1. LESSONS LEARNED FROM ARGENTINA’S FLOOD FLOOD JANUARY 25, 2014 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA

2. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT CAUSE DISASTERS FLOODS WINDSTORMS EARTHQUAKES/TSUNAMIS VOLCANOES WILDFIRES LANDSLIDES HIGH BENEFIT/COST FROM BECOMING DISASTER RESILIENT GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES

3. ARGENTINA

4. WHAT HAPPENED? The Governor said Wednesday that at least 54 people were killed by flooding overnight in Argentina's Buenos Aires province after days of torrential rains. Large stretches of the provincial capital, La Plata -- a city of 1 million-- were under water, and 280,000 were without power.

5. LA PLATA INUNDATED

9. WHAT HAPPENED? The intense rain in La Plata, 16 inches (400 mm) in 2 hours, left many people trapped in their cars, stranded in the streets, and, in some cases, electrocuted.

10. 40 CM OF RAIN IN 2 HOURS

11. MAKESHIFT SANDBAGGING

12. TRAPPED IN CARS

13. CARS DAMAGED

14. STRANDED IN THE STREETS

15. ANIMALS STRANDED ALSO

16. WHAT HAPPENED? 280,000 without power. "There's no power in nearly the entire city," Casals said, adding that the flooding "wiped out the downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods such as Tolosa, Elvira, Los Hornos, with as much as 2 meters (more than 6 feet) of water, driving many people to their roofs."

17. WHAT HAPPENED? At least 2,500 people were evacuated from their homes in the La Plata area, which is about 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires.

18. ONE OF MANY EVACUATIONS

19. PROVIDING DRINKING WATER

20. FLOODING IN BUENOS AIRES

21. BACKGROUND

22. Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s atmospheric- hydrospheric- lithospheric interactions create situ- ations favorable for FLOODS

23. HIGH POTENTIAL LOSS EXPOSURES IN A FLOOD Entire communities; People, property, infra- structure, business enterprise, government centers, crops, wildlife, and natural resources.

24. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS PREPAREDNES FOR THE EXPECTED AND UNEXPEDTED IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

25. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

26. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS EARLY WARN- ING (THE ISS) AND EVACU- ATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

27. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS RECOVERY AND RECON- STRUCTION USUALLY TAKES LONGER THAN THOUGHT.

28. ELEMENTS OF HAZARDS AND RISK

29. HAZARDSHAZARDS ELEMENTS OF FLOOD RISK EXPOSUREEXPOSURE VULNERABILITYVULNERABILITY LOCATIONLOCATION RISKRISK

30. FLOOD HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS ) TOO MUCH WATER DISCHARGED WITHIN THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM TO BE ACCOMMODATED NORMALLY IN THE REGIONAL WATER CYCLE EROSION SCOUR MUDFLOWS

31. A DISASTER CAN HAPPEN WHEN THE POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS OF A FLOOD INTERACT WITH UNPREPARED ARGENTINA COMMUNITIES

32. LOSS OF FUNCTION OF STRUCTURES IN FLOODPLAIN FLOODS INUNDATION INTERACTION WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS STRUCTURAL/CONTENTS DAMAGE FROM WATER WATER BORNE DISEASES (HEALTH PROBLEMS) EROSION AND MUDFLOWS CONTAMINATION OF GROUND WATER CAUSES OF RISK CASE HISTORIES

33. A DISASTER is --- --- the set of failures that overwhelm the capability of a community to respond without external help when three continuums: 1) people, 2) community (i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3) complex events (e.g., floods, earthquakes,…) intersect at a point in space and time.

34. Disasters are caused by s ingle- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness, joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

35. THE REASONS ARE... When it does happen, the functions of the community’s buildings and infrastructure can be LOST.

36. THE REASONS ARE... The community is UN- PREPARED for what will likely happen, not to mention the low-probability of occurrence— high-probability of adverse consequences event.

37. THE REASONS ARE... The community has NO DISASTER PLANNING SCENARIO or WARNING SYSTEM in place as a strategic framework for early threat identification and coordinated local, national, regional, and international countermeasures.

38. THE REASONS ARE... The community LACKS THE CAPACITY TO RESPOND in a timely and effective manner to the full spectrum of expected and unexpected emergency situations.

39. THE REASONS ARE... The community is INEFFICIENT during recovery and reconstruction because it HAS NOT LEARNED from either the current experience or the cumulative prior experiences.

40. THE ALTERNATIVE TO A FLOOD DISASTER IS FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE

41. COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES DATA BASES AND INFORMATION HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS FLOOD HAZARDS PEOPLE & BLDGS. VULNERABILITY LOCATION FLOOD RISK RISK ACCEPTABLE RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK GOAL: FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE PREPAREDNESS PROTECTION EARLY WARNING EMERGENCY RESPONSE RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION POLICY OPTIONS

42. TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING, FORECASTING, WARNING, AND DISASTER SCENARIOS WARNING ARE VITAL FOR FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE.