Séminaire IGE

---

Health impacts from extreme weather from U.S.A. to West Africa: A systemic impact-based approach for coupled socio-hydrometeorological risk prediction

vendredi 27 janvier 2023 - 13h30

Galateia Terti - IGE
--- 
In the last 20 years, 12,000 extreme weather events worldwide led to devastating disasters, such as storms, floods, and heatwaves killing 500,000 people between 1999 and 2018. Even when accurate and timely weather forecasts or warnings were in place, life-threatening scenes have been observed as people got surprised amidst the ongoing rolling-on of their routines and daily life. What do those circumstances teach us? This talk is about how historic health impacts can reveal specific social vulnerability patterns and be the basis for understanding and modeling the interplay of social and physical dynamics occurring in life-threatening socio-hydroclimatic extremes. Previously, we analyzed 19 years of flash flood fatality reports in the United States (U.S.) to investigate differences in vulnerable situations as they emerge from the socio-spatio-temporal conditions at stake. Driven by this analysis and extensive review of vulnerability and impact studies in the U.S. and worldwide, we propose a systemic interdisciplinary approach that combines knowledge and data from meteorology, hydrology, and human geography. This data-driven approach allows the prediction of combinations of physical and social characteristics favorable for the outbreak of impacts (e.g., fatalities, injuries) within a flash flood or other fast-evolving weather events. To expand impact-based predictive models to other contexts, especially in less developed countries, collecting human impact data is imperative. Flood impact databases documenting past impacts on public health are very limited, and even when existing, they are rarely established systematically, especially in low-income or developing countries. In this direction, our current research focuses on collecting and analyzing human health impacts (deaths, injuries, illnesses, disorders) in West Africa (especially in two big cities, Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Dakar in Senegal). After a systematic scoping review of health impact studies on the African population, our objective is to identify and analyze impact records from available data sources such as archives from public hospitals and public institutions, humanitarian data, press data, and field investigations. Our goal is to understand better the current and potential future consequences of high-impact weather extremes on public health in Africa and to draw conclusions on how to support weather warnings and emergency decision-making towards a better capacity to cope with health risks.

---

Equipe organisatrice : Organisation labo

Salle de conférence MCP, IGE MCP, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

Informations de visio :

Register here : https://univ-grenoble-alpes-fr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEsceqhrD0rE9LnRevAzccRAYASR23LjNFt