ABSTRACT: Tools for natural hazard identification, monitoring, and management in High Mountain areas: Cases from the Western Himalaya and Canadian Rockies.

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Abstract

Methods and techniques for the identification, monitoring and management ofnatural hazard sites which have been developed through research by the authors over the past two decades are described. The research has been conducted in the western Himalaya of India and Pakistan, principally in the Kullu and Kaghan Districts, and the Canadian Rockies, principally Banff National Park and the adjacent Kananaskis Country. All case study areas have been characterized by rapid growth in human use, largely associated with tourism and expansion of supporting infrastructure such as roads, hotels, campgrounds and other facilities and services, thereby raising the level of riskassociated with natural hazards. The hazardous processes examined in this paper include: debrisflows and debris torrents, flashfloods, landslides, rockfalls and other slope failures, all in proximity to established human uses. Tools for site identification include field mapping, airphoto interpretation,and analysis of satellite imagery for morphological, sedimentological and botanical evidence, and review of historical records and documents, including oral histories held by long-established residents and managers and users of the areas. The basis of monitoring and management, as presented in this paper, are GIS-based information systems and maps which are easily augmented and modified as new hazard events occur. The resultant maps are useful in the assessment of risk in the context of development of new human uses and facilities in the subject areas. The presentation of this paper will include electronic and other displays of the product maps and identified sites.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology