Multi-hazards and resilience

BGS Research

Photo by Marc Szeglat on Unsplash

Natural hazardous processes have significant effects on economic growth, the built environment, lives and livelihoods. Risks and impacts of disasters are particularly severe in developing countries and are likely to be exacerbated by climate change.

Our work with partners worldwide to enhance understanding of hazards, exposure, vulnerability and risk will ensure our science is usable, useful and used.

  • Single hazard characterisation: improving our monitoring, characterisation, analysis and modelling of single hazard processes, such as rockfalls or earthquakes
  • Multi-hazard characterisation and cascades: improving our monitoring, characterisation, analysis and modelling of the relationships between hazards, such as those between earthquakes and landslides
  • Impacts, vulnerability and exposure: characterising the potential impacts of a hazard or multi-hazards on populations, societies and their assets.
  • Forecasting: supporting the management of risks by governments by rapidly harvesting and analysing near
    real-time data to provide information about a hazardous or multi-hazardous event.
  • Hazard and risk communication: working with risk-affected communities, particularly internationally, and tailoring science to meet their needs, improving the understanding of societies at risk and effecting action or behavioural change.
  • Event response: providing responsive services, products or advice to decision makers such as governments before, during and after hazardous events.
  • Resilience and recovery: working with partners to reduce risks, support redevelopment and identify ways to use the reconstruction process to improve a community’s resilience following a hazardous event.
  • Data acquisition: collecting and managing data from the monitoring of hazards or multi-hazard events, their processes and impacts.
  • Uncertainty: underpinning effective decision making by gaining a sound understanding of uncertainty in natural-hazard risk assessment.

Our facilities

Geotechnical research and design facility

Engineering and Geotechnical Capability

The BGS Engineering and Geotechnical Capability leads the development and application of field and laboratory infrastructure and long-term management of geophysical and geotechnical property data.

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The ALERT system generates a daily time-lapse image.

Shallow geophysics

BGS are developing and using leading-edge technologies such as Geophysical Tomography to image the shallow subsurface.

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ESA satellite

Geodesy and Earth Observation

We develop and use innovative Earth observation (EO) techniques to characterise and monitor Earth processes that impact lives and livelihoods.

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Kilbride Bagana from Wavovi

Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET)

COMET analyses satellite measurements alongside ground-based observations and geophysical models to study earthquakes and volcanoes

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