN), decision tree (DT), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and random forest (RF)) are used for ML. The RF model is the most suitable for this study, with recall and precision of 74.2% and 73.8%, respectively. Structure, floor, causes, and total floor area are the critical factors that govern the fire size. This study proposes a novel approach by utilizing ML models to accurately and rapidly predict the size of fire damage based on basic building information. By analyzing domestic fire incident data and creating fire scenarios, a similar ML model can be developed.

Quantitative probability has been computed for the tsunami hazard posed by earthquakes from the Manila Trench, which has been regarded as a huge threat in the South China Sea. This study provides a spatial distribution of the tsunami hazard covering the affected area with a spatial resolution of 0.1° for disaster prevention of islands and continental coasts. The quantitative probability of the tsunami hazard is computed by an efficient model, which can realize a large amount of potential tsunami scenarios analysis in order to consider the randomness and uncertainty in earthquake magnitude, source location and focal depth. In the model, for each potential tsunami scenario, the occurrence probability of the corresponding earthquake and the intensity of tsunami waves at each target location are computed. The occurrence probability of each scenario is estimated based on the historical earthquake records. Then, the subsequent tsunami caused by each scenario is computed using a new, efficient approach, instead of direct simulation using an ocean dynamics model. A total of 1,380,000 scenarios are computed in order to obtain a stable statistical result. Based on the results, the spatial distribution of the tsunami hazard is discussed and high-hazard regions along the coast have been identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large earthquakes have repeatedly occurred from Hokkaido to the Kamchatka Peninsula along the Kuril Trench. First, we confirmed the successive occurrence of large earthquakes of similar magnitude in nearby regions and within a short time interval using earthquake catalogs issued by international organizations. The searching criteria was whether a succeeding earthquake (Mw ≥ 7.75) had occurred within 500 km and 3 years of a preceding earthquake (Mw ≥ 7.70) in the period between 1890 and 2014. The pairs of successively occurring earthquakes were the June 1893 and March 1894 earthquakes, the September and November 1918 earthquakes, the October 1963 earthquakes, the October 1994 and December 1995 earthquakes, and the November 2006 and January 2007 earthquakes. These 5 pairs among the 21 large earthquakes were identified the successively occurring large earthquakes. Next, we tried to relocate the epicenters of the 1918 earthquakes because their epicenters had been changed in the version of the earthquake catalog referenced. We re-read the arrival times of the P and S waves from the seismograms of Japan Meteorological Agency and estimated the epicenters for the 1918 earthquakes from S-P times. The epicenters were a relative offset of about 160 km and the September event was near the epicenter of the 2006 Kuril earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to carry out coal mine production scientifically, safely and efficiently, and improve the overall production level of coal mine safety in Guizhou Province, this paper applies statistical methods to carry out the analysis of coal mine safety status in Guizhou Province from the six aspects of “the status of coal mine safety accidents in the province”, “the nature and scale of coal mine enterprises”, and “the level of coal mine gas”, “coal seam spontaneous combustion level”, “coal dust explosion hazard”, and “coal mine hydrogeological conditions”. The main problems include “high levels”, “severe gas disasters and huge hidden of gas hazards”, “the greater threat of spontaneous combustion of coal seams”, “the higher risk of coal dust explosion”, and “the slightly higher risk of water hazards”. At the same time, in response to the main problems of coal mine safety in Guizhou Province, the countermeasures from three aspects of disaster prevention and control are “accelerate the adjustment of the coal industry’s structural system”, “establish a disaster prevention and control system that focuses on gas prevention and the prevention and control of other disasters”, and “pay attention to Bijie, Zunyi, Liupanshui, Anshun, southwest Guizhou.