Analysis of temporal and spatial overlapping of hazards interactions at different scales

Impacts generated by natural hazards in the last years are growing also because many regions of the world become subject to multiple hazards and cascading effects. The modelling of the multi-hazard dimension is a new challenge that allows the stakeholder to face with the chain effects between hazards and to model the risk in a real holistic way. Despite the recognition of the importance of a multi-hazard approach in risk assessment, there are only a few multi-risk approaches developed up to now. The examination of multiple hazards, in contrast to single-hazard cases, poses a series of challenges in each step of the risk analysis, starting from the assessment of the hazard level, passing trough the vulnerability evaluation, and arriving finally at the resultant risk level. Hazard interactions and hazard contemporaneity arising from their spatial and temporal overlap may not only influence the overall hazard level, but also the vulnerability of elements at risk.