Integrated assessment of ecological risk for multi-hazards in Guangdong province in southeastern China

Abstract

Guangdong Province is the most populous and economically developed province in southeastern China. Tropical cyclones, rainstorm waterlogging, and geohazards are the principal natural hazards in this region. Using information acquisition analysis, entropy weighting, the ArcGIS technique, the concept of hazard chains, the spatial heterogeneity of hazards, vulnerability, and ecological risk from single hazards and multi-hazards were determined for grids of 1 × 1 km2; the ecological risks for each administrative city were ranked. Jiangmen City was the top one ranking in the 21 cities with highest ecological risks for multi-hazards, tropical cyclones, and rainstorm waterlogging; Qingyuan City was the highest one for the ecological risk of geohazards. Areas with grades of very high, high, moderate, low, and very low ecological risk accounted for 1.78%, 7.10%, 18.22%, 34.39%, and 38.51% of Guangdong Province, respectively. Most areas of Guangdong Province had favorable ecological environments and low ecological risks. Natural hazard assessment greatly benefits from ArcGIS because spatial methodologies can be fully explored during the entire risk evaluation process, from data integration to risk appraisal, and finally for decision-making. This study concludes that integrated approaches to multi-hazard assessment may assist in risk management of natural hazards in Guangdong Province in southeastern China.