Madeira, like many mountainous volcanic islands, is susceptible to flash floods. Throughout its history, about 40 large events resulted in more than 1200 victims and countless damages. Recently, urban areas expanded greatly, leading to a higher exposure of the population to flash floods. In order to analyse ways to reduce vulnerability and decrease hazard in the urbanised, flash flood prone watershed of the Machico River, the construction of detention basins (DB) is simulated. A hydrological and hydraulic model was performed to determine if they would be a viable option to protect downstream populations. Modelling suggests that two 12 m high outlet structures, and a storage capacity of 111 298 m3 (DB1) and 121 095 m3 (DB2), would reduce peak discharge by 72%, from a precipitation event with a return period of 100 years. Two identified sensitive Sections (S) had their fill rates reduced from 130.6% to 79.6% (S1) and from 128.6% to 33.4% (S2), thus preventing channel overflow. A concise economic analysis was made in terms of implementation and maintenance costs, as well as a SWOT analysis highlighting that DB should be regarded as a viable engineering solution to reduce vulnerability to flash floods hazards in volcanic islands with small, steep, and urbanised watersheds.

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RESUMOA cobertura vegetal do solo é decisiva para redução dos efeitos erosivos do impacto direto das gotas de chuva na superfície do solo. Desta forma, objetivou-se com este estudo determinar o índice de cobertura vegetal (CV) e desenvolver modelos para sua estimativa para a cultura da soja, usando os atributos climáticos no período de chuvas intensas no Sul de Minas Gerais. As determinações da CV foram feitas semanalmente, na área experimental do Departamento de Ciência do Solo, Universidade Federal de Lavras, no período de novembro de 1999 a maio de 2000, em 28 cultivares de soja com potencial para cultivo nesta região. Para avaliação da cobertura vegetal foi utilizada a metodologia descrita por Stocking (1988). Na modelagem procurou-se relacionar a CV com os valores acumulados dos seguintes atributos climáticos: temperatura média (T med ), precipitação (PREC) e umidade relativa do ar (UR). Os valores de cobertura vegetal apresentaram uma amplitude de variação de 56 a 83%, sendo BR 162, LO 12 L e M. Soy 108 as cultivares mais eficientes e FT Abyara e Tucano as menos eficientes. O hábito diferencial de crescimento das cultivares ajuda a explicar esse comportamento. O modelo ajustado adequado para estimativa da CV foi: CV = 116589,976 + 0,422 . Tmed + 0,132 . PREC -0,095 . UR + 0,000024 . Tmed 2 , R 2 = 0,99 (P < 0,01). A determinação da CV nas diferentes fases de desenvolvimento da cultura é de grande importância, uma vez que seu estabelecimento coincide com o período de maior potencial erosivo das chuvas na região estudada.Termos para indexação: Área foliar, proteção do solo, Glycine max (L.) Merr., estimativa, taxa de crescimento, características agronômicas. ABSTRACTVegetal cover of soil is decisive to reduce the erosive effects of direct impact of raindrops on the soil surface. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the vegetal cover (CC) index and to develop models to estimate it for soybean cultivars, using climatic attributes in the period of intense rains in the South of the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil. CC was measured weekly in the experimental area of the Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Lavras, from November 1999 to May 2000, for 28 soybean cultivars with yield potential in this region. To evaluate the vegetal cover, the method described by Stocking (1988) was used. In the modeling, CC was related with the accumulated values of following climatic attributes: medium temperature (Tmed), precipitation (PREC), and relative humidity of the air (RH). Vegetal cover values presented an amplitude from 56 to 83%, being BR 162, LO 12 L and M. Soy 108, the more efficient cultivars, and the FT Abyara and Tucano, the least efficient ones. The differential growth habit of the cultivars helps to explain this behavior. The best adjusted model for the estimative of CC was: CC = 116589.976 + 0.422, Tmed + 0.132, PREC -0.095, RH + 0.000024 Tmed 2 , R 2 = 0.99 (P < 0.01). The knowledge of CC for different development phases of the crop is of great importance, taking into account that...

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This work summarises the strategy adopted in the European research project PERSISTAH. It aims to increase the resilience of the population, focusing on the existing primary schools in the Algarve (Portugal) and Huelva (Spain) regions. Software was developed to assess the seismic safety of these schools, considering different earthquake scenarios. Seismic retrofitting measures were studied and numerically tested. Some of them were also implemented in the retrofitting activities of two case study schools (one in each country). It was found that the adopted ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) considerably affect the results obtained with the software, especially for offshore earthquake scenarios. Furthermore, the results show that the masonry buildings would be the most damaged school typologies for all the scenarios considered. Additionally, a set of guidelines was created to support the school community and the technicians related to the construction industry. The goal of these documents is to increase the seismic resilience of the population. Different activities were carried out to train schoolteachers in seismic safety based on the guidelines produced, obtaining positive feedback from them.