Item: Wave of Avalanche Disasters in Response to Colonization: A Century of Statistics from the World’s Deadliest Avalanche-Prone Islands
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Title: Wave of Avalanche Disasters in Response to Colonization: A Century of Statistics from the World’s Deadliest Avalanche-Prone Islands
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Grenoble – Chamonix Mont-Blanc - October 07-11, 2013
Authors:
- Evgeny A. Podolskiy [ IRSTEA (UR ETGR), St.-Martin-d'Heres, France ]
- Kaoru Izumi [ Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan ]
- Vladimir E. Suchkov [ Avalanche Safety Service, “Roza Hutor†Ski Resort, Sochi, Russia ]
- IRSTEA (UR ETGR), St.-Martin-d'Heres, France [ Nicolas Eckert ]
Date: 2013-10-07
Abstract: The record of avalanche disasters on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands was always incomplete due to the historical divide of the region between Japan and Russia. In this study we combine and analyze all available relevant information from Japanese and Russian archive sources in order to reconstruct a continuous centurial record of snow avalanche catastrophes in the region from 1910 to 2010. Despite the relatively small scale of the majority of disastrous avalanches in the area, with a total vertical drop less that 200 m, the evidence documented in this paper places Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands among the most avalanche affected areas of the world. In total, 756 fatalities and more than 238 injuries occurred in 275 accidents during 100 years (two thirds of the fatalities and accidents were among Japanese). For example, this death toll is higher than that of Canada, New Zealand or Iceland. The pattern of the fatality rate was found to decrease over time due to social factors and is different from any other considered region due to the lack of any recreationist deaths. Even if the present fatality rate is lower than that of, for example, Iceland or the USA in recent years, the islands‟ per capita avalanche causality rate is among the highest in the world. Finally, a shock wave of avalanche disasters in response to intense colonization of the islands could be shown.n Although this demonstrated "wave‟ could be considered a local issue of the past, many presently developing countries may face similar impacts.
Language of Article: English
Presenters: Unknown
Keywords: avalanche, fatalities, disaster, statistics, sakhalin, kuril islands
Page Number(s): 1135-1137
Subjects: avalanche fatalities avalanche disasters catastrophe avalanche
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Digital Abstract Not Available
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