Natural Hazard Mortality in Nepal

Using publicly available disaster database DesInventar from 1971 – 2011, we analyzed which hazard contributes the most to fatalities in Nepal; how mortality is clustered at the village level; and how they are distributed across temporal scale. It is published in peer-reviewed journal Environmental Hazards and can be downloaded from the below link.

http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/mZu8ZrEItXCMRJtYBwY8/full

Spatial and temporal analysis of natural hazard mortality in Nepal

Sanam K. Aksha, Luke Juran, & Lynn M. Resler

Abstract:

The impacts of natural hazards are typically measured in terms of loss of human lives and economic damage, and recent studies demonstrate that deaths attributed to natural hazards have increased. Using the publicly available DesInventar database, we examined spatial and temporal patterns of natural hazard mortality from 1971 to 2011 at the district and village levels of Nepal and identified natural hazards that contributed most to mortality. Spatial clusters of mortality at the district and village levels were detected using local and global spatial autocorrelation measures (Moran’s I). Landslides (41.91%) and floods (32.52%) accounted for approximately three quarters of natural hazard mortalities over the study period. A Global Moran’s I test positively confirmed clustering at both the district (0.199, p < 0.001) and village (0.256, p < 0.001) levels, whereas a Local Moran’s I test further detected clustering in the central and terai regions, where dynamic geologic and geomorphic processes combined with human-environment interaction constitute major risk factors. A better understanding of multihazard mortality patterns across geographic landscapes and time has the potential to aid policy makers, planners, and local officers to more efficiently allocate scarce capital and human resources to reduce mortality.

Preliminary seismic risk assessment of Dharan city in eastern Nepal using Landsat images

Poster presentation at 2015 GIS and Remote Sensing Research Symposium, Virginia Tech

April 10, 2015

Nepal lies in the southern slopes of the Himalayan range, which is one of the most active mountain ranges in the world. The Himalayan range was formed due to collisions between the Indian and Tibetan plates. As a result, there is a presence of active faults that pose constant threats of the earthquake in the country. Nepal has a long history of destructive earthquakes each occurring in 100 years interval. The latest hit was on August 20, 1988, which devastated the entire Eastern region and part of the Central regions. It was 6.5 magnitude in Richter scale. It claimed 721 human lives, injured 6,553 people and damaged other developmental infrastructures (Nepal Disaster Report 2011). Earthquake risk and vulnerability assessment are primarily based on two things: location and magnitude of earthquakes, and pattern of human settlement and building types. So far, we have good understanding about the active seismic zones but we cannot accurately predict the magnitude and time of the earthquake. Hence, to minimize the earthquake risk, we need to reduce the social vulnerability related with human settlement and building types. This work aims to understand how the human settlement has been increased in one of the eastern city of Nepal, Dharan, using Landsat sequential images and are exposed to constant threat of earthquake risk.

To download poster pdf: https://goo.gl/fKIMaU