Citation

Li J, Liu J, Di B, Pan J, Shaw R, Shoji T. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 2023; 95: e103873.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103873

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Debris flow threats human lives and safety worldwide, with greater impacts on undeveloped regions with uneven medical resource allocation. In this study, we take Sichuan Province, China as a case study area, where debris flow disasters are frequent and medical resources concentrate in developed regions. Based on factor analysis method, 16 socioeconomic indicators are applied to obtain the vulnerability of the population under debris flow threat, which is combined with debris flow susceptibility and historical debris flow inventory to estimate the potential casualty for each county or district. Based on the potential casualties and the number of beds at the second-tier hospitals and above, two-step floating catchment area method is used to calculate the medical resource accessibility. The results show that: (1) The prevention and mitigation measures and sufficient medical resources have positive effects on reducing potential casualties at the present stage. (2) The present medical resource allocation can provide treatments for more than 85% of the injured within 30 minutes. (3) Regionalized management can further promote the efficiency of mitigating potential casualties caused by debris flows. The findings of this study provide references for administrators and policymakers to conduct regionalized management by considering the distributions of debris flow risks and medical resources, aiming at mitigating efficiently the potential casualties due to debris flows

Language: en

Keywords

Accessibility; Debris flow; Factor analysis method; Medical resource; Two-step floating catchment area method