Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas: Asia Pacific Edition

Pacific Disaster Center's Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlases are powerful decision support toolsets for disaster management and humanitarian assistance organizations around the world.

With the addition of the new Global Edition, there are now three versions of the Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas: the Global, Asia Pacific and Hawaii Editions.


The Asia Pacific Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas combines baseline geographic and infrastructure data layers with historical and near-real time data on natural hazard events with a "Pacific-centric" view. Preview available Asia Pacific Atlas data layers.		The Global Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas draws on the rich data resources of PDC to present a global perspective of hazards. Preview available Global Atlas data layers.		The Hawaii Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas offers unique local-level hazard data which can be viewed in a context including critical infrastructure to evaluate risk. Preview available Hawaii Atlas data layers.

Atlas Editions

The Global Edition builds on the rich data resources that have been available in regional PDC Atlas products for many years, allowing users to view historical and near-real-time hazards at a global scale and extent. Combined with traditional information such as population, major roads, waterways, cities, regional boundaries, and various risk information layers, the Global Edition includes several new information feeds. In order to present a more comprehensive view of hazard events around the world, activations of the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" and the Global Identifier Number, or GLIDE, are included along with links to all captured information regarding the hazard in the PDC Enterprise Geospatial Database.

The Asia Pacific Edition, the original edition in the Atlas family, includes all the traditional information contained in the Global Edition, but presented with a "Pacific-centric" view for situational awareness across the Pacific Basin. More than half the world's population lives in the Asia Pacific area on about one-fifth of the earth's land. As natural disasters increase in both intensity and severity around the world, the Asia Pacific region continues to suffer a disproportionate number of hazard events and related losses of lives, infrastructure, stability and economic progress. In 2006 alone, there were 457 significant natural disasters in the world (up from about 125 in 1975) and 187 of them, over 40 percent, took place in Asia. In that same year, over 88 percent of those adversely affected by natural disasters and nearly 60 percent of those killed were in Asia.

The Hawaii Edition, a focused regional atlas, contains highly detailed information for the State of Hawaii. Building on the capture of historical and near-real-time hazards, local observations and forecasts such as Doppler radar and wind and temperature forecasts are added. High-resolution satellite imagery combined with comprehensive infrastructure data such as emergency services, public facilities, transportation and utilities, lays the foundation for risk and vulnerability assessments and hazard modeling. The results are placed in the context of detailed regional data, providing an accurate and actionable picture of the people and property potentially at risk from hazards.

Atlas Usage

PDC's Atlases can be used by emergency management officials to develop a clearer understanding of the current hazards and risks. (Image: PDC)

Governments and organizations charged with disaster management are seeking innovative and comprehensive decision support systems, as well as better information and easier access to information about past, present and potential disasters. PDC's Atlases answer these needs.

The Atlases contain information on major hazards, both "active" and "historical," including tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, floods, and wildfires. They provide decision makers with the needed geospatial context for assessing risks and communicating about natural hazards and the exposure that people and infrastructure have to these hazards. They support the entire range of the disaster management "life cycle" from hazard assessment, to early warning, to response and recovery operations.

Pacific Disaster Center's Natural Hazards Atlases can aid in answering questions such as:

What hazards are likely to occur in a given region?
How often will they occur and how intense will they be?
Where are the current hazard events and what areas have they impacted?
How many people might be affected?
What is the potential impact on regional infrastructure?

Source of cited statistics: CRED/EM-DAT, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2006.