An AI/ML-Based Strategy for Disaster Response and Evacuation of Victims in Aged Care Facilities in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley: A Perspective

The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley, Australia’s longest coastal catchment, is spanned by a river system of more than 470 km, that runs from Goulburn to Broken Bay, covering a total area of over 2.2 million hectares. This region has remained prone to flood events, with considerable mortalities, economic impacts and infrastructural losses occurring quite regularly. The topography, naturally variable climatic conditions and the ‘bathtub’ effect in the region are responsible for the frequent flood events. In response, the Government at the national/federal, state and local level has focused on the design of efficient flood risk management strategies with appropriate evacuation plans for vulnerable communities from hospitals, schools, childcare and aged care facilities during a flood event. Despite these overarching plans, specialized response and evacuation plans for aged care facilities are critical to reducing the loss incurred by flood events in the region. This is the focus of this present paper, which reviews the history of flood events and responses to them, before examining the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques during flood events to overcome the flood risks. An early flood warning system, based on AI/Machine Learning (ML) strategy is being suggested for a timely decision, enhanced disaster prediction, assessment and response necessary to overcome the flood risks associated with aged care facilities within the Hawkesbury-Nepean region. A framework entailing AI/ML methods for identifying the safest route to the destination using UAV and path planning has been proposed for timely disaster response and evacuation of the residents of aged care facilities.

THE EFFECT OF USING AUDIO VISUAL MEDIA ON FLOOD DISASTER PREPAREDNESS KNOWLEDGE AT ST ANTONIUS MATARAM SMP

Flood disaster is one type of natural disaster that very often occurs in Indonesia, Indonesia experienced flood events according to the Indonesian Disaster Information Data (DIBI) for the last 5 years as many as 4031 times and in the province of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) it showed a number of 111 flood events with One of them was Mataram city which experienced 11 incidents and West Lombok flooded 26 times. Disaster prevention is one of the focuses in schools by empowering teenagers to understand knowledge about disaster preparedness in students as one solution that needs to be done because children are one of the vulnerable groups who are at risk of being affected by disasters. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of using Audio Visual media on knowledge of flood disaster preparedness at SMPK ST Antonius Mataram.The population in this study were students in grades VII and VIII, totaling 62 people. The sample in this study as many as 58 people with a sampling technique that is purposive sampling with inclusion and exclusion criteria. The research design used in this study was pre-experimental through a one group pre-test-post-test design approach. Data collection techniques using questionnaires. Analysis of this data using statistical test data analysis Wilcoxon signed rankings test.Based on the results of the study, there was an effect of using Audio Visual media on knowledge of flood disaster preparedness at SMPK ST Antonius Mataram.

Impact of Flash Flood Events on the Coastal Waters Around Madeira Island: The “Land Mass Effect”

The Island Mass Effect has been primarily attributed to nutrient enhancement of waters surrounding oceanic islands due to physical processes, whereas the role of land runoff has seldom been considered. Land runoff can be particularly relevant in mountainous islands, highly susceptible to torrential rainfall that rapidly leads to flash floods. Madeira Island, located in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, is historically known for its flash flood events, when steep streams transport high volumes of water and terrigenous material downstream. A 22-year analysis of satellite data revealed that a recent catastrophic flash flood (20 February 2010) was responsible for the most significant concentration of non-algal Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Chlorophyll-a at the coast. In this context, our study aims to understand the impact of the February 2010 flash flood events on coastal waters, by assessing the impact of spatial and temporal variability of wind, precipitation, and river discharges. Two specific flash floods events are investigated in detail (2 and 20 February 2010), which coincided with northeasterly and southwesterly winds, respectively. Given the lack of in situ data documenting these events, a coupled air-sea-land numerical framework was used, including hydrological modeling. The dynamics of the modeled river plumes induced by flash floods were strongly influenced by the wind regimes subsequently affecting coastal circulation, which may help to explain the differences between observed SPM and Chlorophyll-a distributions. Model simulations showed that during northeasterly winds, coastal confinement of the buoyant river plume persisted on the island’s north coast, preventing offshore transport of SPM. This mechanism may have contributed to favorable conditions for phytoplankton growth, as captured by satellite-derived Chlorophyll-a in the northeastern coastal waters. On the island’s south coast, strong ocean currents generated in the eastern island flank promoted strong vertical shear, contributing to vertical mixing. During southwesterly winds, coastal confinement of the plume with strong vertical density gradient was observed on the south side. The switch to eastward winds spread the south river plume offshore, forming a filament of high Chlorophyll-a extending 70 km offshore. Our framework demonstrates a novel methodology to investigate ocean productivity around remote islands with sparse or absent field observations.

Spatiotemporal variation in global floods with different affected areas and the contribution of influencing factors to flood-induced mortality (1985–2019)

Floods are great threats to human life and property. Extensive research has investigated the spatiotemporal variation in flood occurrence, while few have studied the heterogeneity in global flood events of different sizes, which may require different coping strategies and risk reduction policies. In this study, we analysed the spatiotemporal patterns of global flood events with different affected areas (classified in three levels) during 1985–2019 and examined the contribution of different influencing factors to flood-induced mortality using Geodetector. The results show that (1) the increase in global flood frequency was mainly caused by Level II and Level III floods, and the average area affected by flood events has been increasing yearly since 1985. (2) In America and Africa, the frequency of Level III floods has increased monotonically. At the same time, the frequency of Level I floods in Europe and Level II floods in Asia has increased significantly. (3) For Europe and Asia, most of the deaths occurred with Level II floods; while for America and Africa, Level III floods caused the most mortality. (4) The top three factors contributing to the spatial heterogeneity in flood-induced mortality were the affected population, GDP per capita and flood duration. The contribution of each factor varied among the different types of floods. Topographic factors (percentage of mountainous area) magnified flood-induced mortality during extreme events with heavy rainfall, especially for Level III floods. The heterogeneity in flood frequency and flood-induced mortality indicates that flood protection measures should be more targeted. In addition, the increase in large-scale floods (Level III) highlights the need for transregional cooperation in flood risk management.

Brief Communication: Critical Infrastructure impacts of the 2021 mid-July western European flood event

Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands were hit by extreme precipitation and flooding in July 2021. This Brief Communication provides an overview of the impacts to large-scale critical infrastructure systems and how recovery has progressed during the first six months after the event. The results show that Germany and Belgium were particularly affected, with many infrastructure assets severely damaged or completely destroyed. Impacts range from completely destroyed bridges and sewage systems, to severely damaged schools and hospitals. We find that large-scale risk assessments, often focused on larger (river) flood events, do not find these local, but severe, impacts. This may be the result of limited availability of validation material. As such, this study will not only help to better understand how critical infrastructure can be affected by flooding, but can also be used as validation material for future flood risk assessments.