Natural hazards state-of-the-art at the end of the second millennium ; [a selection of articles ... presented at the Seventh International Symposium on Natural and Man-Made Hazards (Hazards-98) held in Chania, Greece 4, 17 - 20 May 1998

This special volume contains a selection of papers that were presented as part of the Seventh International Symposium on Natural and Man-Made Hazards (HAZARDS-98), held in Chania, Crete Island, Greece, during May 1998. The Symposium attracted broad international interest because many cases of natural disaster events, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storm surges, forest fires, etc., that occurred in several parts of the world during the 1990s were presented not only for their physics but also from the point of view of their impact on society and their environmental consequences. Among these cases are the 1997 Red River Valley flood in Canada and the large earthquake of 18 November 1997, in Zakynthos, Greece. In addition, the volume contains contributions that apply advanced statistical methods and artificial intelligence techniques, such as GIS, and systems analysis to approach the description of physical processes, the discrimination of experimental data and the assessment and management of risk. __Audience:__ This volume forms an excellent reference for scientists, students, engineers, the insurance industry, authorities specializing in public safety and natural hazards preparedness and mitigation plans. Front Matter....Pages i-vii Regional Air Quality Modelling in Canada — Applications for Policy and Real-Time Prediction....Pages 101-129 The 1997 El Niño, Indonesian Forest Fires and the Malaysian Smoke Problem: A Deadly Combination of Natural and Man-Made Hazard....Pages 131-144 Three-Dimensional Simulation of Water Circulation in the Java Sea: Influence of Wind Waves on Surface and Bottom Stresses....Pages 145-171 Tidal Changes and Coastal Hazards: Past, Present and Future....Pages 173-184 Tsunamis Observed on and Near the Turkish Coast....Pages 185-205 Post-Tsunami Field Survey Procedures: An Outline....Pages 207-214 An Analysis of the Recent Severe Storm Surge Disaster Events in China....Pages 215-223 Risk Assessment, Emergency Preparedness and Response to Hazards: The Case of the 1997 Red River Valley Flood, Canada....Pages 225-245 Robust Statistical Methods to Discriminate Extreme Events in Geoelectrical Precursory Signals: Implications with Earthquake Prediction....Pages 247-261 Hydrogeochemical Precursors in Kamchatka (Russia) Related to the Strongest Earthquakes in 1988–1997....Pages 263-276 Multifractal Analysis of the Arnea, Greece Seismicity with Potential Implications for Earthquake Prediction....Pages 277-295 Estimation of Strong Ground Motion Due to Hypothetical Fault Ruptures and Comparison with Recorded Values: The Zakynthos, Western Greece Earthquake of 18 November 1997....Pages 297-315 Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy Used as a Tool for the Detection of Fractures in Rock Samples Exposed to either Hydrostatic or Triaxial Pressure Conditions....Pages 317-330 Earthquake Hazard for the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia — Contribution to the ILC/IASPEI Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program....Pages 331-345 Contribution of Geographical Information Systems to the Management of Volcanic Crises....Pages 347-360 GIS and Volcanic Risk Management....Pages 361-379 A Systems Approach to Modeling Catastrophic Risk and Insurability....Pages 381-393 Hazards-98: Summary of Papers....Pages 395-398