Your guide to effective multi-hazard risk assessments in APAC

Extreme climate change hazards are occurring more frequently – and countries across the world are at risk of having to manage more than one hazard at the same time. But this is especially true in the APAC region, where extreme weather events can be a frequent occurrence.

There are many reasons why hazards can occur at the same time. Sometimes one hazard will trigger another as part of a chain event, or will change the conditions of an environment to cause a secondary hazard. Sometimes, they will occur at the same time entirely coincidentally.

For example, extreme drought can lead to dry land and result in bushfires. Flash floods can trigger landslides. And biological hazards like COVID-19 can occur at the same time as tsunamis or earthquakes.

To protect assets, communities, and countries, we need to treat disasters as just one of the multiple hazards that may affect a specific area, rather than as siloed events – conducting multi-hazard risk assessments rather than single-scenario ones.

But it’s easier said than done. In this blog, we’ll explore the barriers to effective multi-hazard risk assessments and how you can put the right preparations in place to assess, manage, and mitigate multiple hazards.

The challenges of multi-hazard risk assessments

When conducting a single-scenario hazard risk assessment, it can be time-consuming to gather all the data you need to make accurate predictions. You need to visualise your vulnerability and potential impacts years into the future and likely at more than one location.

And when conducting a multi-hazard risk assessment, you need the same granular data but for each of your chosen hazards.

It isn’t enough to just predict multiple hazards and their impacts either. You need to understand the likeliness of hazards occurring at the same time and their severity. Plus, knowing the relationship between the hazards – whether separate or connected – will help identify the most appropriate solutions.

As multi-hazard risk assessments are a relatively new methodology, there are often gaps in both the literature available and the specific data needed to complete assessments and prioritise responses to certain hazards.

With no single, comprehensive source of multi-hazard risk assessment data, many organisations will instead turn to individual, ad hoc solutions and data sources to try and find the insights they need.

But if you rely on individual data sources, you risk investigating different hazards in silos and missing vital connections between them that can help you prepare, and keep people and assets safe.

High-quality multi-hazard risk assessments deliver the insights you need to improve decision making, and accelerate your response – providing accurate data like the most vulnerable areas, viable alternative transport routes, and the nearest hospitals.

How to conduct effective multi-hazard risk assessments

Without the right skills, tools, and expertise, it’s easy to deliver inaccurate or unclear data – which could mean you end up mitigating unlikely hazards or choosing ineffective methods of prevention.

To assess your multi-hazard risk effectively, you need to start with an exposure analysis – determining which assets are at risk to which hazards, and areas that are more vulnerable than others to different types of hazards. This will require current and projected data, delivered at a granular, local level.

Once you know what assets or areas are most at risk, you can more specifically assess their vulnerability. For example, you can test the strength of materials used in a certain building or the structures of local housing.

This data is your starting point for determining appropriate mitigation solutions for entire countries, cities, and villages, even down to individual buildings. The next step? Turning your insights into a meaningful set of mitigation methods and action plans for when hazards strike.

Of course, you can develop your responses using your own expertise and resources. But when you’re assessing risks that cover the entire geopolitical and environmental spectrum, you may need support from experts outside your organisation. At that point, you’ll need to find the right partner to help.

At Royal HaskoningDHV, we know about the climate challenges you’re facing and how they can impact your industry, assets, or community.

Our experts offer a comprehensive portfolio of multi-hazard analysis services for Asia Pacific, combining predictive and historical data to help you identify, monitor, and reduce the potential impact of simultaneous climate change hazards.

With over 140 years of engineering expertise, we’re well placed to use our industry knowledge and draw on international best practices to improve your disaster preparedness and protect your community.