Abstract
Portugal’s coastline extends 1187 km. It is characterized by social, economic and physical conditions that differentiate it from the rest of the territory, including population density, location of infrastructure and support of tourism activities. Therefore, it has a significant exposure if a tsunami occurs. Six coastal study sites with varying characteristics were selected for evaluation in this paper, including two core beach-use areas, two residential areas and two industrial areas. These sites are located in the municipalities of Figueira da Foz, Setúbal and Vila do Bispo. The analysis began with the calculation of the potential tsunami inundation area for each site using the 1755 Lisbon tsunami. Next, a methodology distinguished by its multidimensional character was applied to assess local vulnerability to tsunamis. This methodology assesses vulnerabilities associated with morphological, structural, social and tax factors. These four vulnerability components were combined to obtain a Composite Vulnerability Index (CVI), which enabled us to identify the most vulnerable areas and to determine the distinguishing characteristics of each area.
Highlights
The 1 November 1755 earthquake and tsunami was the most catastrophic natural disaster to occur in Portugal’s history; this disaster caused approximately 12,000 deaths and resulted in severe damage to many coastal areas, the city of Lisbon [1]
Coastal areas play a key role in supporting human survival; about half of the world’s population depends directly on these areas for livelihoods related to fisheries, tourism, trade, transport and energy [6], and 40% of the world population lives less than 100 km from the coast [7]
If we narrow our analysis and only consider areas designated Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ), which is defined as a contiguous area along the coast less than 10 meters above sea level [8,9], we see that this area represents 2% of the world’s land area but supports 10% of the global population and 13%
Summary
The 1 November 1755 earthquake (magnitude Mw 8.7) and tsunami was the most catastrophic natural disaster to occur in Portugal’s history; this disaster caused approximately 12,000 deaths and resulted in severe damage to many coastal areas, the city of Lisbon [1]. The present study will focus on different areas within three Portuguese coastal municipalities, based on historical accounts of the 1755 Lisbon tsunami and territorial characteristics (Figure 1) Even though it was triggered by an earthquake, the methodological approach only explores the tsunami parameters and their relation with coastal attributes for the potential impact assessment. A multidimensional methodology was applied to all six study sites to assess their vulnerability to tsunamis, expressing the potential for casualty, destruction, damage, disruption or other form of loss The selection of this methodology was justified by the fact that the six areas have distinctive morphological structural, social and tax features. This knowledge will allow the resource scale for prevention and mitigation, as well increase the warning, alert, rescue and emergency effectiveness
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