Manuel Contreras-López

Coastal settlements rehabilitation affected by the 2010 tsunami in Pelluhue County, Chile

The Pelluhue country was one of the most affected during the earthquake and tsunami of February 27, 2010 in central Chile, with 47 deaths, the highest number of per-capita deaths in the country. This study is oriented to analyze the resilience of the urban centers of the commune, from its principal instances: preparation, resistance, recovery and adaptation. The damage generated by the tsunami is studied through an on-site survey, supplemented by surveys conducted in 2013 and 2015, a safety perception consultation and an analysis of the impact of territorial planning instruments in the rehabilitation of urban centers. From these studies it is concluded that the commune experienced a rapid infrastructure recovery between 2010 and 2012. The modifications incorporated in the ordinance of the Community Regulatory Plan at the end of 2012 promoted the use of a new structural typology adapted to the tsunami risk in the Coastal Tourist Zone (ZTBC-1). The use of wood and concrete structural frames on the first floor was adopted in response to the low coefficient of soil occupation suggested in the ordinance of the Community Regulatory Plan for that area, without necessarily complying with structural design criteria. However, in some other areas, within the flooded area, it was rebuilt without adopting adaptation criteria. Even when a consultation was implemented, which does not have adequate representation of the entire population, the survey indicates that the emergency plan implemented by ONEMI, in turn, generated a better perception of safety in the risk areas by residents, but visitors are unaware of the current evacuation measures.

El Yali National Reserve: A System of Coastal Wetlands in the Southern Hemisphere Affected by Contemporary Climate Change and Tsunamis

El Yali is a complex wetlands system composed by more than 14 waterbodies, located in central Chile and delimited by two basins of the most important rivers of the region. Among the waterbodies is a coastal lagoon, some estuaries, artificial wetlands, salt mine and inner lagoons that were coastal lagoons in the past but due to tectonic processes have been moved and raised to their current location. The damming of the river that delimits the system to the south in 1968 cutoff the natural the sedimentary supply to the extensive beach and dunes, leaving the wetlands in a situation of vulnerability before climate change and variability, anthropic pressure, ocean swells and tsunamis. In the present chapter is illustrated the degradation that the wetlands system is suffering, by means of the estimation of tendencies of the long term records available in the zone, antecedents about its natural history, anthropic pressure and natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, ocean swells and ENSO, along with field monitoring that has been carried out with the objective of implementing an ecological restoration. These antecedents show a decrease of precipitations and river discharges, an increase of ambient temperature and sea surface temperature, a rising of sea level and a change of the incident waves.