scholarly journals Analysis of Ice Storm Impact on and Post-Disaster Recovery of Typical Subtropical Forests in Southeast China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wutao Yao ◽  
Yong Ma ◽  
Fu Chen ◽  
Zhishu Xiao ◽  
Zufei Shu ◽  
...  

Ice storms greatly affect the structure, dynamics, and functioning of forest ecosystems. Studies on the impact of such disasters, as well as the post-disaster recovery of forests, are important contents in forest biology, ecology, and geography. Remote-sensing technology provides data and methods that can support the study of disasters at the large-to-medium scale and over long time periods. This study took Chebaling National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province, China, as the study area. First, field-survey data and remote-sensing data were comprehensively analyzed to demonstrate the feasibility of replacing the forest stock volume with the mean annual value of the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), to study forest growth and change. We then used the EVI from 2007 to 2017, together with a variety of other remote-sensing and forest sub-compartment data, to analyze the impact of the 2008 ice storm and the subsequent post-disaster recovery of the forest. Finally, we drew the following conclusions: (1) Topography had a considerable effect on disaster impact and forest recovery in Chebaling. The forest at high altitudes (700–1000 m) and on steep slopes (25–40°) was seriously affected by this disaster but had a stronger post-disaster recovery ability. Meanwhile, the hardest-hit area for coniferous forest was higher and steeper than that for broad-leaved forest. (2) In the same terrain conditions, coniferous forests were less affected by the disaster than broad-leaved forests and showed less variation during the post-disaster recovery process. Nevertheless, broad-leaved forests had faster recovery rates and higher recovery degrees; (3) Under the influence of human activities, the recovery and fluctuation degree for planted forest in the post-disaster recovery process was significantly higher than that for natural forest. The study suggests that forest has high disaster resistance and self-recovery ability after the ice storm, and this ability has a strong correlation with the type of forest and the topographic factors such as elevation and slope. At the same time, human intervention can speed up the recovery of forests after disasters.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 480
Author(s):  
Devi Nur Cahaya Ningsih

Flood and landslide that occurred at the end of 2017 in Pacitan Regency induced huge losses. However, with good cooperation from all levels of The Pacitan's society, the impact of the disasters could resolve in 4 months. This study aims to determine the steps taken by the government of Pacitan Regency to achieve effectiveness in realizing the original regional income of Pacitan Regency, especially for post-disaster recovery. The research method used is descriptive qualitative, through interviews with the Head of the Disaster Management Section of Pacitan Regency. The results obtained indicate The government of Pacitan Regency has policies that can secure their Original Regional Income. The Regional Original Income is always achieved well before disasters, during disasters, and after disasters. Apart from implementing policies, the effectiveness of regional income in the time of disaster recovery process in Pacitan Regency is also encouraged by the assistance funds obtained from the central government, regional governments, and the private sector. Meanwhile, involving the community with an attitude of good cooperation that is one of a characteristic of the Indonesian society could quickly restore the condition of the Pacitan Regency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahar Derakhshan ◽  
Susan L. Cutter ◽  
Cuizhen Wang

The study of post-disaster recovery requires an understanding of the reconstruction process and growth trend of the impacted regions. In case of earthquakes, while remote sensing has been applied for response and damage assessment, its application has not been investigated thoroughly for monitoring the recovery dynamics in spatially and temporally explicit dimensions. The need and necessity for tracking the change in the built-environment through time is essential for post-disaster recovery modeling, and remote sensing is particularly useful for obtaining this information when other sources of data are scarce or unavailable. Additionally, the longitudinal study of repeated observations over time in the built-up areas has its own complexities and limitations. Hence, a model is needed to overcome these barriers to extract the temporal variations from before to after the disaster event. In this study, a method is introduced by using three spectral indices of UI (urban index), NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) and MNDWI (modified normalized difference water index) in a conditional algebra, to build a knowledge-based classifier for extracting the urban/built-up features. This method enables more precise distinction of features based on environmental and socioeconomic variability, by providing flexibility in defining the indices’ thresholds with the conditional algebra statements according to local characteristics. The proposed method is applied and implemented in three earthquake cases: New Zealand in 2010, Italy in 2009, and Iran in 2003. The overall accuracies of all built-up/non-urban classifications range between 92% to 96.29%; and the Kappa values vary from 0.79 to 0.91. The annual analysis of each case, spanning from 10 years pre-event, immediate post-event, and until present time (2019), demonstrates the inter-annual change in urban/built-up land surface of the three cases. Results in this study allow a deeper understanding of how the earthquake has impacted the region and how the urban growth is altered after the disaster.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5608
Author(s):  
Manjiang Shi ◽  
Qi Cao ◽  
Baisong Ran ◽  
Lanyan Wei

Global disasters due to earthquakes have become more frequent and intense. Consequently, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction has become the new normal in the social process. Through post-disaster reconstruction, risks can be effectively reduced, resilience can be improved, and long-term stability can be achieved. However, there is a gap between the impact of post-earthquake reconstruction and the needs of the people in the disaster area. Based on the international consensus of “building back better” (BBB) and a post-disaster needs assessment method, this paper proposes a new (N-BBB) conceptual model to empirically analyze recovery after the Changning Ms 6.0 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. The reliability of the model was verified through factor analysis. The main observations were as follows. People’s needs focus on short-term life and production recovery during post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction. Because of disparities in families, occupations, and communities, differences are observed in the reconstruction time sequence and communities. Through principal component analysis, we found that the N-BBB model constructed in this study could provide strong policy guidance in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction after the Changning Ms 6.0 earthquake, effectively coordinate the “top-down” and “bottom-up” models, and meet the diversified needs of such recovery and reconstruction.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 422-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takaaki Kato ◽  
◽  
Itsuki Nakabayashi ◽  
Taro Ichiko ◽  

The past post-disaster recovery process had many difficulties in planning. The importance of residents participatory urban planning is true of post-disaster planning and ordinary planning; however, there are difficult problems as follows: time-scale conflict between desire of affected households for swift recovery of their individual lives and enough consideration of urban planning to avoid speed-before-quality planning, unsmooth discussion and consensus building because of mutual conflict of their interest in the residents, and a shortage of professionals in the case that an earthquake disaster hits wide and high-density urbanized region. The concept of "pre-disaster planning" has been propounded as measures to deal with these serious situations after 1995 Hyogo-ken Nambu Earthquake in Japan. Actual measures including "neighborhood community-training program for post-disaster recovery" of Tokyo Metropolitan have been implemented in various approaches. This study has pioneering approach in this context. We focus on planning support technologies based on a geographic information system (GIS) and establish planning support system for post-disaster community-based urban planning, which will smooth discussion and increase efficiency of planning work. An introduction of the system will result in reduction of total time needed on the planning process and supplement of professionals. Though there are some problems that we identified, they will be solved in accumulated experiences such as the training program in the near future.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 595-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siri Hettige ◽  
Richard Haigh

Purpose The impact of disasters caused by natural hazards on people in affected communities is mediated by a whole range of circumstances such as the intensity of the disaster, type and nature of the community affected and the nature of loss and displacement. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the need to adopt a holistic or integrated approach to assessment of the process of disaster recovery, and to develop a multidimensional assessment framework. Design/methodology/approach The study is designed as a novel qualitative assessment of the recovery process using qualitative data collection techniques from a sample of communities affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami in Eastern and Southern Sri Lanka. Findings The outcomes of the interventions have varied widely depending on such factors as the nature of the community, the nature of the intervention and the mode of delivery for donor support. The surveyed communities are ranked in terms of the nature and extent of recovery. Practical implications The indices of recovery developed constitute a convenient tool of measurement of effectiveness and limitations of external interventions. The assessment used is multidimensional and socially inclusive. Originality/value The approach adopted is new to post-disaster recovery assessments and is useful for monitoring and evaluation of recovery processes. It also fits into the social accountability model as the assessment is based on community experience with the recovery process.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhichao Li ◽  
Xihan Tan

Social capital plays a significant role in post-disaster community participation and disaster recovery. This study divides social capital into three aspects: Cognition, structure, and relation, and discusses the impact of these factors on community participation in post-disaster recovery. Through data analysis, we found that a self-organized relationship villager network had a positive effect on villagers’ participation in voluntary community activities after an earthquake, while the local cadre relationship network had a negative impact. However, the latter could encourage villagers to participate in disaster-recovery activities organized by the local government. These findings indicate that the mobilization mechanism for post-disaster local-government reconstruction and community self-organization are the same, both coming through the social-acquaintance network, a type of noninstitutionalized social capital. The implication of this study suggests that local government should attach much importance to the construction and integration of social networks in earthquake-stricken areas to cultivate community social capital.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 00030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anshu Rastogi ◽  
Subhajit Bandopadhyay ◽  
Marcin Stróżecki ◽  
Radosław Juszczak

The behaviour of nature depends on the different components of climates. Among these, temperature and rainfall are two of the most important components which are known to change plant productivity. Peatlands are among the most valuable ecosystems on the Earth, which is due to its high biodiversity, huge soil carbon storage, and its sensitivity to different environmental factors. With the rapid growth in industrialization, the climate change is becoming a big concern. Therefore, this work is focused on the behaviour of Sphagnum peatland in Poland, subjected to environment manipulation. Here it has been shown how a simple reflectance based technique can be used to assess the impact of climate change on peatland. The experimental setup consists of four plots with two kind of manipulations (control, warming, reduced precipitation, and a combination of warming and reduced precipitation). Reflectance data were measured twice in August 2017 under a clear sky. Vegetation indices (VIs) such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI), near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv), MERIS terrestrial chlorophyll index (MTCI), Green chlorophyll index (CIgreen), Simple Ration (SR), and Water Band Index (WBI) were calculated to trace the impact of environmental manipulation on the plant community. Leaf Area Index of vascular plants was also measured for the purpose to correlate it with different VIs. The observation predicts that the global warming of 1°C may cause a significant change in peatland behaviour which can be tracked and monitored by simple remote sensing indices.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Castellaneta ◽  
Angelo Rita ◽  
J. Julio Camarero ◽  
Michele Colangelo ◽  
Angelo Nolè ◽  
...  

<p>Several die-off episodes related to heat weaves and drought spells have evidenced the high vulnerability of Mediterranean oak forests. These events consisted in the loss in tree vitality and manifested as growths decline, elevated crown transparency (defoliation) and rising tree mortality rate. In this context, the changes in vegetation productivity and canopy greenness may represent valuable proxies to analyze how extreme climatic events trigger forest die-off. Such changes in vegetation status may be analyzed using remote-sensing data, specifically multi-temporal spectral information. For instance, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) measures changes in vegetation greenness and is a proxy of changes in leaf area index (LAI), forest aboveground biomass and productivity. In this study, we analyzed the temporal patterns of vegetation in three Mediterranean oak forests showing recent die-off in response to the 2017 severe summer drought. For this purpose, we used an open-source platform (Google Earth Engine) to extract collections of MODIS NDVI time-series from 2000 to 2019. The analysis of both NDVI trends and anomalies were used to infer differential patterns of vegetation phenology among sites comparing plots where most trees were declining and showed high defoliation (test) versus plots were most trees were considered healthy (ctrl) and showed low or no defoliation. Here we discuss: i) the likely offset in NDVI time-series between test- versus ctrl- sites; and ii) the impact of summer droughts  on NDVI.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: climate change, forest vulnerability, time series, remote sensing.</p>


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