Applications of GIS in geo-hazards

Geo hazards include earth quakes,floods,landslides,volcanoes etc.

Over the last decades, the world has become increasingly vulnerable to geo-hazards. Population
growth and the increased concentration of physical assets in high risk areas are leading to
increased exposures to adverse natural events. Unplanned and unregulated land use, lack of
environmental controls, and the poor application of building standards contribute significantly to
asset losses in the region. The trend toward increased vulnerability is likely to continue and when
coupled with increased climatic variability, resulting from global climate change, future losses
from natural disasters like earthquakes are expected to rise
GIS provides an opportunity to civilian authorities and international agencies to enhance their
preparedness for coping with geo-hazards in general and earthquakes in particular.

Earthquakes
GIS has provided a very efficient tool in the field of earthquake hazardsassessment. Prior to GIS,
seismologist used the isoseismal maps earthquakes risk maps (Figure 9) and seismicity maps in
addition to other maps to study and predict earthquakes. Although mapping provides a very
useful way of presenting information when compared with tables and texts, sometimes they
would lack the meaningfulness without referring to the tables and texts instantly. It was not
possible, before the introduction of GIS, to visualize different maps at the same time in an
efficient way. Also, maps and attributes (e.g. the fault characteristics, ground acceleration and
damage) have to be viewed separately, perhaps in a table, which makes it more difficult
to study and predict earthquakes
With the use of GIS, different maps (layers), such as infrastructures and faults maps can be
viewed simultaneously as well as the attributes such as faults characteristics and earthquakes
magnitude Fig.
During an earthquake, quick mobilizing and targeting response effort can help in reducing the
secondary damage from fires, gas leak and water supply contamination. Finally, recovery, in
both short term and long term, can be better coordinated through GIS by prioritizing damage
repairs and careful analysis of infrastructure and hazards before rebuilding can create more
sustainable communities

How GIS is Used?

The first step toward an efficient use of GIS in earthquakes assessment is to identify the source
of the problem, which is the source of the seismic activity, mainly faults (Figure) After locating
the source of the seismic activity, then data collection (seismic data) is the next step. Part of the
data may be available from historic records and others have to be collected continuously through
seismographs, devices that are used to record the seismic activity. These seismographs are
linked, instantaneously, to a computer system using a combination of GPS, Global Positioning
System, and landlines (Gooding).

Figure : A GIS view of the biggest concentration of faults in the valley and mountainous region
surrounding the San Andreas Fault zone and the San Jacinto fault zone (Gooding &S:1).

After managing the seismic data issue, comes the step of creating or obtaining the maps. In
general, maps are available through specialized agencies in digital format, e.g. USGS in United
States. However, one should decides what maps should be used, which can be inferred from the
objective of the study, e.g. topographic maps, faults maps, population maps etc. For instant,
the geographic data that comes with ArcView GIS can be used to create base map (Gooding).
Once the data is collected and the maps are created, one should define the parameters involved in
the study (project), e.g. maximum and minimum magnitude, and convert these parameters into
the proper format (shapefile). for instant, MS Excel may be used to create earthquake data table
and then saving the data as a dBASE file that is useable by GIS. This is the process of creating
the project database. It is of vital importance to ensure the consistency of the data, e.g. units of
longitude and latitude. After the database is created, table(s) may be used to create an event
theme and earthquakes may be classified by their magnitude using the graduated symbols
available through the theme legend editor (in ArcView GIS) (Gooding).

Flood Management
Advancements in the remote sensing technology and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
help in real time monitoring, early warning and quick damage assessment of flood disasters. A
Geographic Information System is a tool that can assist floodplain managers in identifying flood
risk areas in their community. With a GIS, geographical information is stored in a database that
can be queried and graphically displayed for analysis. By overlaying or intersecting different
geographical layers, flood risk areas can be identified and targeted for mitigation or stricter
floodplain management practices.
Remote Sensing can be very effective for flood management in the following way:

Detailed mapping that is required for the production of hazard assessment maps and for
input to various types of hydrological models.
Developing a larger scale view of the general flood situation within a river
basin with the aim of identifying areas at greatest risk and in the need of immediate
assistance.

Remote sensing and GIS technique has successfully established its application in following
areas of flood management such as flood inundation mapping,flood plain zoning and river
morphological studies.

Volcanoes:
GIS can be used in building database for active volcanoes.The attributes associated with each
volcano may include: location, last eruption date, type of eruption, height, lave composition,
eruption duration,
GIS is also useful in predicting the lava flow direction, and managing the development and
emergency evacuations. The United States Geological Survey has applied GIS in analyzing the
volcanic hazards associated with LassenVolcanic National Park area, California. The volcano
scientists utilized the available data to develop a volcano hazard zones -

FIg. Map showing distribution of volcanic activity in the Middle East. Only Neogene/Quaternary
and Paleogene volcanic fields are shown. Holocene volcanoes obtained from the Smithsonian
Institution are also shown colored based on their age groups. The majority of the
Neogene/Quaternary fields are in western Arabia and Turkey, whereas the majority of Paleogene
volcanics are in Iran.

Landslides
Landslide hazard zone mapping involves a detailed assessment and analysis of the past
occurrences of landslides in conditions of their location, size and incidence with respect to
various geo-environmental factors that cause landslides and mass movements. Landslide hazard
zonation map included a map separating the draw out varying degrees of predictable slope
stability. The map has an inbuilt factor of forecasting and hence is of probabilistic nature.
Depending upon the methodology adopted and the comprehensiveness of the input data used, a
landslide hazard zonation map is able to provide help concerning some or all the following
individual factor maps:
Landslide location
Slope steepness
Landuse/landcover
Geology or lithology
Density of drainages
Rainfall