Riesgos geológicosTécnicas de análisis y mitigación

Abstract

Geological risks are hypothetical situations in which damages are expected due to the possible occurrence of a natural phenomenon that requires a geological approach to properly understand it. There are many different processes that can cause such a circumstance though generally speaking they can be classified according to the Earth dynamics causing the phenomena, hence into internal or external risks. Risk analysis is undertaken in order to minimize negative impact on human life or property. The main factor to study in risk analysis is the source of risk, this is the hazard or the potentially dangerous geological phenomenon involved (its severity –magnitude and intensity- and its frequency). As well as there are many kinds of hazardous geological processes, there are also many diverse techniques and approaches that can be involved in their analysis, however all analysis share a common structure: data gathering, data pre-processing and data integration from different sources; determining factors of hazard, conditioning factors, triggering factors, and identifying thresholds or hazard classes. Mitigation techniques include measures focused on one or more of the variables in the risk equation, using structural or non structural measures or a combination of both to reach the desired level of protection.