A Country level Physical and Community Risk Index in the Asia-Pacific region for earthquakes and floods

Abstract

The socio-economic situation of countries can aggravate the physical risk of natural disaster impacts, as demonstrated by the impacts of the recent 2010 earthquake on the population and building stock of Haiti. A newly formed global socio-economic indicator database has been produced to allow comparison of countries in terms of their socio-economic situation for use in this risk study. In addition, a global damaging earthquakes database (CATDAT) has been created to better understand the historical impact of earthquakes on the Asia-Pacific region. Historical flood impact databases have also been examined. Simplified hazard models have been used in conjunction with historical damage data added to human exposure. The relative country level rural and urban building inventories and historical building trends are used to define levels of vulnerability, exposure and hazard. From this, physical and community risk indices are derived for the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. It was found that the vulnerabilities in communities of developing countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia can further intensify the impact from direct damages by many times, showing the increased need for earthquake and flood risk reduction policy in many Asia-Pacific countries. The physical risk trends demonstrate the need for the reduction of physical vulnerability in Australia towards both earthquakes and floods. Trends based on HDI and other indicators within the fields of economy, poverty, demographics, governance and environment are also presented, showing the influence of these factors on country-level fragility and resilience.