An approach for evaluating the role of protection measures in rockfall hazard zoning based on the Swiss experience
Rockfall hazard zoning is essential for ensuring the safety of communities settled at the toe of potentially unstable slopes. Rockfall hazard zoning can be performed to include the effect of protection measures when land use restrictions might not be enough to mitigate hazards. The real effectiv...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2017-07-01
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Series: | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
Online Access: | https://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/17/1127/2017/nhess-17-1127-2017.pdf |
Summary: | Rockfall hazard zoning is essential for ensuring the
safety of communities settled at the toe of potentially unstable slopes.
Rockfall hazard zoning can be performed to include the effect of protection
measures when land use restrictions might not be enough to mitigate
hazards. The real effectiveness of the measures must be assessed to make
sure they can play their role, especially in those cases when measures might
have been installed at a given site for years. This article focuses on how
to evaluate the effectiveness of rockfall protection measures and how
hazard zoning can be influenced by their correct operation. The approach
presented is divided into four main stages, which include a two-step
procedure to evaluate the effectiveness of both existing and new
protections. It is based on quite a comprehensive rockfall protection
database built for the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and on the Swiss
Federal Guidelines for hazard zoning; however, all the methodological
framework proposed and related considerations could be in principle extended
to any other regional or national context in which a combination of
intensity and frequency is used to assess rockfall hazards. |
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ISSN: | 1561-8633 1684-9981 |