Intensive and Extensive Risk in Central America Between 1990 and 2015

Abstract

ResumenAmérica Central es una región expuesta a diversos fenómenos naturales, tanto geológicos como hidrometeorológicos, eventos que combinados con las características históricas, culturales y socioeconómicas hacen que sus países presenten condiciones idóneas de riesgo y por ende se ven afectados por los desastres. Para este trabajo se hace un análisis del origen de los riesgos extensivos e intensivos América Central entre 1990 y 2015, donde se identifican las causas del porqué algunos países se vean más afectados que otros, ya sea por los pequeños o grandes desastres. La metodología está basada en la información obtenida de las bases de datos de desastres EM-DAT y DesInventar, de las cuales se obtuvo que Costa Rica fue el país que registró más eventos desastrosos, mientras que entre El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras se distribuyeron la mayor cantidad de muertos, afectados y viviendas tanto afectadas como destruidas por riesgos extensivos como intensivos. El uso de bases de datos de desastres es una útil herramienta para la gestión del riesgo y el ordenamiento territorial de países en desarrollo. Palabras-clave: gestión del riesgo de desastres; EM-DAT; DesInventar; países en desarrollo; América Latina Abstract Central America is a region exposed to diverse natural phenomena, both geological and hydrometeorological, events that combined with the historical, cultural and socioeconomic characteristics make their countries present ideal conditions of risk and therefore are affected by the disasters. This paper analyzes the origin of the extensive and intensive risks of Central America between 1990 and 2015, where the causes of why some countries are more affected than others, whether small or large disasters are identified. The methodology is based on the information obtained from the EM-DAT and DesInventar disaster databases, from which it was obtained that Costa Rica was the country that registered the most disastrous events, while between El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras the more deaths, affected and housing both affected and destroyed by extensive and intensive risks. The use of disaster databases is a useful tool for risk management and land use planning in developing countries.

Landslide risk index map at the municipal scale for Costa Rica

“…Accordingly, the region also has a very high correlation between mean daily rainfall totals and mean daily landslides [56]. The occurrence of such extremes has been demonstrated to trigger landslides in Central America [57]; Pérez-Briceño et al, 2016) and Costa Rica [58]. The municipalities having high and medium hazard values in this study coincide with previous studies in the country [59][60][61].…”

Identification of Tropical Cyclones’ Critical Positions Associated with Extreme Precipitation Events in Central America

“…If the low pressure is located in the right position to induce a temporal for several days due to its low system velocity, it would cause important damage in the region [10]. Impacts are normally associated with extremely high stream flows or landslides and would have effects in important socioeconomic sectors like agriculture, infrastructure (both public and private), water supply for human consumption, transport, tourism, and others [1,2,[20][21][22][23][24][25]. For the Central American economies, the cost of these impacts may be an important part of their gross domestic products, and sometimes they could have an associated loss of lives [22,[22][23][24]26].…”

Predicting Earthquake-Induced Landslides by Using a Stochastic Modeling Approach: A Case Study of the 2001 El Salvador Coseismic Landslides

“…Indeed, the fertility of the soils around the volcanoes, which are oriented WNW-ESE due to the tectonic assessment [17], has generated a situation in which a large part of the population lives in the areas of the country most susceptible to the gravitational phenomena (Figure 1b). As a confirmation of this, El Salvador has the highest ratio of destroyed houses to affected risks in Central America [52]. This work was carried out in fourteen sectors along the volcanic chain (Figure 2), which were among the areas most affected by the two intense earthquakes that occurred in the first two months of 2001.…”