VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS BASED ON TSUNAMI HAZARDS IN CRUCITA, CENTRAL COASTAL OF ECUADOR

• Main Authors: Julio Cesar Celorio-Saltos, Jhonny Marcelo García-Arias, Alfredo Bienvenido Guerra- Luqu, Grey Barragan-Aroca, Theofilos Toulkeridis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tsunami Society International 2018-08-01
• Series: Science of Tsunami Hazards
• Subjects: population vulnerability; economic vulnerability; physical structural vulnerability; institutional capacity; degree of exposure
• Online Access: http://www.tsunamisociety.org/373Celorio-SaltosEtAl.pdf

In the coastal center of Ecuador is situated the touristic village of Crucita, which has 13 km large, very flat beach extension, being potentially extremely vulnerable by a future tsunami impact. Therefore, an extensive study has been performed about the vulnerability of the population, of the response authorities and of the infrastructure for tsunami hazards. Once the different variables were analyzed, the different levels of vulnerability in the population of the Crucita parish have been evidenced. In this framework, among the main findings have been the general low knowledge of the population about tsunamis and their hazards, the absence of evacuation plans, the high level of exposure of the physical infrastructure (housing, basic services and telecommunications), and the absence of institutional capacities to respond to a situation of emergencies and / or disasters in general, and of tsunamis in particular.