Multi-hazard disaster scenario method and emergency management for urban resilience by integrating experiment–simulation–field data

Abstract

Due to the frequent occurrence of multi-hazard disasters worldwide in recent years, effective multi-hazard scenario analysis is imperative for disaster rescue and emergency management. The response procedure for different single hazards were investigated and formulated before. However, the investigations of disaster scenario rarely systematically address the entire development and response process of multi-hazards, including the coupling mechanisms, evolution dynamics, scenario assessment and emergency response. To this end, this paper presents our methodology of multi-hazard disaster scenario that integrates experiment–simulation–field data, focusing on three dimensions consisting of multi-hazard coupling, structures and systems, and emergency management. The newly proposed scenario method mainly comprises three aspects: experiments and simulations, multi-hazard field investigation, scenario analysis and response. Specifically, in order to study the large-scale, high-intensity and multi-hazard coupling effects, we carried out reduced-scale experiments and field measurement experiments to develop experimental similarity theory and prototype simulations of multi-hazards. In addition, a variety of field rescue and survey equipment, such as robots, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) technologies were utilized to acquire real-time data of multi-hazard field. Furthermore, we also examine the mechanism and framework of multi-hazard scenarios to formulate the detailed procedures of management and response. They are incorporated with the experiments, simulations, field data and models to construct a new scenario platform. The proposed scenario method was applied in a case study of the coupled wind and snow multi-hazard to verify its effectiveness. The new method contributes to the disaster relief, decision-making and emergency management for multi-hazard disaster to improve the urban resilience.