The hazard exposure of the Maltese Islands

Systematic Review Shows That Work Done by Storm Waves Can Be Misinterpreted as Tsunami-Related Because Commonly Used Hydrodynamic Equations Are Flawed

“…histories (Mastronuzzi et al, 2013;Terry et al, 2015Torab and Dalal, 2015;Main et al, 2018;Papathoma-Köhle et al, 2019).…”

The city‐island‐state, wounding cascade, and multi‐level vulnerability explored through the lens of Malta

“…Traditionally viewed as a "low hazard" island-state that is not considered disaster prone, and which has even been described as the "safest place on Earth" (Camilleri, 2011), Malta is known to be exposed to, and at risk from, multiple endogenous and exogenous processes that may be considered acute and/or chronic in nature (Main et al, 2018;Main, 2019; Table 2).…”

“…Two of the most well-known historic wounding events were the bombing raids between June 1940-November 1942 when around 30,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed and almost 1,300 civilians were killed (Spooner, 1996), and the earthquake of 11 th January 1693 that resulted in damage across the island-state (Main et al, 2018).…”

“…Traditionally viewed as a "low hazard" island-state that is not considered disaster prone, and that has even been described as the "safest place on Earth" (Camilleri, 2011), Malta is known to be exposed to, and at risk from, multiple endogenous and exogenous processes that may be considered acute and/or chronic in nature (Main, 2019;Main et al, 2018; Table 2). Two of the most well-known historic wounding events were the bombing raids between June 1940 and November 1942 when around 30,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed and almost 1,300 civilians were killed (Spooner, 1996), and the earthquake of 11 January 1693 that resulted in damage across the island-state (Main et al, 2018). Like all cities, city-states, island cities, and island-states in the contemporary neoliberal globalised era, the small city-island-state of Malta forms part of the complex, interconnected global system dominated by relational flows, connections, and arguably, dependencies with external political, social, and economic groups.…”

“…Like all cities, city-states, island cities, and island-states in the contemporary neoliberal globalised era, the small city-island-state of Malta forms part of the complex, interconnected global system dominated by relational flows, connections, and arguably, dependencies with external political, social, and economic groups. This has been the case throughout Malta's history, but it is within the contemporary neoliberal world economy that such flows, connections, and dependencies on others have resulted in an increase in precariousness and the "internationalisation of risk" (Main et al, 2018;UNDP, 2014). We argue that these flows, peculiarities, and specificities serve to exacerbate the precariousness and vulnerability of first the city, second the island, and third the city-island-state to extreme natural and anthropogenic wounding.…”