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Physical vulnerability assessment using indicators. A methodological framework.

Physical vulnerability assessment using indicators. A methodological framework.

Maria Papathoma-Köhle (ORCID: 0000-0002-7878-1340)
  • Grant DOI 10.55776/V519
  • Funding program Elise Richter
  • Status ended
  • Start September 1, 2016
  • End May 31, 2021
  • Funding amount € 242,718
  • Project website
  • E-mail

Disciplines

Other Technical Sciences (30%); Construction Engineering (40%); Geosciences (30%)

Keywords

    Natural Hazards, Built Environment, Vulnerability, Indicators, Resilience, Adaptation

Abstract Final report

Climate change is responsible for increased land and sea temperatures influencing in this way precipitation patterns and consequently the magnitude and frequency of weather related natural disasters. The proposed research presented herein aims at providing a framework and a guideline to promote and offer tools for the assessment of the physical vulnerability and to investigate its relationship and interactions with the resilience of the built environment. The proposed research focuses on buildings located at mountain areas and torrential hazards but it may offer a basis for similar research on other hazard types in other environmental context (coastal, urban etc.). Although physical vulnerability is not a new field of research and in the literature there are many studies that focus on vulnerability issues, there is no standard methodology for its assessment. The most common method for physical vulnerability assessment is the use of vulnerability curves. However, this method bears several drawbacks, such as the extensive data requirements or the lack of consideration of buildings characteristics etc. The proposed research investigates the role of vulnerability indicators (e.g. buildings characteristics) in the physical vulnerability of buildings subject to torrential hazards and propose a new methodology. The objectives of the proposed research are to provide a complete indicator based methodology for the vulnerability assessment for buildings. A new set of indicators will be proposed and a new weighting approach based on existing damage information. The approach will be applied at several case study areas in Austria where data regarding the intensity of torrential hazards and their corresponding damages and costs are available. Additionally, the methodology will be validated in a case study in Switzerland in close collaboration with the University of Bern. The proposed research also aims at making a step further and investigate how physical vulnerability indicators influence the resilience of the built environment and with which indicators can this resilience be expressed. Physical vulnerability maps will be developed based on the physical vulnerability index (PVI). Low cost/high impact solutions are going to be proposed and new damage documentation techniques are going to be anticipated in order to improve data availability and quality in the future. The results and the recommendations are going to be included in a Guideline for physical vulnerability assessment using indicators. Following the completion of the proposed research the applicant is expected to have reached the level of qualification required (Habilitation) for the pursuit of a full professorship.

Climate change is responsible for increased land and sea temperatures influencing in this way precipitation patterns and consequently the magnitude and frequency of weather -related natural disasters. Recent events have shown that to prepare for upcoming extreme events and to reduce negative consequences authorities, decision-makers and other stakeholders require a thorough understanding of the vulnerability of the built environmen t to natural hazards. The project provided a new methodology, a framework, and a guideline to promote and offer tools for the assessment of the physical vulnerability of buildings. In more detail, the role of vulnerability indicators (e.g. buildings characteristics) of buildings subject to torrential hazards was investigated and a new methodology for the assessment of their vulnerability was proposed and applied. Based on a statistical analysis of damage data from past events in Tyrol (Austria) a physical vulnerability index (PVI) for buildings has been developed that can be used to indicate which building is going to suffer loss following a catastrophic event. Physical vulnerability maps have been developed showing the spatial pattern of the index. These maps may be used to guide strategies for disaster risk reduction in the future but also to target specific buildings and reduce their vulnerability by introducing local adaptation measures. Additionally, the index was validated using data from recent events from the European Alps (Italy and Austria) demonstrating significant predictive capacity. Furthermore, the framework developed within the project presents a wider indicator inventory considering not only the physical vulnerability of the buildings but also their resilience and the capacity of a building to return to a functional status following damages (build back better). The project focused on buildings located in mountain areas and dynamic flooding. However, project results offer a basis for similar research on other hazard types in a different environmental context (coastal, urban, etc.). New directions following the finalisation of the project include the development of similar indices for buildings subject to wildfires, the transferability of the inde x in the Mediterranean context, and the interaction between physical vulnerability and institutional changes (e.g. austerity).

Research institution(s)
  • Universität für Bodenkultur Wien - 100%
Project participants
  • Margreth Keiler, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften , national collaboration partner

Research Output

  • 612 Citations
  • 23 Publications
  • 1 Policies
  • 4 Disseminations
  • 3 Scientific Awards
Publications
  • 2018
    Title Risk Governance of Limited-Notice or No-Notice Natural Hazards
    DOI 10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.013.289
    Type Book Chapter
    Author Papathoma-Köhle M
    Publisher Oxford University Press (OUP)
  • 2018
    Title Experimental analyses of impact forces on buildings exposed to fluvial hazards
    DOI 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.07.070
    Type Journal Article
    Author Sturm M
    Journal Journal of Hydrology
    Pages 1-13
    Link Publication
  • 2018
    Title Understanding impact dynamics on buildings caused by fluviatile sediment transport
    DOI 10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.08.016
    Type Journal Article
    Author Sturm M
    Journal Geomorphology
    Pages 45-59
    Link Publication
  • 2018
    Title Linking physical vulnerability to the resilience of the built environment
    Type Conference Proceeding Abstract
    Author Fuchs S.
    Conference 8th International Conference on Building Resilience, 14-16 November 2018, Lisbon, Portugal
    Link Publication
  • 2018
    Title Vulnerability and Resilience to Natural Hazards
    Type Book
    Author Fuchs Sven
    Publisher Cambridge University Press
  • 2019
    Title Short communication: A model to predict flood loss in mountain areas
    DOI 10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.03.026
    Type Journal Article
    Author Fuchs S
    Journal Environmental Modelling & Software
    Pages 176-180
    Link Publication
  • 2019
    Title The importance of indicator weights for vulnerability indices and implications for decision making in disaster management
    DOI 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101103
    Type Journal Article
    Author Papathoma-Köhle M
    Journal International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
    Pages 101103
    Link Publication
  • 2019
    Title Recent advances in vulnerability assessment for the built environment exposed to torrential hazards: Challenges and the way forward
    DOI 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.05.067
    Type Journal Article
    Author Fuchs S
    Journal Journal of Hydrology
    Pages 587-595
  • 2021
    Title Validation of methods for the assessment of physical vulnerability to dynamic flooding
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2010
    Type Journal Article
    Author Papathoma-Koehle M
  • 2021
    Title Vulnerability of buildings to wildfire
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1173
    Type Journal Article
    Author Garlichs C
  • 2021
    Title An institutional approach to vulnerability: evidence from natural hazard management in Europe
    DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/abe88c
    Type Journal Article
    Author Papathoma-Köhle M
    Journal Environmental Research Letters
    Pages 044056
    Link Publication
  • 2017
    Title Matrices, curves and indicators: A review of approaches to assess physical vulnerability to debris flows
    DOI 10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.06.007
    Type Journal Article
    Author Papathoma-Köhle M
    Journal Earth-Science Reviews
    Pages 272-288
    Link Publication
  • 2020
    Title ExtremA 2019
    DOI 10.14220/9783737010924
    Type Book
    editors Glade T, Mergili M, Sattler K
    Publisher Brill Deutschland
    Link Publication
  • 2021
    Title Interaction of fluviatile hazard processes and buildings at a debris cone-modelling demand, related challenges and consequences for impact assessment
    Type Conference Proceeding Abstract
    Author Gems
    Conference 14th Congress INTERPRAEVENT 2021 Virtual Conference Norway
    Pages 85-87
    Link Publication
  • 2021
    Title A guideline for physical vulnerability assessment of buildings exposed to dynamic flooding
    Type Conference Proceeding Abstract
    Author Papathoma-Köhle
    Conference 14th Congress INTERPRAEVENT 2021 Virtual Conference Norway
    Pages 252-254
    Link Publication
  • 2020
    Title Vulnerability to natural hazards and risk perception in remote islands – the case of Lesvos and Agios Efstratios, Greece
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1570
    Type Journal Article
    Author Repanelis S
  • 2020
    Title Vulnerability curves vs. vulnerability indices. Which method explains loss best?
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1571
    Type Journal Article
    Author Roesch F
  • 2020
    Title Mountain hazards and Building Back Better (BBB) – focus on the Austrian Alps
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1572
    Type Journal Article
    Author Ullrich B
  • 2020
    Title Remoteness and austerity: a major driver of vulnerabilities to natural hazards
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1577
    Type Journal Article
    Author Papathoma-Koehle M
  • 2020
    Title Updating of existing vulnerability curves with data from recent events in the European Alps
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1650
    Type Journal Article
    Author Dosser L
  • 2020
    Title Recent advances in vulnerability assessment for the built environment exposed to dynamic flooding
    DOI 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-17379
    Type Journal Article
    Author Fuchs S
  • 2019
    Title Beam-induced atomic motion in alkali borate glasses
    DOI 10.1103/physrevb.100.214305
    Type Journal Article
    Author Holzweber K
    Journal Physical Review B
    Pages 214305
    Link Publication
  • 2019
    Title Vulnerability indicators for natural hazards: an innovative selection and weighting approach
    DOI 10.1038/s41598-019-50257-2
    Type Journal Article
    Author Papathoma-Köhle M
    Journal Scientific Reports
    Pages 15026
    Link Publication
Policies
  • 2019
    Title LURK AG "Eibenvorsorge-Naturgefahren check"
    Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Disseminations
  • 0 Link
    Title Tiroler Tageszeitung
    Type A magazine, newsletter or online publication
    Link Link
  • 0 Link
    Title BOKU Magazine Interview
    Type A magazine, newsletter or online publication
    Link Link
  • 0 Link
    Title FWF Scilog
    Type A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
    Link Link
  • 0 Link
    Title Interview and Article for "Die Presse"
    Type A magazine, newsletter or online publication
    Link Link
Scientific Awards
  • 2019
    Title Xanthi, Greece 2018
    Type Personally asked as a key note speaker to a conference
    Level of Recognition National (any country)
  • 2018
    Title Dresden
    Type Personally asked as a key note speaker to a conference
    Level of Recognition Continental/International
  • 2017
    Title SAFE Athens 2017
    Type Personally asked as a key note speaker to a conference
    Level of Recognition National (any country)

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