A Promising Tool to Assess Long Term Public Health Effects of Natural Disasters: Combining Routine Health Survey Data and Geographic Information Systems to Assess Stunting after the 2001 Earthquake in Peru

Background

Research on long-term health effects of earthquakes is scarce, especially in low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionately affected by disasters. To date, progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of tools to accurately measure these effects. Here, we explored whether long-term public health effects of earthquakes can be assessed using a combination of readily available data sources on public health and geographic distribution of seismic activity.

Methods

We used childhood stunting as a proxy for public health effects. Data on stunting were attained from Demographic and Health Surveys. Earthquake data were obtained from U.S. Geological Survey’s ShakeMaps, geographic information system-based maps that divide earthquake affected areas into different shaking intensity zones. We combined these two data sources to categorize the surveyed children into different earthquake exposure groups, based on how much their area of residence was affected by the earthquake. We assessed the feasibility of the approach using a real earthquake case – an 8.4 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Peru in 2001.

Results and conclusions

Our results indicate that the combination of health survey data and disaster data may offer a readily accessible and accurate method for determining the long-term public health consequences of a natural disaster. Our work allowed us to make pre- and post- earthquake comparisons of stunting, an important indicator of the well-being of a society, as well as comparisons between populations with different levels of exposure to the earthquake. Furthermore, the detailed GIS based data provided a precise and objective definition of earthquake exposure. Our approach should be considered in future public health and disaster research exploring the long-term effects of earthquakes and potentially other natural disasters.     

Eco-environmental changes assessment at the Chiufenershan landslide area caused by catastrophic earthquake in Central Taiwan

A large-scale landslide, caused by the catastrophic earthquake on 21 September 1999, occurred at the Chiufenershan area in Central Taiwan. Multi-temporal SPOT satellite images coupled with a self-organizing map neural network, terrain analysis, Universal Soil Loss Equation, and landscape patch indicators were used to assess eco-environmental changes of the denudation sites, such as changes of the post-quake landslide, terrain displacement, soil erosion, and landscape ecology. The extracted area soon after the earthquake was 215.68 ha. From 1999 through 2006, the denudation area declined to 113.36 ha, which indicates that about 47.44% of the landslide has been restored. Based on terrain analysis for the denudation sites, the debris volumes at the collapsed and deposited areas are 31,896,667 m³ and 39,537,067 m³, respectively. The large amount of debris blocked two streams, the Satsikenghsi and the Chiutsaihuhsi, to form two landslide-dammed lakes. The annual erosion depth soon after the earthquake reached 22.07 mm, about 3.59 times as high as pre-quake. Without vegetation cover on the topsoil, the denudation sites became high-erosion areas during subsequent typhoon seasons. However, with landslide restoration, annual soil erosion depth prediction has reduced to 13.54 mm, about 2.21 times as high as pre-quake. In addition, the assessment of landscape patch indicators also points out the heterogeneity and the degree of richness of the landscape due to vegetation recovery at the landslide area. The analyzed results show that nature itself has a robust ability to restore its original landscape and mitigate disaster impacts for the destroyed eco-environment.     

Estimates of Lost Material Stock of Buildings and Roads Due to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

This article describes research conducted for the Japanese government in the wake of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. In this study, material stock analysis (MSA) is used to examine the losses of building and infrastructure materials after this disaster. Estimates of the magnitude of material stock that has lost its social function as a result of a disaster can indicate the quantities required for reconstruction, help garner a better understanding of the volumes of waste flows generated by that disaster, and also help in the course of policy deliberations in the recovery of disaster‐stricken areas. Calculations of the lost building and road materials in the five prefectures most affected were undertaken. Analysis in this study is based on the use of geographical information systems (GIS) databases and statistics; it aims to (1) describe in spatial terms what construction materials were lost, (2) estimate the amount of infrastructure material needed to rehabilitate disaster areas, and (3) indicate the amount of lost material stock that should be taken into consideration during government policy deliberations. Our analysis concludes that the material stock losses of buildings and road infrastructure are 31.8  and 2.1 million tonnes, respectively. This research approach and the use of spatial MSA can be useful for urban planners and may also convey more appropriate information about disposal based on the work of municipalities in disaster‐afflicted areas.     

四川省九寨沟县地震前后区域生态环境质量评价

基于地理信息系统和遥感数据处理软件平台,对四川省阿坝藏族羌族自治州九寨沟县在2017年8·8地震前后的生态环境质量进行了监测和分析。利用Landsat 8 OLI卫星传感器所获得的2016年(震前)和2017年(震后)的遥感影像数据,提取归一化植被指数、湿度分量、地表温度、归一化土壤指数分别作为绿度、湿度、热度、干度等4个指标,进行主成分分析得到遥感生态指数。根据该指数,可将九寨沟县生态环境质量状况分为优、良、中等、较差和差级。2016年九寨沟县有24.8%处于生态环境质量状况优,2017年震后则下降到19.84%,2017年生态环境质量状况较差和中等的面积占比呈增加趋势,分别占17.99%和33.93%;震中15.5 km缓冲区内生态环境质量状况优的面积占比下降最多,为5.01%;2017年8·8九寨沟地震对震中15.5 km缓冲区的生态环境质量状况有较明显的影响,县界内的三个自然保护区中九寨沟国家级自然保护区受到冲击最大。本研究可为九寨沟地区生态环境监测、灾害评价和恢复重建提供科学依据。     

Effects of the Higashi-Nihon earthquake: posttraumatic stress, psychological changes, and cortisol levels of survivors

On March 11, 2011, the Pacific side of Japan's northeast was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. For years, many researchers have been working on ways of examining the psychological effects of earthquakes on survivors in disaster areas who have experienced aftershocks, catastrophic fires, and other damage caused by the earthquake. The goal of this study is to examine scores on psychological measures and salivary cortisol level in these individuals both before and three months after the earthquake. The participants had been measured for these variables before the earthquake. After the earthquake, we carried out PTSD screening using CAPS for participants for another experiment, and then again conducted the aforementioned tests. We collected saliva samples from all survivors. Our results show that social relationship scores on the WHO-QOL26, negative mood scores of the WHO-SUBI, total GHQ score, POMS confusion scores, and CMI emotional status score after the earthquake showed scores indicating significantly decreased compared to before the earthquake. On the other hand, salivary cortisol levels after the earthquake was significantly increased compared to before the earthquake. Moreover, the result of a multiple regression analysis found that negative mood score on the WHO-SUBI and social relationship score on the WHO-QOL26 were significantly related to salivary cortisol levels. Our results thus demonstrate that several psychological stress induced by the earthquake was associated with an increase in salivary cortisol levels. These results show similar findings to previous study. We anticipate that this study will provide a better understanding of posttraumatic responses in the early stages of adaptation to the trauma and expand effective prevention strategies and countermeasures for PTSD.     

Pre-Positioning Disaster Response Facilities and Relief Items

ABSTRACT

Large-scale disasters cause enormous damage to people living in the affected areas. Providing relief quickly to the affected is a critical issue in recovering the effects of a disaster. Pre-disaster planning has an important role on reducing the arrival time of relief items to the affected areas and efficiently allocating them. In this study, a mixed integer programming model is proposed in order to pre-position warehouses throughout a potential affected area and determine the amount of relief items to be held in those warehouses. Time between the strike of the disaster and arrival of relief items at the affected areas is aimed to be minimized. In addition, using probabilistic constraints, the model ensures that relief items arrive at affected areas within a certain time window with certain reliability. Considering instable fault lines on which Istanbul is located, the proposed model is applied to the Istanbul case for pre-positioning warehouses a priori to the possible expected large-scale earthquake.     

东南亚沿海与内陆植被对洪水事件响应的稳定性差异

为探讨东南亚沿海与内陆地区植被对洪水事件的响应差异,基于东南亚2000-2018年MODIS卫星遥感数据和洪水数据,通过比较东南亚洪水发生区域,共确定自2000年来影响最大、破坏程度相近的2个沿海洪水事件、2个内陆洪水事件以及1个沿海内陆洪水事件。以Google Earth Engine为数据处理平台,利用Sen+Mann-Kendall趋势法分析了2000-2018年研究区NDVI变化,发现5个研究区19年间NDVI均呈现出上升趋势,平均增速为0.013/10a,沿海与内陆植被在时空演变格局上无明显差异;基于灾害植被破坏指数的分析发现,内陆与沿海植被在洪水影响下的植被破坏指数分别为0.29与-0.25,植被破坏面积分别占比为14.29%与18.11%,内陆植被破坏程度小于沿海地区。同时,排除人类干扰强烈的耕地与人造地表,沿海研究区植被生态系统对洪水事件的抵抗力指数为88.15,明显强于内陆地区的28.89。草地表现出最强的抵抗力,其次为林地;而在植被恢复力方面,表现出相反的趋势。人类活动影响降低了内陆地区洪水灾害对植被的破坏。研究东南亚沿海与内陆植被对单次洪水事件的差异响应,排除内陆与沿海地区洪水事件累计影响,能够为东南亚沿海与内陆植被抵抗洪水灾害提出有针对性的建议。     

基于牧户尺度的草原火灾风险评价——以东乌旗汗敖包嘎查为例

草原火灾给牧区人民生命财产及牧区生境带来了严重的威胁。以牧区村落汗敖包嘎查为例,从牧户微观尺度出发,基于实地调查获取的牧民社会经济数据,并结合气象和遥感数据,运用自然灾害风险指数法、主成分分析法和加权综合法构建了汗敖包嘎查草原火灾风险评价指标体系,获取了汗敖包嘎查草原火灾风险分布图。结果表明：汗敖包嘎查草原火灾风险从中部地区向四周递减,西北部地区风险高于东部、南部地区,中、高风险区占研究区总面积的49.85%。研究结果从微观尺度为草原火灾风险评价提供了新的视角和参考。     

Impact of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake on biodiversity and giant panda habitat in Wolong Nature Reserve,China

Natural disasters such as earthquakes have profound effects on the earth’s biodiversity. However, studies on immediate earthquake impacts are rarely conducted at fine scales due to logistical constraints. We conducted the first post-earthquake field survey in Wolong Nature Reserve, Wenchuan, China, less than 1 year after it was hit by a magnitude 8.0 earthquake in 2008. Since Wolong harbors approximately 10% of the endangered wild giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) population, the impact of the earthquake on the giant panda and its habitat is of particular concern. We established 15 transects in three focus areas within the Reserve where we classified occurrences of earthquake damage according to vegetation and geophysical characteristics. In the 11.2 km² area sampled, we recorded 156 occurrences of earthquake damage consisting of landslides and mudflows, which comprised a total area of 0.88 km². Of all earthquake damage occurrences sampled, only 36% of occurences (73% of surface area) corresponded to damaged areas previously detected through broad-scale remote sensing. The remaining damaged areas mainly consisted of occurrences too small to be detected without field observation. Although there were significant losses to tree and shrub species diversity and richness in earthquake-damaged areas, remnant vegetation was found in the majority (80%) of damaged areas, suggesting the potential for forest recovery. Most earthquake-damaged areas were too steep to be classified as suitable giant panda habitat (79%). In addition, a sizable number of signs of giant panda (67) and other wildlife (148) were observed near the earthquake-damaged areas, and there appeared to be avoidance of earthquake damage only at short-range distances. This study has implications for understanding the impact of natural disasters on biodiversity and highlights the importance of fine scale on-the-ground assessments of disaster impacts on wildlife and their habitats.     

汶川地震诱发次生地质灾害危险性综合评价——以崇州市为例

汶川地震引发大量次生地质灾害.为识别不同区域发生次生地质灾害的危险性,采用面积加权灾害点密度(HCA)作为指标,分析多种地质灾害诱发因子与灾害程度的对应关系,应用因子分析法实现灾害危险性综合评价,并划分为5个危险性等级.结果表明:基本安全区占总面积的53.61%,多分布于东部平原地区;低危险区多分布于中部丘陵地区;中度...     

汶川大地震灾后不同滑坡体上柏木体内非结构性碳水化合物的特性

"5.12"汶川大地震不仅直接摧毁森林17.3万hm2,还通过对土壤和林内生境的剧烈改变对现存森林造成潜在威胁。以地震重灾区北川的主要分布树种柏木为研究对象,在2009年6月初(夏初)和10月初(秋季)两个时期,对不同类型柏木林的叶、枝、根可溶性糖和淀粉含量进行测定分析,旨在认识震后初期柏木对逆境胁迫的生理响应,为研究大地震对植物体内碳水化合物的影响和对逆境的适应性提供科学依据。结果表明:地震对柏木体内碳水化合物的含量有较大影响,总体表现为严重滑坡类型具有较高的可溶性糖含量,较低的根系淀粉含量。夏初严重滑坡类型柏木叶、枝、根可溶性糖含量分别为(11.44±1.08)%、(4.64±0.42)%、(5.48±0.51)%。就不同器官而言,可溶性糖含量叶>根>枝,淀粉含量叶>枝>根;夏初碳水化合物含量均高于秋季,且仅叶片可溶性糖和淀粉含量在不同季节存在显著性差异(P<0.05),说明柏木叶片对地震反应最为敏感。地震带来的灾害如山体滑坡等对植物的生理活动产生巨大影响,不利于林木生长。     

Castor oil: a vital industrial raw material

Even though castor oil is inedible, it has long been an article of commerce. This is, in large measure, due to the versatility of the oil. This article discusses the extraction of castor oil and its refining methods and reviews the industrial applications of the oil. Since castor oil is not edible, it could be substituted in many industrial application areas where edible oils are used. An awareness of the various uses of the oil can be used to make a strong case for an increase in its production as a vital raw material for the chemical industries.     

基于小波变换的卧龙国家级自然保护区植被时空变化分析

提出一种基于小波变换从长时间序列、大范围遥感数据中快速、自动化检测植被动态变化的方法。以MODIS 500m空间分辨率,16d合成的NDVI数据为数据源,对受到2008年5月12日汶川地震严重影响的卧龙国家级自然保护区内2003年至2012年的植被动态变化进行时空分析,为保护生态多样性及生态系统的稳定性提供依据。研究表明:1)地震后保护区内植被指数减少的面积大范围增加,且波动较震前更为明显,统计分析结果能够更为直观地反映地震及其次生灾害等极端现象对该地区植被的破坏程度;2)保护区内植被指数极值变化多发生在夏季或秋季,较低海拔地区极值变化多发生在夏季,而在高海拔地区则多发生在秋季;3)在大熊猫最适宜栖息的区域(2600—2800m)植被指数极值减少量大于0.4的范围大于增加量大于0.4的范围,反映出植被在震后的恢复状况并没达到理想的水平。同时发现在该海拔区域范围内植被指数减少的面积在春夏两季较大,表明在该时间段卧龙地区大熊猫最适宜生存区域的植被情况较为不稳定,需更为关注其动态,采取适当的保护措施。     

Oil pollution and climate have wide-scale impacts on seabird demographics

Oil spills often spell disaster for marine birds caught in slicks. However, the impact of oil pollution on seabird population parameters is poorly known because oil spills usually occur in wintering areas remote from breeding colonies where birds may be distributed over a wide area, and because it is difficult to separate the effects of oil pollution from the effect of natural environmental variation on seabird populations. Using a long-term data set we show that over-winter survival of adult common guillemots (Uria aalge) is negatively affected by both the incidence of four major oil-spills in their wintering grounds and high values of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. After controlling for the effect of the NAO index, we show that winter mortality of adult guillemots is doubled by major oil pollution incidents. Our results demonstrate that oil pollution can have wide-scale impacts on marine ecosystems that can be quantified using populations of marked individuals to estimate survival.     

Quality of Life, Physical Diseases, and Psychological Impairment among Survivors 3 Years after Wenchuan Earthquake: A Population Based Survey

Background

Few research studies have addressed the long-term effects caused by catastrophes, and no study has ever explored the life quality, physical diseases, and psychological impairment of earthquake survivors at the same time. This study seeks to reveal survivors'' quality of life, physical diseases, and mental health.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted through multi-stage sampling approach three years after the Wenchuan earthquake.

Results

A total of 2525 subjects were interviewed. Symptoms of PTSD were reported by 8.8% of the respondents from the seriously affected areas and 0.5%, the less hit areas. Prevalence of chronic diseases was 39.2% and 22.1% respectively, and two-week prevalence rate, 24.9% and 12.7% respectively. In the multivariate analysis, two-week prevalence, displacement, no regular income, receiving mental health support after the disaster, family members died or missing, injured due to the quake, and person who witnessed someone being killed or injured were independently associated with higher prevalence for symptoms of PTSD. Most subscales of SF-12 negatively correlated with age, chronic diseases, two-week prevalence, injured due to the disaster, home or property loss, and score of the 3-year PTSD symptoms, but positively correlated with higher education and higher household income.

Conclusions

The rates of physical diseases and symptoms of PTSD were relatively high, and the quality of life was poor among victims in the hard-hit areas 3 years after the earthquake. Physical impairment correlated with symptom of PTSD, and both were negatively associated with quality of life.     

Automated Hazard Assessment Techniques Using Satellite Images Following the 2008 Sichuan China Earthquake

Rapid seismic hazard assessment is crucial for accurate damage estimation right after earthquakes. New technologies provide faster damage detection compared to the traditional, manual assessments. One of the new technologies includes using satellite images. Pre- and post-earthquake satellite images can be used to identify damage patterns. One of the recent disastrous earthquakes occurred in Sichuan (M_w = 7.9) on May 12, 2008. Records show that 5 million buildings have collapsed, and more than 21 million buildings were damaged. This article presents an approach for earthquake hazard assessment using a change detection method applied to pre- and post-earthquake satellite imagery of Sichuan. The damage inspection for the identified areas was carried out performing image analysis of the pre- and post-event satellite images. In this study, a novel automated image analysis technique was developed to assess the impact of the earthquake on the flooding of the area's rivers as well as the tectonic movement of mountains. The technique was used to quantify the flooding and movement of mountains in Sichuan right after the earthquake. The proposed methodology utilizes satellite images and may potentially be used as a rapid procedure to quantify damage soon after an earthquake.     

New baseline environmental assessment of mosquito ecology in northern Haiti during increased urbanization

The catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti, led to the large‐scale displacement of over 2.3 million people, resulting in rapid and unplanned urbanization in northern Haiti. This study evaluated the impact of this unplanned urbanization on mosquito ecology and vector‐borne diseases by assessing land use and change patterns. Land‐use classification and change detection were carried out on remotely sensed images of the area for 2010 and 2013. Change detection identified areas that went from agricultural, forest, or bare‐land pre‐earthquake to newly developed and urbanized areas post‐earthquake. Areas to be sampled for mosquito larvae were subsequently identified. Mosquito collections comprised five genera and ten species, with the most abundant species being Culex quinquefasciatus 35% (304/876), Aedes albopictus 27% (238/876), and Aedes aegypti 20% (174/876). All three species were more prevalent in urbanized and newly urbanized areas. Anopheles albimanus, the predominate malaria vector, accounted for less than 1% (8/876) of the collection. A set of spectral indices derived from the recently launched Landsat 8 satellite was used as covariates in a species distribution model. The indices were used to produce probability surfaces maps depicting the likelihood of presence of the three most abundant species within 30 m pixels. Our findings suggest that the rapid urbanization following the 2010 earthquake has increased the amount of area with suitable habitats for urban mosquitoes, likely influencing mosquito ecology and posing a major risk of introducing and establishing emerging vector‐borne diseases.     

Theoretical Analysis of the Mechanism of Fracture Network Propagation with Stimulated Reservoir Volume (SRV) Fracturing in Tight Oil Reservoirs

Stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) fracturing in tight oil reservoirs often induces complex fracture-network growth, which has a fundamentally different formation mechanism from traditional planar bi-winged fracturing. To reveal the mechanism of fracture network propagation, this paper employs a modified displacement discontinuity method (DDM), mechanical mechanism analysis and initiation and propagation criteria for the theoretical model of fracture network propagation and its derivation. A reasonable solution of the theoretical model for a tight oil reservoir is obtained and verified by a numerical discrete method. Through theoretical calculation and computer programming, the variation rules of formation stress fields, hydraulic fracture propagation patterns (FPP) and branch fracture propagation angles and pressures are analyzed. The results show that during the process of fracture propagation, the initial orientation of the principal stress deflects, and the stress fields at the fracture tips change dramatically in the region surrounding the fracture. Whether the ideal fracture network can be produced depends on the geological conditions and on the engineering treatments. This study has both theoretical significance and practical application value by contributing to a better understanding of fracture network propagation mechanisms in unconventional oil/gas reservoirs and to the improvement of the science and design efficiency of reservoir fracturing.     

Phylogenetic analysis of a biofilm bacterial population in a water pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico

The aim of this study was to assess the bacterial diversity associated with a corrosive biofilm in a steel pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico used to inject marine water into the oil reservoir. Several aerobic and heterotrophic bacteria were isolated and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Metagenomic DNA was also extracted to perform a denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of ribosomal genes and to construct a 16S rRNA gene metagenomic library. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles and ribosomal libraries exhibited a limited bacterial diversity. Most of the species detected in the ribosomal library or isolated from the pipeline were assigned to Proteobacteria (Halomonas spp., Idiomarina spp., Marinobacter aquaeolei, Thalassospira sp., Silicibacter sp. and Chromohalobacter sp.) and Bacilli (Bacillus spp. and Exiguobacterium spp.). This is the first report that associates some of these bacteria with a corrosive biofilm. It is relevant that no sulfate-reducing bacteria were isolated or detected by a PCR-based method. The diversity and relative abundance of bacteria from water pipeline biofilms may contribute to an understanding of the complexity and mechanisms of metal corrosion during marine water injection in oil secondary recovery.