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Residents in Álftaver are very familiar with the 1918 Katla eruption, which caused rapid and catastrophic glacial outburst flooding of the area. Descriptions of the 1918 events, passed down by older generations, have become an important part of the collective memory. Based on oral and written history, this paper provides a vivid account, including detailed maps, of what people experienced and felt during the 1918 Katla eruption. It also considers how these experiences influence current-day perceptions and the impact this may have on behaviour in relation to emergency response strategies. Until now, much of this history has only been accessible in Icelandic text and through oral stories. The aim of this paper is to unlock these stories for an international audience in an effort to advance understanding of volcanic eruptions and their impacts and, inform future emergency planning. Importantly, these descriptions tell us about the nature of the glacial outburst flood, with a ‘pre-flood’ devoid of ice and travelling at a much faster rate than the ice-laden main flood. As a future eruption of Katla may impact Álftaver, emergency response plans for glacial outburst floods were developed, and in March 2006 preliminary plans were tested in a full-scale evacuation exercise involving residents and emergency response groups. But Álftaver residents questioned the plans and were reluctant to follow evacuation orders during the exercise, as they felt their knowledge and the experience of their relatives during the 1918 Katla eruption, had not been taken into consideration. Residents were concerned that flood hazards, as well as tephra and lightning, were not appropriately accounted for by officials. In response to residents’ concerns, officials developed an alternative evacuation plan (Plan B) that builds on some of the experience and knowledge of Álftaver residents. However, residents were not involved in the development of ‘Plan B’ and they are not aware of what it constitutes or when it is to be implemented. This paper argues that more needs to be done to promote inclusive dialogue and the co-production of knowledge to ensure emergency response strategies adequately reflect and accommodate local knowledge, perspectives and planned behaviour.

Residents in Álftaver, south Iceland, are very familiar with the 1918 Katla volcanic eruption, which caused rapid and catastrophic glacial outburst flooding of the area. Descriptions of the 1918 events, passed down by older generations, have become an important part of the collective memory. Based on oral and written history, this paper provides a vivid account, including detailed maps, of what people experienced and felt during the 1918 Katla eruption. It also considers how these experiences influence current-day perceptions and the impact this may have on behavior in relation to emergency response strategies. Until now, much of this history has only been accessible in Icelandic text and through oral stories. The aim of this paper is to unlock these stories for an international audience in an effort to advance understanding of volcanic eruptions and their impacts and, inform future emergency planning. Importantly, these descriptions tell us about the nature of the glacial outburst flood, with a ‘pre-flood’ devoid of ice and travelling at a much faster rate than the ice-laden main flood. As a future eruption of Katla may impact Álftaver, emergency response plans for glacial outburst floods were developed, and in March 2006 preliminary plans were tested in a full-scale evacuation exercise involving residents and emergency response groups. But Álftaver residents questioned the plans and were reluctant to follow evacuation orders during the exercise, as they felt their knowledge and the experience of their relatives during the 1918 Katla eruption, had not been taken into consideration. Residents were concerned that flood hazards, as well as tephra and lightning, were not appropriately accounted for by officials. In response to residents’ concerns, officials developed an alternative evacuation plan (Plan B) that builds on some of the experience and knowledge of Álftaver residents. However, residents were not involved in the development of ‘Plan B’ and they are not aware of what it constitutes or when it is to be implemented. This paper argues that more needs to be done to promote inclusive dialogue and the co-production of knowledge to ensure emergency response strategies adequately reflect and accommodate local knowledge, perspectives and planned behavior.

This open access book provides worldwide examples demonstrating the importance of the interplay between demography and disasters in regions and spatially. It marks an advance in practical and theoretical insights for understanding the role of demography in planning for and mitigating impacts from disasters in developed nations. Both slow onset (like the of loss polar ice from climate change) and sudden disasters (such as cyclones and man-made disasters) have the capacity to fundamentally change the profiles of populations at local and regional levels. Impacts vary according to the type, rapidity and magnitude of the disaster, but also according to the pre-existing population profile and its relationships to the economy and society. In all cases, the key to understanding impacts and avoiding them in the future is to understand the relationships between disasters and population change. In most chapters in this book we compare and contrast studies from at least two cases and summarize their practical and theoretical lessons.

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), Community resilience is often assessed in disaster risk management (DRM) research and it has been argued that it should be strengthened for more robust DRM. However, the term community is seldom precisely defined and it can be understood in many ways. We argue that it is crucial to explore the concept of community within the context of DRM in more detail. We identify three dominating views of conceptualizing community (place-based community, interaction-based community, community of practice and interest), and discuss the relevance of these conceptualizations. We base this discussion on quantitative and qualitative empirical and policy document data regarding flood and storm risk management in Finland, wildfire risk management in Norway and volcanic risk management Iceland. According to our results, all three conceptualizations of community are visible but in differing situations. Our results emphasize the strong role of public sector in DRM in the studied countries. In disaster preparedness and response, a professionalized community of practice and interest appear to be the most prominent within all three countries. The interaction-based community of informal social networks is of less relevance, although its role is more visible in disaster response and recovery. The place-based (local) community is visible in some of the policy documents, but otherwise its role is rather limited. Finally, we argue that the measured resilience of a community depends on how the community is conceptualized and operationalized, and that the measures to strengthen resilience of a particular community should be different depending on what the focal community is., This article is a deliverable of the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Resilience and Societal Security (NORDRESS), which is funded by the Nordic Societal Security Programme. We also acknowledge the support of Grant 235490 , funded by the KLIMAFORSK program at the Research Council of Norway .

Local sociality, which is local people's everyday lives in and with their community, influences recovery in disaster-affected communities. This paper examines recovery in four disaster-impacted communities. In the two Australian examples rural communities were impacted by the 2011 Queensland floods. The two Japanese communities discussed suffered in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and, in one case, from radiation contamination arising from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. We argue that local sociality is often poorly understood by external parties such as disaster recovery experts and agencies. The Japanese planning concept of machizukuri – literally “creating communities” – incorporates physical, structural and social aspects in urban planning practices and was successfully applied to recovery processes in one of the Japanese cases. Drawing on that case, the paper concludes that machizukuri offers a valuable tool to foster better consideration of local sociality – both pre- and post-disaster – as an intrinsic component of communities’ vulnerability and resilience.

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), The Bureau of Meteorology has a mandate to issue warnings for weather and climate events that are likely to result in harm and loss. This service has been delivered in an end-to-end (science to service) context and warnings messages have typically been crafted to describe the current and predicted future state of the environment and recommended protective actions. However, the warnings landscape is evolving and Australian governments and emergency management agencies are adopting rapidly diversifying roles in a range of warnings processes. This evolution coincides with the shift in international strategies: from the mitigation and crisis management approach to the emphasis on building community resilience. Following a number of severe weather-related events that resulted in serious losses a series of Australian inquiries, reviews and social research investigated warnings efficacy. This included the National Review of Warnings and Information for Australia, with a recommendation suggesting that a Total Warning System concept be more formally considered across multiple hazards, rather than just flood, as it currently stands. Consequently, Australian warnings agencies are embracing a more people-centred approach recognising the need for messages to include detail of likely impact alongside an implied level of risk. Thus, developing capability to deliver impact forecasting and risk-based warnings services in a multi (natural) hazard context. With a key focus on flood, fire and tropical cyclone, this paper reviews international and national warnings policy documents and social research and explores the evidence-based evolution of warning services with respect to the Total Warning System concept., Deanne Bird has been supported by the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Resilience and Societal Security – NORDRESS, which is funded by the Nordic Societal Security Programme.

This paper documents the analysis of the circumstances surrounding fatalities due to flooding in Australia between 1900 and 2015. This longitudinal investigation is important to understand changing trends in social vulnerability and to inform efficient and strategic risk reduction strategies. The basis of this analysis was PerilAUS, Risk Frontiers’ database of historical natural hazard impacts in Australia. This data was augmented and verified using coronial inquest records which provide detailed data concerning the social, demographic and environmental circumstances of each fatality. A statistical analysis of the data was undertaken, examining demographics (age, gender), location (state), seasonality, circumstances surrounding the fatality, environmental factors (e.g. the event intensity) and social factors (e.g. the decisions or actions which led to death). Overall there have been 1859 fatalities identified, with distinct trends in relation to gender, age, activity and reason behind the activity. Flood deaths have been declining. The majority of the fatalities are male (79.3%): however, since the 1960s the proportion of female to male fatalities has increased. Children and young adults (, This research was funded by a research grant from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC). Ethical approval for the project was granted from the Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee, reference no. 5201400073.

There has been a recent increase in the body of knowledge related to children and disasters. These studies converge into three main fields of research: the impact of disasters on children and their psychological recovery, the integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the education sectors and children’s participation in DRR. This article provides a literature review of the two latter fields of research where the focus is on reducing disaster losses and building resilience prior to a disaster. Overall, 48 studies are critically reviewed and compared in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of their aims, methods, locations of research, impact, and outcomes. The review identified a number of differences between the two fields and significant opportunities for linking the two approaches, sharing lessons and knowledge. Based on the review, recommendations for further research are outlined.

Since the early 1990s archaeologists have suggested archaeological and cultural heritage sites (cultural sites) will face major challenges from anthropogenic climate change. While techniques to manage such impacts are emerging, no planning tools exist for bottom-up, community-based management of the issue. This paper forms part of an overarching research project that aims to fill this gap by developing a bottom-up planning guide (the Guide). The paper tests the first of the proposed Guide’s five phases: the scoping phase. It presents the results of workshops conducted with two Australian Indigenous rangers groups. While existing studies document Indigenous peoples’ perceptions of climate change in general, none have focussed on their perceptions of impacts on cultural heritage sites. Here, Indigenous rangers related strong perceptions of particular climate change impacts on specific cultural sites in particular bio-regions. While the rangers were actively engaged with sites, they felt site managem...

This article investigates the implementation of disaster risk reduction education for children in Indonesia. In the last decade, education programmes related to this subject have been promoted as capable of reducing disaster losses and increasing resilience, based on several studies that have identified positive outcomes. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate and address any potential challenges that might impede their success. The article uses a case study in Jakarta, a rapidly growing megacity that is highly prone to disasters and natural hazards, especially floods and fires, to explore the scaling up and sustainability of disaster risk reduction in Indonesian schools. Based on previous studies, a new approach was developed for evaluating the implementation of education programmes related to these subjects. This study captured the perspectives of children, school personnel, and non-governmental organisations on the challenges of scaling up the implementation of disaster risk reduction education in schools. The study revealed seven key issues and suggests several policy recommendations to move forward. These key issues may also be apparent in many other developing and developed countries, and the suggested recommendations may well be applicable beyond Indonesia., This research was funded by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC), Macquarie University, and Risk Frontiers. We gratefully acknowledge those who participated in this research - the children, school personnel, and NGO colleagues from SDN Kembangan Selatan 1 Pagi Jakarta, the Provincial Education Office and the Disaster Management Agency of DKI Jakarta, the Consortium for Disaster Education - who provided their wisdom and insights for this research.

Hundreds of thousands of significant archaeological and cultural heritage sites (cultural sites) along the coasts of every continent are threatened by sea level rise, and many will be destroyed. This wealth of artefacts and monuments testifies to human history, cosmology and identity. While cultural sites are especially important to local and Indigenous communities, a stall in coordinated global action means adaptation at a local scale is often unsupported. In response, this paper produces a practical climate change risk analysis methodology designed for independent, community-scale management of cultural sites. It builds on existing methods that prioritise sites most at risk from climate impacts, proposing a field survey that integrates an assessment of the relative cultural value of sites with assessment of exposure and sensitivity to climate impacts. The field survey also stands as a monitoring program and complements an assessment of organisational adaptive capacity. The preliminary field survey was tested by Indigenous land managers in remote northern Australia at midden and rock art sites threatened by sea level rise, extreme flood events and a range of non-climactic hazards. A participatory action research methodology—incorporating planning workshops, semi-structured interviews and participant observations—gave rise to significant modifications to the preliminary field survey as well as management prioritisation of 120 sites. The field survey is anticipated to have global application, particularly among marginalised and remote Indigenous communities. Well-planned and informed participation, with community control, monitoring and well-informed actions, will contribute significantly to coordinated global and regional adaptation strategies.

In January 2011, Brisbane, Australia, experienced its first significant flooding in almost four decades. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire conducted in four affected inner western suburbs 7 months after the flood. These locations were specifically chosen as the residents within these communities come from a range of demographic, social, and economic backgrounds. The research utilised a mixed methods approach involving a quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interviews. This paper examines residents’ experience of the flood, their thoughts on risk reduction and insurance, what factors helped or hindered response and adaptation to flood risk, and how to articulate shared responsibility for reducing flood risk. Assessing gender, age, income, and previous flood experience, it finds that those with previous flood experience were more likely to have flood insurance but less likely to have taken precautions to prepare for the flood. While almost three-quarters of respondents said they were aware of the flood risk when they moved to the area, they were nonetheless surprised by and largely unprepared for the 2011 flood. The implications of these findings for future flood risk reduction are discussed.

Providing accurate and timely hazard warnings to residents in Iceland is a difficult task despite authorities being familiar with the at-risk population. A more challenging task is communicating that same information with a transient population i.e., the increasing number of tourists who visit Iceland and engage in activities on and around Iceland's volcanoes. Increased tourism results in greater numbers of tourists exposed to potentially harmful and life-threatening situations. To enhance awareness of these potential situations, authorities rely on risk communication initiatives. This paper examines people's perceptions and beliefs with respect to risk communication initiatives and, behaviour in volcanic environments. Data informing this research was captured through focus group discussions, interviews and questionnaire surveys in a longitudinal study conducted from 2009 to 2017 and involved a range of stakeholders: tourists, tour guides and operators, local police, government officials, rescue team members, local residents and, disaster risk reduction academics, practitioners and professionals. The aims of interrogating these datasets are to: 1) identify whether risk communication initiatives are enhancing or have the potential to enhance tourists' safety and 2) provide evidence-based recommendations to inform the continual improvement of risk communication strategies within the tourism sector. This work is critical given the economic significance of tourism in Iceland and the frequency of volcanic eruptions and other natural hazard events. The results suggest that while these initiatives are reaching some people, they are not accessible to the majority and are therefore ineffective, in their current form, at enhancing tourists' safety. The results also show that tourists are generally not risk averse, highlighting the considerable challenges communicators face. In light of these challenges, we must continually strive to ensure that tourists are well equipped to make informed decisions to prevent injury and fatality. It is imperative that the sector as a whole is actively involved in risk reduction strategies. This includes long-term and ongoing commitment to regularly distributing consistent hazard, risk and response information through all available channels so that when a warning is issued it does not come as a surprise; and, ensuring risk communication information and tools meet the needs of the intended audience. The importance of this research extends beyond Iceland's volcanic environment, given the occurence of death and injury associated with nature-based tourism worldwide. To enhance tourists' safety, governments and the tourism sector as a whole, must invest greater resources and commitment to ensure tourists have access to accurate and up-to-date information so they can make informed decisions about their travel choices.

Research has shown that greater community action is needed for effective risk reduction. Community participation in risk reduction ranges from action that is initiated and led by members of the public, independently of government assistance, to those that are initiated and facilitated by government and non-government organisations. Natural hazards research has demonstrated that despite awareness of and a desire to reduce risk, many community members lack the physical, psychological or financial capacity to take action. This is particularly the case for bushfires, where preparations can be costly and physically demanding. In response to this, Fire and Rescue New South Wales (FRNSW) established the Community Fire Unit (CFU) program. CFUs are groups of residents who are provided with education, training and equipment to enable them to reduce risks around their homes through enhanced preparation and some bushfire defence. This paper examines the experiences and views of CFU members after bushfires in the Blue Mountains, NSW in October 2013. The majority of respondents believed that their participation in the CFU program reduced bushfire risk and led to a greater sense of community and social capital in their local area. However, the research revealed challenges associated with participating within the formal, top-down structures of a professional fire brigade. Respondents therefore considered that greater flexibility was needed with simultaneously greater support and autonomy from FRNSW. The paper explores the experiences, challenges and opportunities presented by a top-down community based risk reduction program and considers the implications for community participation in risk reduction more generally.

Questionnaires are popular and fundamental tools for acquiring information on public knowledge and perception of natural hazards. Questionnaires can provide valuable information to emergency management agencies for developing risk management procedures. Although many natural hazards researchers describe results generated from questionnaires, few explain the techniques used for their development and implementation. Methodological detail should include, as a minimum, response format (open/closed questions), mode of delivery, sampling technique, response rate and access to the questionnaire to allow reproduction of or comparison with similar studies. This article reviews current knowledge and practice for developing and implementing questionnaires. Key features include questionnaire design, delivery mode, sampling techniques and data analysis. In order to illustrate these aspects, a case study examines methods chosen for the development and implementation of questionnaires used to obtain information on knowledge and perception of volcanic hazards in a tourist region in southern Iceland. Face-to-face interviews highlighted certain issues with respect to question structure and sequence. Recommendations are made to overcome these problems before the questionnaires are applied in future research projects. In conclusion, basic steps that should be disclosed in the literature are provided as a checklist to ensure that reliable, replicable and valid results are produced from questionnaire based hazard knowledge and risk perception research.

International audience; No abstract available.

The 2011–2012 Cordon Caulle eruption emitted about 1 km3 of rhyodacitic tephra. Dominant westerly winds in the region caused most of the primary tephra to deposit in neighboring Argentina. In addition to the impact of widespread dispersal and fallout of primary tephra during the eruption, Argentina was also significantly affected by remobilization of the primary ash even several years after the climactic phase of the eruption. In this mixed methods study, we combine aspects of natural and social sciences to characterize the ash resuspension events associated with the 2011–2012 Cordon Caulle deposits and assess the impacts on the Argentinian farming community of Ingeniero Jacobacci in the Patagonian Steppe. Our findings show the primary importance of wind, rainfall and ash availability in controlling the occurrence and persistence of ash resuspension events. The role played by these variables was also reflected in the seasonal distribution of events observed. Regarding the impacts, our results complement those of earlier studies and demonstrate that ash resuspension events can exacerbate the negative impact of primary tephra fallout events from the time of deposition to many years after the eruption. Only after five years has the environment and the farming community begun to show signs of recovery. Our findings also highlight the importance of assessing ash resuspension events in multi-hazard scenarios involving volcanic and hydrometeorologic hazards.

The chapters that form Part Three explore diverse and wide-ranging communication and engagement processes, where old practices and new technologies are brought together to reduce the impact of volcanic crises in an increasingly globalised world. The chapters highlight challenges of working across disciplines, sectors, institutions, and negotiating differing politics and cultural practices and knowledges.

Eyjafjallajokull became Iceland’s most infamous volcano in 2010 when the ash cloud from its summit eruption caused unprecedented disruption to the international aviation industry and considerable challenges to local farming communities and villages. The summit eruption, which began on 14 April 2010, was preceded by a 24-day long effusive flank eruption that produced spectacular fire-fountain activity and lava flows. The 39-day long summit eruption, however, was far more explosive and resulted in medium-sized jokulhlaups to the north, small jokulhlaups and lahars to the south and considerable ash fall to the east and east-southeast of the volcano. As in other crises in Iceland, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management (DCPEM) coordinated efforts and facilitated crisis communication, while collaborating with the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland and the National Crisis Coordination Centre. The DCPEM’s role included providing information to the government and its various agencies and feeding information from scientists to local police officials, civil protection committees and the public. Communication with local residents took place through agencies’ websites, the national media and frequent open town hall meetings where representatives of institutions responsible for eruption monitoring, health, safety and livestock handling provided advice. These face-to-face meetings with local residents were critical as ash fall had not affected these areas for over 60 years and plans for dealing with this hazard were not established. This chapter explores these events and in doing so, provides a narrative of crisis coordination and communication in Iceland. The narrative is based on multiple sources, including an analysis of community perspectives of the emergency response and their use and views of the various forms of communication platforms. The chapter also considers the eruptions’ impacts at the local level. This exploration reveals that the trust developed through close communication between all involved prior to and during the eruption increased the effectiveness of crisis communication. The experience gained from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption is important for volcanic crisis communication at a local and international level. While the immediate evacuation plans were effective, the ash fall problems illustrated the need for necessary precautions and broadly defined preparedness strategies.

Migration out of hazard-prone areas presents significant opportunities for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Alongside and intermingled with opportunistic migration there has always been relocation to escape, particularly from calamity, disaster and warfare. As climate change is considered a likely driver of migration, the literature encompasses a debate as to whether or not migration can be considered to be adaptation. This paper investigates the concept of voluntary within-country migration as an adaptation strategy to reduce disaster risk in Australia. We refer to this internal migration as relocation. The paper examines results of research carried out in Australia at the time of recent and extensive disasters, where opportunities were presented to examine household attitudes towards relocation in the face of future disasters of similar extent. Individuals׳ attitudes towards relocation were ascertained within an adaptation and mitigation context, at a time of emerging longer-term climate change government policy that advocates retreat from hazard-prone locations. The paper examines demographic data to reveal who is likely to leave or stay. Policy implications of relocation strategies as climate change adaptation strategy within a developed nation are discussed. This research concludes that relocation is a strategy available to some as part of an extensive range of responses to extreme weather events but undertaking unsupported resettlement is not always an option for reasons of family commitment, livelihood opportunities, financial constraints and emotional ties. Those who remain, and those who leave a hazard-prone location may both demonstrate a capacity for adaptation and resilience.

A nation-wide survey was conducted in 2010 to investigate the Australian public's attitudes to nuclear power in relation to climate change and in comparison to other energy alternatives. The survey showed a majority of respondents (42%) willing to accept nuclear power if it would help tackle climate change. Following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Complex in Japan, an event triggered by the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, it was expected that support for nuclear power in Australia would change. In light of this, a follow-up survey was conducted in 2012. Indeed, the post-Fukushima results show a majority of respondents (40%) were not willing to accept nuclear power as an option to help tackle climate change, despite the fact that most Australians still believed nuclear power to offer a cleaner, more efficient option than coal, which currently dominates the domestic production of energy. Expanding the use of renewable energy sources (71%) remains the most popular option, followed by energy-efficient technologies (58%) and behavioural change (54%). Opposition to nuclear power will continue to be an obstacle against its future development even when posed as a viable solution to climate change.

While the disruption to international air travel caused by the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 has been well documented, the significant social impacts on local residents from ash fall to the south and east of the crater are less well-known. These impacts and attitudes of impacted residents and emergency managers are the foci of our present study. Prior to and during the eruption, officials worked to protect the local population from the glacial outburst floods (jokulhlaup) that were of primary concern. The success of these endeavours can in part be attributed to a regional evacuation exercise held in March 2006, an exercise that was carried out with respect to a possible eruption at another volcano, Katla, that is located 25 km to the east of Eyjafjallajokull. Eruptions at either volcano will impact the same communities. Our study here concentrates on Alftaver, a small farming community, located approximately 60 km east-southeast of Eyjafjallajokull and 30 km southeast of Katla. Alftaver has been the subject of longitudinal studies carried out in 2004, 2006, and 2008; these studies highlighted the difficulties that emergency managers face in developing appropriate response strategies acceptable to vulnerable communities. The 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruptions presented an opportunity to re-assess residents' attitudes and behaviour in relation to volcanic risk management in the wake of their first-hand experiences with volcanic hazards. To achieve this, interviews were conducted with residents and emergency management officials and a questionnaire was distributed to residents. This paper presents the results of this survey and examines changes in attitudes towards volcanic risk management. It was apparent that the experience of ash fall from Eyjafjallajokull provided a better perspective of what could be expected from a Katla eruption and that attitudes towards emergency management had evolved accordingly. Importantly, officials' perceptions of risk are now more aligned with those of residents and both recognise the need for more detailed and concise information regarding the impacts of ash fall during and following volcanic eruptions.

The 29 September 2009 South Pacific tsunami has had a lasting impact upon local coastal villages and global collaborative research efforts. Locally, the impact of the tsunami is one of the most severe disasters Samoa has experienced in the last several decades. Within one week of the event, 143 people died. Approximately 6000 traumatized men, women and children – terrified of the sea – refused to return to live or work in their rural, coastal villages, which in turn has had broad consequences for humanitarian emergency relief distribution networks and early recovery planning efforts. Researchers came from all over the world to participate in the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Samoa International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST). Focusing on the need for interdisciplinary research, for the first time, a social impact assessment team (SIT) was expressly invited to participate. Within days of the tsunami, a group of Australian, New Zealand, American, Fijian, and Japanese disaster researchers began to discuss how they might develop a social science reconnaissance research plan using innovative approaches and best practice. This paper presents an overview of challenges faced by the social impact assessment team with a focus on lessons to be learnt from this experience. We discuss the need to clarify project boundaries, develop a core research agenda and project milestones, and develop day-to-day fieldwork work plans and at the same time be sensitive to the emotional needs of the interviewees as well as the researchers. We also make several practical suggestions for future social reconnaissance research with a set of recommendations to support disaster researchers as they plan their own research projects. The inclusion of a social impacts assessment group within a UNESCO-IOC ITST was a valuable response to the increasing need for responsible social research in sensitive topics of post-disaster analysis. Social scientists are aware that disaster social science research should not be a risk to the public, and that misconduct in such work should be avoided as far as possible. We believe that the inclusion of social science experts will revolutionise conceptual, methodological and empirical approaches in future ITSTs. Social scientists will provide unprecedented volumes of high quality information on post-disaster movements, communication and response activities by individuals, communities, private and public sectors — because social scientists are concerned about the integrity of the research process and results. Building upon our experiences, future ITSTs may tap into the potential that social science has to transform ITST's capacity to gather information about disaster preparedness, what tsunami survivors saw, heard and experienced, and to reconstruct the socio-economic and political dynamics of affected communities. This paper contributes to the limited literature that outlines how to develop responsible plans and processes for post-tsunami disaster work; and, it furthers a line of inquiry applicable to a wide variety of hazards, such as flooding, cyclones, earthquakes, bushfires, pandemics and terrorism.

This research investigates residents’ knowledge and perception of the Katla volcano and emergency response procedures in all rural and urban communities located in the eastern and southern Katla hazard zones. Using a questionnaire survey conducted in 2008, we demonstrate that there is an apparent difference between rural and urban communities' knowledge and perceptions, and identify some of the issues influencing residents’ perspectives and behaviour. All rural and most urban residents have an accurate knowledge of Katla, the proposed warning system and emergency response plan. Urban residents perceived the emergency response plan to be appropriate. In comparison, rural residents did not perceive the emergency response plan as appropriate. Rural residents stated that they would personally assess the situation before deciding on a course of action independent of the proposed plan. Livelihood connections and inherited knowledge affect rural residents’ ability and willingness to comply with the recommended procedures. Factors such as hazard knowledge, sense of community and attachment to place indicate that rural residents are more resilient to volcanic hazards. Based on our findings we recommend that emergency management agencies consider issues such as personal responsibility, neighbourliness and community involvement and cooperation, to develop and implement more appropriate volcanic risk mitigation strategies. In light of the recent Eyjafjallajokull eruptions, we provide a brief discussion on the 2010 emergency response. Although our findings are Iceland-specific, our recommendations may be applied internationally to other volcanic and disaster-prone regions.

This paper examines the relationship between volcanic risk and the tourism sector in southern Iceland and the complex challenge emergency management officials face in developing effective volcanic risk mitigation strategies. An early warning system and emergency response procedures were developed for communities surrounding Katla, the volcano underlying the Mýrdalsjokull ice cap. However, prior to and during the 2007 tourist season these mitigation efforts were not effectively communicated to stakeholders located in the tourist destination of Þorsmork despite its location within the hazard zone of Katla. The hazard zone represents the potential extent of a catastrophic jokulhlaup (glacial outburst flood). Furthermore, volcanic risk mitigation efforts in Þorsmork were based solely on information derived from physical investigations of volcanic hazards. They did not consider the human dimension of risk. In order to address this gap and provide support to current risk mitigation efforts, questionnaire surveys were used to investigate tourists' and tourism employees' hazard knowledge, risk perception, adoption of personal preparedness measures, predicted behaviour if faced with a Katla eruption and views on education. Results indicate that tourists lack hazard knowledge and they do not adopt preparedness measures to deal with the consequences of an eruption. Despite a high level of risk perception, tourism employees lack knowledge about the early warning system and emergency response procedures. Results show that tourists are positive about receiving information concerning Katla and its hazards and therefore, the reticence of tourism employees with respect to disseminating hazard information is unjustified. In order to improve the tourism sector's collective capacity to positively respond during a future eruption, recommendations are made to ensure adequate dissemination of hazard, risk and emergency response information. Most importantly education campaigns should focus on: (a) increasing tourists' knowledge of Katla, jokulhlaup and other volcanic hazards and (b) increasing tourist and employee awareness of the early warning and information system and appropriate behavioural response if a warning is issued. Further, tourism employees should be required to participate in emergency training and evacuation exercises annually. These efforts are timely given that Katla is expected to erupt in the near future and international tourism is an expanding industry in Þorsmork.

Katla volcano, located beneath the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap in southern Iceland, is capable of producing catastrophic jökulhlaup. The Icelandic Civil Protection (ICP), in conjunction with scientists, local police and emergency managers, developed mitigation strategies for possible jökulhlaup produced during future Katla eruptions. These strategies were tested during a full-scale evacuation exercise in March 2006. A positive public response during a volcanic crisis not only depends upon the public's knowledge of the evacuation plan but also their knowledge and perception of the possible hazards. To improve the effectiveness of residents' compliance with warning and evacuation messages it is important that emergency management officials understand how the public interpret their situation in relation to volcanic hazards and their potential response during a crisis and apply this information to the ongoing development of risk mitigation strategies. We adopted a mixed methods approach in order to gain a broad understanding of residents' knowledge and perception of the Katla volcano in general, jökulhlaup hazards specifically and the regional emergency evacuation plan. This entailed field observations during the major evacuation exercise, interviews with key emergency management officials and questionnaire survey interviews with local residents. Our survey shows that despite living within the hazard zone, many residents do not perceive that their homes could be affected by a jökulhlaup, and many participants who perceive that their homes are safe, stated that they would not evacuate if an evacuation warning was issued. Alarmingly, most participants did not receive an evacuation message during the exercise. However, the majority of participants who took part in the exercise were positive about its implementation. This assessment of resident knowledge and perception of volcanic hazards and the evacuation plan is the first of its kind in this region. Our data can be used as a baseline by the ICP for more detailed studies in Iceland's volcanic regions.

Katla volcano, located beneath the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap in southern Iceland, is capable of producing catastrophic jökulhlaup. The Icelandic Civil Protection (ICP), in conjunction with scientists, local police and emergency managers, developed mitigation strategies for possible jökulhlaup produced during future Katla eruptions. These strategies were tested during a full-scale evacuation exercise in March 2006. A positive public response during a volcanic crisis not only depends upon the public's knowledge of the evacuation plan but also their knowledge and perception of the possible hazards. To improve the effectiveness of residents' compliance with warning and evacuation messages it is important that emergency management officials understand how the public interpret their situation in relation to volcanic hazards and their potential response during a crisis and apply this information to the ongoing development of risk mitigation strategies. We adopted a mixed methods approach in order to gain a broad understanding of residents' knowledge and perception of the Katla volcano in general, jökulhlaup hazards specifically and the regional emergency evacuation plan. This entailed field observations during the major evacuation exercise, interviews with key emergency management officials and questionnaire survey interviews with local residents. Our survey shows that despite living within the hazard zone, many residents do not perceive that their homes could be affected by a jökulhlaup, and many participants who perceive that their homes are safe, stated that they would not evacuate if an evacuation warning was issued. Alarmingly, most participants did not receive an evacuation message during the exercise. However, the majority of participants who took part in the exercise were positive about its implementation. This assessment of resident knowledge and perception of volcanic hazards and the evacuation plan is the first of its kind in this region. Our data can be used as a baseline by the ICP for more detailed studies in Iceland's volcanic regions.

An evaluation of morphometric parameters of two drainage networks derived from different sources was done to determine the influence of sub-basins to flooding on the main channel in the Havran River basin (Balikesir-Turkey). Drainage networks for the sub-basins were derived from both topographic maps scaled 1:25.000 and a 10-m resolution digital elevation model (DEM) using geographic information systems (GIS). Blue lines, representing fluvial channels on the topographic maps were accepted as a drainage network, which does not depict all exterior links in the basin. The second drainage network was extracted from the DEM using minimum accumulation area threshold to include all exterior links. Morphometric parameters were applied to the two types of drainage networks at sub-basin levels. These parameters were used to assess the influence of the sub-basins on the main channel with respect to flooding. The results show that the drainage network of sub-basin 4—where a dam was constructed on its outlet to mitigate potential floods—has a lower influence morphometrically to produce probable floods on the main channel than that of sub-basins 1, 3, and 5. The construction of the dam will help reduce flooding on the main channel from sub-basin 4 but it will not prevent potential flooding from sub-basin 1, 3 and 5, which join the main channel downstream of sub-basin 4. Therefore, flood mitigation efforts should be considered in order to protect the settlement and agricultural lands on the floodplain downstream of the dam. In order to increase our understanding of flood hazards, and to determine appropriate mitigation solutions, drainage morphometry research should be included as an essential component to hydrologic studies.

Iceland has been subjected to destructive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions throughout history. Such events are often preceded by changes in earthquake activity over varying timescales. Although most seismicity is confined to micro-earthquakes, large earthquakes have occurred within populated regions. Following the most recent hazardous earthquakes in 2000, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) developed an early warning and information system (EWIS) Web-site for viewing near-real-time seismicity in Iceland. Here we assess Web-site usage data in relation to earthquake activity, as recorded by the South Iceland Lowland (SIL) seismic network. Between March 2005 and May 2006 the SIL seismic network recorded 12,583 earthquakes. During this period, the EWIS Web-site logged a daily median of 91 visits. The largest onshore event (ML 4.2) struck 20 km from Reykjavik on 06 March 2006 and was followed by an immediate, upsurge in usage resulting in a total of 1,173 unique visits to the Web-site. The greatest cluster of large (≥ML 3) events occurred 300 km offshore from Reykjavik in May 2005. Within this swarm, 9 earthquakes ≥ML 3 were detected on 11 May 2005, resulting in the release of a media bulletin by IMO. During the swarm, and following the media bulletin, the EWIS Web-site logged 1,234 unique visits gradually throughout the day. In summary, the data reveal a spatial and temporal relationship between Web-site usage and earthquake activity. The EWIS Web-site is accessed immediately after the occurrence of a local earthquake, whereas distant, unfelt earthquakes generate gradual interest prompted by media bulletins and, possibly, other contributing factors. We conclude that the Internet is a useful tool for displaying seismic information in near-real-time, which has the capacity to help increase public awareness of natural hazards.

The Indian Ocean tsunami (IOT) of December 2004 has demonstrated that the coasts of Australia are vulnerable to tsunami flooding. As a consequence of the IOT, the Australian Federal Treasurer announced in 2005 that the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia will jointly develop and implement the Australian Tsunami Warning System. Effective response to tsunami warnings is highly dependent on public awareness and perception of tsunami hazard and risk. At present, no efforts have been made to investigate and publish public awareness of tsunami hazard and risk and as such, emergency managers have little idea of the likely challenges to effecting appropriate tsunami risk management. We develop a short questionnaire survey instrument and trial that instrument in order to investigate its suitability for generating information about the perceptions of tsunami hazard and risk in the Sydney region. We found that the design, layout and format of the questionnaire were suitable for our purpose and should be useful for generating information appropriate to emergency management agencies tasked with the responsibility of developing tsunami education campaigns and risk mitigation strategies in Australia. However, certain limitations, such as individual question design and format, should be considered before a much larger survey of various stakeholders is conducted.

The growth of social media as a primary and often preferred news source has contributed to the rapid dissemination of information about volcanic eruptions and potential volcanic crises as an eruption begins. Information about volcanic activity comes from a variety of sources: news organisations, emergency management personnel, individuals (both public and official), and volcano monitoring agencies. Once posted, this information is easily shared, increasing the reach to a much broader population than the original audience. The onset and popularity of social media as a vehicle for eruption information dissemination has presented many benefits as well as challenges, and points towards a need for a more unified system for information. This includes volcano observatories using social media as an official channel to distribute activity statements, forecasts, and predictions on social media, in addition to the archiving of images and other information. This chapter looks at two examples of projects that collect/disseminate information regarding volcanic crises and eruptive activity utilizing social media sources. Based on those examples, recommendations are made to volcano observatories in relation to the use of social media as a two-way communication tool. These recommendations include using social media as a two-way dialogue to communicate and receive information directly from the public and other sources, stating that the social media account is from an official source, and posting types of information that the public are seeking such as images, videos, and figures.

The Queensland (northeast Australia) wet season and Victorian (southeast Australia) summer of 2010/11 were record-breaking periods. Based on climate models, the IPCC (2012) argues with medium confidence that anthropogenic influence has contributed to rainfall extremes. The research applied a mixed methods approach whereby different qualitative (face-to-face interviews, open response questions within questionnaires) and quantitative (closed questions within questionnaires) methods contributed to different aspects of the study. Many respondents (43%) were living in a singlestorey house (i.e. not raised on stumps or stilts), a single-storey duplex or a ground floor unit. As many Australian disasters occur during the summer when people are on holiday or absent from the community, a network of contacts would be extremely useful.

Tourists flock to southern Iceland to experience the impressive landscapes surrounding the Hekla, Eyjafjallajokull, Katla and Grimsvotn volcanoes. This chapter describes these volcanic systems and their recent activity. It also provides detail on strategies implemented by government agencies to reduce volcanic risk in this region.

Investigating survivors' behaviour prior to, during and after a disaster provides emergency management agencies with greater understanding of the complexities which influence public response. This information can then be used to develop better community-based disaster risk-reduction strategies. In this paper, we review three posttsunami disaster case studies: the Indian Ocean tsunami (IOT) on 26 December 2004, the Java tsunami on 17 July 2006 and the South Pacific tsunami on 29 September 2009. The 2004 IOT and 2006 Java tsunami surveys involved delayed-response post-disaster research using video interviewing. The 2009 South Pacific tsunami entailed rapid-response post-disaster research using questionnaire interviews. We highlight the major outcomes of each case study and, based on these, make recommendations for improving tsunami education programs in Australia. These include educating the public about tsunami risk, natural warning signs of tsunamis and regionally specific behavioural response. To help facilitate improvements to future post-disaster research, discussion on survey-related issues from each case study is provided. © 2011 Geographical Society of New South Wales Inc.

Recent studies indicate that large prehistoric jokulhlaup have flooded west from Myrdalsjokull glacier along the Markarfljot River, south Iceland. This new evidence coupled with an increase in seismicity in the Katla caldera, the underlying volcano of Myrdalsjokull, has highlighted a possible risk to local communities encompassing the Markarfljot River. Consequently, the Icelandic Civil Defence held an evacuation exercise in March 2006 to test a newly developed evacuation plan. Following this exercise, we conducted questionnaire surveys in order to investigate the public's knowledge and perception of jokulhlaup hazard and risk. Our results indicate that residents have a sound knowledge of jokulhlaup hazard. However, only 50% of residents perceive that their community could be at risk. Therefore, it is essential that jokulhlaup risk perception is increased to ensure a positive response to evacuation orders. This can be achieved through education programmes, open forum meetings and by regularly distributing hazard information.