Planning to Deal with the Threat of a Once-in-A-Millennium Tsunami or Flood

Abstract

Natural disasters threaten human survival and economic development. With climate change increasing the risk of extreme weather, the frequency and destructiveness of natural disasters are increasing, highlighting the need to prevent or mitigate these disasters. However, even countries that are frequently affected by natural disasters have not planned their response to large disasters, particularly for once-in-a-century or once-in-a-millennium disasters. To cope with the threat of such disasters, it’s urgently necessary to relocate the people who are at risk to safer lands and to plan responses to the worst disasters. Unfortunately, many of the populations at risk live in areas with rich agricultural land and easy access to river and maritime transportation; thus, they feel no incentive to leave. One possibility is to move farmers and those who benefit from, but don’t require, maritime transportation to safer areas, but much of the arable land that is not already cultivated is too dry and relocating established industries will be expensive. To solve these problems, governments must pay attention to the hazards these populations are exposed to by proactively moving people to safer areas and by developing plans that could reduce the harm caused by future disasters.

Keywords: natural disasters, coastal areas, food shortage, arable land, water diversion