Using Geo-information analysis to improve Pacific

Disaster Resilience

Professor Michael Petterson, Director, Geoscience Division

Geosmart Asia 17-19 October Kuala Lumpur

Pacific Environment: volcanoes, cyclones, storm surge, Floods, landslides, tsunamis, unsafe ground conditions, earthquakes…etc.

Rabaul, PNG

Samoa tsunami, 29 Sep 2009, Mag 8.1: 189 killed 30% of GDP Affected

Cyclone PAM: 13 March 2015: Vanuatu: 66% of GDP Affected

Low lying Atoll Countries: King Tides Storm Surge Droughts

Best way forward: Science into risk, policy and advice…but how?

Complex seismograph

BUT: understanding Science & data is difficult

So we need an expert team and systems

Which Mad Scientist Are You?

- Mad Scientist Personality

Quiz chemistry.about.com640 × 599Search by image

Mad Scientist (J.J., Wikipedia)

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And we pull together an informed decision support tool

Triggers & causative factors for landslides in Papua New Guinea (Joanne Robbins)

Landslide-triggering event inventory: PNG

Triggering event meta-data sources

(1) Technical/Site inspection reports (PNG MRA*2 & DMPGM*3)

(2) Journal publications

(3) Newspaper records

(4) Internet publications (ReliefWeb)

(5) Supplementary archives (Dartmouth Flood Observatory, USGS Earthquake Catalogue)

Landslide Types*1

*1 Landslide type images courtesy of USGS from their website: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3072/images/Fig3grouping-2LG.jpg *2 MRA = Mineral Resources Authority in PNG *3 DMPGM = Department of Mineral Policy and Geohazards Management

Landslide-triggering event is a meteorological, geological or hydrological event/hazard which led to landslides.

Joanne Robbins PhD

Joanne Robbins: Landslide Probability Analysis for PNG

Tongatapu Tsunami Modelling

Working with GeoScience Australia

UAV Lidar and Point Cloud

http://gsd.spc.int/pointcloud

Regional: PacGeo

Deployed in 2013

Cloud deployed

900~ layers

950~ related documents

40~ Users across PICs trained

www.pacgeo.org

Small offline functionality

In countries with limited

Internet access

Use Geonode & GeoServer

software

Regional: Pacific Risk Information

Products of PCRAFI Phase 1

Derived from largest field

surveys taken in the Pacific

Multiple attributes collected

over infrastructure, population,

hazard, land use, etc.

pcrafi.spc.int

World Bank Project:

Now moving into PREP

Programme

Socio-Economic & Hazard

Science Data & Population

& Infrastructure

Decision Support Tools: PacSafe & World Bank PREP Programme http://services.gsd.spc.int/pacsafe

What does PacSafe do?

PacSafe: Hazard & Exposure Layers

Buildings Communities People Socio-Economic Vulnerability Risk

Example: Flood/Building Nadi, Fiji

Example: Flood/Population Nadi, Fiji

Example: Flood/Building Apia, Samoa

Example: Christmas Island Shoreline Change Detection

Capacity Building in PIC

77% GIS/RS Users in Pacific Governments, Regional Agencies and Academia, use QGIS according

to a recent online survey conducted by GIZ/MacBIO.

90+ Pacific Island Nationals trained on QGIS and related FOSS4G Toolsets in 2015 alone, by

Geoscience Division, Pacific Community, via Regional Workshops, In-Country Training, and

Internship attachment Schemes.

4+ Major Regional Players actively involved in QGIS Capacity Building

in the Pacific Island Countries:

• SPC (Geoscience, Fisheries and Stats Division)

• CSIRO (Kiribati, Solomons)

• GIZ-funded MacBIO/IUCN

• USP (Bachelor of Geospatial Science, 2015 -)

• www.pacgeo.org/edu

services.gsd.spc.int/workshop

Resilient Investments: Conclusions

• First: know you hazard and know your risk

• Second: Map the hazard, map the risk

• Third: Combine with socio-economic & infrastructure data

• Fourth: Calculate Probabilities

• For everything: work closely with your target audience all the way (planners, government, investors): design tools they know and will use to inform decisions