Project Details

Project goal

MOVE provided policy makers, public administrators, researchers, educators and other stakeholders with an improved generic framework and methodology for the measurement and assessment of vulnerability to natural hazards in Europe's regions. The methods developed by MOVE and tested in selected hazard and spatial contexts improve knowledge, methodologies, and integration strategies for the management of natural hazard vulnerability in Europe. MOVE aimed to test the usefulness of the framework by integrating stakeholders and end-users at an early stage of the research.

Results

• MOVE produced a conceptual framework that is independent of scale and hazard type. It analysed physical (technical), environmental, economic, social, cultural and institutional vulnerability - all measured for specific hazards and at different geographical scales.
• Methodologies were tested in case study regions on vulnerable elements and appropriate hazard types. Floods, temperature extremes, droughts, landslides, earthquakes, wildfires and storms were studied.
• The generic framework, data analysis and applicability tests resulted in a standard approach to vulnerability assessment in Europe.
• Stakeholders were consulted systematically by means of focus group meetings in order to understand their needs and to enable MOVE to draw attention to the practical value of its methodologies.
• A "Handbook for Vulnerability Assessment to Natural Hazards in Europe" was developed. This final MOVE product provides an overview of the main research results and includes the procedures for the different assessment methods recommended in order to measure susceptibilities in different contexts of hazards and European environments. It underlines the competencies of European research in disaster risk management. It outlines the different methods and techniques as well as the indicators that are most appropriate to measure and assess vulnerability in Europe.

Project partners

• University of Florence, Florence, Italy
• BRGM, French Geological Survey, Orléans, France
• University of Salzburg, Centre for Geoinformatics, Salzburg, Austria
• EURAC (European Academy, Institute for Applied Remote Sensing), Bozen, Italy
• Atlas Innoglobe Tervezö és Szolgáltató Kft., Budapest, Hungary
• University of London, King's College, London, United Kingdom
• Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway
• Rupprecht Consult GmbH, Cologne, Germany
• Technical University of Catalonia, International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), Barcelona, Spain
• United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security, Bonn, Germany
• University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
• University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
• University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria