in the past 25 years, rising of the caspian sea level, part of a natural treat to the sea, has inundated and destroyed many buildings and arable lands and threatened many inhabitations in coastal areas. the main reason for these damages is that the law-setback has lost its efficiency and human activities have proceeded seaward. the goal of this study is to introduce a proper setback line for th...

The effects of natural hazards can be mitigated by the use of proper “pre-event” interventions on “key” elements of the territory, that is on elements that are mostly vulnerable to a given catastrophic scenario and whose loss of functionality can cause damages on people, property and environment. In this respect, methodologies and tools should be studied to support decision makers in the analys...

introduction one of the important problems that most of the metropolitans encounter with is natural disasters. earthquake is a main natural disaster. annually 27 sever earthquakes are happened by nineteen thousands killed and twenty six homeless. in recent report of united nations planning office in 2003, iran has had the first position in number of earthquakes with severity higher than 5.5 ric...

growing population and increasing urbanization has led to the expansion of informal settlements. informal settlements in developing countries, more than other urban tissues are exposed to various risks and natural disasters. this type of settlements, often develop and spread without regard to natural hazards, with no specific plan and no attention to regulations. expansion of informal settlemen...

Over the past few decades, four distinct and largely independent research and policy communities--disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, environmental management and poverty reduction--have been actively engaged in reducing socio-economic vulnerability to natural hazards. However, despite the significant efforts of these communities, the vulnerability of many individuals and commun...

Recent advancements in the area of structural dynamics have allowed civil engineers to better understand and control the response of structures to natural hazards, such as earthquakes and hurricanes. The social and economic impacts of natural disasters are continually increasing due to population growth and increasing number of older buildings with time. Through hazard mitigation engineers are ...

Multiple stressors threaten stream physical and biological quality, including elevated nutrients and other contaminants, riparian and in-stream habitat degradation and altered natural flow regime. Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development is one emerging stressor that spans the U.S. UOG development could alter stream sedimentation, riparian extent and composition, in-stream flow, and water q...

Extreme events are significant determinants of the character and evolution of many natural and human systems. When extreme events occur at the interface between natural and human systems, they are often called "disasters." Here, we use a systemic, contextual view of disasters to construct a framework for organizing research and policy. Within this framework, reduction of vulnerability is the or...

Climate change is predicted to increase the intensity and negative impacts of urban heat events, prompting the need to develop preparedness and adaptation strategies that reduce societal vulnerability to extreme heat. Analysis of societal vulnerability to extreme heat events requires an interdisciplinary approach that includes information about weather and climate, the natural and built environ...