A STUDY OF ADAPTATION CAPACITY OF COASTAL DISASTERS DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN SOUTHWEST AREA OF TAIWAN

Hsiang-Lan Juan, Tai-Wen Hsu, Yuan-Jyh Lan, Yue-Chen Lin, Ching-Jer Huang

Abstract


The adaptive capacity of coastal disasters caused by climate change in order to strengthen southwestern Taiwan against natural calamities in the future is investigated in this paper. In Taiwan, the coastal zone suffers from approximately four typhoons each year, and the exceptionally high sea levels caused by storm surges frequently results in coastal disasters and hinders the development of the coastal area. The problems of rising sea levels and frequent typhoons induced by climate change have threatened the Taiwanese coastal environments. These influences as well as serious land subsidence upon a scenario year were carried out in the coastal areas near the cities of Chiayi and Tainan in Taiwan. The present study focuses on the construction of the disaster characteristics on Chiayi and Tainan Coasts, model establishment for situation analysis of water environmental factors, impact estimation and indefinite analysis on disasters, and vulnerability and risk estimation of coastal disasters. An understanding of the marine and meteorological characteristics in coastal zones is conducive to raising the efficiency of the defense against coastal disasters. These results could provide useful information to establish strategies to implement as well as how to analyze the benefits of such a program.

Keywords


climate change; coastal disaster; adaptation capacity; vulnerability; risk

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