Abstract
In order to account for large variance and fat tail of damage by natural disaster, we study a simple model by combining distributions of disaster and population/property with their spatial correlation. We assume fat-tailed or power-law distributions for disaster and population/property exposed to the disaster, and a constant vulnerability for exposed population/property. Our model suggests that the fat tail property of damage can be determined either by that of disaster or by those of population/property depending on which tail is fatter. It is also found that the spatial correlations of population/property can enhance or reduce the variance of damage depending on how fat the tails of population/property are. In case of tornadoes in the United States, we show that the damage does have fat tail property. Our results support that the standard cost-benefit analysis would not be reliable for social investment in vulnerability reduction and disaster prevention.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Vulnerability, Uncertainty, and Risk |
| Subtitle of host publication | Quantification, Mitigation, and Management - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Vulnerability and Risk Analysis and Management, ICVRAM 2014 and the 6th International Symposium on Uncertainty Modeling and Analysis, ISUMA 2014 |
| Editors | Jim W. Hall, Siu-Kui Au, Michael Beer |
| Publisher | American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) |
| Pages | 2744-2753 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780784413609 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2014 |
| Event | 2nd International Conference on Vulnerability and Risk Analysis and Management, ICVRAM 2014 and the 6th International Symposium on Uncertainty Modeling and Analysis, ISUMA 2014 - Liverpool, United Kingdom Duration: 13 Jul 2014 → 16 Jul 2014 |
Publication series
| Name | Vulnerability, Uncertainty, and Risk: Quantification, Mitigation, and Management - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Vulnerability and Risk Analysis and Management, ICVRAM 2014 and the 6th International Symposium on Uncertainty Modeling and Analysis, ISUMA 2014 |
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Conference
| Conference | 2nd International Conference on Vulnerability and Risk Analysis and Management, ICVRAM 2014 and the 6th International Symposium on Uncertainty Modeling and Analysis, ISUMA 2014 |
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| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Liverpool |
| Period | 13/07/14 → 16/07/14 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.