9.4 sustainable management of hazardous environments

Question 1

sustainable livelihoods

Answer 1

• creating and maintaining means of individual and community living that are flexible, safe and healthy from generations
• understanding, communicating, managing vulnerability and risk and local perceptions of them, beyond immediate threats
• maximising benefits w/o increasing vulnerability
• managing crises
• managing reconstruction and resettlement after crises
• people might be forced to stay in poorly managed shelters with no livelihood prospects and returning home despite high risk of injury and death
• Montserrat: exacerbated by economic structures that encouraged farming in the exclusion zone
• resource availability does not equal resource use
• living with risk is not always feasible: should not be relied on w/o careful consideration of drawbacks
• appropriate combinations of the approached for different risks, benefits and social desires

Question 2

four phases of disaster

Answer 2

• pre disaster mitigation
• emergency preparedness
• emergency response
• recovery: least understood

Question 3

LICs: recovery with sustainable management (e.g Jamaica)

Answer 3

1. emergency measures for removal of debris, provision of temporary housing and search and rescue
2. restore public services (electricity and water)
3. replace or reconstruct capital stock to pre-disaster levels
4. initiate reconstruction that involves economic growth and development
   - inaccurate: different areas go through different orders, like shanty towns may not be able to restore services as quickly

Question 4

requirements for successful recovery

Answer 4

• integration of interested parties
• monitoring of programmes/enforced policies
• recognition of all people’s rights
• leadership: ideally community based/bottom up development
• resources
• many actual recoveries may not be so clear cut

Question 5

slope management in Malaysia

Answer 5

• deforested upland sites: landslides are common
• From 2000 to 2001 gully erosion control and vegetation establishment on degraded slope
• geo-materials for erosion and sediment control: geo-structures constructed from geo-materials such as bamboo
• soil nailing, using 300 tree branches and 200 cut stems
• Two study plots : Six months after the geo-structures were implemented, indicator poles moved less than 8 degrees and the control moved about 20, with more erosion and undercutting of slope
• Without erosion-control measures, there was aggressive soil erosion during heavy downpours
• The geo structures installed cost 3078 US dollars while an average rock gabion would have cost 20,000
• don’t need constant maintenance
• The first slope failure was caused by seepage of drainage water into the cut slope of the access road: debris washed downhill, preventing road access
• The second and more extensive failure was located uphill and was a rotational failure triggered by seepage of water from a badly damaged toe drain beside the road
• A year after the study was first implemented, about 75 per cent of one study site was covered by vegetation, while 90 per cent of the second plot was re-vegetated
• After 18 months, the restored cut slopes were almost
  covered by vegetation, and there was no further incident of landslides
• After six months, the total sediment retained by different geo materials was 5.1 m3 while there were 77 migrant species in the area

Question 6

Montserrat

Answer 6

• effects of a volcano in a LIC
• main eruption in 1997 in which 19 people died
• in 2002 many jobs available: boom: The population, which had dropped in size from over 11 000 before the eruption to less than 4000 in 1999, had risen to over 8000
• new buildings, including new government buildings, a renovated theatre, new primary schools and lots of new housing
• by 2005 pop fallen to 5200: once the new buildings were built many of the jobs disappeared
• new developments on Montserrat was a new airstrip: UK and US governments stopped subsidising
  the ferry that operated between Antigua and Montserrat: number of tourists to the island fell and the price of goods on the island rose
• locals d campaigned unsuccessfully for the port to be kept open
• May 2006: The Soufrière dome collapsed, causing a 1 m high tsunami: No-one was injured in the tsunami but
  flights were cancelled due to the large amount of ash in the atmosphere

Question 7

recovery after hurricane Hugo

Answer 7

• struck Montserrat on 17 September 1989
• 11 people were killed, 3000 people were made homeless and up to 98 per cent of buildings were damaged
• All government buildings and schools were either partially or totally destroyed
• Damage exceeded over US$360 million
• recovery was organised by local people – they rebuilt more than 20 homes and a new community centre, introduced new agricultural practices and improved the settlement’s water supply
• Long-term sustainable development should include reduced environmental degradation – for example deforestation, soil erosion, habitat degradation – and improved housing and living conditions. One positive example of this was Streatham on Montserrat
• they must also address the causes of disasters alongside refocusing on long-term community development
• bottom up: will respond to local people’s needs and priorities
  Strategies for long-term mitigation include:
• strengthening the housing stock
• improving land-use patterns
• environmental protection
• increased understanding of natural hazards.