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Superposed Natural Hazards and Pandemics: Breaking Dams, Floods, and COVID-19

Author

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  • Mohammad Amin Hariri-Ardebili

    (Department of Civil Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
    College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Upmanu Lall

    (Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
    Columbia Water Center, Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA)

Abstract

Within the engineering domain, safety issues are often related to engineering design and typically exclude factors such as epidemics, famine, and disease. This article provides a perspective on the reciprocal relationship and interaction between a natural hazard and a simultaneous pandemic outbreak and discusses how a catastrophic dam break, combined with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, poses a risk to human life. The paper uses grey- and peer-reviewed literature to support the discussion and reviews fundamentals of dam safety management, potential loss of life due to a dam break, and the recent evolution in dam risk analysis to account for the COVID-19 outbreak. Conventional risk reduction recommendations, such as quick evacuation and sheltering in communal centers, are revisited in the presence of a pandemic when social distancing is recommended. This perspective manuscript aims to provide insight into the multi-hazard risk problem resulting from a concurring natural hazard and global pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Amin Hariri-Ardebili & Upmanu Lall, 2021. "Superposed Natural Hazards and Pandemics: Breaking Dams, Floods, and COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:8713-:d:608364
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andra-Cosmina Albulescu, 2023. "Exploring the links between flood events and the COVID-19 infection cases in Romania in the new multi-hazard-prone era," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1611-1631, June.
    2. W. J. Wouter Botzen & Jantsje M. Mol & Peter J. Robinson & Juan Zhang & Jeffrey Czajkowski, 2022. "Individual hurricane evacuation intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights for risk communication and emergency management policies," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(1), pages 507-522, March.

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