Guide book

Session 4:
Elements at Risk
Cees van Westen, Nanette Kingma & Lorena Montoya

Objectives
After this session you should be able to:

- Understand the types of elements at risk;

- Characterize the elements at risk ( buildings & population) in relation to different
types of hazard;
- Know the sources for the mapping of elements at risk;
- Generate a basic elements at risk database for a situation where no information is
available, except for a high resolution image;
- Generate an element at risk database for an urban area, using available data such
as building footprint maps, census data and detailed elevation data.

In this session you will go through the guide book which deals with elements at risk
mapping. We will look at urban land use first, and you will evaluate how you can identify
different types of land use from high resolution imagery. You will also look at the relation
between land use, building types and the population density.
We take two examples of elements at risk and look more in detail to those. First we analyze
the characteristics of buildings that are relevant for estimating the vulnerability. We look at
floorspace, construction type, and building costs. Three examples are given of the aspects
related to building behavior for earthquakes, flooding and landslides. In the section on
population we will look at the static and dynamic aspects of population and how you can
estimate these. You can choose between 2 RiskCity exercises for making an elements at risk
database: with or without existing data. The last part of the chapter deals with participatory
mapping, and there you will also do a RiskCity exercise on how you can use information that
was derived using Mobile GIS.

Section Topic Task Time required

4.1 Introduction Day 1 0.7 1.5
Task 4.1: HAZUS methodology 0.15
Task 4.2: Inventory of elements at risk 0.5
Task 4.3: Scales and types 0.15
4.2 Urban land use 1.5 3
Task 4.4: Make a land use legend for your area 0.5
Task 4.5: Recognizing land use types from Google 0.5
Earth imagery
Task 4.6: List of identification criteria for landuse 0.5
types
4.3 Buildings Day 2 1.5 6
Task 4.7: Determine the important characteristics 0.5
of buildings
Task 4.8: Generating an element at risk database Choose
from scratch one:
Task 4.9: Generating an element at risk database Day 3 4
with available data
4.4 Population 0.75 0.75
4.5 Participatory 1 4.75
mapping
Task 4.10: Video on Community based approaches Day 4 0.5
Task 4.11: RiskCity exercise on the use of 3
Participatory mapping information
Task 4.12: Summary on the use of participatory 0.25
mapping for disaster risk assessment
Total 4 days 16 h

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.1. Introduction.

The next step in a risk

assessment, after analyzing
the hazard, that we saw in
the previous session, will
be to evaluate the
elements at risk. Elements
at risk are the population,
properties, economic
activities, including public
services, or any other
defined values exposed to
hazards in a given area.
They are also referred to as
“assets”. Elements at risk
also have spatial and non-
spatial characteristics. First
of all there are many
different types of elements
at risk (which will be
treated in this session) and
they can be classified in various ways. The way in which the amount of elements-at-risk are
characterized (e.g. as number of buildings, number of people, economic value or the area of
qualitative classes of importance) also defines the way in which the risk is presented to the end
users (i.e. decision makers, emergency personnel and the general public). The interaction of
elements at risk and hazard defines the exposure and the vulnerability of the elements-at-risk.
Exposure indicates the degree to which the elements at risk are exposed to a particular
hazard. The spatial interaction between the elements at risk and the hazard footprints are
depicted in a GIS by simple map overlaying of the hazard map with the elements at risk map.
The aim of the element at risk mapping is to build up a data base for the evaluation of the
vulnerability of the elements at risk for certain hazards
.
What are elements at risk?
ƒ All objects, persons, animals, activities and processes that may be adversely affected
by hazardous phenomena, in a particular area, either directly or indirectly. This
includes: buildings, facilities, population, livestock, economic activities, public
services, environment.

4.1.1 General classification of elements at risk

There are many different types of elements at risk, and also many different ways to classify
them. Table 4.1 gives an example of such a classification.

Table 4.1: Classification of elements at risk

Physical elements Population
Buildings: Urban land use, construction types, building Density of population, distribution in space,
height, building age, total floor space, replacement distribution in time, age distribution, gender
costs. distribution, handicapped, income distribution
Monuments and cultural heritage
Essential facilities Socio-economic aspects
Emergency shelters, Schools, Hospitals, Fire Organization of population, governance, community
Brigades, Police, organization, government support, socio-economic
levels. Cultural heritage and traditions.
Transportation facilities Economic activities
Roads, railway, metro, public transportation systems, Spatial distribution of economic activities, input-
harbor facilities, airport facilities. output table, dependency, redundancy,
unemployment, economic production in various
sectors.
Life lines Environmental elements
Water supply, electricity supply, gas supply, Ecosystems, protected areas, natural parks,
telecommunications, mobile telephone network, sewage environmentally sensitive areas, forests, wetlands,
system. aquifers, flora, fauna, biodiversity.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

In literature many different methods can be found to classify elements at risk, depening on
the country, the setting (urban, rural, etc.) the objectives of the risk assessment, the scale,
available resources etc.
For example the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) classifies the elements at risk
into physical, economic, societal and environmental elements (see table 4.2) which can we
linked later immediately to physical, economic, social and environmental vulnerability.

Table 4.2: Classification of elements at risk

Physical elements Societal elements
Infrastructure, for example: roads, railway, bridges, Vulnerable age group categories
harbors, airports etc. Low-income groups
Critical facilities, for example: emergency shelters, Landless/Homeless
schools, hospitals, nursing homes, fire brigades, Disabled
police etc... Gender
Utilities: Power supply, Water supply Single parent households
Services: transport, communications etc... Etc.
Government services: all levels - national, provincial, local
Machinery and equipment
Historical structures and artifacts
Economic elements Environmental elements
Business and trade activities, Access to work, Environmental Resources: air, water, fauna, flora
Agricultural land, Impact on work force, Productivity cost Biodiversity
Opportunity cost Landscape

Villagrán de Leon (2006), classifies the elements at risk according to different sectors:
housing, basic lifelines, health, education, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, commerce,
industry, finance and telecommunications. The sectoral approach is proposed from a policy
point of view because it promotes assigning responsibilities to those private or public
institutions in charge of each sector (Government ministries or others).

Figure 4.1: Opening screen and general structure of the

HAZUS MH methodology HAZUS method for Multi hazard risk assessment
HAZUS is by far the most advanced
method for spatial multi-hazard risk
assessment that is publicly available.
HAZUS has been developed by the
US Federal Emergency Management
organization (FEMA) together with
the National Institute of Building
Sciences (NIBS). HAZUS is a
software programme running under
ARCGIS for estimating potential
losses from earthquake, flood and
hurricane hazards. HAZUS-MH
software can be requested from the
following website:
www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/hazus
The HAZUS method also has a very
extensive module dealing with the
inventory and classification of
elements at risk. In this chapter we
will present parts of that. However,
HAZUS is developed for the USA,
and the elements at risk
classification cannot be used directly
in other countries, and particularly not in developing countries, where building types,
population densities etc. will be completely different from those in the USA. Also the hazard
characteristics may be quite different in the USA as compared to other countries. HAZUS
requires a very extensive data input in terms of the elements at risk information and the
hazard information, which is often not available in developing countries. Therefore the
methodology often has to be simplified.

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Task 4.1: HAZUS methodology (duration 10 minutes)

To get a first idea on the HAZUS methodology, please visit the Website
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3299
Download and read the introduction.
You can also obtain it from the background materials directory for Session 4 on the course DVD.

A survey of elements at risk is always incomplete, and therefore a risk assessment study
nearly always focuses on specific groups of elements at risk, such as buildings or
population. In the exercises that we will do using the RiskCity case study we will in fact
concentrate only on building and population as the two main types of elements at risk.

An important distinction to be made here is also the differentiation between tangible and
intangible elements at risk. Tangible elements at risk are those things that can be
identified, localized, mapped and quantified (For examples, most of the physical elements).
Intangible elements are those things that are very difficult to quantify or map, as they do
not have a particular spatial dimension (for instance, the cultural values, the wellbeing of
communities, psychological conditions, and sociological behavior). When a disaster hits also
these elements at risk may be severely impacted.

Task 4.2: Inventory of elements at risk (duration 30 minutes)

Imagine the neighborhood/city/country in which you live would be hit by a hazard

event. Which elements at risk would be impacted?

ƒ Make a selection of a particular hazard type (e.g. flood, landslide, earthquake, windstorm,
explosion of an industry, major accident etc.)
ƒ Select the scale: your neighborhood / city / region / country
ƒ Think about the type of area where you live. What are the main characteristics in terms of
buildings, population, economic activities, infrastructure etc.
ƒ Create a table in which you list the elements at risk according to the different types
indicated in the tables above.
ƒ Define whether the elements at risk can be mapped, and quantified.

Hazard type: _________________

Element at risk What is the Can it be Can it be

effect? mapped? quantified?

Compare your results with that of the other course participants.

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4.1.2 Elements at risk mapping versus scale and objective of the study.
Elements at risk inventories can be carried out at various scale levels, depending on the
requirements of the risk study. In the previous chapter on hazard assessment, four different
scales have been identified, ranging from small scale to detailed scale. In table 4.3 an
overview is given of 4 scale levels versus the detail of the elements at risk that could be
used. In the RiskCity case study we work at medium to large scale at the urban level,
where information needs to be as detailed as possible, preferably at the individual building
level, or at a slightly more aggregated level of mapping units or building blocks with
homogenous land use type. In table 4.3 the areas with a red border indicate the elements
at risk and the scale that is used for the RiskCity exercises. In these exercise we concetrate
on the evaluation of risk for buildings and population. In fact many of the risk assessments
concentrate on these two aspects.

Table 4.3: Elements at risk mapping versus mapping scale (red boxes indicate the combinations that
will be used in the RiskCity GIS exercises)

Elements at risk Scale of analysis

type Small Medium Large Detailed
< 1:100.000 25-50.000 10.000 >1:10.000
Buildings By Municipality Mapping units Building footprints Building footprints
• Nr. buildings • Predominant • Generalized use • Detailed use
type ( e.g • Height • Height
residential, • Building types • Building types
commercial, • Construction type
industrial) • Quality / Age
• Nr. buildings • Foundation
Transportation General location of Road & railway All transportation All transportation
networks transportation networks, with networks with networks with detailed
networks general traffic detailed engineering works &
density classification, detailed dynamic traffic
information including viaducts data
etc. & traffic data
Lifelines Main powerlines Only main Detailed networks: Detailed networks and
networks • Water supply related facilities:
• Water supply • Waste water • Water supply
• Electricity • Electricity • Waste water
• Communication • Electricity
• Gas • Communication
• Gas
Essential facilities By Municipality As points Individual building Individual building
• Number of • General footprints footprints
essential facilities characterization • Normal • Detailed
• Buildings as characterization characterization
groups • Buildings as groups • Each building
separately
Population data By Municipality By ward By Mapping unit People per building
• Population • Population • Population density • Daytime/Nighttime
density density • Daytime/Nighttime • Gender
• Gender • Gender • Gender • Age
• Age • Age • Age • Education

Agriculture data By Municipality By homogeneous By cadastral parcel By cadastral parcel, for

• Crop types unit, • Crop types a given period of the
• Yield information • Crop types • Crop rotation year
• Yield information • Yield information • Crop types
• Agricultural • Crop rotation & time
buildings • Yield information
Economic data By region By Municipality By Mapping unit By building
• Economic • Economic • Employment rate • Employment
production production • Socio-economic • Income
• Import / export • Import / export level • Type of business
• Type of economic • Type of economic • Main income types
activities activities • + larger scale data
Ecological data Natural protected Natural protected General flora and Detailed flora and
areas with area with national fauna data per fauna data per
international relevance cadastral parcel. cadastral parcel
approval

Task 4.3: Scales and types (duration 10 minutes)

Compare your results of task 4.1 with the table 4.3. What can you conclude?

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4.1.3 Basic units for risk assessment

Risk assessment should be done based on certain basic spatial units. These could be
administrative units, such as countries, provinces, municipalities, wards or even individual
buildings. Table 4.2 also gives suggestions for the best basic mapping unit to use. Even at
large scales a risk assessment is normally not done at individual building level. This has
several reasons:
ƒ The attribute information required to do such a detailed risk assessment is generally
not available, or very difficult to collect. For instance in the case of an earthquake,
the behavior of each individual building is characterized by many factors which can
vary from building to building. One would need to make a detailed structural
engineering evaluation of each building in order to determine how this building would
behave under particular earthquake acceleration. This study would be too time
consuming, and therefore buildings are classified into groups. Individual study of
buildings is only done for the critical facilities, such as hospitals.
ƒ Displaying risk at individual building level is not realistic given the uncertainty in data
and models. The vulnerability study is normally done using so-called vulnerability
curves, which indicate the general behavior of buildings of a certain class (e.g.
masonry two story buildings) and not for individual buildings.
ƒ Displaying risk information at individual building level would lead to undesirable legal
consequences, as it could have a large effect on real estate values, and possibly
even on insurance premiums.
Therefore even at large scale, risk assessment is normally carried out for groups of
buildings, located in so-called homogeneous units.
A homogeneous unit is a mapping unit that has more or less the same characteristics
in terms of elements at risk. For instance the same landuse type or the same building
types.
In the HAZUS methodology the loss estimation is done based on the census tracts. The
census tract is considered as a homogeneous unit, and all estimations are given for that
unit. Figure 4.2 gives an illustration of the various levels of elements at risk data that were
available for RiskCity. The basic information was available in the form of individual building
footprints, which lacked any attribute information. This level was considered too detailed as
data collection for each individual building was too expensive. On the other hand, most of
the attribute information related to population was linked to a polygon map of the wards of
the city (see Figure 4.2.C). The detail of these units was considered too low, as the hazard
varies significantly within one ward, and the integration of hazard data with general ward
data would lead to non-reliable results. Therefore so-called mapping units were introduced
as an intermediate level of elements at risk. They are considered to be more or less
homogeneous units with respect to buildings types, socio-economic level and urban land use
(See Figure 4.2.B). This mapping was done through image interpretation using the very
high resolution imagery, and their boundaries are mostly formed by streets. The attributes
from the higher and the lower levels were then converted to this intermediate level. For
instance, the number of buildings per mapping unit was measured by overlaying the
building footprint map with the mapping unit map. The average height of the elements at
risk was estimated using the difference between the LiDAR DEM and the surface DEM
generated from the contourlines with 2.5 meters contour interval, in the location of the
building footprints (See Figure 4.2.D). Information of predominant urban land use was not
available, and therefore had to be generated, based on detailed image interpretation (See
Figure 4.2.E). Population information was only available at ward level (Figure 4.2.C), and
the population values had to be distributed over the mapping units, based on the urban
landuse, the height of the buildings and the footprint area, from which the total floor area
per mapping unit and landuse class could be calculated. Population density was also
calculated for different temporal scenarios (e.g daytime / nighttime / commuting time)
using the urban landuse as the main criteria. Figure 4.2.D. illustrates the need for regular
updating of the element at risk database, as around 560 of the building footprints displayed
in the map (around 30000) were destroyed by floods and landslides during a recent disaster
(see chapter 1 for more information).

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Figure 4.2: Different types of information that are important for the generation of an elements at risk
database in RiskCity. A: Individual building footprints obtained by screen digitizing on airphotos and
field verification , B: Mapping units, representing zones of more or less homogeneous urban landuse
and building types, which are mostly coinciding with the street pattern C: Wards, for which
aggregated population information is available D: Building height, in number of stories, generated
using LIDAR data, and E: Land use classification of the mapping units, which forms the basis for
assigning attributes to the buildings in the various classes, and for estimating the population density
in different temporal scenarios (daytime, nighttime, commuting time).

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4.2 Urban land use as main entry point

One of the most important spatial attributes of the mapping units for elements at risk
inventory is the land use. The land use determines to a large extend the type of buildings that
can be expected in the unit, the economic activities that are carried out, the density of the
population in different periods of the day, etc.

4.2.1 Classification schemes

Table 4.4 gives the land use classification which is used in the Radius methodology, which is a
simple method for estimating seismic losses in cities carried out in the International Decade for
Disaster Reduction (1990-2000) (http://geohaz.org/contents/projects/radius.html).

Table 4.4: Urban land use classes used in the Radius methodology for earthquake loss estimation.
Code Description
RES_1 Informal construction. Mainly slums, row housing etc. made from unfired bricks, mud mortar, loosely
tied walls and roofs.
RES_2 Unreinforced masonry (URM) – Reinforced Concrete (RC) composite construction - sub-standard
construction, not complying with the local code provisions. Height up to 3 stories.
RES_3 URM-RC composite construction - old, deteriorated construction, not complying with the latest code
provisions. Height 4 - 6 stories
RES_4 Engineered RC construction - newly constructed multi-storied buildings.
EDU_1 School buildings, up to 2 stories.
EDU_2 School buildings, greater than 2 stories.
MED_1 Low to medium rise hospitals.
MED_2 High rise hospitals
COM Shopping centers
IND Industrial facilities

Table 4.5 gives the land use classification used in the HAZUS methodology for the US. In their
methodology they refer to it as occupancy classes, as they are directly linked to buildings.

Table 4.5: Building occupancy classes as used in HAZUS.

Code Occupancy Class Example
Residential
RES1 Single Family Dwelling House
RES2 Mobile Home Mobile Home
RES3 Multi Family Dwelling Apartment/Condominium
RES3A – RES3F (2 to ≥ 50 units)
RES4 Temporary Lodging Hotel/Motel
RES5 Institutional Dormitory Group Housing (military, college), Jails
RES6 Nursing Home
Commercial
COM1 Retail Trade Store
COM2 Wholesale Trade Warehouse
COM3 Personal and Repair Services Service Station/Shop
COM4 Professional/Technical Services Offices
COM5 Banks
COM6 Hospital
COM7 Medical Office/Clinic
COM8 Entertainment & Recreation Restaurants/Bars
COM9 Theaters Theaters
COM10 Parking Garages
Industrial
IND1 Heavy Factory
IND2 Light Factory
IND3 Food/Drugs/Chemicals Factory
IND4 Metals/Minerals Processing Factory
IND5 High Technology Factory
IND6 Construction Office
Agriculture
AGR1 Agriculture
Religion/Non/Profit
REL1 Church/Non-Profit
Government
GOV1 General Services Office
GOV2 Emergency Response Police/Fire Station/EOC
Education
EDU1 Grade Schools
EDU2 Colleges/Universities Does not include group housing

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In Table 4.6 the classification is given that is used in the RiskCity exercises.

Table 4.6: Urban land use classes used in the RiskCity exercise.
Code Occupancy Class Example
Residential
Res_1 Res_squatter Low income houses: squatter areas
Res_2 Res_small_single Small single family houses, mostly in rows
Res_3 Res_multi Multi-storey apartment buildings
Res_4 Res_mod_single Moderately sized single family houses
Res_5 Res_large Large free standing houses
Commercial
Com_b Com_business Offices
Com_h Com_hotel Hotels
Com_m Com_market Market area
Com_s Com_shop Shops and shopping malls
Industrial
Ind_h Ind_hazardous Hazadous material storage or manufacture
Ind_i Ind_industries Non hazardous industries
Ind_w Ind_warehouse Warehouses and workshops
Institutional
Ins_f Ins_fire Fire brigade
Ins_h Ins_hospital Hospitals
Ins_o Ins_office Office buildings
Ins_p Ins_police Police station
Ins_s Ins_school Institutional : schools
Public buildings
Pub_g Pub_cemetery Cemetary
Pub_c Pub_cultural Cultural buildings such as musea, theaters
Pub_e Pub_electricity Buildings related to electrical supply
Pub_r Pub_religious Religious buildings such as churches, mosques or temples
Recreational
Rec_f Rec_flat_area Flat area or football field
Rec_p Rec_park Park area
Rec_s Rec_stadium Stadium
Vacant areas with no buildings
Vac_c Vac_car Vacant : car parking and busstation
Vac_u Vac_construction Vacant area which is prepared for building construction
Vac_d vac_damaged Area recently damaged by hazard events
Vac_s Vac_shrubs Vacant land with shrubs, trees and gress
riv River River

Task 4.4: Make a land use legend for your area (duration 30 minutes)

Compare the result of your inventory of elements at risk that you made in Task 4.2 with
the classification of land use types in tables 4.4 to 4.6

ƒ Make a land use classification for your area, and for the hazard type that you selected.
ƒ Indicate for each class the importance of this class for estimating losses of buildings and
population. What makes each class different from the rest?

In the following pages we will illustrate the various land use types with examples from
(mostly) RiskCity taken from high resolution imagery.

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4.2.2 Residential areas

We start with residential classes. In total five residential classes have been identified. Most of
them are rather straightforward to identify on imagery. Below three classes are shown in figure
4.3.
Figure 4.3: Example of residential building classes

Multi-storey

One of the most important urban land use classes for risk assessment are the slum areas, or
squatter areas, as they will normally have the highest vulnerability to natural disasters.
According to UN-Habitat 18% of all urban housing units (some 125 million units) worldwide are
non-permanent structures and at least 25% of all housing (175 million houses) does not meet
urban construction codes. This figure, in reality, is probably much higher. For every 10 non-
permanent houses in the cities of developing countries, 3 or 4 are located in areas prone to
floods, landslides, hurricanes and earthquakes (Source: http://www.unhabitat.org/)

The UN-Habitat uses five criteria to determine an area as a slum:

1. Access to improved water ( access to sufficient amount of water for family use, at an
affordable price, available to household members without being subject to extreme effort);
2. Access to improved sanitation ( access to an excreta disposal system, either in the form of
a private toilet or a public toilet shared with a reasonable number of people);
3. Durability of housing ( permanent and adequate structure in non-hazardous location)
4. Sufficient living area (not more than two people sharing the same room).
5. Security of tenure ( evidence of documentation to prove secure tenure status or de facto or
perceived protection from evictions

Slums are characterized spatially by a number of aspects (R.Sliuzas,

http://www.itc.nl/library/Papers_2004/phd/sliuzas.pdf).
ƒ The buildings are poorly constructed, in an unplanned manner, which makes them
more vulnerable to the impact of events like earthquakes and flooding.
ƒ They are normally also constructed without building permits, and therefore do not
follow construction standards.
ƒ The density of buildings is very high, to such an extent that over 90 percent of an area
is covered by roofs.
ƒ This means that the density of population us also very high, leading to a large
population vulnerability. Also the lower level of schooling, low income levels, as well as
high percentage of infants, and unemployment contribute to the increased population
vulnerability.
ƒ The buildings generally have a general lack of spatial order, which makes such areas
easier to interpret from high resolution imagery (See figure 4.3 and 4.4). However it is
often not possible to map out the individual buildings within a slum. For mapping of
slum areas a participatory mapping approach is most suitable (See section 4.5)

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ƒ Slums also have a lack of access and poor quantity and quality of infrastructure which
makes rescue work and fire fighting activities very difficult. Slums have a lack of public
facilities (schools, health, cemeteries, parks and sport fields). This causes that there are
less locations that can be used for disaster preparedness activities.
ƒ Many slums are located in hazardous, for instance on steep slopes or in areas with
frequent flooding or water stagnation. These are the areas that were still free in the city
and that are normally owned by the government.
ƒ On the other hand slums also have often an advantageous location with respect to the
short distance to the major places of informal employment (e.g. city centers) and the
workers therefore have a lower travel costs.
ƒ Many slums have been made illegally by invading terrain that belonged to others
(either private owners or the government). Therefore land tenure is not secure, and
there is always a risk of eviction. It also happens frequently that slums are made legal
after a certain period of time. However, in such situations land ownership is still a
major problem.
Slums have different stages of development. They can be in the starting phase with initial
occupation of land and construction. They can also be in the consolidation phase where some
basic services are provided and where the slum expands until the mature phase.

Figure 4.4: Example of slum areas on extremely steep slopes prone to landslides in Guatemala

Other residential building classes are easier to identify. In figure 4.3 and 4.5 four other classes
are shown. The differentiation of the various residential classes is important because:
- The land use classes are often also linked to building types, and therefore can be used
to link them to vulnerability curves. Class Res_5 generally has better quality buildings
than the other ones.
- The land use classes define the number of people that will be present in the land use
class at a given moment in time, which is required for population loss estimation (See
also section 6). Multi-story apartment buildings for instance will have a much higher
density of population as the same building is used by many individual households.

From a mapping point of view it will be often difficult to distinguish the different types of
residential land uses on the basis of image interpretation alone.

Task 4.5: Recognizing land use types from Google Earth imagery (duration 30
minutes)

Identifying land use types from high resolution images

ƒ Use Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) and zoom in on the area that you have
selected for the previous tasks (your own neighborhood or city). Select the option
ƒ Try to identify the land use types that you have made in task 4.4.

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Figure 4.5: Moderate and large residential buildings and hotels

4.2.3 Commercial land use types

Another important class of urban land use is that of commercial buildings and activities. In the
figure above several examples are given. Most of the commercial activities are characterized
by relatively high population densities during working hours, and low during evenings. For
instance shops, offices, and markets are normally very crowded during working hours, and
sometimes also during the evenings, but will be more or less empty during the night. For
instance the shopping mall that is recognizable in figure 4.5 is characterized by very large
parking lots surrounding the building, which indicates that there may be a very high population
density in some periods. This is not the case for hotels, which tend to have a reverse situation,
with a much higher population density in the evening and night, but also a certain level of
occupancy during daytime.
For commercial land uses also the content of buildings should be taken into account as these
are often of a high value. There a large difference can be observed between the shopping mall
and the market example in figure 4.5. The economic value of both the building and the
contents is much higher for the shopping mall than for the market, where as the population
density might be much higher for the market area.

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4.2.4 High Potential Loss facilities

High potential loss facilities are facilities that are likely to cause heavy losses if damaged by a
hazardous event, such as an earthquake. These high potential loss (HPL) facilities include
nuclear power plants, dams, military installations, and hazardous industries. For instance if a
dam breaches due to the occurrence of an earthquake, it may cause excessive damage due to
catastrophic flooding downstream. Also if a nuclear power plant, or hazardous industry get
seriously damaged, the secondary effects will be very high due to emission of dangerous toxic
or radioactive clouds. Table 4.7 Shows the classification used in HAZUS for high potential loss
facilities.

Table 4.7: Classification of high potential loss

facilities used in the HAZUS method for risk
assessment
Label Description
Dams
HPDE Earth
HPDR Rock fill
HPDG Gravity
HPDB Buttress
HPDA Arch
HPDU Multi-Arch
HPDC Concrete
HPDM Masonry
HPDS Stone
HPDT Timber Crib
HPDZ Miscellaneous
Nuclear Power Facilities
HPNP Nuclear Power Facilities
Military Installations
HPMI Military Installations

Figure 4.6 Shows examples of the classes of industry used in the RiskCity case study. We have
differentiated industrial activities in three classes. Hazadous industry is a high potential loss
facility, non hazardous industry might still have a substantial amount of workers in the
industrial area, whereas for warehouses the density of workers will be much less.

Figure 4.6: Classification of industrial types in the RiskCity case study

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.2.5 Essential facilities

Essential facilities are those facilities that provide services to the community and should be
functional after a disaster event. Essential facilities include hospitals, police stations, fire
stations and schools. The damage state probabilities for essential facilities should be
determined on a site specific basis, as is the case for high potential loss facilities (i.e., the
ground motion parameters are computed at the location of the facility). The classification used
in HAZUS is given in table 4.8.

Table 4.8: Classification of essential facilties used in HAZUS

Label Occupancy Class Description
Medical Care Facilities
EFHS Small Hospital Hospital with less than 50 Beds
EFHM Medium Hospital Hospital with beds between 50 & 150
EFHL Large Hospital Hospital with greater than 150 Beds
EFMC Medical Clinics Clinics, Labs, Blood Banks
Emergency Response
EFFS Fire Station
EFPS Police Station
EFEO Emergency Operation Centers
Schools
EFS1 Grade Schools Primary/ High Schools
EFS2 Colleges/Universities

Figure 4.7 Several examples of essential facilities as used in RiskCity.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

The essential facilities can be subdived into those that are essential for providing emergency
response (fire brigade, police station, army barracks, civil defence buildings) and those that
are crucial for medical care. After a disaster has happened it is of utmost importance that the
available hospitals can provide aid to the people injured during the event within the first 3
days. This period determines whether relatively simply injuries can be attended, and if not
these might become worse and even fatal due to the outbreak of epidemics. Therefore the
evaluation of the behavior of hospitals during a hazard event like an earthquake is very
important, as well as preparatory measures such as a emergency power supply.
Also schools, churches, office buildings, cultural buildings, and stadiums can be considered
essential facilities, although to a lesser extend than the emergency response and medical
facilities. Public buildings may serve as shelters after the occurrence of major disasters. On the
other hand the behavior of such buildings during the hazard event is also important to study,
as these buildings contain very vulnerable population. Figure 4.8 displays several examples of
land use types that can also play a role in the evacuation. It also shows some examples of land
use types that are considered “vacant” in terms of buildings but that still have a large
importance in the risk assessment.

Figure 4.8: examples of several classes of recreational and vacant land use types of table 4.?

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

For instance the class Vac_d shows evidences of recently destroyed buildings (lower right
corner where you only see the remains of the walls of buildings, and where the roofs have
been destroyed) and a bridge that was washed out. The class Vac_c shows a situation where
the amount of elements at risk (in this case cars and people) is very flexible over time.
Depending on the time of the day and year, a disaster striking in such an area might cause no
damage at all, or considerable damage. The class Vac_u shows an area that is under
construction. In this particular example a new bridge is constructed. This illustrates the
importance of updating the spatial information on the elements at risk, as there are constant
changes in landuse that are taking place.

Task 4.6: List of identification criteria for landuse types

Based on the information in this section and task 4.5, now try to make a list of
criteria for the various land use types, with emphasis on interpretation from high
resolution imagery.
You might not want to describe all of them, but make a selection.
Are there also classes that you cannot identify from high resolution images?
.
Code Occupancy Class Identification criteria
Res_1 Res_squatter High density of individual small houses in irregular pattern,
unpaved streets or footpaths
Res_2 Res_small_single
Res_3 Res_multi
Res_4 Res_mod_single
Res_5 Res_large
Com_b Com_business
Com_h Com_hotel
Com_m Com_market
Com_s Com_shop
Ind_h Ind_hazardous
Ind_i Ind_industries
Ind_w Ind_warehouse
Ins_f Ins_fire
Ins_h Ins_hospital
Ins_o Ins_office
Ins_p Ins_police
Ins_s Ins_school
Pub_g Pub_cemetery
Pub_c Pub_cultural
Pub_e Pub_electricity
Pub_r Pub_religious
Rec_f Rec_flat_area
Rec_p Rec_park
Rec_s Rec_stadium
Vac_c Vac_car
Vac_u Vac_construction
Vac_d vac_damaged
Vac_s Vac_shrubs
riv River

It should be noted that image interpretation alone is often insufficient to classify buildings
according to the land use. For instance it is not possible to identify hazardous industries,
essential facilities and other land use types. Even buildings that can be identified clearly on
images, such as churches, might have changed land use type. Also it is not possible to identify
mixed land use types, for instance mixed residential and commercial. Therefore it is important
to always carry out field studies to characterize buildings and to use as much existing
information as possible.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.3 Building characteristics and response

Buildings are one of the most important groups of elements at risk. They house the population
and the behavior of a building under a hazard event, determines whether the people in the
building might be injured or killed.
In order to be able to assess the potential losses and degree of damage of buildings that are
exposed to a certain type of hazardous event, it is important to define two things:
ƒ The type of negative effect that the event might have on the building which is exposed
to it.
ƒ The characteristics of the building that define the degree of damage due to the hazard
exposure.
The type of negative influence of the exposure can be in many different forms, which depend
on the type of hazard that will occur. Figure 4.8 gives a schematic overview of the various
hazard processes that may occur and that have a different effect on buildings. The following
types can be differentiated:
ƒ Mass Impact: the building is impacted by a phenomena that may have different
characteristics:
o Speed of impact. This could vary from a slow impact, for instance by a slow
moving lava flow, to an extremely fast impact (e.g. snow avalanche, rockfall, or
pyroclastic flow)
o Medium of impact: impact can be by rock (rock fall), soil or debris (landslide),
mud (volcanic lahar), snow, water (e.g. flashflood) or objects (e.g. airplane
crash)
ƒ Wind impact: the building is impacted by air, which may also create un underpressure
or overpressure inside the building, which could lead to implosion/explosion of the
building. Difference processes can be differentiated, such as tornadoes, cyclones or
explosions.
ƒ Undercutting: the building loses support because the soil below the foundation is
eroded away by erosion (e.g. along coastlines, or along river channels) or landslides.
ƒ Shaking: the building is subjective to ground shaking, as is the case in an earthquake.
ƒ Inundation: the building is flooded, which can be suddenly and violently, in which case
also the impact effect of water is important (e.g. flashfloods or tsunami). The flooding
can also be slow and with a long duration, which will have a deriorating effect on the
construction materials of the building.
ƒ Fires: the building is subjected to fire, for instance in the case of a bushfire/forestfire, or
in the case of an industrial accident.
ƒ Loss of support: the building is subsiding as a result of underground cavities (e.g. due
to mining), liquefaction or because the building is on a slow landslide.
ƒ Gasses: the building is filled by toxic gasses, e.g. caused by industrial accidents nearby
ƒ Covering by materials: the building is covered by materials which may weight on the
roofs and would lead to roof collapse, as in the case of snow or volcanic ash.

Figure 4.9:
Examples of
buildings
damaged by
different
processes
(lahar,
earthquake,
cyclone,
landslide,
flood,
debrisflow,
tsunami).

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Figure 4.10: Examples of the type of the hazardous processes to which buildings can be exposed. Each
type of processes will have different effects.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Task 4.7: Determine the important characteristics of buildings (30 minutes)

Based on the information on the previous pages on the different hazard processes
to which a building might be exposed, determine:
ƒ What is the damaging effect of the particular hazard on the building?
ƒ Which aspects of the building would make it most susceptible to be affected?
ƒ Which characteristics of a building therefore should be taken into account for a
vulnerability assessment?

Write the results in the table provided in the Excel file (task 47). If you can think of other
processes that are not mentioned, please note them down below in the table.

Process Hazard Damage Important Building characteristics

Impact by Rockfall Impact by rock blocks
mass Snow avalanche Impact by snow mass
Landslide
Pyroclastic flow
Lava flow
Debris flow
Airplane crash
Impact by Tornado
wind Cyclone
Explosion
Under- Erosion
cutting Landslides
Shaking Earthquake
Inunda- Flooding
tion Tsunami
Debris flow
Fire Fire
Bush fire
Gasses
Loss of Liquefaction
support Subsidence
Landslides
Covering Snow
Ash fall

Buildings are consisting of different components. The main difference is :

o Structural elements: those elements of buildings important for maintaining the
structural integrity of the building: the building's structural support systems (i.e.,
vertical- and lateral-force-resisting systems), such as the building frames and walls. If
these elements fail under a hazard impact, there is a large chance that the structure
might fail.
o Non-structural elements: all those elements of a building not essential for its
structural integrity. The failure of a non-structural element will not lead to the collapse
of the building. Examples are: chimneys, infilled walls, water tanks, and of course all
the contents of the buildings.

In the following section some examples are given of the effects that particular types of hazard
have on buildings. We will do this for earthquakes, flooding and landslides.

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.3.1 Building behavior under an earthquake

A summary of information on the behavior of buildings under an earthquake can be found at:
http://www.conservationtech.com/FEMA-WEB/FEMA-
subweb-EQ/index.htm and Figure 4.11: Comparison between a
person in a car and the behavior of a
During a strong earthquake a building may experience building in acceleration an
sudden movements in both horizontal as vertical deceleration movements.
direction. The building gets thrown back and forth by
the earthquake movement, whereas the base part of
the building, connected to the ground that is actually
moving, has the first movement (See figure 4.11 with a
resemblance of a person in a car). The rest of the
building is “lagging behind” in this movement, which
creates large frictions in the building. The force F that
an upper floor level or roof level of the building should
successfully resist is related to its mass m and its
acceleration a, according to Newton's law, F= ma.
The heavier the building the more the force is exerted.
Therefore, a tall, heavy, reinforced-concrete building
will be subject to more force than a lightweight, one-
story, wood-frame house, given the same acceleration. Damage can be due either to structural
members (beams and columns) being overloaded or differential movements between different
parts of the structure. If the structure is sufficiently strong to resist these forces or differential
movements, little damage will result. If the structure cannot resist these forces or differential
movements, structural members will be damaged, and collapse may occur.
Earthquakes are series of complicated interwoven series of waves, which a certain frequency
(See also chapter 3 on the earthquake hazard part). All objects or structures have a natural
tendency to vibrate. The rate at which the object wants to vibrate is its fundamental period
(natural frequency). Which can be approximated by:

1 K
fn =
2π M
Where K= Stiffness, which is the property of an object to resist
displacement, and M=Mass.
Buildings tend to have lower natural frequencies when they are
either heavier (more mass) or more flexible (that is less stiff).
One of the main things that affect the stiffness of a building is its
height. Taller buildings tend to be more flexible, so they tend to have lower natural frequencies
compared to shorter buildings.
There is a general rule of thumb that relates the number of stories to the natural frequency of
buildings:

Fn = 10/n

Where Fn = natural frequency of buildings, and n = number of floors. The relation between
number of floors, natural frequency and fundamental period (1/frequency) is shown in table
4.9.

Table 4.9: General relation between number of floors, natural frequency and fundamental period of
buildings according to the rule of thumb
Type of object Natural frequency (Herz) Fundamental period (Seconds)
One-floor buildings 10 1
2-5 floor buildings 5-2 0.5 – 0.2
5-10 floor building 2–1 0.2 - 1
10 – 20 floors building 1 – 0.5 1-2
20-40 floor buildings 0.5 – 0.25 2-4

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Factors that influence the behavior of buildings under an earthquake are:

ƒ Duration and severity of ground shaking. Large earthquakes tend to shake longer and
harder and cause more damage. Earthquakes with Richter magnitudes less than 5 rarely
cause significant damage to buildings, since acceleration levels (except when the site is on
the fault) and duration of shaking for these earthquakes is relatively small. In addition to
damage caused by ground shaking, damage can be caused by degradation of the building
foundation, landslides, fires and tidal waves (tsunamis).
ƒ Soil types. Soil also has a natural frequency which is determined by the soil type and the
soil thickness. If the natural frequency of the soil is the same as the natural frequency of
the building, the building will start to resonate. This can be compared with an opera singer
that manages to break a glass by singing a pure tone with a frequency that is exactly the
natural frequency of the glass. Soft, loose soils tend to amplify the ground motion and in
many cases a resonance effect can make it last longer. In such circumstances, building
damage can be accentuated.
ƒ Height of the building. The height of a building determines its resonance frequency. Low
buildings have a high resonance frequencies (large wavelengths), and tall buildings have a
low resonance frequencies (short wavelengths). This means that low-rise buildings are
susceptible to damage from high-frequency seismic waves from relatively near earthquakes
and/or shallow depth. High-rise buildings are at risk due to low-frequency seismic waves,
which may have originated at much greater distance and/or large depth

Figure 4.12: Examples of earthquake damage to buildings. A: Pounding of nearby buildings; B: Short
column effect, causing break of columns; C: Soft storey effect, causing collapse of building over lower
floor often used as parking lot; D: Torsion effect due to irregularly shaped building

ƒ Spacing of buildings. Earthquake damage can be also caused by tall buildings that are
close together and that are pounding against each other (see figure 4.12)
ƒ Building materials. Under small earthquakes buildings behave elastically, deforming as
force is applied and returning to its original shape when removed. However, if the shaking is
very strong that limit of elasticity is reached, and ductility becomes important. Ductility is
the property of certain elements that have inelastic deformation before failing. Ductile
materials, such as wood, steel or reinforced concrete withstand earthquakes better than so
called brittle materials such as unreinforced masonry.
ƒ Structural types. The following structural systems can be differentiated:
o Bearing wall systems consist of vertical load carrying walls located along exterior wall
lines and at interior locations as necessary. Many of these bearing walls are also used to
resist lateral forces and are then called shear walls. Bearing wall systems may use some
columns to support floor and roof vertical loads. This type of system is very common and
includes wood-frame buildings, concrete tilt-up buildings and masonry wall buildings.
o Building frame systems use a complete three dimensional space frame to support vertical
loads, but use either shear walls or braced frames to resist lateral forces. Examples of these
include buildings with steel frames or concrete frames along the perimeter and at intervals

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

throughout the interior supporting vertical loads from floors and roof. Building frame
systems typically use steel braced frames or concrete or masonry shear walls to resist
lateral forces..
o Moment-resisting frame systems can be steel, concrete, or masonry construction. They
provide a complete space frame throughout the building to carry vertical loads, and they
use some of those same frame elements to resist lateral forces. Shear walls (and braced
frames) are not used in this
system. Figure 4.13: Building elements used to used to transmit
Structural systems using and resist lateral forces. Diaphragms serve primarily as
concrete or masonry shear force-transmitting or force-distributing elements that
walls are stiff and result in take horizontal forces from the stories at and above
buildings with short periods, their level and deliver them to walls or frames in the
whereas more flexible story immediately below
moment-frame systems have
longer periods. In general, a
large portion of the
earthquake energy is
contained in short-period
waves. Therefore, short-
period buildings with stiff
structural systems are
designed for larger forces
than long-period, flexible,
buildings. This concept is also
applicable to the amount of
force individual structural
seismic elements and their
components must resist. Stiff
elements must be made
stronger because they will attempt to resist larger earthquake forces than flexible elements
in the same structural system.
ƒ Connections. Strong building connections allow forces and displacements to be transferred
between vertical and horizontal building elements. In addition, strong connections increase
the overall structural building strength and stiffness by allowing all of the building elements
to act together as a unit. Inadequate connections represent a weak link in the load path of
the building and are a common cause of earthquake building damage and collapse.
ƒ Damping. Damping diminishes the resonance by pulling the energy out of the system as
heat - in the way that a shock absorber in a car dampens a car's vibrations from bumps in
the road. Damping is imparted to a building by the cracking and inelastic movement of its
structural elements and it can also be deliberately added by installing shock absorber-like
devices into the building's structure.
ƒ Weight Distribution. Buildings that are wide at their base and have most of their weight
distributed to their lowest floors generally fare better in earthquakes than tall, top- heavy
buildings which act like an inverted pendulum. Inverted pendulum buildings usually
experience greater displacements than those shorter and heavier near the base.
ƒ Building Configuration. Square or rectangular buildings with floor plans with
symmetrically place lateral force resisting elements tend to perform better in earthquakes
than buildings composed of irregular shapes or 'those with large foyers or lobbies that
create a soft story condition. Buildings with irregular shapes cannot distribute lateral forces
evenly, resulting in torsional response that can increase damage at key points in the
building. (see figure 4.12)
ƒ Maintenance of the building. Especially in the case of steel and wooden buildings, poor
maintenance leads to a decrease in the strength of the supporting frame. Decades of
neglect in the form of lack of antirust paint for example, can lead to the weakening of steel
frame systems.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.3.2 Building behavior during a flood

Damage to buildings from flooding is caused by a number of factors:

ƒ Type: different flood types may cause different degrees of damage to buildings and
their contents, e.g. coastal flooding, riverine flooding, flashflood. They will determine
a number of the following factors.
ƒ Velocity: fast flowing waters will have the capacity to impact the structure, and the
lateral forces caused by the flood may produce collapse of buildings. High velocity
floods may cause erosion/scouring of embankments, slopes, levees, and building
foundations;
ƒ Height: flood depth is an important factor as it will determine how much of the
building will be submerged under water, and together with the velocity will
determine the impulse of flooding. Impulse is velocity multiplied by height.
ƒ Duration: flood duration is very important in relation to the construction materials of
the building and the way they may deteriorate under the influence of water. For
example masonry buildings will be heavily affected by salt water in the case of
coastal flooding, which may have a long duration effect on the building.
ƒ Sediment: the amount of sediments will determine the way in which a building and
its contents is damaged and it will determine the clean-up costs.
ƒ Pollution: polluted water will have a deteriorating effect on buildings and its
contents.
The following building characteristics are important for determining the damage due to
flooding:
ƒ Building use: the use of the building will determine the number of people present in
the building in different periods of time, and the contents and the value of the
contents. This was already discussed in the previous section of this session.
ƒ Building materials: the type of
Figure 4.14: illustration of building characteristics
building materials will determine
that are important for flood loss assessment.
how they behave under water
saturation, also with a long duration.
Wood and masonry materials will
have substantial large damage
compared to steel or concrete.
ƒ Structural type: the structural type,
as mentioned in the previous section
will determine whether the building
can withstand the impact of fast
floods
ƒ Height above the ground: the
height above the surface will
determine the degree of flooding and
which types of building contents are
damaged.
ƒ Maintenance level. As discussed before poor maintenance weakens the building.
ƒ Location of doors and openings: the location of openings will determine if and where
flood waters can enter the building.
ƒ Presence of a basement: the presence of a basement, and whether a basement has
windows or not will determine the degree of damage even when the floodwaters are
very low.
ƒ Height of the building: the building height will determine how much of the building will
be flooded. If the building consists of more storeys, the inhabitants will have distributed
the content of the building over more floors, causing less damage when the lower floor
is flooded. It also allows evacuation of people and valuable contents to higher floors.
ƒ Distance to the channel: the proximity to a channel may determine whether the
building will be undercut by a fast eroding stream, leading to the collapse of the
building. Also the foundation of the building is relevant in this respect.
ƒ Presence of walls and other flood retaining structures: the presence of walls
around the building, or small levees will make that the building is flooded only at a later
phase.

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.3.3 Building behavior under a landslide

Since there are so many different types of landslides, it is difficult to indicate what are the
main building characteristics that determine the degree of loss to landslides, as indicated in
figure 4.15. The type, velocity and volume of the movement will determine whether the
building is only damaged or whether is will be completely destroyed. Also the distance of the
building to the source of the movement will play a very important role, and the determination
of the runout is therefore very relevant. The important building characteristics are more or less
similar to those that are relevant for earthquakes, in particular the structural type, and the
foundation type. The orientation of the building and proximity to other buildings are also very
relevant, as a building may be in “the lee side or shadow” of other buildings which may take
the main impact and reduce the damaging effect.

Figure 4.15: different ways in which a building might be affected by a landslide

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.3.3. Generating building attributes

Based on the three examples the following list of building characteristics is presented in Table
4.10. In this table the importance for a number of hazard types is indicated.

Table 4.10: Summary of importance of building characteristics for damage estimation for different hazard
types. Red = very important, Yellow= less important, Green = not important.

Building characteristics Earthquake Flooding Landslides Techno- Cyclone Fire

logical
Structural type
Construction materials
Building code applied
Age
Maintenance
Roof type
Building height
Floor space
Building volume
Shape
Proximity to other buildings
Proximity to hazard source
Proximity to vegetation
Openings

There are many items in the table that have to do with the quality of the construction. The
structural type combined with the construction materials determine the strength of the
building. But also the fact whether the building have been constructed according to a building
code. The factor “age” can be used as a proxie to determine whether buildings are older or
younger to the date when building codes where enforced in a given area. Age and
maintenance also are indications for the current state of the building.
There are two factors that can be considered most important: structural type and building
height. Table 4.11 gives a summary of the main structural types used in the HAZUS
methodology for earthquake loss estimation. In the case of flooding and hurricanes, a more
simplified classification of structural type and height of buildings is used. However, this
classification of structural types can not simply be used in developing countries as they will
often have far more buildings in the masonry class. Masonry buildings consisting of field
stones, or adobe (mud blocks) are very common in developing countries. For instance figure
4.16 gives an example of a building classification used in the city of Lalitpur, Nepal.

Table 4.11: Building structure types used in the HAZUS methodology for earthquake loss estimation,
combining structural types and height of buildings. Each combination has its own code, and is linked to
vulnerability curves for that particular type. A description of each of the structural types can be found on
http://www.conservationtech.com/FEMA-WEB/FEMA-subweb-EQ/02-02-EARTHQUAKE/1-BUILDINGS/D3-
Bldg-types.htm
Mid rise High rise
Low rise
Main Building structure type 4-7 ≥8
1-2 stories
stories stories
Wood Wood, Light Frame (≤ 5,000 sq. ft.) 1 (W1) - -
frame Wood, Commercial and Industrial (> 5,000 sq. ft.) 2 (W2)
Steel Steel Moment Frame 3 (S1L) 4 (S1M) 5 (S1H)
frame Steel Braced Frame 6 (S2L) 7 (S2M) 8 (S2H)
Steel Light Frame 9 (S3)
Steel Frame with Cast-in-Place Concrete Shear Walls 10 (S3L) 11(S3M) 12 (S3H)
Steel Frame with Unreinforced Masonry Infill Walls 13 (S3L) 14 (S3M) 15 (S3H)
Rein- Concrete Moment Frame 16 (C1L) 17(C1M) 18(C1H)
forced Concrete Shear Walls 19 (C2L) 20 (C2M) 21 (C2H)
concrete Concrete Frame with Unreinforced Masonry Infill Walls 22 (C3L) 23 (C3M) 24 (C3H)
Precast Concrete Tilt-Up Walls 25 (PC1)
Precast Concrete Frames with Concrete Shear Walls 26 (PC2L) 27 (PC2M) 28 (PC2H)
Masonry Reinforced Masonry Bearing Walls with Wood or Metal Deck 29 (RM1L) 30 (RM1M) -
Diaphragms
Reinforced Masonry Bearing Walls with Precast Concrete 31(RM2L) 32 (RM2M) 33 (RM2H)
Diaphragms
Unreinforced Masonry Bearing Walls 34 (URML) 35(URMM) -
Mobile Homes 36 (MH)

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Floorspace is another very

Figure 4.16: Example of the number of buildings per
important building factor required for
homogenous unit for 4 different structural types of
loss estimation. It is used directly in building in Lalitpur, Nepal: Adobe, Brick in Mud (BM),
combination with urban land use Brick in Cement (BC) and Reinforced Concrete Buildings
type to estimate the number of (RCC). (Source: ITC MSc Jeewan Guragain, 2004.
people in the buildings. Floor space
should ideally be obtained from
building footprint maps, or from
cadastral maps. However, cadastral
maps often show the various plots of
land with different owners, which
often do not coincide with building
boundaries. Therefore, such maps
are mostly made from high-
resolution satellite images or
airphotos, using on-screen digitizing.
On-screen digitizing of building
footprints can be a very labour
intensive work. Literally thousand of
individual polygons should be
mapped. For instance, the RiskCity
dataset that we are using is only for
a part of the city, but it already
contains around 30000 individual
polygons. Sometimes it is possible to
use already digitized building
footprint maps. However, once
should be careful with those, for
several reasons. A common problem
found is that there is no link
between non-spatial data (e.g.
housing data) and spatial data (e.g.
Figure 4.17: Illustration of the use of multi-temporal
building footprints).They might be in imagery for building mapping in Lalitpur, Nepal. A
a data format like AutoCad DXF, Corona image was used for 1967, and existing building
which doesn’t have topology, and footprint maps for 1998, and an Ikonos image for 2001.
which has a complete segment
around each polygon. To edit this for
so many polygons is very difficult.
The other caution is that the map
might not be up to date. This is
illustrated in Figure 4.17 where an
existing building footprint map from
1998 was updated with image
interpretation from an Ikonos image.
Also efforts have been made to
automatically extract buildings from
InSar, Lidar and IKONOS.
Attempts have been made to
generate building footprint maps
automatically from high resolution
images using Object Oriented
Analysis with image segmentation
techniques (e.g. using the software
Definiens). The results are
promising, especially when also height information on buildings can be used in the analysis.
However, still a lot of manual editing is needed, and currently the technique is not a substitute
yet for manual interpretation.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Task 4.8: RiskCity exercise: Generating an element at risk database from

scratch (duration 3 hours)

This is a good moment to pause the theory part and continue with the RiskCity GIS exercise
number 4A: Generating an elements at risk database from scratch.
This exercise gives several methods for the generation of a database for the elements at risk
within RiskCity, focusing on buildings and population. First it is assumed that no detailed building
information is available, and the number of buildings has to be estimated based on the urban
land use type and the average floorspace of buildings per land use type. Population estimates
are made based on the building floorspace.
The basic unit for risk assessment we will use in this exercise is the so-called mapping unit. It
consists of a number of buildings, and can be compared with a city block, or a census tract.
In this exercise you first generate mapping units by on-screen digitizing, and then you will
collect attribute information on urban land use, number of buildings and population density.
The figure below gives a flowchart of the procedure

Building height
Figure 4.18: Above: Visualization of building
Another very important building attribute footprints in Google Earth in 3-D using Lidar height
is height. It is needed to evaluate the data. Below: Automatically derived building footprint
vulnerability to earthquakes and flooding, map from LIDAR using OOA.
and it is needed together with the area of
the building footprints to calculate the
total floorspace of the buildings within a
mapping unit, or the building volume.
Traditionally building height is very
difficult to obtain over a large area. It is
normally mapped in the field on the basis
of house-by-house surveys. Another
option is to use photogrammetry with
airphotos or high resolution satellite
imagery (e.g. Cartosat 1). However the
best technique available is the use of
Airborne Laser scanning (LiDAR). LiDAR
data is used as point clouds with multiple
returns, to determine the top of
buildings, and the overall building
altitude. This is converted to the number
of floors based on the average height of
one floor derived from a sample of the
buildings. Object Oriented Analysis has
proven to be quite successful for building
footprint mapping from Lidar data (see
comparison with original building
footprints in figure 4.18).

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Task 4.9: RiskCity exercise: Generating an element at risk database with available
data (duration 3 hours)

We will now look at the RiskCity GIS exercise number 4B: Generating an elements at risk database
with available data.
Now we assume that we have good data available for generating the elements at risk database:
- A LIDAR dataset which will allow us to calculate building heights
- A building footprint map which will allow us to calculate exact floorspace areas, and
- Census data which will improve the population information.
The aim of this exercise is to use this data to generate the required building attributes for the
elements at risk mapping: number of floors, number of buildings per mapping unit, and day and
nighttime population.

Building costs
In order to estimate the cost of building one can differentiate the following source:
- Real-estate agencies, which represent the market price (“real”). Of course the market
prices of buildings fluctuate depending on the economic situation.
- Cadastres in most developing countries, which indicate the ratable price (“fictitious”)
which is used as the basis for taxation.
- Engineering societies, which use the construction price (“replacement”).
- Insurance companies, which use the insured amount for the building, if it is possible to
have a building insurance against natural disasters,
In practice the costs of buildings are often based on the available data for either one of these
sources. It is sometimes difficult to get hold of the building values as used by the cadastres,
whereas it is easier to use the values from real estate agencies. Samples are taken from each
type of building in the various land use classes. In some countries building societies produce a
monthly index that allows to update property prices. Risk assessment can be carried out by
using the replacement value or the market value. It is important to specify which one was
used in the risk calculation.
An aspect that should be taken into
Figure 4.19: Depreciation: with age a building will loose
account is the depreciation possibility.
its value due to deterioration.
In some countries real estate is
constantly growing in market value,
provided that the maintenance to the
building is adequate. The growth in
value might be as high as 10 % a
year, especially in economically
positive periods, when there is
considerable demand for real estate.
In bad economic times and when the
property is not maintained and the
value of the building will go down Figure 4.20: Percentage of losses of the total value of
the property due to increasing flood level, starting at -
rapidly as indicate in figure 4.19.
2.5 when basement is flooded. (Source: Fabio Luino)
A common problem with obtaining
values of buildings is related to
inflation. For instance, the monthly
rise in prices of building materials is
not always proportional to monthly
inflation. If cadastral prices are
reliable but the valuation was carried
out a few years back, it is difficult to
update the property price.
Apart from building costs also the
content costs are very relevant,
especially for those hazards that have
less structural damage such as
flooding. Figure 4.20 gives an idea of
the damage of the costs (building and
content) increase with increasing flood level.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.3.4 Collection information on buildings: example of Turrialba, Costa Rica

This part shows an example of an elements at risk database for the city of Turrialba, located
in Costa Rica. A series of color aerial photographs with a scale of 1:40,000 were scanned with
high resolution and combined with a Digital Elevation Model and a series of ground-control
points for the generation of an orthophoto-map (See Figure 4.21). On the orthophoto all
buildings within the city and its direct surroundings were digitized, as well as the land parcels,
the roads and other infrastructures. This resulted in a digital parcel map, consisting of 7800
polygons. Each polygon was described in the field by a team of investigators, making use of
checklists for the collection of data on hazard and vulnerability. For each parcel the following
attributes were described:
• Use: land use, with main division in residential, institutional, commercial, industrial,
recreational, agricultural and others
• Material: material of the building, in order to estimate the vulnerability
• Age: age of the building, obtained through interviews
• Value_building: estimation of the replacement value of the building
• Value_contents: estimation of value of contents of building
• Number of floors
• Hazard: the hazard as observed or inferred by the experts in the field
• Damage: reported damage due to natural or human-induced hazardous events
Historical information on the occurrence of previous disastrous events was collected by
interviewing elderly people, newspaper searches, and through the damage reports available in
the INS (National Insurance Institute). Based on this information a database was generated,
which is linked to the parcel database in GIS, and which allows for the generation of thematic
maps on each of the above-mentioned parameters.
The database was used to generate vulnerability maps for the city. In the case of flooding,
vulnerability functions were used to relate flooding depths with expected degrees of damage,
using information for the construction of the buildings and for the contents of each building
separately. On the basis of historical information, flood depth maps were generated for
different return periods. These were combined with the vulnerability values and the cost
information for the generation of cost maps. These were combined with the probability
information in order to derive annual risk maps.
For the vulnerability reduction in the city by different hazards, the city map will be very
helpful for the preparedness and disaster management. Besides this the map will be of great
use for the municipality to find suitable areas for the further expansion of the settlement
areas and also to relocate the people living in hazard prone areas. As the system is not only
designed for disaster management, but serves as a multi-purpose tool, the municipality is
using the orthophoto and the database for updating its land-ownership database in order to
improve the tax collection system.
Figure 4.21: Different views of the large-scale database for the city of Turrialba. A: orthophoto, B:
vector overlay of parcels, C: polygons displaying landuse type, D: reading information from the
attribute database.

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.4 Population

The population in urban areas has both static and dynamic characteristics.
- The static characteristics relate to number of inhabitants, the densities of the
population and the age compositions;
- The dynamic characteristics relate to the activities patterns of the people, and the
distribution of the population in space and time. One of the most important socio-
cultural vulnerability indicators is the time-distribution of the population.
For population characteristics, data from the national censuses can be used. Data collected at
household level e.g. age, gender, income, education and migration.
Census data is the only consistent source for demographic data with a wide geographic scope.
It is the most reliable and detailed information for describing local areas: neighborhoods,
cities, counties. They are also used as benchmark data for studying population changes
(trend/direction), and are key input for making projections concerning population, household,
labour force and employment. Census data is the basis for government development
programmes at district levels, and policy development, management and evaluation of
programmes in fields of: education, literacy, employment and manpower, family planning,
housing, maternal child health,
rural development, transportation Table 4.12: Census data available for the US which is
and highway planning, urbani- used in HAZUS for shelter need calculation (S), casualty
zation and welfare. estimation (C) and occupancy class estimation (O).
Census data is costly to collect. In
Description of Field S C O
the US the 2000 census was Total Population in Census Tract *
calculated to cost around 56 US $ Total Household in Census Tract *
per house. Census data is also Total Number of People in General Quarter *
confidential data and as it contains Total Number of People < 16 years old *
private information it is normally Total Number of People 16-65 years old *
Total Number of People > 65 years old *
only available at an aggregated Total Number of People - White *
level. Total Number of People - Black *
Cadastres and censuses are very Total Number of People - Native American *
important inputs for risk Total Number of People - Asian *
assessment. However the Total Number of People - Hispanic *
Total # of Households with Income < $10,000 *
classification of building types Total # of Households with Income $10 - $20K *
tends to be unsuitable, and the Total # of Households with Income $20 - $30K *
census tracts or enumeration Total # of Households with Income $30 - $40K *
districts may change from one Total # of Households with Income $40 - $50K *
census to the next. Total # of Households with Income $50 - $60K *
Total # of Households with Income $60 - $75K *
HAZUS uses census data to
Total # of Households with Income $75 - $100K *
estimate direct social loss due to Total # of Households with Income > $100k *
displaced households, and Total in Residential Property during Day *
casualties. The Census Bureau Total in Residential Property at Night *
collects and publishes statistics Hotel Occupants *
Vistor Population *
about the people of the United
Total Working Population in Commercial Industry *
States based on the Total Working Population in Industrial Industry *
constitutionally required census Total Commuting at 5 PM *
every 10 years, which is taken in Total Number of Students in Grade School *
the years ending in "0" (e.g., Total Number of Students in College/University *
1990). The Bureau's population Total Owner Occupied - Single Household Units * *
Total Owner Occupied - Multi-Household Units * *
census data describes the Total Owner Occupied - Multi-Household
characteristics of the population Structure * *
including age, income, housing Total Owner Occupied - Mobile Homes * *
and ethnic origin. See table 4.12 Total Renter Occupied - Single Household Units * *
for a list of the fields obtained Total Renter Occupied - Multi-Household Units * *
Total Renter Occupied - Multi-Household
from the census data, and how Structure * *
they are used. The population Total Renter Occupied - Mobile Homes * *
information is aggregated to a Total Vacant - Single Household Units *
census tract level. Census tracts Total Vacant - Multi-Household Units *
are divisions of land that are Total Vacant - Multi-Household Structure *
Total Vacant - Mobile Homes *
designed to contain 2500-8000 Structure Age <40 years *
inhabitants with relatively Structure Age >40 years *

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

homogeneous population characteristics, economic status and living conditions.

In the absence of census data static
population information is generally Table 4.13: Population distribution data used in
derived through the building footprint RiskCity exercise. This is a major simplification of
reality.
map, where the land use type and the
floorspace will determine the number of
AVG
people present in a particular building. floor
Standard values of population per area People/ space Day Nightt
Land use class building M2 time ime
are used. Table 4.13 gives the general
Com_business 20 20 1 0
population values for RiskCity that will Com_hotel 100 12 0.1 1
be used in the first exercise that deals Com_market 1000 10 1 0
with the generation of an element at Com_shop 10 23 1 0
risk map from scratch. In this method Ind_hazardous 10 1000 1 0
Ind_industries 25 400 1 0
the population is estimated by mapping Ind_warehouse 20 2000 1 0
unit. For each mapping unit the number Ins_fire 25 64 1 1
of buildings is estimated. Also the land Ins_hospital 800 38 1 1
use is given for each mapping unit. Ins_office 100 16 1 0
Ins_police 50 32 1 1
Table 4.13 then gives the general Ins_school 300 33 1 0
number of people present in a building Pub_cemetery 0 0 0 0
of a particular land use type. These Pub_cultural 200 13 0 1
data are very general and do not Pub_electricity 0 0 0 0
Pub_religious 500 10 1 0
incorporate the actual size of the
Rec_flat_area 0 0 0 0
building. For most of the residential Rec_park 0 0 0 0
areas this will be more or less Rec_stadium 20000 3 0 0
adequate, as the 5 classes can also be Res_large 5 90 0.2 1
Res_mod_single 6 17 0.2 1
fairly well linked with the average
Res_multi 20 13 0.2 1
household size. For other land use Res_small_single 6 11 0.2 1
types, such as schools, or hospitals Res_squatter 7 5 0.3 1
this method might lead to wrong River 0 0 0 0
unknown 0 0 0 0
results, as it doesn’t take into account
Vac_car 0 0 0 0
the floorspace. In the second exercise Vac_construction 0 0 0 0
that generates an elements at risk vac damaged 0 0 0 0
database using existing data such as
building footprints, and LiDAR data, it is possible to estimate the floorspace for each building.
In that case it is possible to calculate the number of persons per building by multiplying the
average floorspace per person per land use type with the floorspace of the building. It is
2:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m.
Residential 0.99(NRES) 0.80(DRES) 0.95(DRES)
Commercial 0.02(COMW) 0.98(COMW)+0.15(DRES)+0.80(AGE_16) 0.50(COMW)
Industrial 0.10(INDW) 0.80(INDW) 0.50(INDW)
Commuting 0.01(POP) 0.05(POP) 0.05(DRES)+
1.0(COMM)
where:
POP is the census tract population taken from census data
DRES is the daytime residential population inferred from census data
NRES is the nighttime residential population inferred from census data
COMM is the number of people commuting inferred from census data
COMW is the number of people employed in the commercial sector
INDW is the number of people employed in the industrial sector.
AGE_16 is the number of people 16 years of age and under inferred from census data (used
as a proxy for the portion of population located in schools)
Table 4.14: Distribution of population for different periods of the day according the HAZUS
methodology.
difficult to obtain general values for the average floorspace per person. Such type of
information should be collected using participatory mapping, taking stratified samples for each
land use class. For each sample the number of people in a building should be then related to
the size of the building (See table 4.13). Table 4.14 shows the manner that HAZUS uses for
estimating the dynamic population density in different land use types and different periods of
the day. Note that all information on the required population estimates is coming from the
census data (table 4.12). In the absence of census data the dynamic population can be
estimated using day time and night-time factors as indicated in table 4.13
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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Participatory mapping for estimating population density and activity pattern

Participatory mapping can be a very useful tool for the generation of a population database,
when detailed census data is lacking. Based on mapping of individual buildings together with
interviews of local population it is possible to establish household activity patterns. An example
of such a study is shown in Figure 4.22. Showing the daily distribution of household in their
residence over the course of a day, for weekdays, sundays and holidays.

Figure 4.22 : Community based Household Activity Pattern Survey in Dehradun, India. Right:
resulting activity pattern of households over a day.
Apart from people being present in buildings (by living/working/studying) there are also people
who come from outside which stay for a while in the study area (e.g. for shopping, visiting,
work or going to school). Based on similar activity studies for other urban land uses (school,
shops, office etc.) it is possible to compute the population per building and per land use type
for each period of the day, using a formula such as the one shown below. It should be noted
that there is a considerable variation in commuting patterns and this type of formula should be
calibrated.

Figure 4.23: Example of population losses

due to earthquakes for different perods of a
day and different earthquake scenarios
(Source: Jimee, Van Westen and Botero,
2008)
This community based information can
then be used for population loss
estimation, based on earthquake
scenarios for different periods of the day.
Figure 4.23 Shows an example for a ward
in the city of Lalitpur, Nepal. The large
differences between night and daytime
scenarios can be observed especially in
the school areas.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.5 Participatory GIS for Disaster Risk Assessment

For the generation of information at the local level it is important to work together with local
communities, and learn from their local knowledge. Local or indigenous knowledge is often
critical in understanding the vulnerabilities and capacities of an area, but is rarely available on
maps and even less so in a format that can be entered into a GIS. However, this information is
crucial as the local population has the best knowledge on the hazard events that they have
experienced; their local causes and effects, and the way their community had to cope with
them. This information is essential for land use planning, conflict management, and for
disaster risk management. After all, disaster risk reduction aims at reducing the risk of the
people against disaster events, and for the implementation of sustainable disaster risk
management policies the support and collaboration of local people is essential.

4.5.1 Local Knowledge

In a participatory approach the knowledge of local people is not simple “tapped” by the outside
people involved in a risk assessment study. This can of course also be done, but then the local
community is considered an information source, and not a partner in the risk management.
Local people have a vast amount of knowledge on hazards, vulnerability, and risk. However
not all of this knowledge is readily available. It is often “tacit knowledge”, of which they were
not directly aware as they normally do not communicate this to outsiders. Therefore there has
to be a process of “eliciting the knowledge”, making them formulate it, and interact with
them. This cannot be done in a fast and unpersonal manner. There has to be an atmosphere of
confidence between local people and the risk investigators, before people are willing to
formulate this type of knowledge. Local knowledge can consist of many components:
• Knowledge of historical disaster events, and the damages they have caused.
• Knowledge on the elements at risk, and how they value them.
• Knowledge on the factors contributing to vulnerability.
• Knowledge of their coping strategies and capacities to confront disasters.
• Knowledge about commuting patterns
However, local knowledge is often not recognized as an important source of information by
investigators working in disaster risk projects in developing countries, especially those that are
controlled by higher authorities. The knowledge is often perceived as non-scientific and often
discarded at the favor of probabilistic models for risk assessments. Local knowledge is also
perceived as difficult to retrieve, difficult to be expressed in quantitative terms or to be
converted into spatial formats. The goal of participation is to give at risk communities
ownership, the ability
to express themselves,
to learn from them,
and ultimately to
empower them
through the
acknowledgement of
their skills, abilities,
and knowledge.
Participation improves
the self–confidence
and capacities for risk
management of local
communities and
municipal authorities.
They become aware of
local knowledge as an
asset they have in
their own territories
and hands and
therefore need less
external human,
technical and
economical assistance. Figure 4.24: Local knowledge in participative risk assessment (source:
Peters, 2008).

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.5.2 Tools for traditional community based Disaster Risk Management

Over the past decades many

community-based methods have been
developed as a diagnostic process
leading to a common understanding of
a community’s disaster risks. The size
of the hazard-related problems as well
as the resources and opportunities to
cope with these are identified and
analyzed. Community risk assessment
has four components: a) Hazard
assessment; b) Vulnerability
assessment; c) Capacity assessment
and d) People’s perception of the risks.
The tools commonly used employ
methods such as workshops, (semi
structured) interviews, transect walks
in which the situation is discussed,
focus group discussion, problem tree
analysis, community mapping, ranking
of problems and solutions, etc.
The information is assembled through
tools such as Capacity and Vulnerability
Assessment (CVA), Hazards,
Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment
(HVCA), and Damage, Needs and
Capacity Assessment (DNCA). The
typical information that can be
gathered by these means is related to:
• Analysis of disaster management
activities and practices at the
community level.
• Community risk perception.
• Determination of the needs and
expectations of the communities in
relation to hazard mitigation and
loss minimization.
• Assessment of their levels of
preparedness. Figure 4.25: Examples of traditional CB methods
• Methods to enhance their capacity for risk assessment using transets and
and options for more effective sketchmaps (Source: Peters, 2008)
responses to reduce vulnerability
• Community-based hazard management plans.
The Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment tool (VCA) is a practical and diagnostic method
mostly used by NGOs for planning and evaluating projects. The VCA is aimed to help
practitioners to understand the nature and level of risk that communities face, where the risk
comes from; what and who will be worst affected; what assets are available at different levels
to reduce the risk; and what capacities need to be further strengthened. Many toolkits have
been developed, by organisatons such as IFRC, OXFAM, ADPC, ActionAID, Tearfund etc. For a
good overview of the various methodologies please visit the webpage of the ProVention
consortium: http://www.proventionconsortium.org/?pageid=43

Task 4.10: Video on Community based approaches (duration 30 minutes)

To understand better the community-based approach to disaster risk management at local level, it
is good to watch one of the following videos on Youtube:
IFRC Preparing for Disaster: A community based approach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWS4s6E5ock
Building Community resilience to Disasters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmc3CoiCfKo

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.5.2 Focusing on spatial information in local risk assessment

The conventional methods for community based disaster risk assessment also collect and use
spatial information, for example in the form of community mapping (See figure 4.25). However
the product obtained through such processes, which are often also rather time consuming,
remain where they are, or at best end up in a report, or are put on the wall of the community
center. The spatial information is not maintained, and will be lost after a while. The spatial
information is also not properly georeferenced so that it can be utilized in a GIS. Another
problem is that such information is difficult to incorporate in the risk management planning of
the local authorities. Where local authorities, who are responsible for the safety of the
population living in the area of their jurisdiction, are not motivated or able to be involved in
risk management, it is left up to the local communities to deal with the problem themselves.
That is why there is such a large focus on these techniques by (international) NGO’s working
with low-income people in disaster prone areas. However, where the local authorities recognize
their responsibility and are involved in risk assessment, it is crucial that the local information is
incorporated into their plans.
Therefore it is surprising that there are not more applications of Participatory GIS or
participatory mapping to hazard identification and risk mapping. Local people’s direct
experience or historical ‘folk memories’ of floods, water-logging, landslides, avalanches, storm
damage, coastal inundation, etc., also of pest outbreaks, vulnerability to earth movements,
etc., should be essential inputs to scientific assessments of the extent of hazards and the
degree of risk. P-mapping and PGIS are excellently suited to the needs for incorporating local
knowledge, participatory needs assessment & problem analysis, local prioritising, and
understanding responses and coping strategies.

PGIS is a useful tool for extracting lay (indigenous) knowledge, perceptions of

environmental problems and hazards, and presenting and communicating it to
environmental scientists and local authorities.

Participatory GIS can be used for:

• Reconstructing historical hazardous events by obtaining eye-witness information from
the local people in the affected communities.
• Obtaining information on the characterization of elements at risk at the local level. A
considerable amount of information is not publicly available and can only be collected
locally, with the help of the local communities.
• Understanding the coping mechanism that households in local neighborhoods employ
with respect to the frequently occurring hazardous events like flooding.
• Understanding the factors that determine the level of vulnerability of the households in
local communities, and their capacities.
• Evaluating the possible risk reduction measures that are suggested by local
communities,
• Allowing interaction between local communities and Non-governmental organizations,
as well as with local authorities.
• Post disaster damage mapping
It should be kept in mind that PGIS is not only about collecting information from the local
communities, but rather about collecting information with them, and interact with them as
they have local knowledge that is indispensable for reducing the risk.

Figure 4.26: Participatory mapping in action (Source: Peters, 2008)

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.5.3 Tools for Participatory mapping: Mobile GIS

In a participatory mapping approach basically the same tools can be used as in the traditional
approaches mentioned before. More emphasis is given, however, to the representation of the
spatial related information in a format that can be used in a GIS and can be updated and
shared with other stakeholders. There is a wide range of non-digital techniques for
participatory mapping, such as the generation of community maps on top of a large scale
airphotos or satellite images. It is surprising how well local people are able to recognize their
daily environment on such detailed images. Other techniques are the generation of simple
scale models in 2-D or even in 3-D as people are much better at identifying features when
they can refer to the terrain as they see it in three dimensions.
However the use of digital techniques for information collection are preferred, as this speeds
up the process of data collection, and avoids the lengthy conversion of information into digital
form. With the use of Mobile GIS it is possible to directly collect the spatial information, based
on a high resolution image that can be uploaded into the palmtop computer, and link it with
attribute information that is collected in the field. High resolution images can be compressed
up to 25 times using software such as MrSid. Some of the most used tools for Mobile GIS are:
ArcPad
ArcPAd is one of the products of ESRI
designed in combination with the
ArcGIS suite, which allows users to
make their own interface for data
collection using a handheld device with
a GPS connection. The data is collected
in the format that can be directly
applied in ArcGIS.
Cybertracker
CyberTracker software creates data
entry templates to use on Windows
PocketPC or PalmOS handheld
computers to gather and map locally-
generated, spatial knowledge.
Connected to a GPS, CyberTracker
instantly geo-references data.
“CyberTracker's unique design allows
users to display icons & text which Figure 4.27: Left: Cybertracker input windows for a survey of
makes data collection faster. It allows disaster relief using simple icons. Right: View of ArcPad
field data collection by non-literate software installed on a hand held device.
users and school children”.
CyberTracker has been applied to local
spatial knowledge in post-disaster relief operations. CyberTracker, Cape Town, South Africa.
http://www.cybertracker.org/index.html

Mobile GIS can be used for many of the steps involved in disaster risk management. Figure
4.28 shows an example for landslide mapping. Landslides are interpreted from stereoimages,
and the interpretation is digitized and converted to the mobile GIS together with an
orthoimage. In the field the boundaries are checked and the landslide attributes recorded.
Figure 4.29 shows an example of mobile GIS developed for rapid mapping of building damage
after a disaster (e.g. earthquake). In such cases there is a need for a rapid survey of many
buildings, and a classification should be made in order to indicate if the building is still
inhabitable.

Although mobile GIS has become a standard tool in many data collection projects, and is now
also very affordable, it also has a number of limitations. There is always the danger that data
might be lost if the device is stolen, damaged, or if data is accidentally deleted. Working with
mobile device with small screens can also be rather problematic, especially in conditions of
direct sunlight. Furthermore there is a danger that the operation of the device takes more time
than the discussion with local people.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Figure 4.28: Mobile GIS for landslide inventory mapping. An example of the part of the database
structure (center), input screens (left and right) and the interpreted landslide from a high resolution
image, which is checked in the field.

Figure 4.29: Example of a tool for the use of Mobile GIS for rapid damage assessment after a disaster
(e.g. earthquake): iTalk. Source: http://www.emistech.com)

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

4.5.3 Participatory mapping in hazard assessment.

The use of participatory mapping is a very important tool in hazard assessment, for:
ƒ The reconstruction of historical disaster events with respect to the extension,
severity, and frequency of these events. Often it is also possible to reconstruct
historical scenarios. These can then also be used in combination with modeling results,
either as input in the models (e.g. terrain parameters, flood marks) as well as for
validating models (e.g. validating flood models for particular scenarios with the result of
community maps made for the same events.)
ƒ The mapping of damage caused by these historic events. Even though the events may
have happened some time ago and the damages might not be visible anymore, local
communities can still identify where, what and how much was damaged. Furthermore
they indicate how much they were affected in terms of their livelihood, access to basic
services etc.
ƒ The manner in which they perceive the various hazard events that have happened. It
may not always be very straightforward to link the magnitude of the hazard events with
the degree of manageability, which is an indication how the local communities
experienced and perceived the severity of the event. For instance small events that
happened close to each other might have caused more problems than larger event that
happen less frequently. For example, figure 4.30 shows the manageability classes that
were derived together with local communities regarding the flood threat in their area.
Classes were made not of water depth or duration, but these were combined into
manageability classes based on community-derived criteria.
ƒ The coping strategies: the way in which local people dealt with the effects of the
event.
The use of participatory mapping for hazard assessment also has a number of drawbacks
which should be taken into consideration:
ƒ Local knowledge is local: people have best knowledge on their own small area. The
reliability decreases when they are asked about situations in nearby locations where
they don’t go regularly.
ƒ Local knowledge of historical events is limited. If there is a series of hazard events that
have affected them (e.g. landslides, floods), it will be difficult to remember them in the
correct way. They become often mixed, and merge into one picture, which makes it
difficult to analyze the effect of events with different magnitude. Normally the largest
event is remembered for the longest period.
ƒ The local knowledge might be ambiguous and different people might give quite varying
opinions on past hazard
scenarios. Therefore the
investigator has to
corroborate the
information by
interviewing many
people, or organize
workshops where the
information is discussed
with a whole group.
ƒ It is not possible to use
local knowledge to
evaluate events that
have not happened
before, or that happened
so long ago that the local
communities do not have
a clear memory of. For
instance the effect of a
1/200 year earthquake is
very difficult to evaluate
with the local community
if the last one has Figure 4.30: Hazard maps are based on the criteria that the
happened more than 60 community indicates regarding their perception of the severity of
years ago. the hazard, in so-called “manageability” classes.

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4.5.4 Participatory mapping of elements at risk

This session dealt with a number of aspects related to elements at risk mapping. Although
elements at risk information may be derived from existing data sources such as cadastral and
census data, there is always a need to collect additional information to characterize the
elements at risk for vulnerability assessment. Furthermore in case existing data are not
available it is actually the primary source of elements at risk information for mapping the
following aspects:
ƒ Buildings: Correct delineation of buildings from image interpretation is difficult, even
when using high resolution images. Figure 4.32 gives an example of the difficulty to
delineate individual buildings in dense urban areas. For collecting information on
building types, construction materials, land ownership, and the checking of urban land
use, normally stratified samples are taken, as it is often too time consuming to do a
complete house-by-house survey. Figure 4.32 also shows the input screen used in
Mobile GIS for building mapping.
ƒ Population characterization: mapping of population characteristics such as
socioeconomic status, livelihood, income level, dependency ratio (ratio between income
earners and rest of the household), family size, commuting patterns.
ƒ Basic infrastructure: access to drinking water, sanitary facilities, but also community
services such as health (hospitals and health centers) institutional (neighborhood
offices), educational (schools), religious (churches, mosques and temples), areas for
recreation and open spaces which can be used for evacuation purposes.
ƒ Mapping of environmental problems: waste disposal situation, the presence of
environmental problems like stagnating water, polluted areas etc.
Participatory mapping covering large areas can also be done by selected people from the local
community, which are trained to do the survey, or by involving students from a nearby
university. However, care should be taken in that case that the quality of the survey is
constant, and a system of quality checking should be built in.

Figure 4.32: Example of the use of mobile GIS for building mapping. The buildings have been
digitized before on a high-resolution image, and the boundaries are checked in the field. With
ArcPad a number of input screens have been defined for the collection of the attribute data. For
each attribute a selection can be made from a list of possibilities, and estimations on percentages
are checked to avoid errors in data input. The lower part shows the output table that will be linked

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Task 4.11: RiskCity exercise on the use of Participatory mapping information

(duration 3 hours)
At this point it is good to go back to the RiskCity case study and have a look how Participatory
mapping can be used in the context of RiskCity. Of course in the framework of this course it is not
possible to collect this type of information yourselves. Therefore we have done this already for you
in two neighborhoods of the city. One that is flood prone and the other which is landslide prone.
You can select which one of the two aspects you would like to work on.

Carry out the RiskCity exercise on Participatory mapping.

4.5.5 Participatory mapping in vulnerability and capacity assessment

In this section we will not expand too much on the aspects related to vulnerability and
capacity, as this is the topic of the following session. We just would like to indicate here that
the vulnerability and capacity analysis is the core of the community-based approaches, as the
type of information that is needed to investigate this can only be obtained by dialogue and
discussion with the local communities. Table 4.15 gives a summary of the information that was
collected in a study on flood risk management for two neighborhoods (barangays) in the flood
prone area of Naga city in the Philippines.

Table 4.15 Summary of the information that was collected using participatory mapping for a flood risk
study in the Philippines (Source: Peters, 2008)

Components of the
Logical model: Elements and indicators used to
conceptual model for
spatially represent the conceptual model
flood risk assessment
Water depth -Group/individual experiences about
Geo-Hazard Flood Duration past events
Velocity -Hydrological modelling
-Surface elevation of the terrain
-Location in relation to nearby elevated
areas
Location -Location in relation to elements
susceptible to strong winds (antennas,
large/robust trees, advertisement
Exposure boards)
Quality of the built -Building types
environment -Development level
-Waste management
Quality of the
-Presence and origin of stagnated
Natural environment waters
-Household composition
Vulnerability -Occupations (type of activity, location)
-Number of working people
-Dependency ratio
Socioeconomic -Access to basic services (health,
Resistance
status education, water, sanitation)
-Access to resources during ‘normal’
times (land, goods and savings)
-Access to resources during ‘crisis’
times (warnings, evacuation, relief)
-Coping mechanism before, during and
Mechanisms for risk
after flooding related to : housing,
management
Coping livelihood, food, health, sanitation,
according to daily
safety of belongings, mobilization and
life aspects overall safety.
Past, present and - Flood scenarios for different events
future scenarios for - Vulnerability of the elements under
Risk flood events with analysis
different return - Implementation of socioeconomic
periods development scenarios

4.5.6 Participatory mapping for disaster relief support

The last aspect covered here is the use of GIS for disaster relief. There are a number of
initiatives in this field:
ƒ MapAction, http://www.mapaction.org/index.html is a UK-based charity, staffed by
specialist volunteers, whose core role is supporting humanitarian operations through
provision of spatial data collection and mapping capabilities in the field. Large-scale
maps focused on specific relief requirements through sectoral overlays, maps
formatted to specific needs of aid agencies, Interactive GIS technology on web based
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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

servers, enabling on-line queries, enhance existing baseline maps in the field
through computer-linked GPS/GIS systems.
ƒ GISCorps is since 2003 an URISA program and operates entirely on a volunteer
basis. GISCorps volunteers reside in different states across the USA and use a twiki
site to work collaboratively. Emergency & relief work in: Andaman Islands., India
Tsunami. and with Global MapAid, post-tsunami; Katrina USA MI & LA, Afghanistan.
http://www.giscorps.org/
ƒ Global MapAid, a non-profit organization, was initiated with a view of supplying
specialist maps to emergency & humanitarian aid workers. The group consists of
experienced aid workers, GIS analysts, web developers, and core volunteers from
Stanford University. The focus is to map humanitarian crises hotspots by capturing
data to assist predominantly in slow onset disasters such as food security, drought,
HIV monitoring and orphanage survey refugee programs but also when necessary in
rapid onset disasters such as floods. GMA’s mission is to assist aid efforts by
providing and assisting in the provision of mapping and corresponding
communications systems for aid agencies, e.g. UN World Food Program.
http://www.globalmapaid.rdvp.org/

Task 4.12: Summary on the use of Participatory mapping for disaster risk
assessment (duration 15 minutes)
After reading this session and after you did the RiskCity exercise on the use of Participatory
mapping information, it is good to make a summary of what you have learned.
Please do that by filling in the following table, and explain briefly your choices.

Hazard type Location Spatial Historical Frequency Causes Damage Vulnerabi

as point extent events lity
Floods
Landslides
Earthquake
Volcanic eruptions
Bush fires
Township fires
Storms
Pest outbreak
Drought

Finally, please note down the advantages and disadvantages of Participatory mapping

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Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Selftest

In order to evaluate whether you have understood the concepts that were presented in
this session. Please make the following test, and check the answers in Blackboard.

Question 4.1: Spatial data for elements at risk

Which minimal spatial information is required in order to make an estimation of the
vulnerability of buildings?
A) Building footprints
B) A high-resolution image (e.g. Ikonos)
C) Mapping units
D) Wards

Question 4.2: Elements at risk

Which of the following statements is relevant for high potential loss facilities?
A) A park can be used as an evacuation area
B) Hazardous chemical industries might produce an additional disaster once they are
damaged by a hazard event.
C) Restaurants might have more people during a small period in the week.
D) Residential areas might have a higher number of casualties during the night.

Question 4.3: Participatory GIS

Participatory GIS for disaster risk assessment has the following advantages and
disadvantages:
A) It involves community participation, but may not capture all possible hazard
scenarios, due to the limited historical time-span of collective knowledge of the
community.
B) It leads to the extraction of local (indigenous) knowledge, but unfortunately doesn’t
display this in the right projection system, and therefore cannot be used in GIS.
C) It allows the inclusion of local interests and priorities, but unfortunately doesn’t
formalize this information, so it might get lost soon.
D) It is a nice method to collect information from the population, which an expert can
use to validate his scientific models, but it is not reliable.

Question 4.4: Elements at risk : urban land use

In order to make a good risk assessment, the classification of urban land use is important
because:
A) It determines the types of buildings, and their vulnerability
B) It determines the population density
C) It determines the population distribution, during different time periods
D) All of the above.

Question 4.5: Elements at risk

Which attribute related to buildings is most important for the risk assessment, and why?
A) Urban land use, because from this attribute you can derive several other attributes,
especially related to the density of population in day and nighttime scenarios.
B) The building contents because that is important in order to determine structural
damage
C) The number of floors, because this determines the vulnerability of the population
D) The roof type, because that can be observed using satellite imagery.

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 Session 4: Elements at risk inventory

Further reading:

Elements at risk classification.

ƒ We recommend you to read the technical manual of HAZUS related to the inventory
of assets for loss estimation. This manual is provided on the background directory of
session 4 on the course DVD or blackboard site.

Some ITC PhD theses on this topic are:

ƒ A.L. Montoya, I. Masser (Promotor), N. Rengers (Promotor), H.F.L. Ottens (Promotor)
(2002) Urban disaster management : a case study of earthquake risk assessment in
Cartago, Costa Rica . PhD thesis Utrecht University. document
http://www.itc.nl/library/Papers/MONTOYA.pdf
• Botero Fernandez, V., Ottens, H.F.L. (promotor) , van Westen, C.J. (promotor) and
Sliuzas, R.V. (promotor) (2009) Geo - information for measuring vulnerability to
earthquakes : a fitness for use approach. Enschede, Utrecht, ITC, University of
Utrecht, 2009. ITC Dissertation 158, 191 p. ISBN: 978-90-6164-272-5.
http://www.itc.nl/library/papers_2009/phd/botero.pdf
• Peters Guarin, G., Frerks, G. (promotor) , van Westen, C.J. (promotor) and de Man,
W.H.E. (promotor) (2008) Integrating local knowledge into GIS based flood risk
assessment, Naga city, The Philippines. Wageningen, Enschede, Wageningen
University, ITC, 2008. ITC Dissertation 157, 352 p. ISBN: 978-90-8585-295-7.
http://www.itc.nl/library/papers_2008/phd/peters.pdf

Other related literature:

• Ebert, A., Kerle, N. and Stein, A. (2009) Urban social vulnerability assessment with
physical proxies and spatial metrics derived from air- and spaceborne imagery and
GIS data. In: Natural hazards : journal of the international society for the prevention
and mitigation of natural hazards, 48 (2009)2, pp. 275-294.
http://intranet.itc.nl/papers/2009/isi/kerle_urb.pdf
• Montoya L. Geo-data Acquisition through Mobile GIS and Digital Video: an Urban
Disaster Management perspective (2003) In: Environmental Systems and Software,
18(10) Elsevier, pp. 869-876

Participatory GIS

ƒ For a good overview of the various methodologies please visit the webpage of the
ProVention consortium: http://www.proventionconsortium.org/?pageid=43
This is a well-organised, annotated overview of Community Risk Assessment (CRA)
approaches and methods, many of which are highly relevant to PGIS issues,
applications and methods. This ‘Guide to Handbooks and Guidelines’ reviews the
products of many agencies and NGOs, including Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre
(ADPC); Oxfam, ActionAid; Centre for Disaster Preparedness Philippines,
International Hurricane Research Centre, Florida; South Pacific Disaster Reduction
Programme of the UN Dept of ESA; and the Philippines National Red Cross Society.
Likewise there is a cross-indexed user-friendly guide to PRA and other survey tools
for community spatial information, including hazard mapping; resource mapping;
risk mapping; and gendered risk mapping. (NB of course the term ‘mapping’ in this
context does not always mean just representation of geospatial information) The
website also includes many case studies.

ƒ A good overview of publication related to PGIS for disaster risk assessment, prepared
Mike McCall can be found in :
http://www.proventionconsortium.org/themes/default/pdfs/CRA/PGIS_Sept08.pdf

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