Student: Atsatsa Antonio
Graduation date: December 2017
Type: Concentration (single major)
Date approved: November 2015
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Summary
My concentration will be focused on the study of urban societies in seismically active regions where the concept of earthquake resilience can be applied and examined. Resiliency encompasses sociological, economical and political facets, and aims to promote the enabling of a society to live efficiently with the hazards present (Crowley et al. 2012). In studying urban earthquake resilience, I will begin with looking at current examples of resilient urban cities, which will outline important actors that promote earthquake resilience in urban communities.
A key distinction in resilience and vulnerability can be found in the examination of Japan and China, which are both examples of industrial superpowers that are located in seismically active areas with large populations, buildings, and infrastructures. However, Japan’s vulnerability to seismic hazards is substantially lower. For instance, 90% of casualties related to seismic activity resulted from the failure and collapse of buildings, henceforth Japan’s strict building codes reduces that statistic dramatically, whilst a large majority of China’s hazard zones have no such laws or regulations (Lantada et al. 2009)(Crowley et al. 2012). Vulnerability is a crucial element in examining the resilience of an urban society, allowing insights to be drawn on important actors such as wealth, science, building codes, and community preparedness of an urban center (Crowley et al. 2012).
Earl Leary (2009) described the mitigation of seismic hazards as critical because earthquakes alone are distinguished from other natural disasters in their potential to transmit substantially larger and unpredictable impacts upon economic and public health. As seen in the Fukushima 2011 disaster, the scenario illuminated previously unknown vulnerabilities of Japan’s mitigation measures, which can be considered some of the best in the world (Eisler 2013). The hazard placed on Japan in 2011 may have been of seismic origin, but the disaster itself was a combination of natural events and technological failures or as Smith (2009) denotes as a disaster with a “na-tech” origin. The na-tech characteristic of disasters add whole new layers of complexity in mitigating earthquake hazards and clarifies where actors such as resources and energy can be best utilized in socio-economic settings. The Fukushima post-disaster presented Japan with an opportunity to improve its resiliency and rethink its strategies for a safe, sustainable, and compassionate society (Matanle 2011).
During the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, China, a large landslide fell into Tongkou river valley. This landslide damned the river and threatened an uncontrollable release of the tremendous amount of backed up water upon a downstream population of about 1.3 million people and Sichuan province’s second largest city, Mianyang (Cui et al. 2012). The hazard posed on this region was inside of an earthquake disaster that had already left 69,200 individuals dead. However, through risk assessment, heavy machinery and proactive mitigation efforts by the Mianyang Water Bureau and Chinese Academy of Science, no lives were added to this already tragic event (Cui et al. 2012). A resilient human community coped with the threats to a non-resilient disaster struck physical system. This example elucidates the term of resiliency beyond just a characteristic of a city; resilience is a proactive process to guide efforts in building systems able to cope with disasters, rather than reacting in face of a disaster (Godschalk 2003).
The Pacific Northwest is “a region with a past and potential future of devastating ‘megathrust’ earthquakes” (Staff Writers. 2015). The Cascadia Subduction Zone paralleling the Pacific Northwest Coastline mirrors crustal collisions throughout the globe known to release earthquakes that are largest on record (Staff Writers. 2015). Though there was a change in building code standards in 1993, the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission (OSSPAC) estimates the failure of thousands of buildings with upwards of 10,000 fatalities, if the megathrust earthquake should occur (Yu et al. 2014). The Pacific Northwest offers the opportunity to explore the specific vulnerabilities of this region. This example will provide information on the current initiatives and actors going towards the establishment of resilient urban societies in the Pacific Northwest.
Overall, my concentration will utilize current efforts in mitigating earthquake hazards in conjunction with the methods of creating resilient urban societies that take proactive steps towards understanding vulnerability and promoting resiliency.
References:
Crowley, K., and Jr Elliott. 2012. “Earthquake Disasters and Resilience in the Global North: Lessons from New Zealand and Japan.” Geographical Journal 178: 208–15. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00453.x.
Cui, Peng, Chao Dang, Jian-qi Zhuang, Yong You, Xiao-qing Chen, and Kevin Scott. 2012. “Landslide-Dammed Lake at Tangjiashan, Sichuan Province, China (triggered by the Wenchuan Earthquake, May 12, 2008): Risk Assessment, Mitigation Strategy, and Lessons Learned.” Environmental Earth Sciences 65 (4): 1055–65. doi:10.1007/s12665-010-0749-2.
Eisler, Ronald. 2013. The Fukushima 2011 Disaster. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Godschalk, David R. 2003. “Urban Hazard Mitigation: Creating Resilient Cities.” Natural Hazards Review 4, no. 3: 136. Environment Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2015).
Lantada, Nieves, Luis Pujades, and Alex Barbat. 2009. “Vulnerability Index and Capacity Spectrum Based Methods for Urban Seismic Risk Evaluation. A Comparison.” Natural Hazards 51 (3): 501–24. doi:10.1007/s11069-007-9212-4.
Leary, Earl V., ed. 2009. Natural Disaster Research, Prediction and Mitigation : Earthquakes : Risk, Monitoring and Research. New York, NY, USA: Nova. Accessed October 29, 2015. ProQuest ebrary.
Matanle, P. 2011. The Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown: towards the reconstruction of a safe, sustainable, and compassionate society in Japan’s shrinking regions, Local Environment. 16(9):823-847
Staff Writers. 2015. “Cascadia Initiative to Monitor Northwest Pacific Seismic Risks.” Space Daily, August 24. http://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5GS1-6TX1-DYJG-N002&csi=288597&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true.
Yu Q.-S., Wilson J., and Wang Y. 2014. Overview of the Oregon Resilience Plan for Next Cascadia Earthquake and Tsunami. Proceedings of the 10th National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Anchorage, AK.
Questions
- Descriptive: What are common characteristics of earthquake resilient urban societies? What are good examples of earthquake resilient urban societies throughout the world, and what can we learn from them?
- explanatory: How does vulnerability focus mitigation efforts in earthquake prone urban societies? What urban societies have seen significant successes in their resiliency efforts, and more importantly why?
- Evaluative: Why is resilience important in urban societies that are located in seismically active regions? Can social and economic needs allow the adoption of resiliency in earthquake prone urban societies, if so what are the costs and benefits? Which populations benefit most and least from efforts to establish resilience in various cities?
- Instrumental: How can mitigation be adopted over a large range of varying population attributes: income, health, resources, etc.? How can resilience be adopted in earthquake prone urban societies, where disaster has yet to happen?
Concentration courses
- ENVS 460 (Environmental law and policy, 4 credits), fall 2016. I think it would be very useful to utilize this course to examine resilience in light of laws and policies.
- ENVS 499 (independent Study, 4 credits), spring 2017. I want to replicate the course "Spatial Problems in Earth System Science" (GEOL340), to analyze the seismic and urban patterns throughout the globe.
- ENVS 311 ((Un)Natural Disasters, 4 credits), spring 2017. I think this course will be key in understanding the relationship of natural disasters/technologic disasters and human society. It will guide the interpretation made of learnings in other courses I take in light of Natural Disasters, theirs causes and their impacts.
- SOAN 282 (Pacific Rim Cities, 4 credits) fall 2017. I was excited to see this course since the Pacific Rim also holds the title of the "ring of fire." Cities explored in this course will definitely offer insight into the studying of resilient urban societies in seismically active regions.
Arts and humanities courses
- HIST 261 (Global Environmental History, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- PHIL 215 (Philosophy and the Environment, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.