Methodology and Application of Spatial Vulnerability Assessment for Evacuation Shelters in Disaster Planning

Hiranya Sritart,Hiroyuki Miyazaki,Takashi Hara,Sakiko Kanbara

doi:10.3390/su12187355

Hiranya Sritart, Hiroyuki Miyazaki + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187355

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Abstract

Evacuation shelters are the most important means for safeguarding people in hazardous areas and situations, and thus minimizing losses, particularly those due to a disaster. Therefore, evacuation shelter assignment and evacuation planning are some of the critical factors for reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience in disaster risk reduction. However, an imbalance of shelter distribution and spatial heterogeneity of a population are the critical issues limiting the accessibility of evacuation shelters in real situations. In this study, we propose a methodology for spatial assessment to reduce vulnerability and evaluate the spatial distribution of both shelter demand and resources, considering spatial accessibility. The method was applied to the case study of Mabi, in the context of a disaster caused by the 2018 flooding. We applied this approach to evaluate the area and identified the vulnerability of the evacuation shelters and the residents. The proposed method revealed that 54.55% of the designated evacuation shelters and 59% of the total population were physically vulnerable to the flood. The results highlight, using GIS maps, that the total shelter capacity was significantly decreased to 43.86%. The outcome assessment addressed specific vulnerable shelters and the imbalance between the demand for and resources of each shelter. Accordingly, this study provides practical information and a valuable reference for supporting local governments and stakeholders to improve future disaster planning, prevention, and preparedness.

Highlights

Disasters are forecasted to occur more frequently and to be more severe in the near future, due to climate change, increasingly unplanned urbanization, and the rising concentration of people and assets in hazardous areas [1,2]
The objectives of the study are as follows: First, to investigate and evaluate the spatial distributions in the case study area and estimate the deficiency of an evacuation shelter based on the spatial evacuation demand; second, to analyze the spatial accessibility of the evacuation shelters based on the evacuation route conditions and distance, by comparing the real road network of the normal situation with the real disaster situation; and last, to identify the vulnerability of existing evacuation shelters and populations in terms of disaster risk reduction
Because vulnerability during a disaster is increased by the spatial heterogeneity of an imbalance between population demand and shelter capacity resources, our approach integrated both spatial distribution of shelter demand and resource into the spatial accessibility estimation and shelter deficiency assessment

Summary

Introduction

Disasters are forecasted to occur more frequently and to be more severe in the near future, due to climate change, increasingly unplanned urbanization, and the rising concentration of people and assets in hazardous areas [1,2]. At least 15,490 natural disasters have been reported, since 1990, in the Emergency Management Database (EMDAT-CRED) These disasters, taken together, have caused more than 32.6 million deaths, affected over eight billion people, and caused a total damage of at least USD 3.5 trillion, worldwide [3]. To address these severe issues, in 2015, three global policy frameworks, i.e., the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, were established by the United Nations. Vulnerability reduction is one of the most significant approaches for achieving the goal of preventing the creation of new disaster risks [4]

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