Ouragans 2017 - Ouragans 2017 - Catastrophe, risque et résilience

Hurricane Waste Studies – DéPOs

Submission summary

First analysis produced on territories heat by hurricanes Irma and Maria demonstrated a complete failure of waste services due to the amount of waste produce in a very short period (UN Environment / OCHA Joint Unit, 2017). In October 2017, the waste service of Saint Martin had to manage about 2,5 years of waste produced in 3 or 4 days. This statistic is generally observed everywhere when hurricanes heat. Lessons learnt point that waste management is a critical issue of the post crisis period. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the US, the cost of post disaster waste is higher than 33% of the total recovery cost. There is an issue linked with tourism activities of such territories: waste has a severe impact on this economy branch. Also the question of environment and health become crucial in this case because of water pollution, apparition of diseases… Finally, the location of waste produced by hurricanes has also an impact on the progress of first responders, accessibility of operators to repair their systems such as water or energy networks and production plants. International experiences show that improving post disaster waste management has a positive impact on day to day waste management. DéPOs proposals is specifically focusing on post hurricane waste management. This proposal is gathering partners recognized as experts in this specific area allowing associating multiple and complementary view angles: from predictive waste description and quantification (axe1) to integrated post hurricane waste management (axe3) with the use of spatial analysis and modeling (axe2). The proposal is based on operational research approach to improve knowledge in the West French Indies and to match the needs of these local waste managers in terms of post hurricane waste issues. Results will be tested on several pilot sites located in the West French Indies and methods will be chosen upstream with stakeholders. Waste managers of Martinique and Guadeloupe have confirmed their collaboration intentions.
From a scientific point of view, DéPOs is a contribution to the research area so called “post crisis spatialized risks and resilience. The proposal is the step forward classical approaches based on hazard and vulnerability analysis: it aims at bringing operating resilience processes with prospective planning, adaptation of organizations and socio technical systems facing extreme events.

Project coordination

Bruno Barroca (Laboratoire d'Urbanisme)

The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.

Partner

LAB'URBA Laboratoire d'Urbanisme
ESO ESPACES ET SOCIETES
IFSTTAR IFSTTAR
ASSOCIATION ROBIN DES BOIS
ESPACE Etudes des structures, des processus d'adaptation et des changements de l'espace

Help of the ANR 238,011 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project: August 2018 - 36 Months

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