Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
regulations will vary according to the local dangers. One of the most obvious re-
quirements in areas of high snowfall follows traditional practice in Alpine areas,
namely ensuring steeper roofs. In areas subject to minor floods, raising pavements
can help people to move around. The ability of buildings to withstand high winds is
a vital element in most places, but especially in areas subject to tornadoes. There are
also a number of basic principles that should be adopted in buildings in areas prone
to earthquakes, creating flexible rather than rigid structures (Abbot and Sampson
2009
; Guevara-Perez
2012
). Many deaths still occur because too many of the build-
ings are built of adobe or some insubstantial material, or of unsecured heavy ma-
sonry which falls apart and crushes people in earthquakes. Also the popularity of an
open storey first floor since it was advocated by Le Corbusier, has been shown to be
significantly related to building collapse during earthquakes (Guevara-Perez
2012
).
There are some basic requirements to reduce disasters from the human-created haz-
ards: the need to reduce fire risk means that buildings should use non-flammable
materials, and houses need to be separated with flame-proof sidings, so that fires
do not spread easily to adjoining properties; land use planning needs to be more
rigorous to ensure that incompatible and noxious or hazardous activities are not
located next to residences; and that sites to be urbanized should not be located in
areas that are subject to natural hazards, such as floods. These are only a few of the
types of regulations needed to improve resilience. Many are standard in urban areas
in the developed world—although the constant upgrades in both national or local
regulations over the past few decades and improved engineering practices shows
the increasing rigour of these codes. Such advances are still limited in the develop-
ing world, again because of the shortage of trained personal and the absence of the
abilities of municipalities to ensure compliance to any regulations.
9733
Infra-Structures and Buildings
Many urban places need to pay more attention to the location of new urban develop-
ments and to improve their physical infra-structures in order to cope with extreme
events. There is no doubt that much of the infrastructure of developed world cities
is aging and needs to be regularly inspected and replaced, and there are many ex-
amples where the former is not adequate, and few cities have plans or the ability to
finance the replacements of many existing infrastructures. These problems are com-
pounded by the recent development of more rigorous construction standards, which
means older structures need upgrading, and recognition of problems posed by new
climate trends. The higher temperatures being experienced in many countries means
that: new standards are needed to withstand greater drought probabilities; buildings
need to take into account the effects of higher wind shear and more precipitation,
even in temperate lands. In northern climes global warming is leading to greater
melting of the formerly frozen permafrost layer, which is causing buildings to sag,
tilt and even collapse, while there are less possibilities of constructing the temporary
ice or snow roads that used to connect settlements in winter, which means creating
expensive all-weather roads across inhospitable terrain. In addition, in areas of high
