Lab 3: Tsunami Risk Assessment of the Metro Vancouver Area
TsunamiRiskAssessment_FinalMap shows a map of danger zones if a tsunami were to hit Vancouver. These danger zones include land areas that lie within 1 km. of the shoreline and at elevations below 15 meters given a tsunami wave 15 meters high: namely, road networks categorized by road type and affected areas categorized by land use. With this, I labeled ideal points where precautionary signage could be placed to warn the public of these danger zones: labeled on the map as ‘signage.’
As categorized by land use, the tsunami danger zones include health and education facilities. The healthcare facilities at risk include False Creek Residence, Broadway Pentecostal Lodge, Coastwest Community Home, Yaletown House Society, and Villa Cathay Care Home. The education facilities at risk include Ecole Rose Des Vents, St. Anthony of Padua, Heritage 3Rs School, Vancouver Montessori School, False Creek Elementary, Henry Hudson Elementary, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, St. John International, St Francis Xavier, and the Institute of Indigenous Government. To do this, I used an ‘overlay-intersect’ tool that allows me to create a new map layer that includes the health and education facilities within the boundary of tsunami danger zones: i.e. health and education facilities within 1 km. of the shoreline and at elevations below 15 meters.
Approximately 52% of Vancouver is in danger of a tsunami. To find this, I first used data from a digital elevation matrix (DEM) to highlight areas at elevations below 15 meters and hence, would likely be affected by the tsunami and intersect this data with coastal areas 1 km. away from the shoreline. This gives the total area of tsunami danger zones: 665 km2. Then divide this by the the total area of the area of study (Metro Vancouver).
Accomplishment/s:
- Investigated qualitative and quantitative tsunami risk through calculations and spatial analysis
- Outlined tsunami danger zones and points of interest for warning signage as an aid to establish tsunami hazard prevention plans
- Evaluated potential health and education facilities at risk for improved urban planning