Resumen de Els georiscos

Joan Manuel Vilaplana Fernández

• The impact of natural hazards constitutes a growing problem of considerabledimensions worldwide. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the increase inpopulation, migration flows, the occupation of new spaces and the growingvulnerability of our society have led to an alarming increase in the risk of catastrophe ordisaster due to natural phenomena.The analysis of this chapter focuses on phenomena of natural origin and moreespecially on geodynamic phenomena of both exogenous origin (floods, landslides,rockfalls, snow avalanches, subsidence and coastal phenomena), and endogenous origin(especially earthquakes and, to a lesser extent, volcanism) that have a damaging impacton the territory, which is increasingly occupied and used by its inhabitants. Thesephenomena are part of the geological and geomorphological processes (some of suddenoccurrence but all recurrent) that change and evolve the Earth’s surface (formation anderosion of its relief). In short, these are phenomena which are inherent to naturalsystems and which unquestionably condition living beings.This chapter analyses and diagnoses geohazards, mainly in the geographical area ofCatalonia but in other neighbouring territories (Catalan Countries) as well.We have a good level of scientific and technical knowledge but it is not alwaystransferred to management actions. Databases with documentation on past disasters anda good evaluation of the risk exposure and the physical and social vulnerability of theterritory are lacking. There are cartographies of danger and hazard zoning but not theydo not yet cover the whole territory and in some cases the scales are inappropriate.There are well-designed civil protection plans but, to ensure their full effectiveness, thecomplete implementation of emergency plans at municipal level is needed. It isnecessary to improve the coordination between the technical procedures, the mitigationactions and the planning of the territory. To do this, it is essential to make acoordination effort between the public administrations and the competent bodies.Regulations are fragmented and dispersed in different legislative areas, and this maylead to non-compliance. It has been found that, although ours is an industrialized,advanced and supposedly resilient society, citizens are not aware of their degree ofexposure to natural risk, nor of their individual and collective vulnerability. To remedythis deficiency, it is necessary to improve the information to society and to educatechildren and young people in relation to natural hazards. Irresponsibility in territorialdevelopment, especially in decision-making on land use and, more specifically, onurban planning, has led to a significant increase in exposure to disaster risk.Lastly, a series of proposals is made for geohazard management and risk mitigation,with a view to better governance and coexistence with tolerable risk levels.