Coastal Hazards

This book covers the gamut of coastal hazards that result from short-term low-frequency events and have high-magnitude and far-reaching impacts on coastal zones the world over. Much of the world’s population now lives in low-lying coastal zones that are inherently vulnerable to natural hazards such as flooding from hurricanes, tropical storms and northeastern storm surges; shoreline (beach and dune) erosion; cliff and bluff failures; and saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers used for drinking water supplies. In addition to the usual range of hydrometeorological disasters in coastal zones, this book covers tsunami impacts and warning systems as well as global perspectives of sea-level rise impacts and human perceptions of potential vulnerabilities resulting from rip currents that cause many drownings each year on beaches. Today, the use of numerical models that help predict vulnerabilities and provide a basis for shore protection measures is important in modern scientific and engineering systems. Final considerations focus on human actions in the form of the urbanization and industrialization of the coast, shore protection measures, and indicate how environmental degradation around coastal conurbations exacerbates the potential for unwanted impacts. Strategies for environmental management in coastal zones, from low-lying wetlands to high cliffs and rocky promontories, are highlighted as a means of living in harmony with Nature and not trying to conquer it.

Sea and Ocean Hazards, Risks and Disasters provides a scientific approach to those hazards and disasters related to the Earth's coasts and oceans. This is the first book to integrate scientific, social, and economic issues related to disasters such as hazard identification, risk analysis, and planning, relevant hazard process mechanics, discussions of preparedness, response, and recovery, and the economics of loss and remediation. Throughout the book cases studies are presented of historically relevant hazards and disasters as well as the many recent catastrophes. Contains contributions from experts in the field selected by a world-renowned editorial board Cutting-edge discussion of natural hazard topics that affect the lives and livelihoods of millions of humans worldwide Numerous full-color tables, GIS maps, diagrams, illustrations, and photographs of hazardous processes in action will be included

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Coastal Hazards Related to Storm Surge" that was published in JMSE

Weather-related disasters continue to increase in frequency, many of which occur along the coast. These events claim the lives of many and have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of others. To address these risks, institutions are established with the aim of enhancing the resiliency of vulnerable coastal communities to natural disasters. Given the role of these institutions, the objective of this handbook is to understand how such institutions respond to natural disasters. This will be conducted through a cross-country comparative case study of institutional responses to vulnerability to natural coastal hazards. In particular the study asks: What is social and institutional vulnerability to natural hazards?; What institutions are available to address vulnerability to coastal hazards?; What are the reasons for the formation of the aforementioned institutions?; and What are the non-monetary costs associated with the institutional response to natural hazards? The study reveals that the incentive to establish an institutional response stems from a physical or institutional trigger and that the formation of institutional response mechanisms is gradual. Given the political cost of dismantling existing institutions, the organizational body most likely to be established is a local or central governmental body that coordinates the activities of existing institutions by establishing specialized inter-governmental committees. This implies that newly-established institutions (with both fiscal and regulatory independence) are to be expected, which is not always the case. Once it is decided to establish a new institution, its design leads to considerable conflict. These conflicts are most likely to erupt over budget allocation, cost estimation, and the eventual implementation speed (rapid vs. slow) of the response. The ultimate repercussion of such conflict is as expected, the complete termination of the response process.

As with most shorelines around the world, New Jersey beaches are slowly, but inexorably, being eroded, threatening coastal structures and development. In some years more sand is deposited than removed, but all of the state's monitoring devices show that sea level is gradually rising and pushing the New Jersey shoreline inland. The shore is a valuable resource, and its natural, cultural, and economic attractions draw a multitude of permanent and temporary residents each year, extending housing and commercial development onto areas that were once swampland. Not surprisingly, development at the water's edge has been accompanied by an increasing exposure to the natural hazards of the coastal zone--erosion, flooding, and wind damage. In this book, Norbert Psuty and Douglas Ofiara incorporate perspectives from the areas of coastal sciences, economics, public policy, and land-use planning in creating a systematic plan for coastal management and protection. It has been more than a decade since New Jersey developed the nation's first state shore protection plan, and this volume provides a timely evaluation of its achievements and future challenges. This self-contained book provides all of the relevant theories, models, and examples so the reader will not need to refer to any other literature to gain an understanding of the issues and policies surrounding shore protection. It is the authoritative handbook for practitioners and policy makers in many fields, including coastal science and management and engineering, as well as public policy and economics.

This book discusses how to collect data and analyze databases in order to map risk zones, and contributes to developing a conceptual framework for coastal risk assessment. Further, the book primarily focuses on a specific case study: the Bay of Bengal along the southeastern coast of India. The dramatic rise in losses and casualties due to natural disasters like wind, storm-surge-induced flooding, seismic hazards and tsunami incidence along this coast over the past few decades has prompted a major national scientific initiative investigating the probable causes and possible mitigation strategies. As such, geoscientists are called upon to analyze the coastal hazards by anticipating the changes in and impacts of extreme weather hazards on the Bay of Bengal coasts as a result of global climate change and local sea-level change.

This collection contains 83 papers presented at the Solutions to Coastal Disasters 2002 Conference, held in San Diego, California, February 24-27, 2002.