DGAOT

The Kyrgyz Republic, as well as other countries of Central Asia, is highly exposed to natural-environmental hazards, which continues undermining efforts to achieve sustainable development. National disaster risk assessment procedures in Central Asian countries are mainly based on the evaluation of hazards without a detailed analysis of vulnerability and resilience. Additionally, the available practices of hazard assessments are mostly based on a zone-by-zone approach, which would make it difficult to develop a comparative assessment of facilities located in the same hazard zone. This situation hampers the efforts of the local governments to effectively plan and implement disaster risk reduction (DRR) actions when they cannot differentiate the individual facilities according to the risk level in order to focus the existing capacity (which is usually very limited) on increasing the resilience and reducing the vulnerability of the facilities with the highest risk. For improvement of DR...

The construction of earthen embankment terraces in the Douro Region raises a set of problems related to hydrological processes. The main objective of this study is the evaluation of the spatial variation of electrical resistivity in agriculture terraces at Douro valley (Portugal). To achieve this objective, two variables are analysed, the soil electrical resistivity and the flow direction algorithm. In a field survey we recorded 13 electrical resistivity profiles. The contributing area was calculated with the algorithms D∞ (Deterministic Infinity Flow) and MFD (Multiple Flow Direction) and the results are the base of the internal runoff modelling, both supported by the digital elevation model with a spatial resolution of 1m2. A correlation between the spatial variation of the soil electrical resistivity represented by the standard deviation of the electrical resistivity for each profile and the average value of the contributing area coincident with each profile was established. The ...

O recurso à modelação como metodologia de ensino é relevante no processo de recriação e simulação de fenómenos naturais, nomeadamente fenómenos geológicos e ambientais. Pretendendo-se verificar se o recurso à modelação é uma metodologia significativa no sucesso da aprendizagem dos estudantes de riscos naturais do ensino superior português, foram analisadas as fichas das unidades curriculares que abordam temáticas de riscos naturais nas universidades públicas portuguesas, tendo-se optado por selecionar apenas unidades curriculares do primeiro ciclo de estudos – licenciatura. No total foram analisadas, com recurso a uma grade de análise, oito fichas de unidades curriculares, ministradas em sete universidades públicas portuguesas. Asevidências encontradas indicam que nenhum dos documentos em análise contempla a utilização da modelação como metodologia de ensino de temáticas de riscos naturais, predominando um ensino essencialmente tradicional, sobressaindo a necessidade de intervenção ...

For the seismic and dynamic design of the civil eng ineering projects a significant role is assumed by the geotechnical-seismic characterization of the site. The new Italian seismic code as well as the Eurocod es and other international seismic codes require the seismic sit e classification made on the basis of the shear wav e velocity profile. Among the several techniques of site inves tigation the MASW method (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves) and the ReMi method (Refraction Microtremors ) allow the determination of the shear wave velocit y profile and hence the seismic site classification by means of the measurement and the consequent analysis of t he Rayleigh waves. The article proposes a joint application of b th the active MASW and the ReMi to a real case in order to compare the two complementary methods.

13 The inclusion of site-specific conditions is essential to adequately represent the seismic haz14 ard and the seismic risk for a region. We acquired, gathered and organized a near surface 15 shear-wave velocity database for Portugal, and applied a three-step methodological approach 16 for developing a VS30 site-conditions map using extrapolation based on surface geology. The 17 methodology includes: 1) defining a preliminary set of geologically defined units; 2) calculat18 ing the probability distribution of log VS30 for each unit; and 3) merging the units according 19 to the results of statistical tests. The final model comprises three geologically defined units 20 characterized by log VS30 distributions that are statistically significantly different from each 21 other: F1 Igneous, metamorphic and old sedimentary rocks; F2 Neogene and Pleistocene 22 formations; and F3 Holocene formations. The site conditions for F3 unit may be fur23 ther refined using correlations with topographi...