Development of preliminary assessment tools to evaluate debris flow hazard

Abstract

With the objective of providing guidance for an early detection of phenomena potentially giving raise to Debris Flow, one of the main topics is the preliminary identification of areas at risk. In case of early warning a coarser identification of areas at risk should be sufficient. In this perspective, the hazard of phenomena, as component of risk, can be estimated in a simplified way. In the framework of the IMPRINTS European Research Project (FP7), a toolbox for fast assessment of debris flow hazard has been developed. The aim of this toolbox is to implement different existing models inside a common package useful for a fast evaluation of potential hazard. The identification of hazard is performed by different levels of accuracy, depending on the availability of input data. As an example, the result could be achieved by a rough handling of topographical data but could be improved in quality by adding geological and hydrological data. Both the initiation and propagation of the debris flow are modelled. For this study, the methodology has been applied in a catchment located in the North East of Spain.