LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST
NOTABLE DISASTERS
CHILE
PART 1: FLOODS
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for
Disaster Reduction, Vienna,
Virginia, USA
NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED
DISASTERS IN CHILE
FLOODS
GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE
AND COMMUNITIES
WINDSTORMS
EARTHQUAKES/TSUNAMIS
HIGH BENEFIT/COST FROM
BECOMING DISASTER
NRESILIENT
VOLCANOES
WILDFIRES
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
Natural Phenomena that Cause
Disasters
Planet Earth’s
atmospherichydrosphericlithospheric
interactions
create
situations
favorable for
FLOODS
HIGH POTENTIAL LOSS EXPOSURES
IN A FLOOD
Entire communities;
People, property, infrastructure, business enterprise,
government centers, crops,
wildlife, and natural resources.
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL FLOODS
PREPAREDNES
FOR THE
EXPECTED AND
UNEXPEDTED IS
ESSENTIAL FOR
DISASTER
RESILIENCE
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL FLOODS
TIMELY
EMERGENCY
RESPONSE IS
ESSENTIAL
FOR DISASTER
RESILIENCE
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL FLOODS
EARLY WARNING (THE ISS)
AND EVACUATION ARE
ESSENTIAL
FOR DISASTER
RESILIENCE
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
ALL FLOODS
RECOVERY
AND RECONSTRUCTION
USUALLY
TAKES
LONGER THAN
THOUGHT.
CHILE’S CITIES
NOTABLE FLOODS IN
CHILE
SANTIAGO, THE CAPITAL, IMPACTED
MAY 22, 2008
SANTIAGO SKYLINE
FLOODING NEAR SANTIAGO:
MAY 22, 2008
SANTIAGO’S MAPOCHO
RIVER
SANTIAGO’S MAPOCHO
RIVER
IMPACTS: MAY 22, 2008
• Heavy rains and flooding that killed five
people and displaced 15 thousand in
south-central Chile, collapsed road and
rail bridges, closed the world's largest
underground copper mine, and left
many in Santiago (the capital) without
drinking water.
IMPACTS: MAY 22, 2008
• Seven rivers burst their banks
farther south, deluging thousands
of homes.
• Route 5 (Chile's main north-south
highway) was cut in three places.
• Landslides caused by the rains
forced the shutdown of the giant El
Teniente copper mine.
NOTABLE FLOODS IN
CHILE
JULY 29, 2000
This flood disaster exposed
Chile’s lack of flood-disaster
planning and flood-resilient
infrastructure in 2000, leading
to improvements.
The flooding, the result of
weeks of heavy rain, the worst
in Chile for more than 20 years,
caused major damage to infrastructure (mostly roads and
bridges) with the cost
estimated to be as high as
US $1.5 billion
JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING
IMPACTS THE CAPITAL
• Torrential rains affected the
capital, Santiago, swamping
more than 75 percent of the
metropolitan streets, including
the city's main highway.
JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING
IMPACTS THE CAPITAL
• A state of emergency was
declared in the Santiago
metropolitan region.
JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING
IMPACTED THE CAPITAL
• Schools were forced to close,
train services were cancelled
and electricity was cut to many
areas due to the accompanying
high winds.
SCHOOLS CLOSED
JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING
IMPACTED THE CAPITAL
• Some areas of the city were at
a virtual standstill as roads
were blocked and bridges
collapsed
JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING
IMPACTED THE CAPITAL
• Many homes were wiped out as
a result of the 90 kilometers per
hour winds and the pouring
rains, forcing thousands into
shelters around Santiago.
FLOODING
IMPACTS ON EVACUEES
• Evacuees were forced to live in
schools that were hastily turned
into makeshift hostels, that proved
to be so inadequate that many
people were often returned to their
waterlogged homes too early.
JULY 29, 2000 FLOODING
IMPACTED THE CAPITAL
• Most of the metropolitan
homeless come from the
poorest regions of Santiago,
including Pudahuel, El Monte,
Talagante, Isla de Maipo, Maipu
and San Ramon
IMPACTS IN OTHER PARTS
OF CHILE
• The simultaneous flooding
throughout Chile caused at
least 17 deaths and forced an
estimated 129,000 people into
homelessness.
FLOODING: SOUTHERN
CHILE
AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS
• The regions impacted by floods
also included Chile's principal
agricultural areas, the central
and southern regions.
ELEMENTS OF HAZARDS
AND RISK
ELEMENTS OF FLOOD RISK
HAZARDS
EXPOSURE
RISK
VULNERABILITY
LOCATION
FLOOD HAZARDS (AKA
POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)
• TOO MUCH WATER DISCHARGED
WITHIN THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM TO
BE ACCOMMODATED NORMALLY IN
THE REGIONAL WATER CYCLE
• EROSION
• SCOUR
• MUDFLOWS
A DISASTER CAN HAPPEN
WHEN THE
POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS
OF A FLOOD INTERACT WITH
CHILE’S COMMUNITIES
CAUSES
OF RISK
LOSS OF FUNCTION OF
STRUCTURES IN FLOODPLAIN
INUNDATION
INTERACTION WITH
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
FLOODS
CASE HISTORIES
STRUCTURAL/CONTENTS
DAMAGE FROM WATER
WATER BORNE DISEASES
(HEALTH PROBLEMS)
EROSION AND MUDFLOWS
CONTAMINATION OF GROUND
WATER
A DISASTER is ----- the set of failures that overwhelm the
capability of a community to respond
without external help when three
continuums: 1) people, 2) community
(i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and
social constructs), and 3) complex
events (e.g., floods, earthquakes,…)
intersect at a point in space and time.
Disasters are caused by
single- or multiple-event
natural hazards that, (for
various reasons), cause
extreme levels of mortality,
morbidity, homelessness,
joblessness, economic losses,
or environmental impacts.
THE REASONS ARE . . .
• When it does happen, the
functions of the community’s
buildings and infrastructure can be
LOST.
THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community is UNPREPARED for what will likely
happen, not to mention the
low-probability of occurrence—
high-probability of adverse
consequences event.
THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community has NO DISASTER
PLANNING SCENARIO or
WARNING SYSTEM in place as a
strategic framework for early threat
identification and coordinated
local, national, regional, and
international countermeasures.
THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community LACKS THE
CAPACITY TO RESPOND in a
timely and effective manner to
the full spectrum of expected
and unexpected emergency
situations.
THE REASONS ARE . . .
• The community is INEFFICIENT
during recovery and
reconstruction because it HAS
NOT LEARNED from either the
current experience or the
cumulative prior experiences.
THE ALTERNATIVE TO A
FLOOD DISASTER IS
FLOOD DISASTER
RESILIENCE
FLOOD RISK
•FLOOD HAZARDS
•PEOPLE & BLDGS.
•VULNERABILITY
•LOCATION
DATA BASES
AND INFORMATION
ACCEPTABLE RISK
RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
CHILE’S
GOAL: FLOOD
DISASTER RESILIENCE
COMMUNITIES
POLICY OPTIONS
HAZARDS:
GROUND SHAKING
GROUND FAILURE
SURFACE FAULTING
TECTONIC DEFORMATION
TSUNAMI RUN UP
AFTERSHOCKS
• PREPAREDNESS
•PROTECTION
•EARLY WARNING
•EMERGENCY RESPONSE
•RECOVERY and
RECONSTRUCTION
TECHNOLOGIES FOR
MONITORING, FORECASTING,
WARNING, AND DISASTER
SCENARIOS WARNING ARE
VITAL FOR SURVIVAL