Understanding Community-Level Flooding Awareness in Remote Coastal Towns in Northern Chile through Community Mapping
Carlota Cubelos,
A. H. T. Shyam Kularathna,
Ven Paolo Bruno Valenzuela,
Nikolaos Iliopoulos,
Marco Quiroz,
Ramon Yavar,
Pedro Henriquez,
Gonzalo Bacigalupe,
Motoharu Onuki,
Takahito Mikami,
Rodrigo Cienfuegos,
Rafael Aranguiz,
Miguel Esteban
Affiliations
Carlota Cubelos
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science–Global Leadership Initiative, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Building of Environmental Studies, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa City 277-8563, Japan
A. H. T. Shyam Kularathna
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science–Global Leadership Initiative, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Building of Environmental Studies, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa City 277-8563, Japan
Ven Paolo Bruno Valenzuela
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science–Global Leadership Initiative, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Building of Environmental Studies, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa City 277-8563, Japan
Nikolaos Iliopoulos
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science–Global Leadership Initiative, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Building of Environmental Studies, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa City 277-8563, Japan
Marco Quiroz
Departmento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Escuela de Ingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile
Ramon Yavar
Departmento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Escuela de Ingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile
Pedro Henriquez
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción 4090541, Chile
Gonzalo Bacigalupe
Centro de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada del Riesgo de Desastres, (CIGIDEN), Santiago 7820436, Chile
Motoharu Onuki
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science–Global Leadership Initiative, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Building of Environmental Studies, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa City 277-8563, Japan
Takahito Mikami
Department of Urban and Civil Engineering, Tokyo City University, Tokyo 158-8557, Japan
Rodrigo Cienfuegos
Departmento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Escuela de Ingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile
Rafael Aranguiz
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción 4090541, Chile
Miguel Esteban
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Waseda University, 60-106, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
In 2015 and 2017 unusual ocean and atmospheric conditions produced many years’ worth of rainfall in short periods over Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, resulting in catastrophic flooding in the town of Chañaral. However, the town is not only at risk of fluvial flooding, it is also at risk of tsunamis. Through a community mapping exercise, the authors attempted to establish the level of community awareness about tsunamis, and contrasted it with that of other types of water-related hazards facing the town (namely that of flooding due to high intensity rain). This was then compared with the results of field surveys and tsunami hazard simulations, indicating than overall the community appears to have better awareness than authorities about the threat posed by these types of events. The authors thus concluded that in cases when the community has a high level of hazard awareness (which in the case of Chile was the result of traditional knowledge being transmitted from previous generations) it would be advantageous to include them in discussions on how to improve disaster resilience.
