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Geospatial modelling of tropical cyclone risk along the northeast coast of Oman: marine hazard mitigation and management policies

Geospatial modelling of tropical cyclone risk along the northeast coast of Oman: marine hazard mitigation and management policies
Geospatial modelling of tropical cyclone risk along the northeast coast of Oman: marine hazard mitigation and management policies
Globally, an increasing and more dispersed population, as well as climate change, have led to growing impacts of environmental hazards, particularly across areas prone to extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones frequently cause fatalities, damage to infrastructure, and disruption to economic activities. The north and northeast regions of Oman, particularly the Oman seacoast, are prone to the storm surges, windstorms and extreme precipitation events associated with these tropical storms. However, integrated spatial risk assessments, for the purpose of mapping cyclone risk at subnational geographic scales, have not yet been developed in this area. Here we evaluate and map cyclone risk using four independent components of risk: hazard, exposure, vulnerability and mitigation capacity. An integrated risk index was calculated using a geographical information system (GIS) and an analytical hierarchical process (AHP) technique, based on a geodatabase including 17 variables (i.e., GIS data layers) and criteria, with rank and weight scores for each criterion. The resulting risk assessment reveals the spatial variation in cyclone risk across the study area and highlights how this variation is controlled by variations in physical hazard, exposure, vulnerability and emergency preparedness. The risk maps reveal that, despite their perceived adaptive capacity for disaster mitigation, the population and assets in low-lying lands situated near the coastline in the east of Muscat, as well as the Al-Batnah south governorates, are at high risk due to cyclones. Furthermore, the coastal zones of the urban Wilayats of the Muscat governorate were also found to be at high, to very high, risk. This study has several policy implications and can provide effective guidelines for natural hazard preparedness and mitigation across the northern coasts of Oman.
AHP, Cyclone risks, GIS, Index, Mitigation policy, Spatial modelling
0308-597X
Mansour, Shawky
ac8a0201-1b20-43bc-b7fc-3b3c712eb3fd
Darby, Stephen
4c3e1c76-d404-4ff3-86f8-84e42fbb7970
Leyland, Julian
6b1bb9b9-f3d5-4f40-8dd3-232139510e15
Atkinson, Peter
985bc8d3-e826-4e02-8060-8388183eb697
Mansour, Shawky
ac8a0201-1b20-43bc-b7fc-3b3c712eb3fd
Darby, Stephen
4c3e1c76-d404-4ff3-86f8-84e42fbb7970
Leyland, Julian
6b1bb9b9-f3d5-4f40-8dd3-232139510e15
Atkinson, Peter
985bc8d3-e826-4e02-8060-8388183eb697

Mansour, Shawky, Darby, Stephen, Leyland, Julian and Atkinson, Peter (2021) Geospatial modelling of tropical cyclone risk along the northeast coast of Oman: marine hazard mitigation and management policies. Marine Policy, 129, [104544]. (doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104544).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Globally, an increasing and more dispersed population, as well as climate change, have led to growing impacts of environmental hazards, particularly across areas prone to extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones frequently cause fatalities, damage to infrastructure, and disruption to economic activities. The north and northeast regions of Oman, particularly the Oman seacoast, are prone to the storm surges, windstorms and extreme precipitation events associated with these tropical storms. However, integrated spatial risk assessments, for the purpose of mapping cyclone risk at subnational geographic scales, have not yet been developed in this area. Here we evaluate and map cyclone risk using four independent components of risk: hazard, exposure, vulnerability and mitigation capacity. An integrated risk index was calculated using a geographical information system (GIS) and an analytical hierarchical process (AHP) technique, based on a geodatabase including 17 variables (i.e., GIS data layers) and criteria, with rank and weight scores for each criterion. The resulting risk assessment reveals the spatial variation in cyclone risk across the study area and highlights how this variation is controlled by variations in physical hazard, exposure, vulnerability and emergency preparedness. The risk maps reveal that, despite their perceived adaptive capacity for disaster mitigation, the population and assets in low-lying lands situated near the coastline in the east of Muscat, as well as the Al-Batnah south governorates, are at high risk due to cyclones. Furthermore, the coastal zones of the urban Wilayats of the Muscat governorate were also found to be at high, to very high, risk. This study has several policy implications and can provide effective guidelines for natural hazard preparedness and mitigation across the northern coasts of Oman.

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Accepted/In Press date: 20 April 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 May 2021
Published date: 1 June 2021
Keywords: AHP, Cyclone risks, GIS, Index, Mitigation policy, Spatial modelling

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 454777
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454777
ISSN: 0308-597X
PURE UUID: a1aba25a-fb36-4d51-af45-183af8371e67
ORCID for Stephen Darby: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8778-4394
ORCID for Julian Leyland: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3419-9949

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Date deposited: 23 Feb 2022 17:35
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 04:18

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Contributors

Author: Shawky Mansour
Author: Stephen Darby ORCID iD
Author: Julian Leyland ORCID iD
Author: Peter Atkinson

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