No description available.

Flooding is a natural phenomenon and in the past Thai people have adapted to flood events. However over the years land degradation, deforestation and bad urban practices have exacerbated the impact of flood disasters. This study of flood management in Thailand shows how human activities and interventions have impacted on the river basin system. This research focuses on the vulnerability to flood hazard of the people living or working near the Chao Phraya River. The case study is of the community living or working in the proximity of Wat Bang Luang (Bang Luang Temple) of the Pathum Thani Province, Thailand. This research explores the capacity of communities to live with or cope with floods. Their adaptations to changes in flood regimes will depend on several factors: political (especially when Thailand has a long history of preoccupation with engineering and technological solutions as the main approach to disaster response), economic, ecological (human modification to flood plains), social (kin-based networks) and cultural factors. The data collected from the target community showed a power struggle between Thai culture and the dominant hazard management paradigm. This research put a human face on natural disaster and looked at the issue of flooding from the experiences of ordinary people. The findings showed that some members of the community are resilient while others are passive and are more vulnerable to floods. However, it is important not to label any individual or group as either vulnerable or resilient as people can be both at the same time and policy makers need to build on the strengths, rather than focus on the weaknesses and on offering emergency relief.

The term “blue-sky eruption” (BSE) can be used to describe eruptions which are unexpected or have no detected precursory activity. Case study analyses indicate that they have a diverse range of characteristics and magnitudes, providing both direct and indirect hazards and occur in both under-developed and developed countries. BSEs can be a result of physical triggers (e.g. the lack of physically detectable precursors or a lack of understanding of the eruption model of the volcano), social triggers (such as an inadequate monitoring network), or a combination of the two. As the science of eruption forecasting is still relatively young, and the variations between individual volcanoes and individual eruptions are so great, there is no effective general model and none should be applied in the absence of a site-specific model. Similarly, as methods vary between monitoring agencies, there are no monitoring benchmarks for effective BSE forecasting. However a combination of seismic and gas emission monitoring may be the most effective. The United States began a hazard and monitoring review of their volcanoes in 2005. While the general principles of their review would be beneficial in a monitoring review of New Zealand’s volcanoes, differences in styles of volcanism, geographic setting and activity levels mean changes would need to be review to fully appreciate the risk posed by New Zealand’s volcanoes. Similarly, the monitoring benchmarks provided in the U.S. review may not be fully applicable in New Zealand. While advances in technology may ultimately allow the effective forecasting of some BSEs, the immediate threat posed by unexpected eruptions means that effective management and mitigation measures may be the only tools currently at our disposal to reduce the risks from BSEs.

On the 13th of March, 2007 a failure of the tephra dam at Te-wai-a-moe, the Crater Lake of Mt Ruapehu in the North Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand, caused a lahar to travel down the Whangaehu River channel. The lahar event had been predicted after an eruptive event at Mt Ruapehu eleven years before. As a result of the early prediction, the lahar event and potential risk was well studied, and twenty four management options were proposed to mitigate risk. After a period of consultation with stakeholders, including local iwi, the Minister for Conservation ratified a non-intervention option which emphasised monitoring and prohibited engineering intervention on the mountain. The media event associated with 2007 lahar event drew considerable attention to the 1953 Tangiwai tragedy which occurred following a similar lahar event at Mt Ruapehu. The 2007 lahar media event constructed Tangiwai as a site of risk that belonged to science, technology and Pakeha tragedy, dominating understandings of Tangiwai as an important spiritual place for local iwi and their relationship with Mt Ruapehu. The lahar event also highlighted the dominant western science based hazard management paradigm and its interactions with matauranga Maori. Inherent in the dominant western science paradigm is the natural/social split born of the scientific Enlightenment and the removal of non-humans as actors. Bruno Latour (2004) calls for a move beyond the natural/social dualism and recognition for the importance of non-humans in contesting and recreating worlds; this thesis considers Charles Royal’s tangata whenua paradigm as an answer to Latour’s call.

The term “blue-sky eruption” (BSE) can be used to describe eruptions which are unexpected or have no detected precursory activity. Case study analyses indicate that they have a diverse range of characteristics and magnitudes, providing both direct and indirect hazards and occur in both under-developed and developed countries. BSEs can be a result of physical triggers (e.g. the lack of physically detectable precursors or a lack of understanding of the eruption model of the volcano), social triggers (such as an inadequate monitoring network), or a combination of the two. As the science of eruption forecasting is still relatively young, and the variations between individual volcanoes and individual eruptions are so great, there is no effective general model and none should be applied in the absence of a site-specific model. Similarly, as methods vary between monitoring agencies, there are no monitoring benchmarks for effective BSE forecasting. However a combination of seismic and gas emission monitoring may be the most effective. The United States began a hazard and monitoring review of their volcanoes in 2005. While the general principles of their review would be beneficial in a monitoring review of New Zealand’s volcanoes, differences in styles of volcanism, geographic setting and activity levels mean changes would need to be review to fully appreciate the risk posed by New Zealand’s volcanoes. Similarly, the monitoring benchmarks provided in the U.S. review may not be fully applicable in New Zealand. While advances in technology may ultimately allow the effective forecasting of some BSEs, the immediate threat posed by unexpected eruptions means that effective management and mitigation measures may be the only tools currently at our disposal to reduce the risks from BSEs.

No description available.

Landslides, in their various forms, are a common hazard in mountainous terrain, especially in seismically active areas and regions of high rainfall. The West Coast region of New Zealand is dissected by many active faults, experiences frequent earthquakes and in many locations annual rainfall exceeds ten meters. Consequently, landslides are widespread in the region and since European settlement began, have been responsible for 27 deaths, along with frequent damages to road and rail infrastructure, settlements and agricultural land. This study identifies areas that are susceptible to rainfall triggered landslides in the West Coast region. To achieve this, a landslide susceptibility map was produced using bivariate statistics and the analytical hierarchy process. It has an accuracy that predicts 80% of all the landslides in the top 40% of the susceptibility scores on the map. As part of this process, 3221 rainfall triggered landslides and 522 earthquake (or other trigger) triggered landslides have been mapped and digitised into a Geographic Information System. In parallel with this, a descriptive historical catalogue of 1987 landslides has been compiled from the available sources. These new tools provide decision-makers with an enhanced means of managing landslide hazards in the West Coast region. In order to avoid misinterpretation the study has been carried out in compliance with the “Guidelines for landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk zoning for land use planning”, which was published in 2008 by the Joint Technical Committee on Landslides and Engineered Slopes. The tools developed in this thesis represent a fundamental step in land-use planning and set-up of landslide hazard management in the West Coast region.

Worldwide, the risks from natural and technological hazards has been mounting at an accelerating rate, improvements in forecasting and warning systems have reduced deaths, however monetary losses from disasters are overwhelming (Burby, 2004). Pre event planning for recovery helps to resolve issues before a disaster so recovery is more efficient and effective. It also ensures that the window of opportunity can be used to implement hazard mitigation measures to reduce the vulnerability of the area with the aim of improving resilience for the next disaster. International case studies were examined, the Northridge earthquake being the most successful recovery while Hurricane Katrina the least. The recovery of the Napier 1931 earthquake was chosen as a New Zealand case study; to date this is the country's worst disaster. Overall the recovery of Napier was a success, shops were opened in temporary premises to keep the economy going and mitigation measures were included in the rebuilding. The earthquake has had important flow on effects on the way that disasters are managed in New Zealand. To create pre event plans in New Zealand legislation needs to be modified, including recovery plans and development of shortcuts to reduce some procedures which lengthen the recovery process. These plans need to take into account our national vulnerability as well as regional vulnerabilities.

Worldwide, the risks from natural and technological hazards has been mounting at an accelerating rate, improvements in forecasting and warning systems have reduced deaths, however monetary losses from disasters are overwhelming (Burby, 2004). Pre event planning for recovery helps to resolve issues before a disaster so recovery is more efficient and effective. It also ensures that the window of opportunity can be used to implement hazard mitigation measures to reduce the vulnerability of the area with the aim of improving resilience for the next disaster. International case studies were examined, the Northridge earthquake being the most successful recovery while Hurricane Katrina the least. The recovery of the Napier 1931 earthquake was chosen as a New Zealand case study; to date this is the country's worst disaster. Overall the recovery of Napier was a success, shops were opened in temporary premises to keep the economy going and mitigation measures were included in the rebuilding. The earthquake has had important flow on effects on the way that disasters are managed in New Zealand. To create pre event plans in New Zealand legislation needs to be modified, including recovery plans and development of shortcuts to reduce some procedures which lengthen the recovery process. These plans need to take into account our national vulnerability as well as regional vulnerabilities.

Visitor non-compliance with protective recommendations is a major problem faced by recreational managers within natural environments. Although many studies have been conducted on noncompliant visitor behaviour within natural resource areas, few attempts have been made to gain an understanding of the behaviour, or to understand the decision making process. This dissertation seeks to address this gap by exploring salient motivations behind noncompliant behaviour within a natural recreation setting. The study was conducted over the summer of 2007-2008 within the popular tourist attractions of Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, Westland National park, New Zealand. The Department of Conservation has a legal and increasingly a moral obligation to provide a level of service and ensure a high standard of visitor safety within lands it administers. However, despite its efforts, management actions are criticised as being ‘over cautious’, and consequently a large number of visitors choose to ignore hazard warnings communicated by management and cross safety barriers, placing themselves and others at considerable risk. Previous studies at the glaciers have identified a number of causes for visitor non-compliance, including situational factors and the adequacy of current visitor management procedures. Through a quantitative measure, and qualitative interview responses, study findings show that visitor compliance with protective recommendations was strongly influenced by a number of situational factors including the proximity of track end points from the glacier terminus; the visibility of other visitors beyond the roped barriers; modest hazard perceptions of visitors; estimated visitor age; time of day and weather conditions. Based on visitor interview responses, motives of non-compliance were further explored by classifying behaviour according to Gramann and Vander Stoep’s (1987) typologies of normative violations. It is identified, using Ajzen’s (1985; 1991) theory of planned behaviour, that non-compliance with protective recommendations at the glaciers is motivated by, (1) a ‘belief’ that the situation or resource encouraged it; (2), through a release of ‘social pressure’, because everyone else was going over; and (3), a ‘perceived facilitation of the behaviour’, in that there were no obvious consequences to self or others. Implications for management to control noncompliant behaviour are discussed in detail.