Natural disasters in Bangladesh and South East Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) : assessment and risks

摘要

In 1996, the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) launched a regional approach initiative for natural disaster preparedness and prevention; this initiative focused initially on Central America, the Caribbean, SE Asia and Bangladesh. The first phase of this programme involved a diagnostic studies which constituted the basis for reflection and decision-making prior to the ECHO action plans as part of the Disaster Preparedness ECHO(DIPECHO).As regards SE Asia, and Bangladesh, the diagnosis in the strict sense of the word was carried out by CRED-UCL in collaboration with Luc VROLUKS, a CRED consultant (Cred/Vrolijks, 1997). The present study is aimed at supplementing this work and lays special emphasis on the consequences of natural disasters in the region, the damage-generating phenomena, the different criteria and levels of vulnerabilities and the risks incurred at regional and national scales, The study also aims at giving, in the same perspective, a graphical and cartographical base useful in the communication and decision-making.The study entrusted to CIFEG (International Centre for Training and Exchanges in the Geosciences) by CRED-VCL and ECHO was carried out jointly by Robert D'ERCOLE andPatrick PIGEON from the department of Geography of Université de Savoie, Chambéry, France. The study is based on a consistent documentation: scientific work, studies and reports collected by CRED-UCL, the United Nations offices in Geneva, the University of Savoie and that of Lausanne, Switzerland. The CRED-UCL Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) is, too, a key part of the study.