Topical Collection on "Natural Disasters in Coastal and Urban Areas–Innovations in Planning, Management and Resilience"

A topical collection of Prevention and Treatment of Natural Disasters (PTND) (E-ISSN: 2753-7544).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2024

Sea Storms and Tsunamis

Floods and Flash Floods

Collection Editors:

Dr. Giandomenico Foti
Department of Civil Engineering, Energy, Environment and Matherials, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy
Interests: coastal, river and urban flood risk mapping, planning, management, and sustainable mitigation strategies; coastal erosion risk mapping, planning, management, and sustainable mitigation strategies; coastal and river morphodynamics; shoreline changes; natural hazards such as flash floods, sea storms, tsunamis

Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Barbaro
Department of Civil Engineering, Energy, Environment and Matherials, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy
Interests: coastal engineering; ocean engineering; coastal structures; hydraulics; coastal management; hydraulic structure; coastal protection and management

Prof. Dr. Marcelo Gomes Miguez
1. Escola Politécnica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-909, Brazil
2. Programa de Engenharia Civil–COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-909, Brazil
Interests: urban drainage; flood modeling; flood risk and city resilience; mathematical modeling and modcel; storm water management

Topical Collection Information:

Dear Colleagues,

Natural hazards are generated by natural phenomena of different nature, for example, extreme weather events, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, landslides, etc. This Topical Collection focuses on hydrometeorological natural hazards originating from atmospheric, hydrological, or oceanographic conditions that can affect coastal and urban areas. Examples of these hazards are tropical cyclones (also known as typhoons and hurricanes); floods, including flash floods; sea storms; tsunamis.

Generally, risk is the probability of damage due to the hazard of the events and its interaction with exposure and vulnerability of the affected humans and environments. Some of the main reasons for natural hazard risks are climate change, land use change, water use change and other pressures linked to population growth. Therefore, the understanding of the processes that generate natural phenomena, and their modeling, are key factors in the planning and management phases of these risks and in the choice and design phases of adequate and sustainable mitigation measures such as Best Management Practices (BMPs), Low Impact Development (LID), and Nature-Based Solutions that increase the resilience of the territory to natural disasters.

In this Topical Collection, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Natural disasters;
Hydrometeorological phenomena;
Risk assessment;
Planning and management phases;
Impact of climate change;
Impact of anthropogenic pressure;
Innovations on hydrometeorological phenomena forecast;
Innovations on hydrometeorological phenomena modeling;
Model calibration and validation strategies;
Uncertainty quantification;
Application of modeling to support decision-making;
Integration of remote sensing;
Sustainable mitigation measures.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Giandomenico Foti
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Barbaro
Prof. Dr. Marcelo Gomes Miguez
Collection Editors

Keywords:

Natural disasters
Planning and management
Resilience
Modeling
Sustainable mitigation measures

Manuscript Submission Information:

Please visit the Submissions Guidelines page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Manuscripts should be submitted online through the online manuscript submission and editorial system. Additionally, please include a cover letter specifying that the manuscript is intended for the Topical Collection "Natural Disasters in Coastal and Urban Areas–Innovations in Planning, Management and Resilience" when submitting it online. Manuscripts can be submitted until the submission deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal and will be listed together on the Topical Collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract can be sent to the Editorial Office ptnd@ukscip.com for announcement on this website.

The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 600 USD. Authors who are unable to cover this cost or those who are invited to submit papers may be eligible for discounts or waivers.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process.

Published Papers:

This Topical Collection is now open for submission.

Planned Paper Information:

1: Title: Dam Failure: Emergency Plans and Floodable Areas–Case Studies in Calabria (Italy)

Abstract: A dam is a permanent artificial barrier, fixed or mobile, designed to regulate the outflow of a natural watercourse or to form a reservoir to be used for irrigation purposes, water supply, or to serve a hydropower plant. Generally, dam failures are quite rare but can cause huge damage and loss of life when they occur. Therefore, the regulations prescribe severe safety checks and provide operational guidelines relating to civil protection activities and emergency plans. The paper, through some case studies in Calabria, a region of Southern Italy, analyzes Italian regulations concerning civil protection activities and emergency plans related to dam failure. Also, this paper describes the coupled hydrological and hydrodynamic modeling carried out using HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS, respectively, to define the maximum flow rate for emptying the dams that are contained in the hydraulic pertinence areas downstream of the dams, the attention flow rate for the discharge of the dam and the incremental thresholds.

2: Title: Some Considerations on the Seismic Event of 23 November, 1980 (Southern Italy)

Abstract: More than forty years after the November 23, 1980 earthquake, which devastated the Campania and Basilicata regions, causing the destruction of a large number of towns and the death of around three thousand people, we have tried, through a large survey, to understand how and to what extent the urban fabric and the most affected communities have been rebuilt. Our main objective was to show, on one side, the commitment of the scientific community, and on the other the transitions that have led from the emergency to reconstruction. Of the Apenninic towns Conza della Campania, Laviano, Lioni, Santomenna, and others, where the devastation was almost total, we have tried to give an iconographic vision of the post-earthquake phase through the change in the urban layout. The partial or total reconstruction of the towns has taken place most of the time in situ, only in some cases by relocating buildings to neighboring areas, as happened in Conza della Campania, Bisaccia and Romagnano al Monte. Reconstruction was made mainly of anti-seismic buildings and only in some cases recovering pre-existing buildings in historic centres; reconstruction was completed after a very long period, in some cases lasting over thirty years, inevitably passing through a dramatic experience of the population in temporary settlements of various kinds, from tents, caravans, railway carriages, to containers, and finally to thermo-igloos and to prefabricated wooden chalet-type. A very complex and detailed reconstruction was linked to factors not only territorial, economic and political but also conditioned unfortunately by the non-negligible intervention of organized crime.