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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a comprehensive global database on volcanic unrest (WOVOdat) as a resource to improve eruption forecasts, hazard evaluation and mitigation actions.

WOVOdat is a centralized database that hosts multi-parameter monitoring data sets from unrest and eruption episodes of volcanoes worldwide. Its online interface (https://wovodat.org/) allows interactive data analysis and comparison between volcanoes and eruption styles, which is needed during volcanic crises, as well as to perform basic research on pre-eruption processes, teaching and outreach.

WOVOdat aims to standardize and organize the myriad of monitoring data types at the global scale. Users can compare changes during a crisis to past unrest episodes, and estimate probabilities of outcomes using evidence-based statistics. WOVOdat will be to volcanology as an epidemiological database is to medicine.

The success of eruption forecast relies on data completeness, and thus requires the willingness of observatories, governments and researchers to share data across the volcano community.

WOVOdat is a unique resource that can be studied to understand the causes of volcanic unrest and to improve eruption forecasting.

WOVOdat is the only compilation of standardized and multi-parameter volcano unrest data from around the world, and it is freely and easily accessible through an online interface.

This paper seeks to review the geophysical threats generated by volcanic activity and reports on the technological and social management techniques available to counter those threats.

The information presented was derived from a review of case studies of response to volcanic eruptions in the USA, Europe and Japan. The studies reviewed included both technical papers from geologists and volcanologists and research by social scientists.

The unique relationship between human settlements and volcanoes was described. This was done in the context of special features of volcanic hazards that set them apart from other natural hazards: time frame, multiple impacts, magnitude of destructive potential and predictability. Based on pairing geophysical threats with human safety concerns, three critical social management techniques were described: public education, access controls and evacuation systems. The social science and geophysical principles that underlie the effectiveness of these techniques are described.

The review brings together the results of numerous case studies over the years and highlights the hazard management issues that were common across them. Then, with respect to each of the techniques identified, a critique of issues associated with implementation was conducted that draws upon both the geophysical literature and social science literature. In particular, patterns of citizen resistance to public education, access controls and evacuation are described and approaches to implementation that minimize such resistance are suggested.

There are many discussions in the geophysics literature of the types and nature of volcanic eruptive behavior. In the social science literature there are discussions of public education strategies for hazards, controlling access to dangerous locations and evacuation systems. This paper pairs geophysical threats with appropriate techniques for protecting populations, specifically within the unique context of volcanic eruptions. There is also discussion of common problems that have arisen when the different techniques have been used in the past and suggestions for ways to avoid those problems. The paper is aimed at professional emergency managers and planners who are faced with managing dangers to populations from volcanicity.

ROBOVOLC is a new robotic system that has been designed to help scientists in the exploration of volcanoes. It is composed of three subsystems: a rover platform with six articulated and independently actuated wheels; a manipulator arm to collect rock samples, drop and pick up sensors and sample gas; and a pan‐tilt turret with a high resolution camera, video‐camera, infrared camera and a doppler radar for gas speed measurement. This paper contains a short description of the system, following an introduction to the problem and review of the state‐of‐the‐art. Finally, results from the first test campaign on Mount Etna during September 2002 are briefly described.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between participation in hazard education programs and levels of hazard awareness, risk perceptions, knowledge of response‐related protective behaviour and household preparedness.

A questionnaire examining various measures including participation in hazard education programmes, risk perceptions and household preparedness was delivered under teacher guidance to high school students in three different locations in the Taranaki Region of New Zealand. A total of 282 valid questionnaires were returned. Data were analysed by means of chi‐squared, t‐test and ANOVA.

Students who have participated in hazard education programmes are more likely to have better knowledge of safety behaviours and higher household preparedness. However, even with hazard education, some aspects of hazard awareness and the uptake of family emergency plans and practices were found to be poor. Overall, hazard education was found to be beneficial and helps to create potentially more‐resilient children and communities.

The research is limited to the views of the students. The study would benefit from a parallel study of parents or caregivers to give a more accurate report of household preparedness and family emergency plans and practices. The research highlights areas of change for future hazard education programmes and provides support for the continued inclusion of this topic in the curriculum.

The paper offers insight into the effectiveness and benefit of incorporating hazard education into the school curriculum in New Zealand.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developments, types, the major functional components of UAV, challenges, and trends of UAVs, and among the various challenges, the authors are concentrating more on obstacle sensing methods. This also highlights the scope of on-board vision-based obstacle sensing for miniature UAVs.

The paper initially discusses the basic functional elements of UAV, then considers the different challenges faced by UAV designers. The authors have narrowed down the study on obstacle detection and sensing methods for autonomous operation.

Among the various existing obstacle sensing techniques, on-board vision-based obstacle detection has better scope in the future requirements of miniature UAVs to make it completely autonomous.

The paper gives original review points by doing a thorough literature survey on various obstacle sensing techniques used for UAVs.

Headlines of increasing financial losses caused by natural hazards and the potential impact of climate change on these raise broad interest in risk management. This paper seeks to claim that the existing decision‐making support, for example through spatial planning, can easily integrate risk assessment schemes.

The paper is based on the results of two EU funded research projects and further applications of those – as well as on conclusions drawn from presentations and discussions at the International Disaster Reduction Conference.

Discussion around risk governance highlights the role of integration. This discussion is still very much in need of further development and successful ways to implement integrative, participatory governance.

The research results presented have been elaborated in close cooperation with stakeholders. One example is based on a commissioned EU task that analyzed the effectiveness of European Regional Fund projects in the case of environmental risks. The other one describes how a town council took a decision which was based on information drawn from a project focusing on climate change adaptation.

The paper describes two examples of successful implementation which make us ask if new approaches are actually required or whether current spatial planning and development practices might be sufficient, when properly applied and fine‐tuned, to respond towards natural hazards and climate change impacts.

This paper summarizes research involving a multidisciplinary team of volcanologists and social scientists. It describes collaboration in relation to social and physical risk and vulnerability following the Mount Ruapehu eruptions of 1995‐1996. This work stresses a key role for such multidisciplinary teams in reducing the social impact of volcanic hazards through assisting communities, organizations, and individuals following an eruption and, importantly, during quiescent periods. We present an overview of a multidisciplinary approach and related research. In stressing the role of the physical science community in managing societal hazards and risk, the paper addresses how this role can be enhanced through collaboration with social scientists and others. The emphasis here is the facilitation of volcanological knowledge and expertise in threat communication, mitigation, community development, emergency planning, and response management. Our research has examined mechanisms for integration, multi‐disciplinary training, and preparing volcanologists for the social demands encountered in playing an active crisis management role. One area of overlap that can tie together disciplines and assist the public is the idea that volcanic activity and the related uncertainties are, at their essence, simply problems that with increasingly integrated efforts likewise have increasingly attainable solutions.

Based on the existing provisions/operations of tsunami warning in the Indian Ocean, authors observed that detection as well as arrival time estimations of regional tsunami service providers (RTSPs) could be improved. In particular, the detection mechanisms have been eccentrically focussed on Sunda and Makran tsunamis, although tsunamis from Carlsberg ridge and Chagos archipelago could generate devastating tsunamis for which inadequate provisions exist for detection and arrival time/wave height estimation. RTSPs resort to assess estimated arrival time/wave heights from a scenario-based, pre-simulated database. These estimations in terms of Sri Lanka have been found inconsistent. In addition, current warning mechanism poorly manages non-seismic tsunamis. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate these drawbacks and attempt to carve out a series of suggestions to improve them.

The work initiated with data retrieved from global earthquake and tsunami databases, followed by an estimation of probabilities of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean with particular emphasis on Carlsberg and Chagos tsunamis. Second, probabilities of tsunami detection in each sub-region have been estimated with the use of available tide gauge and tsunami buoy data. Third, the difficulties in tsunami detection in the Indian Ocean are critically assessed with case studies, followed by recommendations to improve the detection and warning.

Probabilistic estimates show that given the occurrence of a significant earthquake, both Makran and Carlsberg/Chagos regions possess higher probabilities to harbour a tsunami than the Sunda subduction zone. Meanwhile, reliability figures of tsunami buoys have been declined from 79-92 to 68-91 per cent over the past eight years. In addition, a Chagos tsunami is left to be detected by only one tide gauge prior to it reaching Sri Lankan coasts.

The study uses an averaged tsunami speed of 882 km/h based on 2004 Asian tsunami. However, using exact bathymetric data, Tsunamis could be simulated to derive speeds and arrival times more accurately. Yet, such refinements do not change the main derivations and conclusions of this study.

Tsunami detection and warning in the Indian Ocean region have shown room for improvement, based on the inadequate detection levels for Carlesberg and Chagos tsunamis, and inconsistent warnings of regional tsunami service providers. The authors attempted to remedy these drawbacks by proposing a series of suggestions, including a deployment of a new tsunami buoy south of Maldives, revival of offline buoys, real-time tsunami simulations and a strategy to deal with landslide tsunamis, etc.

Indian Ocean is prone to mega tsunamis as witnessed in 2004. However, more than 50 per cent of people in the Indian Ocean rim countries dwell near the coast. This is verified with deaths of 227,898 people in 14 countries during the 2004 tsunami event. Thus, it is of paramount importance that sufficient detection levels are maintained throughout the Indian Ocean without being overly biased towards Sunda tsunamis. With respect to Sri Lanka, Makran, Carlesberg or Chagos tsunamis could directly hit the most populated west coast and bring about far worse repercussions than a Sunda tsunami.

This is the first instance where the threats from Carlesberg and Chagos tsunamis to Sri Lanka are discussed, probabilities of tsunamis are quantified and their detection levels assessed. In addition, reliability levels of tsunami buoys and tide gauges in the Indian Ocean are recomputed after eight years to discover that there is a drop in reliability of the buoy data. The work also proposes a unique approach to handle inconsistencies in the bulletins of regional tsunami service providers, and to uphold and improve dwindling interest on tsunami buoys.

Covid-19 pandemic is a unique and extraordinary situation for the globe, which has potentially disrupted almost all aspects of life. In this global crisis, the tourism and hospitality sector has collapsed in almost all parts of the world, and the same is true for India. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian tourism industry.

This study develops an appropriate model to forecast the expected loss of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India for 10 months. Since the FTAs follow a seasonal trend, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) method has been employed to forecast the expected FTAs in India from March 2020 to December 2020. The results of the proposed model are then compared with the ones obtained by Holt-Winter's (H-W) model to check the robustness of the proposed model.

The SARIMA model seeks to manifest the monthly arrival of foreign tourists and also elaborates on the progressing expected loss of foreign tourists arrive for the next three quarters is approximately 2 million, 2.3 million and 3.2 million, respectively. Thus, in the next three quarters, there will be an enormous downfall of FTAs, and there is a need to adopt appropriate measures. The comparison demonstrates that SARIMA is a better model than H-W model.

Several studies have been reported on pandemic-affected tourism sectors using different techniques. The earlier pandemic outbreak was controlled and region-specific, but the Covid-19 eruption is a global threat having potential ramifications and strong spreading power. This work is one of the first attempts to study and analyse the impact of Covid-19 on FTAs in India.