Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Assessment of a Cliff: the Case of the Costa Verde Cliffs in Lima, Peru

Abstract

Currently, the world has undergone structural, geographic and morphological changes that are generated by physical, chemical and biological agents. Thus, this research evaluated the degree of vulnerability and risk in the cliffs of the Costa Verde in Lima - Peru, determining and identifying risk levels and scenarios. For the evaluation, field data was collected using the observation technique at 35 points in the study area comprising the districts of San Miguel (zone 1, Z1), Magdalena del Mar (zone 2, Z2), San Isidro (zone 3, Z3), Miraflores (zone 4, Z4), Barranco (zone 5, Z5) and Chorrillos (zone 6, Z6), and its analysis was carried out according to the manual of the National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI). The field evaluation identified 6 hazard scenarios such as rock falls, earthquakes, construction, environmental contamination, lack of vegetation and soil quality, which were analyzed according to their causes and consequences. From this, it was obtained that Z1, Z2, Z4 and Z6 present a high level of danger with values of 54.31, 54.17, 51.53 and 59.17%, respectively. Meanwhile, Z3 and Z5 present a medium level of danger with values of 40.28 and 48.61%, respectively. On the other hand, the vulnerability analysis showed values of 61.69% (high vulnerability), 53.08% (high vulnerability), 33.89% (medium vulnerability), 42.04% (medium vulnerability), 64.57% (high vulnerability) and 68.26% (high vulnerability) for Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5 and Z6, respectively. Therefore, in the absence of an assessment of all the districts that are close to the cliffs of the Costa Verde, the study provided plans and strategies to minimize and prevent the impacts that could be generated by natural and/or anthropogenic disasters.