On: Lecture & Dialogue: Natural hazards and risks in urban environments

BLOG TASK 1:
- SUMMARIZE WEIGHTING DISCUSSION
- IMAGINE SAME DISCUSSION AMONG DIFFERENT STAKE HOLDERS IN YOUR HOME TOWN. WHAT DO YOU GUESS WILL THE OUTCOME BE?

Dr. Philipp Schmidt-Thomé lectured on Urban Risks. As a group task we were asked to divide 100% of resources on 10 different hazards in the context of Europe: draughts, extreme temperatures, erthquakes, floods, forest fires, landslides, storms/ cyclones, storm surge, tsunami and volcanic eruptions. First we got to argue the order of importance in our group, then we switched numbers with another group, and had to do a second round, taking in consideration estimations of both groups. On many points the both groups had approximately the same percentage, a few were differing more. Our group had put storm surge high, when the others had it really low.

In short we tried to figure out the commonalty and frequency in our discussion. Think about what kind of area Europe is as a whole, and how the hazards are connected. A Cameroonian guy told that people in northern Cameroon are OK with 40°C, when it in Europe is so hot that people dry out. He was more concerned about the cold temperatures. Finally, we estimated floods as the most dangerous hazard, as many cities and industries are located by big floods, and there is many of them in the whole of Europe.

My hometown is Helsinki in Finland. The city is located at the Gulf of Finland, part of the Baltic Sea. The are is seismographically calm, since it's in the middle of tectonic plates, there are no vulcanos around, and the area is not arid. So starting from the lowest importance I would think stake holders in Helsinki would come to: Volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes (there might be, but small), droughts (dry summers, no bigger problem). The following six are a bit harder to put in order, I think I don't have enough information.

I was thinking to put extreme temperatures on place five, but then taught on every winter when cars slip around with summer tires, and trains get stuck without electricity, or summers when grannies forget to drink enough water. These things should be seasonally addressed, with radio campaigns or something, so that people wouldn't forget. Maybe forest fire could take place 5, I hope that Helsinki can set out it's own forest fires, the problem seem to come from the big forest in Russia in dry summers.

Floods and landslides might affect some areas in Helsinki after heavy rains but storms might hit the whole area, and storm surge the wide cost, so maybe these two are a more dangerous couple. I would still break the duos and lift storm to number 10 and floods just after. Then the main thing to do is to not build too close to the see and rivers, but what the safe level is is another question. Anyway making this properly should be main priority, and could together get 80% of the resources. Or something like that.