2012) Culture and disaster risk reduction: Lessons and opportunities, Environmental Hazards, 11:2, 74-95,The value of physical science in mitigating the effects of environmental hazards is well acknowledged. Less acknowledged are the cultural influences affecting adoption of disaster risk reduction strategies, that is what influence 'culture' has upon hazard and risk. This paper explores the need to consider 'culture' within disaster risk reduction and cross disciplinary boundaries through four key questions: (a) How relevant is 'culture' to disaster risk reduction? (b) How can we engage with different cultures? (c) How can local knowledge be accessed and utilized? (d) How can local and scientific knowledge be integrated for the benefit of disaster risk reduction? The questions are answered through drawing upon case study snapshots from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, USA and the Maldives that explore geological-related hazard phenomena, including earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, and their effects within communities. Challenges and ways forward for ensuring the integration of cultural considerations into risk reduction and putting research into practice and practice into research are identified.
Tsunami risk reduction activities rely on a sound knowledge of the hazard characteristics. Our understanding of these characteristics is derived from empirical measurements, numerical models or established rules. Conventional methods used to delineate areas vulnerable to tsunami inundation are often calculated from estimated maximum wave height at the coast and ''rules-of-thumb''. Applying such rules may give unreliable results for decision-makers. Using basic hydraulic principles and assumptions, this paper improves on the existing rules by developing and testing new equations for predicting tsunami maximum depth profiles and inundation distances. The proposed equations require knowledge of shoreline wave-crest level, the onshore ground profile and an index for onshore roughness (a ratio of distance between protrusions to a local friction factor). As a tsunami wave moves inland, the equations demonstrate that there will usually be an exponential decline in peak water depth. The equations also confirm that a smaller spacing between onshore roughness elements, such as trees or houses, will give a steeper decline in peak depth due to increased friction as a wave moves inland. Furthermore, where ground level is rising faster than friction head is being lost, it is predicted that the water level of a tsunami will rise above the shoreline wave-crest level. The ground slope at which run-up starts to exceed shoreline wave-crest level can be predicted from the shoreline wave-crest level and roughness spacing. Results predicted by the new equations are verified by comparison with tsunami run-up measurements made in Samoa and Java.
A sample of 49 cases of cemetery remains received at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Massachusetts (OCME-MA), in Boston was compared with published taphonomic profiles of cemetery remains. The present sample is composed of a cross section of typical cases in this region that ultimately are derived from modern to historical coffin burials and get turned over to or seized by law enforcement. The present sample was composed of a large portion of isolated remains, and most were completely skeletonized. The most prevalent taphonomic characteristics included uniform staining (77.6%), coffin wear (46.9%), and cortical Exfoliation (49.0%). Other taphonomic changes occurring due to later surface exposure of cemetery remains included subaerial weathering, animal gnawing, algae formation, and excavation marks. A case of one set of skeletal remains associated with coffin artifacts and cemetery offerings that was recovered from transported cemetery fill is also presented.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.