www.gsf.fi

SEAREG Vulnerability assessment and experiences from the Finnish

case study areas

2. SEAREG Gdansk Case study meeting, Gdansk, 28.10.2004

Heidi Virkki, GTK, Espoo, Finland

www.gsf.fi

TODAY’S TOPICS

 

Vulnerability assessment (VA) Experiences from Itä-Uusimaa study area What we want from Gdansk

www.gsf.fi

VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT (VA)

What is vulnerability?

• The degree of fragility of a person, a group, a community or an area towards defined hazards

• Set of conditions and processes resulting from physical, social, economical and environmental factors, which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazards

• Vulnerability is determined by the potential of a community to react and withstand a disaster, e.g. its emergency facilities and disaster organisation structure (coping capacity)(Schmidt-Thomé and Jarva, 2003)

www.gsf.fi

Impact matrix as a part of the VA

• Identifying the hotspots of the study area e.g. a beach, houses, oil refinery, underground infrastructure, water supply etc. 

Table 1: Impact matrix Loviisa

Sea-Level 1. Sector 2. Sector 3. Sector Infra- Housing Open Ground ProtectedRise agriculture industry, services structure urban area water nature areaseffects fishery its w aste incl parks, w ater National parks,

forestry green fields, supply bird nesting w aste land.. areas, etc.

Inundation(permanentland loss)Flooding(flood proneareas)

values: "no impact", "low ", "medium" or "strong impact"

www.gsf.fi

Coping Capacity As Part of the VA

• Coping capacity refers to the capacity of an stakeholder, organisation or region, to withstand and cope with the effects of the future sea level rise such as inundation and flooding.- Helps the studied area to understand where its current strengths and weaknesses are.

• Identifying relevant key stakeholders for highest impact hotspots.

- e.g. planners, decision makers, rescue department, local waterworks, environmental experts, private households, oil refinery etc.

www.gsf.fi

Coping Capacity of Stakeholders

Awareness Knowledge Motivation Resources

www.gsf.fi

Coping Capacity of the Institutions

• Co-operation • Strength of institutions • Trust in decision makers • Guidance of planning • Public awareness

VA is a tool to support local and regional decision makers in analysing and interpreting the impacts of sea level rise on a study areas

www.gsf.fi

The Finnish Case Study Areas

www.gsf.fi

Experiences From ITÄ-UUSIMAA Study Area

• Hotspots in Porvoo Housing by the riverbank Contaminated industrial shores The ground water area in Sannainen

• Hotspots in Loviisa Housing by the Rantatie road The railway in use of the Valko harbour The park at the farest end of the Loviisa bay

www.gsf.fi

Hotspots in Loviisa

Max. flood event Max.flood event + high case scenario

www.gsf.fi

Interviewees in Itä-Uusimaa Region

• City planners and regional planners • Rescue department • Local water works • Local environmental experts and the Uusimaa

regional environmental centre • Road- and traffic department • Private persons with property in the risk zone,

also city councillors

www.gsf.fi

Interesting Results From Itä-Uusimaa Study Area

• Shores are wanted places for houses and summer cottages in Finland in general

• Hazards related to the oil refinery in Porvoo and the nuclear power plant in Loviisa raise more concern in Itä-Uusimaa

• The long time scale (100 years) makes sea level rise still an abstract hazard

• Guidance of planning quite strong and sea level is taken into account in planning

www.gsf.fi

Planning capacity assessment (examples)

• What is the level of (local official) knowledge about the type, location, and potential of hazards (sea-level rise & flooding)?

• Does development already exist to reduce the potential (land use planning and mitigation)?

• How high is community awareness of the hazard? Difficulty of avoidance of hazard-prone land use

• Are plans and resources available for mitigation? What is the planners interest?

• What kind of social, economical and political resistance is there towards influence on land use?

www.gsf.fi

Thank you for your attention!

heidi.virkki@uta.fi

http://www.gtk.fi/projects/seareg/