1. SEVERE FLOODING IN THE MIDDLE EAST LEBANON JANUARY 4, 2013 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA

2. AFTERMATH OF WINTER STORM CAUSES FLOODING THAT LEAVES FOUR DEAD AND CLOSES SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT COUNTRY

3. FLOODING IN LEBANON

5. PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF FLOODS INUNDATION, HIGH-VELOCITY FLOW, HIGH- VOLUME DISCHARGE, EROSION, AND SCOUR

6. DAMAGE FROM INUNCATION A SCENARIO INTEGRATES PHYSICAL EFFECTS AND SOCIETAL IMPACTS TO DETERMINE RISK EROSION, SCOUR, AND LANDSLIDES LOSS OF FUNCTION ECONOMIC LOSS RISKRISK

7. SOCIETAL IMPACTS OF FLOODS DAMAGE TO CONTENTS, LOSS OF FUNCTION OF BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE, RELEASE OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, TRANSPORTATION OF DEBRIS, AUTOS, AND HOUSES, ENVIRONMENTAL DEAD ZONES, AND DISEASE

8. VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT FOR FLOODS

9. WHAT INCREASES VULNERABILITY MANKIND’S ACTIONS AND NATURAL EVENTS CAN CHANGE THE VULNERABILITY OF ELEMENTS AT RISK TO FLOODS, A PART OF THE WATER CYCLE

10. An element’s vulnerability (fragility) is the result of a community’s actions or nature’s actions that change some part of the regional water cycle (e.g., precipitation, storage, runoff, transpiration, evaporation).

11. MANKIND’S CONTRIBUTION An element’s vulnerability (fragility) is the result of flaws that enter during the planning, siting, design, and construction of a community’s buildings and infrastructure.

12. MANKIND’S ACTIONS THAT CHANGE SOME PART OF THE WATER CYCLE Urban development or industrial development in areas that were formerly wetlands. Locating buildings and infrastructure in a river floodplain.

13. MANKIND’S ACTIONS THAT CHANGE SOME PART OF THE WATER CYCLE Actions that increase or decrease river gradients (deforestation, dams, etc). Actions that change the runoff pattern or rate (e.g., the city’s concrete footprint )

14. NATURE’S ACTIONS THAT CHANGE SOME PART OF THE WATER CYCLE A flash flood. Ice jams/ice dams on the river Rapid melt of snow and ice Extreme or prolonged precipitation caused by stalled low-pressure systems.

15. LOSS OF FUNCTION OF STRUCTURES IN FLOODPLAIN FLOODS INUNDATION INTERACTION WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS STRUCTURE & CONTENTS: DAMAGE FROM WATER WATER BORNE DISEASES (HEALTH PROBLEMS) EROSION AND MUDFLOWS CONTAMINATION OF GROUND WATER CAUSES OF RISK DISASTER LABORATORIES

16. A RISK ASSESSMENT A risk assessment involves the probabilistic integration of: The hazard (e.g., floods) and their potential disaster agents (inundation, erosion, etc) that are directly related to the location of the community and what happens in the regional water cycle.

17. RISK ASSESSMENT (Continued) The location of each element of the exposure in relation to the physical demands of the hazard (i.e., inundation, etc.)

18. RISK ASSESSMENT (Continued) The exposure (e.g., people, and elements of the community’s built environment), represents the potential loss when the natural hazard occurs.

19. RISK ASSESSMENT (Continued) The vulnerability (or fragility) of each element comprising the exposure when subjected to the potential disaster agents.