As well as tsunamis, coastal populations are impacted by a variety of the other natural hazards, relative to space-time contexts, including erosion, saltwater intrusion, subsidence, and floods due to both storm surges and swollen rivers (Figure 1); some characteristics of coastal hazards are presented in the Table 1.1. The severity of the impacts of these natural hazards can be affected by some local factors, for example, the exposition of the coast to the sea, the presence or absence of natural protection (sand barrier, coral reefs, dunes, vegetation), among others (table 1.2).

Figure 1. Coastal hazards: a) Railay Beach, Thailand, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (Photo: AFP); b) Storm surge at Three Anchor bay, South Africa, 2003 (Photo: Lee-ann Clark); c) Wind-forced wave (Photo: anonymous); d) Coastal erosion, one of the effects of sea-level rise (Photo: anonymous).

Exposure to such natural hazards is expected to increase due both to growth in population density in low-lying coastal areas and the effects of global climate change. Some of the coastal management responses that are relevant to tsunamis apply similarly to the mitigation of these other hazards.

The terms “hazard”, “risk”, and “vulnerability” can be defined as (figure 2):

RISK= HAZARDS × VULNERABILITY

Figure 2: Schematic representation of the definition of the terms “risk”, “hazard”, and “vulnerability” (www.floodsite.net)

Since the 90’s several recent international agreements recommend the concept of ICAM and environmental decision-makers have taken it as the more suitable way to achieve the sustainable management of the coastal zones (Suman, 2002). Therefore, it is imperative to integrate hazard, vulnerability and risk within the ICAM context in order to better address management of these issues in coastal areas.

• How can hazard awareness and mitigation be embedded in the ICAM process?
• What sorts of ICAM indicators may be used to assist the risk management process?
• What is the appropriate level of country response to some coastal hazard (considering the uncertainties, and if the perceived risk is scientifically justified)?
• What are the short and long term societal and economic benefits of hazard risk management and vulnerability reduction within ICAM?

Trying to address these questions, the IOC, through its ICAM programme, is proposing to develop a set of guidelines on Mainstreaming awareness and risk mitigation of natural hazards in Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM). Such guidelines must cover the following aspects:

(1) Quantifying hazards: how countries determine the frequency and magnitude of hazard impacts on their coasts? (item 2.1).

(2) Measuring vulnerability: What is “vulnerability” in the ICAM context? How to assess/measure vulnerability? (item 2.2)

(3) Risk assessment: what is a “risk” in ICAM context? How can risk be quantified? (item 2.3)

(4) Managing the risk: which policies and management plans, in the ICAM context, should be developed to improve the countries’ capacity of managing their coastal risks? (item 2.4)

(5) Hazard awareness and emergency preparedness: how to build capacity at community, national, and transnational levels to cope with hazard impacts as a response to the perceived risk, thus enhancing community, local authority and national – and transnational – resilience? (item 2.5)

(6) Strategic mitigation and adaptation: in the ICAM context, what are the strategic responses that countries can make at local, national and transnational authority levels to manage the assessed risks of catastrophic and long-term progressive events in the coastal areas? (item 2.6)

(7) Indicators of achievement: Which are the indicators of hazard awareness and mitigation (within the ICAM context)? (item 2.7)

A group of high-level experts in the field of ICAM, disaster management, coastal engineering, geosciences, and social sciences, will be working to deliver the final set of guidelines towards the end of 2007. A document will be published by IOC/UNESCO, and widely disseminated to IOC Member States. In total, three meetings of the working group will take place over that period.

Acknowledgement

This text was prepared based on initial inputs from Mr. Russell Arthurton for the IOC/UNESCO’s project of producing Guidelines for mainstreaming awareness and mitigation of marine-related hazards and risks in Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM), in which he integrates the expert group. Mr. Arthurton is also chair of the working group on “Advisory, Mitigation and Public Awareness” of the IOC’s Intergovernmental Coordination Group Tsunami Early Warning System and Mitigation System in the North Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (ICG/NEAMTWS).

Some links of interest

• JCOMM Scientific and Technical Symposium on Storm Surges (Seul, 2-6 October 2007)
• ESPON - Spatial effects of natural and technological hazards
• EU Flood Action Programme
• NOAA/CSC Coastal Storms Program
• USAID Coastal Community Resilience initiative