Browsing by Author "Contreras, Marta"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Natural hazard risk management in the Chilean drinking water industry: Diagnosis and recommendations
    (2023) Molinos-Senante, Maria; Chamorro, Alondra; Contreras, Marta; Echaveguren, Tomas
    Disaster risk management in water infrastructure is still a world challenge. In this study, we present and discuss the results of an extensive survey conducted to Chilean water companies focused on disaster risk management in the production of drinking water. The main conclusions were: i) there is significant heterogeneity in the practices applied by water companies; ii) water companies use a large variety of tools to manage natural disasters; iii) earthquake is the one more relevant hazard for water companies. Based on the main conclusions of the survey, a set of recommendations for the Chilean water industry are proposed.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    SIGeR-RV: A Web-Geographic Information System-Based System for Risk Management of Road Networks Exposed to Natural Hazards
    (2023) Chamorro, Alondra; Echaveguren, Tomas; Pattillo, Carlos; Contreras-Jara, Manuel; Contreras, Marta; Allen, Eduardo; Nieto, Natalia; de Solminihac, Hernan
    The consequences of natural hazards are frequently estimated by the direct cost of recovering damaged infrastructure and the indirect costs to road users, economic activities, and impacts on society. Road networks are crucial in economic systems, logistic chain continuity, accessibility, mobility, and the evacuation of population during and after extreme events. Risk management systems (RMS) are used to estimate the potential consequences of natural events and to assess strategies for risk reduction. These commonly assess hazards, assets exposure, economic losses, and risk mitigation actions, among others. The general framework of RMS can be adapted to different scenarios. Still, local characteristics, such as the types of hazards and physical assets, cannot always be directly adopted from these systems. This study discusses the development of SIGeR-RV, an RMS developed in Chile for road networks exposed to multiple natural hazards. The RMS was implemented in a web-based geographic information system platform able to display hazard maps, quantify risk levels, prioritize mitigation strategies, and estimate direct and indirect costs and social vulnerability. The content and various capacities of the system are detailed, following the steps marked in its framework. This first version of SIGeR-RV considers seismic hazard, volcanic lahars, and hydro-meteorological hazards that affect road platforms, bridges, tunnels, and cut slopes. The system currently serves as a tool for the Ministry of Public Works of Chile and other decision makers to estimate budget requirements for increasing resilience of the road network, identifying vulnerable road segments, and assessing the socioeconomical impacts of risk reduction.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Social vulnerability in Chile: challenges for multi-scale analysis and disaster risk reduction
    (2023) Guerrero Mancilla, Nikole Fernanda; Contreras, Marta; Chamorro Gine, Marcela Alondra; Martínez Reyes, Carolina Del Pilar; Echaveguren, Tomas
    Socio-natural disasters can have profound consequences for countries exposed to natural hazards. Consequently, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) management and the development of techniques to measure social vulnerability, such as the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI), are critical to comprehending and mitigating risk factors. However, the impact of considering different spatial scales to understand and analyze social vulnerability remains largely unknown. The objective of this research is to identify the factors that determine social vulnerability in Chile, the implications of using four different territorial scales, differentiating for urban/rural territory, and the implications in DRR. The research considers the SoVI method, using the national census and the socioeconomic household survey to construct 25 variables at the zone/locality levels, and the use of a GIS platform. On average, eight vulnerability components are defined per model, with an average explanatory variance of 71%. Our analysis shows that soci