Science of Tsunami Hazards (Aug 2018)

EVALUATION OF THE TSUNAMI VULNERABILITY IN THE COASTAL ECUADORIAN TOURIST CENTERS OF THE PENINSULAS OF BAHIA DE CARÁQUEZ AND SALINAS

  • Andres Sebastian Matheus-Medina,
  • Theofilos Toulkeridis,
  • Oswaldo Padilla-Almeida,
  • Mario Cruz-D ́Howitt,
  • Kervin Chunga

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 37, no. 3
pp. 175 – 209

Abstract

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Potential occurrences of tsunamis are the main coastal hazards for the highly touristic peninsulas of Bahía de Caráquez and Salinas in Ecuador. Their hotel infrastructure is of top quality, in addition to having a significant population density at the natonal level. The current study aims to identify the vulnerabilities of the population in order to reduce the tsunami hazard level, and to protect the physical integrity of the present population. Thus, in both cities we have obtained results about the vulnerabilities of basic services, socioeconomic, structural characteristics, community organization and communal services, risk perception as well as communication channels with their respective maps that allow their spatial location. The overall vulnerability results of the conducted analysis demonstrated that there is a medium to high vulnerability for the population of Salinas while Bahía de Caráquez the vulnerability is medium to low. Vulnerability for basic services has a high value of about 80%, while the socioeconomic vulnerability is of about 60%, in both cities. The structural characteristics of the two cities are quite different. Salinas is considered an area of higher surplus value with earthquake-resistant buildings and quality construction materials, a fact almost absent in Bahía de Caráquez, in their respective piers. While within the study areas the predominant structural characteristics are of a modest nature, both from the point of view of movable property and as construction materials. Therefore, the vulnerability for the two cities based on infrastructure ismedium to high (60-80%). The community organization and communal services in both cities have a low vulnerability value (40%). The vulnerability of risk perception in Salinas is low (40%) while in Bahía de Caráquez it has a very high vulnerability (100%). Vulnerability by means of communication in the two cities reaches a very low value (20%), due to the fact that the road network is in optimal conditions.

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