LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS CHILE PART 1: FLOODS Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS

CHILEPART 1: FLOODS

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna,

Virginia, USA 

NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN CHILEDISASTERS IN CHILE

NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN CHILEDISASTERS IN CHILE

FLOODS

WINDSTORMS

EARTHQUAKES/TSUNAMIS

VOLCANOES

WILDFIRES

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

HIGH BENEFIT/COST FROM BECOMING DISASTER NRESILIENT

HIGH BENEFIT/COST FROM BECOMING DISASTER NRESILIENT

GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIESAND COMMUNITIES

GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIESAND COMMUNITIES

Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters

Planet Earth’s atmospheric-hydrospheric-lithospheric interactions create situations favorable for FLOODS

HIGH POTENTIAL LOSS EXPOSURES IN A FLOOD

Entire communities;

People, property, infra-structure, business enterprise, government centers, crops, wildlife, and natural resources.

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS PREPAREDNESFOR THE EXPECTED AND UNEXPEDTED IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS

EARLY WARN-ING (THE ISS) AND EVACU-ATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS

RECOVERY AND RECON-STRUCTION USUALLY TAKES LONGER THAN THOUGHT.

CHILE’S CITIES

NOTABLE FLOODS IN CHILE

SANTIAGO, THE CAPITAL, IMPACTED

MAY 22, 2008

SANTIAGO SKYLINE

FLOODING NEAR SANTIAGO: MAY 22, 2008

SANTIAGO’S MAPOCHO RIVER

SANTIAGO’S MAPOCHO RIVER

IMPACTS: MAY 22, 2008

• Heavy rains and flooding that killed five people and displaced 15 thousand in south-central Chile, collapsed road and rail bridges, closed the world's largest underground copper mine, and left many in Santiago (the capital) without drinking water.

IMPACTS: MAY 22, 2008

• Seven rivers burst their banks farther south, deluging thousands of homes.

• Route 5 (Chile's main north-south highway) was cut in three places.

• Landslides caused by the rains forced the shutdown of the giant El Teniente copper mine.

NOTABLE FLOODS IN CHILE

JULY 29, 2000

This flood disaster exposed Chile’s lack of flood-disaster planning and flood-resilient

infrastructure in 2000, leading to improvements.

The flooding, the result of weeks of heavy rain, the worst in Chile for more than 20 years, caused major damage to infra-

structure (mostly roads and bridges) with the cost

estimated to be as high as US $1.5 billion

JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING IMPACTS THE CAPITAL

• Torrential rains affected the capital, Santiago, swamping more than 75 percent of the metropolitan streets, including the city's main highway.

JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING IMPACTS THE CAPITAL

• A state of emergency was declared in the Santiago metropolitan region.

JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING IMPACTED THE CAPITAL

• Schools were forced to close, train services were cancelled and electricity was cut to many areas due to the accompanying high winds.

SCHOOLS CLOSED

JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING IMPACTED THE CAPITAL

• Some areas of the city were at a virtual standstill as roads were blocked and bridges collapsed

JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING IMPACTED THE CAPITAL

• Many homes were wiped out as a result of the 90 kilometers per hour winds and the pouring rains, forcing thousands into shelters around Santiago.

FLOODING

IMPACTS ON EVACUEES

• Evacuees were forced to live in schools that were hastily turned into makeshift hostels, that proved to be so inadequate that many people were often returned to their waterlogged homes too early.

JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING IMPACTED THE CAPITAL

• Most of the metropolitan homeless come from the poorest regions of Santiago, including Pudahuel, El Monte, Talagante, Isla de Maipo, Maipu and San Ramon

IMPACTS IN OTHER PARTS OF CHILE

• The simultaneous flooding throughout Chile caused at least 17 deaths and forced an estimated 129,000 people into homelessness.

FLOODING: SOUTHERN CHILE

AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS

• The regions impacted by floods also included Chile's principal agricultural areas, the central and southern regions.

ELEMENTS OF HAZARDS AND RISK

HAZARDSHAZARDSHAZARDSHAZARDS

ELEMENTS OF FLOOD RISK ELEMENTS OF FLOOD RISK ELEMENTS OF FLOOD RISK ELEMENTS OF FLOOD RISK

EXPOSUREEXPOSUREEXPOSUREEXPOSURE

VULNERABILITYVULNERABILITYVULNERABILITYVULNERABILITY LOCATIONLOCATIONLOCATIONLOCATION

RISKRISKRISKRISK

FLOOD HAZARDS (AKA

POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)

• TOO MUCH WATER DISCHARGED WITHIN THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM TO BE ACCOMMODATED NORMALLY IN THE REGIONAL WATER CYCLE

• EROSION

• SCOUR

• MUDFLOWS

A DISASTER CAN HAPPENWHEN THE

POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS OF A FLOOD INTERACT WITH

CHILE’S COMMUNITIES

A DISASTER CAN HAPPENWHEN THE

POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS OF A FLOOD INTERACT WITH

CHILE’S COMMUNITIES

LOSS OF FUNCTION OF STRUCTURES IN FLOODPLAIN

FLOODSFLOODS

INUNDATION

INTERACTION WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

STRUCTURAL/CONTENTS DAMAGE FROM WATER

WATER BORNE DISEASES (HEALTH PROBLEMS)

EROSION AND MUDFLOWS

CONTAMINATION OF GROUND WATER

CAUSES OF RISK

CAUSES OF RISK

CASE HISTORIESCASE HISTORIES

A DISASTER is ---

--- the set of failures that overwhelm the capability of a community to respond without external help  when three continuums: 1)  people, 2) community (i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3) complex events (e.g., floods, earthquakes,…) intersect at a point in space and time.

Disasters are caused by single- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause

extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness,

joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• When it does happen, the functions of the community’s buildings and infrastructure can be LOST.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community is UN-PREPARED for what will likely happen, not to mention the low-probability of occurrence—high-probability of adverse consequences event.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community has NO DISASTER PLANNING SCENARIO or WARNING SYSTEM in place as a strategic framework for early threat identification and coordinated local, national, regional, and international countermeasures.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community LACKS THE CAPACITY TO RESPOND in a timely and effective manner to the full spectrum of expected and unexpected emergency situations.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community is INEFFICIENT during recovery and reconstruction because it HAS NOT LEARNED from either the current experience or the cumulative prior experiences.

THE ALTERNATIVE TO A FLOOD DISASTER IS

FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE

THE ALTERNATIVE TO A FLOOD DISASTER IS

FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE

CHILE’SCHILE’S

COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

CHILE’SCHILE’S

COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIESDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATIONDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATION

HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

•FLOOD HAZARDS•PEOPLE & BLDGS. •VULNERABILITY•LOCATION

FLOOD RISK FLOOD RISK

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

GOAL: FLOOD DISASTER GOAL: FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE

• PREPAREDNESS•PROTECTION•EARLY WARNING•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION

POLICY OPTIONSPOLICY OPTIONS

TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING, FORECASTING,

WARNING, AND DISASTER SCENARIOS WARNING ARE

VITAL FOR SURVIVAL