Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--University of Louisville, 2006. / Title and description from thesis home page (viewed Jan. 30, 2007). Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Vita. "August 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p.78-79).

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

No description available.

This thesis is concerned with the study of flood plains and the flood hazard in England and Wales. Flood plains form an important resource which is only successfully utilised by the reduction of the flood hazard. The extent of the flood hazard in a study area, the problem of assessing flood damage, and the perception of the flood hazard and adjustment to it, are all investigated in order to suggest ways in which floods may be reduced. The flood hazard is a widespread phenomenon affecting most parts of the study area of this dissertation which consists of the Severn, Wye and Usk catchments, and a group of catchments in Glamorgan. Most major settlements extend into flood risk areas, and require flood alleviation programmes. Flood damage assessment is found to be a major problem which adversely affects our ability to optimise flood plain resource use. The assessment of potential flood damages based directly upon actual damage data is found to be impracticable. Instead, standard flood damage information, based upon actual flood damage data, is developed for residences. This allows the computation of potential residential flood damage. The important problem of flood hazard adjustment is considered in a study of the preconditions of flood hazard perception and individual and community adjustment at study sites. The adjustment process is found to be conditioned by flood experience, spatial variations in the hazard, access to information and adjustment evaluation, whilst personality traits do not appear to be directly important. At the community level, unconventional combinations of adjustment are found to be of value, although low levels of public awareness of flood risk pose a serious problem. Flood hazard reduction can be improved in this country by explicit management of flood plains, by improved economic analyses, and by the application of behavioural principles.

Tsunamis are among the most threatening natural hazards that can affect coastal communities and infrastructures. In order to provide useful information for coastal protection, one of my aims in this dissertation is to identify the physical metrics that better represent the damage cause by tsunamis. I approach this problem by carrying out three-dimensional-SPH numerical simulations of solitary waves which allow to track spatial-temporal evolution of physical variables during their breaking. By comparing these evolutions it is possible to visualize the complex hydrodynamic process that occurs during breaking. Results show that the highest danger lies in the environment of the shoreline. However the highest vulnerability of coastal communities and infrastructures lies onshore where they find themselves more exposed to the destructive capacity of extreme tsunami waves. In this regard, the second main goal in this dissertation is to understand how coastal vegetation reduces and modifies the onshore wave inundation. I address this problem by using shallow water equations and Serre-Green-Naghdi equations employed in a set of two-dimensional depth-integrated simulations. Analysis of results indicate the existence of a transition zone located between where runup is not affected at all and where runup suffers the maximum reduction by the vegetation. This infers the requirement of a minimum length of the vegetated barrier in order to achieve the maximum runup reduction under a specific set properties such as barrier location, barrier width, beach slope and/or wave amplitude. Overall we conclude, after intense validation work, that numerical approaches are very convenient tools to analyze difficult wave processes. However it is necessary to be aware of the limitation of each numerical approach. / Ph. D. / Tsunamis are long waves with large wave height that are mainly generated by ocean-based earthquakes. They can also be a consequence of other natural events such as landslides, intense volcanic activities, large storm floods or even asteroid impacts. Coastal communities tend to not consider these low-frequency threats and occupy large coastal areas and so they become very vulnerable to tsunamis. In this dissertation, two main goals are addressed: The first one is to identify where and when the highest dangerousness of the tsunamis occur so coastal habitants can avoid such areas. The second goal focuses on the flooding areas caused by tsunamis where onshore habitants are more vulnerable. We study how a natural element, such as coastal vegetation, affects, reduces and modifies the flooding due to tsunamis. Some design criteria are presented for the coastal vegetation to reduce the flooding to a maximum.

This dissertation used an organizational structure framework to examine the current status of hazard mitigation from the perspective of emergency managers from four organizational structure categories. This study addressed three primary research questions: (1) What is the role of the local emergency management office in hazard mitigation and what is the function of other stakeholders as perceived by local emergency managers? (2) What are the challenges to achieving hazard mitigation objectives and what are the strategies used to overcome them? and (3) How do local emergency managers define hazard mitigation success? Thirty North Central Texas emergency managers were recruited for participation in this study, and data was collected through telephone interviews and an internet survey. A mixed methodology was used to triangulate qualitative and quantitative findings. Qualitative analyses consisted of inductive grounded theory, and quantitative data analyses consisted of independent samples t-test analyses, correlation analyses, and Chi-square analyses. Findings indicate that emergency managers from the different emergency management office categories have six self-identified roles in hazard mitigation planning and strategy implementation; have a similar reported level of involvement in different hazard mitigation-related activities; and perceive stakeholders as having four key functions in hazard mitigation planning and strategy implementation. Second, participants describe five obstacles that are categorized as internal organizational challenges and two obstacles that are categorized as outside organizational challenges. The Disinterested Stakeholders Challenge is rated as a more significant obstacle by participants from the Non-Fire emergency management office category. Emergency managers describe the use of four strategies for overcoming hazard mitigation challenges, and the ability to master these strategies has implications for achieving hazard mitigation success. Third, emergency managers define a tangible and intangible category of hazard mitigation success, and each category is comprised of distinct indicators. Lastly, the organizational characteristics of emergency management offices had significant relationships with their reported level of involvement in select hazard mitigation activities; the rating assigned to select hazard mitigation challenges; and the rating assigned to select hazard mitigation success measures. For integrated emergency management offices, their parent agency is found to be an asset for achieving hazard mitigation objectives.

No description available.