Dale Dominey-howes - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dale Dominey-howes

How local communities and global development agencies reduce vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change: Examples from the Pacific

The legal framework in Greece for the protection of cultural heritage is based on the Hellenic Co... more The legal framework in Greece for the protection of cultural heritage is based on the Hellenic Constitution art.24, the Law 3028/2002 "On the protection of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in general" and on the ratifications of most international conventions on the protection of cultural heritage. In the frame of Civil Protection legislation, for the protection of cultural heritage from natural, technological or other disasters a series of policies and guidelines have been published and addressed to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The Ministry through the implementation of these guidelines will ensure the production of effective planning measures and response mechanisms in the field of Disaster Risk Management, contributing essentially to the Protection of Cultural Heritage.

The Impacts of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami within the Maldive Islands

Macquarie University ResearchOnline.

Tsunami risk mitigation and the issue of public awareness

... Abstract. Selected results from a pilot investigation into public awareness of tsunami risk i... more ... Abstract. Selected results from a pilot investigation into public awareness of tsunami risk in the Sydney region are presented. This is fundamentally necessary for developing appropriate risk mitigation and preparedness strategies. ...

Tsunami public awareness and its role in risk education

Public usage of a website for real-time seismicity in Iceland: insights into hazard perception

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the critical need for economic information t... more Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the critical need for economic information to inform the selection of coastal management options for the beaches of the Sydney region and to outline the project currently under way to address this information gap. Design/methodology/approach -The critical need for the current case study is framed through presenting a summary of the threats posed by current climate change projections, the legislative requirements for economic valuation of natural resources, and the role which economics can play in selection of appropriate coastal management options in response to climate change impacts. Findings -The paper presents the valuation methods that were selected for use in the Sydney Beaches Valuation Project and outlines the rationale behind their selection. Originality/value -No current, empirical estimates of the economic value of Sydney beaches are available, which means that managers must use estimates from studies which may not reflect the unique characteristics of either the Sydney beaches or the social context. The results of the study, in terms of both unit measures of economic value and lessons learned during the survey design process, will therefore be of great value to coastal managers in the Sydney region. An external link provides details of the mixed mode survey instrument, which can be used to inform the design of other similar studies. Given the critical role of economic appraisal methods in selection of coastal management alternatives, the survey structure is potentially of great use to coastal managers in similarly threatened coastal locations elsewhere.

Climate change adaptation for tourism in the Pacific: analysing the policy environment in Fiji

The dollars and sense of coastal valuation in Australia

An unusual coarse, shelly sedimentary unit is found elevated above present mean sea level in a sh... more An unusual coarse, shelly sedimentary unit is found elevated above present mean sea level in a sheltered pocket embayment at Old Punt Bay in south-eastern Australia. The coarse sediments, diverse microfauna, and large shelly macrofauna of mixed affinity suggest that the deposit is the result of high-energy deposition. The deposit was previously thought to have been deposited 1000-1300 cal bp based on one shell dated using 14 C and amino acid racemisation. However, additional 14 C dating indicates a likely age of~2500 cal bp. Regardless of age constraints, the presence of rock-encrusting oyster shells and large articulated bivalves, suggests that the depositional event must have been capable of removing and transporting coarse sediments (rock clasts), bivalves, and oysters shells from a variety of seaward environments and depositing them with little abrasion, something storm waves are unlikely to do. The deposit may be tsunamigenic. If a tsunami origin is accepted, the new dating results indicate that it is possibly coeval with a tsunami event previously reported to have affected several other sites along the coast of New South Wales at c. 2900 cal bp. Consequently, this deposit provides evidence for the event at a new site and importantly, a tighter constraint on the likely date of the events occurrence. It further adds weight to the developing catalogue of palaeotsunamis that may have affected the south-eastern coast of Australia. Regardless of the deposit's origins, if viewed from a coastal planning perspective, this deposit indicates that this part of the coast has experienced large-scale overwash events in the past that if repeated, would be catastrophic. There are serious implications for risk management.

Experiences of Swimmers Caught in Rip Currents

Improved tsunami impact assessments: validation, comparison and the integration of hydrodynamic modeling

A History of Tropical Cyclone Events, their Spatial-temporal Distributions and Effects in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT A History of Tropical Cyclone Events, their Spatial-temporal Distributions and Effects i... more ABSTRACT A History of Tropical Cyclone Events, their Spatial-temporal Distributions and Effects in Bangladesh Details Meeting 2012 Fall Meeting Section Education and Human Resources Session Education General Contributions II Posters Identifier ED21A-0681 Authors Alam, M E*, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh Dominey-Howes, D, Australia-Pacific Tsunami Research Centre and Natural Hazard Research Laboratory, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia Momtaz, S, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia Calgaro, E, Australia-Pacific Tsunami Research Centre and Natural Hazard Research Laboratory, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia Index Terms Extreme events [4313] Exposure [4326] Risk [4328] Disaster risk analysis and assessment [4333] Abstract Tropical cyclones (TCs) frequently devastate large areas, take numerous lives, and damage extensive property in the coastal and island areas of Bangladesh. A review of the literature about cyclone events in Bangladesh indicates that previous research has mainly focused on events occurring after AD1959. In addition, limited work has examined historical data in order to understand the spatial-temporal pattern of TC occurrences and their associated losses. We rectify this gap by developing a new TC database that goes beyond the present regional TC databases by maximising the use of all available documentary sources. We then analyse the spatial-temporal pattern of TC occurrence and reconstruct their effects in Bangladesh. This new database consists of 254 TCs that occurred between AD1000 and 2009 in the Bay of Bengal (BoB). A total of 184 events directly struck Bangladesh between AD1484 and 2009. Of these 184 events, the precise location of landfall was not available for 11 events. Of the remaining 173 events, Chittagong was struck by 43 TCs, Barisal and Khulna by 42 each. Noakhali and Cox’s Bazar were struck by 29 and 17 TCs respectively. Although, Chittagong was struck by more TC landfalls than any other coastal segment, Barisal was identified as high-risk place in terms of the occurrence of deaths. The findings suggest that prior to AD1900, there is a lack of data on the occurrence of TCs and this paucity of data increases the further back in time. Within the new dataset, inconsistencies in reported storm surge height, wind speed and exaggerations in the reporting of deaths are identified and discussed. In Bangladesh, a total of 2,665,636 human deaths occurred in association with the 184 TCs between AD1484 and 2009. Between AD1923 and 2009, 13 TCs caused 9,431,225 people to become homeless. Analysis of the deaths and damage associated with TCs in AD1970, AD1991 and AD2007 indicate that whilst the number of deaths decreased between events, the amount of economic damage and the number of people being affected and becoming homeless, increased significantly. The highly positive correlation (r = 0.89) between storm surge height and human deaths suggests that the occurrence of deaths increases with an increase in storm surge height. On the other hand, the increase in human injuries is mainly associated with (r = 0.51) an increase in wind speed of TC. We recognise that our new TC database for the BoB is incomplete and as such, only provides a partial picture useful for quantifying regional hazard. As such, we suggest further ‘deep’ archival research coupled with regional geological studies of palaeostorm surge events to gain a more sophisticated understanding of the hazard. Cite as: Author(s) (2012), Title, Abstract ED21A-0681 presented at 2012 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 3-7 Dec.

Tsunami Waves of Destruction: The Creation of the “New Australian Catastrophe”

Increasing the resilience of the Deaf Community in NSW to natural hazards

Tourism in small island developing states and territories in the South Pacific is crucial to the ... more Tourism in small island developing states and territories in the South Pacific is crucial to the development of these countries yet highly vulnerable to climate change. Drawing on political science theories, this study critically analyses the policy environment of Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu for the tourism sector's adaptation to climate change. Three aspects of the policy environment were analysed, namely stakeholder commitment, resource availability and capacity, and presence of enabling mechanisms or processes. We find that Samoa provides the most conducive policy environment among the three for climate change adaptation. The difference can be attributed to political instability and lack of institutional coordination in Fiji; and in Vanuatu, industry players showing little concern for climate change and lack of policy implementation. Stakeholders should take ownership of the climate change issues, and governments better manage the funding from aid agencies and establish policy mechanisms that facilitate adaptation.

Tropical cyclones devastate large areas, take numerous lives and damage extensive property in Ban... more Tropical cyclones devastate large areas, take numerous lives and damage extensive property in Bangladesh. Research on landfalling tropical cyclones affecting Bangladesh has primarily focused on events occurring since AD 1960 with limited work examining earlier historical records. We rectify this gap by developing a new tropical cyclone catalogue that maximizes the use of available sources. The catalogue consists of 304 tropical cyclones that occurred between AD 1000 and AD 2009 and made landfall along the coasts of Bangladesh, eastern India and Myanmar. One hundred and ninety-three events directly struck Bangladesh between AD 1484 and AD 2009, although the precise landfall location of six events is unknown. Of the remaining 187 events, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Barisal and Khulna were struck by 30, 46, 19, 41 and 51 tropical cyclones, respectively. There is a paucity of data about tropical cyclones before AD 1900 and this increases the further back in time we go. Inconsistencies in reported storm surge height, wind speed and exaggerations in the reporting of deaths are identified and discussed. Some 20 72 509 human deaths in Bangladesh are associated with 71 tropical cyclones that occurred between AD 1484 and AD 2009. Between AD 1923 and AD 2009, 11 tropical cyclones caused 94 35 000 people to become homeless and between AD 1961 and AD 2009, 10 tropical cyclones resulted in economic damage of over US$ 4.6 billion. Analysis of the deaths and damage associated with tropical cyclones in AD 1970, AD 1991 and AD 2007 indicates that while the number of deaths decreased between events, economic damage and the number of people made homeless increased. There are positive and significant correlations between increasing storm surge height and increasing human fatalities (r = 0.60, p < 0.01) and increasing human injuries and greater wind speed (r = 0.45, p < 0.01). Despite our best efforts, the catalogue is incomplete. As such, we suggest further 'deep' archival research coupled with regional geological studies of palaeostorm events to gain a more sophisticated understanding of the hazard. Our results have implications for both risk assessment and disaster risk reduction.

Approximately 85% of Australia's population live along the coastal fringe, an area with high expo... more Approximately 85% of Australia's population live along the coastal fringe, an area with high exposure to extreme inundations such as tsunamis. However, to date, no Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Assessments (PTHA) that include inundation have been published for Australia. This limits the development of appropriate risk reduction measures by decision and policy makers. We describe our PTHA undertaken for the Sydney metropolitan area. Using the NOAA NCTR model MOST (Method for Splitting Tsunamis), we simulate 36 earthquake-generated tsunamis with annual probabilities of 15100, 151,000 and 1510,000, occurring under present and future predicted sea level conditions. For each tsunami scenario we generate a high-resolution inundation map of the maximum water level and flow velocity, and we calculate the exposure of buildings and critical infrastructure. Results indicate that exposure to earthquake-generated tsunamis is relatively low for present events, but increases significantly with higher sea level conditions. The probabilistic approach allowed us to undertake a comparison with an existing storm surge hazard assessment. Interestingly, the exposure to all the simulated tsunamis is significantly lower than that for the 15100 storm surge scenarios, under the same initial sea level conditions. The results have significant implications for multi-risk and emergency management in Sydney.