Hurricane Maria and Dominica: geomorphological change and infrastructure damage baseline surveys, with verification of mapping from satellite imagery

9月18日至19日，五级飓风玛丽亚摧毁了小岛屿发展中国家多米尼克。持续风速达每小时257公里，几乎完全摧毁了岛上的森林覆盖，并对建筑物和基础设施造成了严重破坏。强降雨和树木被连根拔起造成了许多山体滑坡、泥石流和河水泛滥。洪水携带的碎片堵塞在桥下，加剧了漫滩洪水和对基础设施的破坏。排入大海的粗泥沙和树木残骸被风暴潮运回海岸线，破坏了海岸线基础设施，本研究的重点是飓风玛丽亚对多米尼克景观的影响以及对多米尼克减少灾害风险的后果。这项工作非常紧迫，因为必须在下一个飓风季节（2018年6月至11月）的强降雨事件进一步改变景观之前完成。为了了解这是如何减少或增加地貌危害的，需要在回收作业的碎片清除阶段尽可能多地开展调查工作。因此，我们的目标是结合遥感和实地工作，对"玛丽亚“飓风造成的地貌变化进行详细的事后调查，并了解其对飓风后地貌不稳定的影响，重点是洪水、泥石流和风暴潮侵蚀对关键基础设施造成的损害。该项目分三个阶段：1）卫星图像处理（2）边坡失稳特征和受损基础设施的实地调查和验证; 3）分析利益攸关方对脆弱性和复原力的看法，并将调查结果整理成未来地质灾害评估，该项目将有许多用途：㈠提供关于飓风对多米尼克地貌的影响以及随之对基础设施造成的破坏的宝贵基线清单;（ii）能够对救灾阶段检查卫星遥感图像生成的飓风损害地图进行准确性评估;（iii）能够对飓风驱动的地貌过程与随后对关键基础设施的破坏之间的相互作用进行研究;（iv）提高我们对飓风后地貌不稳定性以及减灾对多米尼加重建影响的认识。

During 18-19 September, Category 5 Hurricane Maria devastated the small island developing state of Dominica. Sustained winds of 257 Km/h almost completely stripped the island of its forest cover and caused much destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Intense rainfall and uprooting of trees caused numerous landslides, debris flows and river floods. Debris carried by the floods jammed under bridges, exacerbating overbank flooding and damage to infrastructure. Coarse sediment and tree debris discharged to the sea were transported back onto the coastline by the storm surge, damaging shoreline infrastructure.The impact of Hurricane Maria upon the landscape of Dominica and the consequences for disaster risk reduction in Dominica are the focus of this research. This work is urgent because it must be completed before the landscape is further modified by intense rainfall events in the next hurricane season (June-November 2018). To understand how this either decreases or increases geomorphological hazards, as much survey work as possible needs to be done during the debris clearance phase of the recovery operations. We therefore aim to produce a detailed post-event survey, combining remote sensing and fieldwork, of the geomorphological changes caused by Hurricane Maria and an understanding of their effects on post-hurricane landscape instability, focusing on the damage done to critical infrastructure by flooding, debris flows and storm surge erosion. There are three phases to the project: 1) processing of satellite imagery (both optical and radar), evaluating the effectiveness of remote sensing for damage mapping; 2) Fieldwork and verification survey of slope instability features and damaged infrastructure; 3) Analysis of stakeholder perceptions of vulnerability and resilience, with collation of survey results into an assessment of future geohazards, with recommendations on improved disaster risk reduction and enhanced resilience.The project will have many applications: (i) providing a valuable baseline inventory of hurricane impacts in Dominica's landscape and the ensuing damage to infrastructure; (ii) enabling an accuracy assessment of the hurricane damage maps produced from inspection of satellite remote sensing imagery during the disaster response phase; (iii) enabling an examination of the interaction between hurricane-driven geomorphic processes and ensuing damage to critical infrastructure; (iv) improving our understanding of post-hurricane landscape instability and the DRR implications for reconstruction in Dominica.